I’ve had several conversations with prospective clients lately that begin with essentially the same question: Do we need a brand book or a style guide?
Sometimes they’re asking for a brand book when what they’re describing sounds much more like a licensing style guide. Other times, they need many of the things traditionally associated with a brand book, but they also need design assets that licensees can use to develop consumer products. That’s where the terminology starts getting a little confusing.
The distinction matters, but perhaps not for the reason you might think. A comprehensive licensing style guide can easily incorporate much of what you’d expect to find in a brand book. The reverse isn’t necessarily true.
So, before deciding what to call the document, I’d start with a more important question: What does the brand actually need it to do?
What is a brand book?
A brand book, sometimes referred to as a brand guide or brand guidelines, is generally intended to define and protect the identity of a brand.
It typically establishes the fundamentals: brand positioning, mission, values, personality, voice, logo usage, typography, color palette, photography and other visual standards. Depending on the brand and the depth of the document, it may also provide guidance for marketing communications, digital applications, social media and other consumer touchpoints.
For an organization managing its own brand communications, that may be exactly what’s needed. The brand book gives internal teams and outside partners a common understanding of what the brand represents and how it should be expressed.
But licensing introduces a very different challenge. You’re no longer simply asking someone to communicate the brand correctly. You’re asking multiple independent companies to create entirely new products around it. And that requires a different kind of resource.
How is a licensing style guide different?
A licensing style guide needs to move beyond defining the brand and provide licensees with the creative tools to interpret it.
That can include character artwork, patterns, icons, badges, borders, editorial phrases, graphic elements, typography treatments and other Design Elements developed specifically for consumer product applications. Depending on the property, the guide may also incorporate different themes, seasonal approaches or collections that give licensees multiple ways to bring the brand to life.
This is where I think the distinction becomes clearer.
A brand book primarily explains what the brand is and how it should be represented.
A licensing style guide does that, but it also needs to show what licensees can create with it. That’s a much bigger assignment.
Can a style guide also function as a brand book?
Absolutely. In fact, in many cases, I think it should.
There’s no reason a licensing style guide can’t begin by establishing the same strategic foundation you’d expect from a strong brand book. Brand story, positioning, personality, audience, tone of voice, logo standards, typography, color and other foundational elements can all live comfortably within the guide.
From there, the document can transition into the creative assets and applications licensees need to develop products. That’s why I tend to view the licensing style guide as the more comprehensive tool.
Calling that same document a brand book becomes more problematic. Imagine opening something labeled “Brand Guidelines” and finding dozens of patterns, character poses, product applications, editorial graphics and category-specific creative assets. There’s nothing inherently wrong with including them, but at some point the title stops accurately describing the purpose of the document.
A style guide has room to be both. A brand book, at least as the term is generally understood, doesn’t necessarily suggest the same thing.
Why licensed brands need more than brand standards
The real difference comes down to the audience using the guide. An internal marketing team already understands the business. An advertising agency has been briefed on the campaign. A digital partner is typically solving a defined communication problem.
Licensees operate differently. They may be developing apparel, toys, housewares, stationery or products in categories the brand owner hasn’t even considered yet. They need enough direction to protect the integrity of the brand, but they also need enough creative range to develop something original within their category. That’s why simply providing logo rules, fonts and colors isn’t enough.
A strong licensing style guide should inspire.
Product applications can be especially valuable here. They’re not intended to provide finished designs for licensees to copy. They demonstrate possibilities. They show how Design Elements might work together and help licensees envision how the brand could translate into their particular category.
Start with what the licensing program needs
I don’t think brand owners should get too hung up on terminology at the beginning of the process. Instead, ask who will use the document and what you’re asking them to accomplish with it.
If the primary objective is to establish the brand’s identity and provide standards for marketing and communications, a brand book may be exactly the right solution.
If you’re building or supporting a licensing program, however, you need to go further. Licensees need the foundation of the brand, but they also need a robust creative toolkit that helps them translate that brand across consumer product categories while maintaining a common visual language.
That sounds like a style guide to me.
Ultimately, the name on the cover matters far less than what’s inside. But when a document is intended to support a licensing program, calling it a style guide more accurately reflects the job it needs to do.
If you’re trying to determine what your licensed brand needs, or evaluating whether an existing guide is giving licensees enough to work with, we’d welcome the opportunity to discuss how a more strategic approach to style guide design can strengthen both your brand and your licensing program.
