Short answer: the best brand guidelines examples are short, specific and explain their reasons. NASA’s 1975 manual and the New York subway manual show how to build a system. Mailchimp and GOV.UK show how to write rules for words, not just logos. Mozilla, Starbucks and Uber show how to publish guidelines as a living website. Apple and Instagram show how to write rules for people outside your company. Below are ten examples, what each does well, and what to borrow for your own.

Key takeaways

• Great guidelines explain why, not just what. People follow rules they understand.
• Words matter as much as visuals. The strongest examples include voice, tone and grammar.
• Show misuse. One picture of a stretched logo prevents more mistakes than a paragraph.
• Write for the person doing the work: a printer, a developer, a partner or a new hire.
• Most small businesses need 15 to 30 pages, not a 100-page book.

What are brand guidelines?

Brand guidelines (also called a brand style guide or brand book) are the rules for how a brand looks, sounds and behaves. They usually cover positioning, voice, logo, colour, typography, imagery and real examples in use. Their job is simple: anyone who creates something for the brand should be able to make it look and sound like the same company without asking.

If you want to build your own while you read, download our free brand guidelines template. It follows the structure the examples below have in common.

10 brand guidelines examples worth studying

1. NASA Graphics Standards Manual (1975)

Designed by Danne & Blackburn for the “worm” logotype, it set rules for everything from letterheads to the side of the Space Shuttle. The worm was retired in 1992, the manual was reissued as a book in 2015, and the worm returned in 2020.

What to borrow: Think in systems. The manual treats the logo as one part of a family of applications, each with its own rules. Show your identity on the things people actually see: the website, invoices, signage and social posts.

2. New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual (1970)

Created by Unimark International, led by Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda, to bring order to the subway’s chaotic signs. Its rules for type, spacing, arrows and sign layout were precise enough to be applied station by station. It was reissued as a book in 2014.

What to borrow: Write for the person executing the work. If a printer, developer or sign maker can’t apply a rule without calling you, it isn’t finished.

3. Mailchimp Content Style Guide

A public guide to how Mailchimp writes: voice, tone, grammar, accessibility and inclusive language. Its best-known idea is the difference between voice, which stays the same, and tone, which changes with the reader’s situation.

What to borrow: Give your words rules too. A section on voice with “we are / we are not” pairs and before-and-after sentences does more for consistency than another page of logo rules.

4. GOV.UK style guide

The UK government’s public A to Z of writing rules, built around plain English. Entries are short, searchable and practical: how to write dates, numbers, headings and links.

What to borrow: Make rules easy to look up. Nobody reads guidelines cover to cover; they search them when they’re stuck. Short entries with examples beat long essays.

5. Mozilla brand identity

Mozilla developed its 2017 identity with the agency johnson banks in public, sharing early routes and inviting feedback before choosing the moz://a wordmark. The guidelines sit on a public brand website.

What to borrow: Explain your decisions. Sharing the thinking behind a choice, like why a colour or typeface was picked, turns rules into something people defend rather than work around.

6. Starbucks Creative Expression

A public site that walks through the Siren logo, colour, typography, photography, illustration and voice, with plenty of real work shown alongside the rules.

What to borrow: Balance rules with inspiration. Show great examples of the brand at its best so people aim higher than the minimum.

7. Uber brand guidelines

Uber publishes its guidelines as a website, organised into clear sections for elements like logo, colour, typography, iconography, photography and motion.

What to borrow: Organise by element and keep it living. A web page or shared document is easier to update than a PDF that goes out of date the day it’s sent.

8. Duolingo brand guidelines

Duolingo’s public guidelines give its owl mascot, Duo, the same care as the logo: how the character looks, moves and behaves, alongside colour, type and illustration.

What to borrow: If your brand has a character, a mascot or a signature illustration style, give it rules. Personality is easy to dilute one sticker at a time.

9. Apple trademark and marketing guidelines

Apple publishes strict rules for partners and developers: how to refer to Apple products, and how to use badges such as “Download on the App Store”, including clear space, minimum size and what not to alter.

