Brand guidelines

Brand guidelines tell everyone who touches the brand how to use it: which logo goes where, how much space it needs around it, the exact color values, the fonts and how headlines should sound. For years these lived in PDF files that went out of date soon after they were sent. The tools in this category keep guidelines as a web page or a shared library that the team can open, search and update in one place.

Frontify and Marq are built for marketing and brand teams, with pages for logo rules, color and type, and approved files to download beside them. Marq also locks brand elements into templates, so staff can make a flyer without changing the fonts or colors. zeroheight documents design systems for product teams, pulling components and styles from design files so the documentation matches what designers use. Figma is where many teams keep the source files themselves: shared color styles, text styles and logo components that every new design pulls from.

Featured logo and brand tools: brand guidelines

SponsoredBrand guidelines This position is open Put your tool at the top of the brand guidelines page. Paid spots are always labeled Sponsored. From $99 a month. Get featured

What a featured listing costs ยท from $99 a month

4 logo and brand tools in brand guidelines

Frontify

Brand management platform where teams publish online brand guidelines next to approved logos, templates and assets.

  • Developer API

Marq

Brand templating tool, formerly Lucidpress, that locks logos, fonts and colors into templates so teams stay on brand.

zeroheight

Documentation tool for design systems that pulls components and styles from design files into shared, searchable guideline pages.

Figma

Collaborative design tool where teams keep shared color styles, text styles and logo components that every new design uses.

  • Free plan or free use
  • Mobile app
  • Developer API

If you run a small business, a single page with your logo files, color codes and two fonts may be all you need, and a shared folder or a design tool's brand kit covers it. The heavier tools pay off when several people or agencies produce material for the same brand. Check how each tool handles permissions, how it links to your design files, and whether you can export your guidelines if you leave.

Whatever tool you pick, keep the guidelines short enough that people read them. A page per topic with clear examples does more than a long document nobody opens.

Questions about brand guidelines

What should brand guidelines include?

At minimum: logo versions and the space around them, color values for print and screen (CMYK, RGB and hex), the fonts and where each is used, and examples of correct and incorrect use. Many teams add tone of voice and photo style.

Do I need a dedicated tool for brand guidelines?

Not always. One shared page or PDF works for a small team. Dedicated tools help when many people create material, because they keep the rules and the approved files together and current.

What is the difference between brand guidelines and a design system?

Brand guidelines cover how the brand looks and sounds everywhere. A design system is narrower and more detailed: the reusable buttons, forms and layouts of a product, often with code to match. Tools like zeroheight document the second.

Can these tools hold our logo files too?

Most can store and share approved logo files beside the rules. For large libraries of photos and video, teams often pair them with a digital asset management tool from the brand asset management category.

Related categories