Brand guidelines examples, and what makes them work.
Real brand guidelines from B2B tech projects, the sections every brand book needs, and why the best guidelines in 2026 are a live portal your team and its AI tools use, not a PDF in a drawer.
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From PDF to portal.
The PDF still matters for printers and partners. Your team needs something it opens daily.
- A live portal with search and downloads
- A PDF for partners and print
- Templates inside, not just rules
- A version for ChatGPT and Claude
- One place to update, everyone sees it
Four guidelines, four different jobs.
Real projects. Each case shows the guidelines in use.
Deepsea Networks
A brand system loaded into AI tools. Before, 8 of 16 AI drafts broke a rule; after, 0 of 26.
Example 02MTG
Numbers before adjectives: one grid for decks, digital and print, two colours, and a team that makes its own posts.
Example 03Verticomm
50-page guidelines with a verbal identity, for a cybersecurity company moving to enterprise.
Example 04Breach
A full brand in 21 days for an AI software company that stopped looking like every other AI startup.
What every brand book should contain.
Use this as a checklist for any brand guidelines template, mine or someone else’s.
- Brand story and positioning
- Logo, clear space, minimum size, misuse
- Colour with HEX, RGB, CMYK and contrast rules
- Type scale and pairing
- Imagery, icons and patterns
- Voice and tone with examples
- Templates: social, decks, documents
- Approved facts and claims for AI tools
See them in the cases.
Each case page shows the guidelines in real use.
How I build guidelines.
7-10 days on their own, or inside Brand System.
Audit
Everything you have, what is used, what is missing.
Write and design
Rules with examples, in your brand.
Portal and PDF
Live portal, downloads and a PDF.
AI version
Skill, MCP and custom GPT, tested.
Tell me about your brand. Get a plan in a minute.
Three taps, then my plan for you: the package, the days and what you get. If it fits, I write a fixed-price proposal in 2-8 hours. One field at the end, email or WhatsApp. Nothing is binding.
Not sure what your brand needs? The free Brand Check takes 3 minutes and tells you what to fix first.
A PDF brand book, next to a Brand OS Portal.
| PDF brand book | Brand OS Portal | |
|---|---|---|
| Opened by the team | Rarely | Daily |
| Templates | Separate files | Inside |
| AI tools | Not readable | Skill, MCP, custom GPT |
| Updates | New PDF version | One place, live |
Not right? Full refund.
You see the strategy and the first design direction before anything else gets built. If it doesn’t feel like your company, tell me within 24-48 hours and you get back everything you paid.
- Full refund if the first direction isn’t right
- Every file and key is yours from day one
- Fixed price, nothing added unless you ask
Written into every proposal.
Straight answers.
What should brand guidelines include?
Positioning, logo rules, colour, type, imagery, voice with examples, templates and, in 2026, approved facts and claims for AI tools.
How long are brand guidelines?
As long as the rules need: Verticomm's are 50 pages; a startup's can be 15. Length is not the goal; being used is.
Is there a free brand guidelines template?
Use the checklist on this page with any template. If you want guidelines built for your brand, a fixed price comes in 2-8 hours.
Want guidelines your team opens every day? Tell me in a minute.
Proposal in 2-8 hours. Or 15 minutes on a call, and if it's not a fit, I'll tell you.