What to borrow: Write a short partner section. If resellers, affiliates, press or clients use your logo, give them a one-page version with the files and the few rules that matter most.

10. Instagram brand resources

Instagram’s public brand guidelines tell marketers and partners which logo to use, how to show it and what not to change, with downloadable assets in one place.

What to borrow: Put the files next to the rules. Guidelines without a link to the logo and font files create workarounds, and workarounds create inconsistency.

Brands update their guidelines regularly, and some are available only to partners. The descriptions above reflect the public versions at the time of writing. iBrand Identity is not affiliated with any of these companies.

What the best examples have in common

1. Strategy before style. They start with what the brand stands for, so the visual rules have something to express.
2. Reasons, not just rules. Each rule comes with a short why.
3. Do and don’t pairs. Right and wrong use shown side by side.
4. Real applications. The identity shown on actual things: a website, a sign, a post, a card.
5. Easy to find and update. Searchable, current and linked to the source files.
6. An owner. Someone is responsible for keeping them current and approving exceptions.

Brand guidelines, style guide or brand book: what’s the difference?

• Brand guidelines usually cover strategy and visuals together: positioning, voice, logo, colour, type and imagery.
• A brand style guide often means the visual and editorial rules only, like the Mailchimp and GOV.UK examples above.
• A brand book is sometimes a more inspirational document about the story and values, used to align a team.

The labels overlap, and for a small business one document can do all three jobs.

What a small business actually needs

The examples above were made by teams with large budgets. You don’t need a 100-page manual. You need a document short enough to be read, covering these seven things:

• Positioning: who you serve, what you promise and why you’re different. Our brand positioning statement guide walks through it.
• Voice: three words you are, three you are not, and sample sentences.
• Logo: every version, clear space, minimum size and examples of misuse.
• Colour: exact HEX, RGB and CMYK values, and how much of each to use.
• Typography: typefaces and a hierarchy for headings and body text.
• Imagery: the style of photography or illustration, with do’s and don’ts.
• Ownership and files: who approves brand use and where the files live.

Our free brand guidelines template covers all seven in 17 editable slides for PowerPoint, Google Slides and Keynote. If your positioning is still unclear, start with the brand strategy template first.

Frequently asked questions

What are some good brand guidelines examples?

Widely studied examples include the NASA Graphics Standards Manual (1975), the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual (1970), the Mailchimp Content Style Guide, the GOV.UK style guide, and the public brand sites of Mozilla, Starbucks, Uber and Duolingo. Each is strong for a different reason: system thinking, precision, voice, plain English or openness.

What should brand guidelines include?

At minimum: positioning, voice, logo rules, colour palette with exact values, typography, imagery style, and who owns the guidelines and where the files live. Examples of right and wrong use make every section clearer.

How long should brand guidelines be?

Long enough to answer the questions people actually ask. For most small and mid-sized businesses that is 15 to 30 pages. Large organisations with many products and markets need more.

What is the difference between brand guidelines and a style guide?

Brand guidelines usually cover strategy and visuals together. A style guide often focuses on visual or editorial rules only. The terms are often used interchangeably.

Should brand guidelines be a PDF or a website?

Keep an editable source file and share a PDF for small teams. Once several people or partners use the brand, a web page or shared document is easier to keep current.

Can I get brand guidelines made for my business?

Yes. With iBrand Identity, The Alchemy Foundation™ includes positioning, a full visual identity and brand guidelines, from $3,500, delivered in about three weeks.

Want guidelines built on a real strategy?

A great document can only record decisions that have already been made. If you’re not sure yet what your brand stands for, take the free Brand Positioning MRI™: five minutes, and it shows your weakest pillar. To do it yourself, use the free brand guidelines template. To have it done for you, The Alchemy Foundation™ includes positioning, a complete identity and brand guidelines, from $3,500. Martina takes on a small number of projects at a time, so every client works with her directly. See what each package includes.

Written by Martina Boshra, founder of iBrand Identity and creator of The Transmutation Method™. Brand strategist for founders and service businesses across the US, Europe and the Gulf. Last updated September 2026.