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Creating Your First Brand Guide in Guidelines

This tutorial walks you through the complete process of building your first brand guide using Guidelines. We'll create a site, add a brand, upload logos and colors, configure fonts and typography, and then publish and share the final guide. Follow along to create your own branded guidelines step by step.

Getting Started

Begin by heading to guidelines.site. Create an account if you don't already have one, and log in to access the platform.

When you first log in, you'll be prompted to create your first set of brand guidelines. For this tutorial, we'll be working with an example brand called Leap.

Click New Guidelines to get started. Give your site a name such as Leap Brand Style Guide. You'll notice that Guidelines automatically generates a subdomain you can share, for example:

your-brand.guidelines.site

You also have the option to connect your own custom domain for a more branded experience. Once named, click Next to move forward.

Creating a New Brand

At this stage, you'll be asked to connect or create a brand. You can choose an existing brand or create a new one. For this tutorial, we'll create a new brand directly in this workflow.

When creating a new brand, you'll be able to add multiple brand elements, including logos, colors, and fonts. You don't need to complete everything at once—your brand is a living document, and you can always return to edit and update it later.

Adding Logos

Start by uploading your brand logos. Vector formats such as SVG are recommended over raster formats for the highest quality.

You can upload multiple logos at once, and Guidelines will automatically organize them. Rearrange the order to suit your preferences—for example, place the primary logo first, followed by icons or wordmarks.

Each logo can include multiple file formats. Add variations such as PNG, JPEG, Illustrator, EPS, RGB, or CMYK so collaborators can easily download the files they need.

Use the toolbar to reorder logos, prefer light or dark versions, and ensure the right version of each logo is featured prominently.

Adding Colors

Guidelines automatically extracts color values from your uploaded logos, but you can add additional brand colors manually.

Click on each color to adjust its properties. You'll be able to:

  • Define digital colors (Hex, RGB, HSL)
  • Specify print colors such as CMYK or Pantone values
  • Set options for coated and uncoated finishes for print use

You can rearrange and group colors for clarity. For a simple brand, a small palette may suffice, but larger brands can extend palettes for backgrounds, interfaces, or secondary uses.

Configuring Fonts and Typography

Uploading Fonts

There are multiple ways to add fonts in Guidelines:

  • Upload licensed fonts directly (if you own the font files)
  • Select Google Fonts from the built-in library
  • Add Adobe Fonts using a project ID

For this example, we'll use Google's Work Sans and Adobe's Owners font. Once added, you'll see these fonts appear in your brand assets.

Typography Styles

Guidelines automatically generates base typography styles, including three heading levels, body text, and fine print.

You can edit these to match your brand by adjusting:

  • Font family
  • Size
  • Letter spacing
  • Line height

For example, you may choose to use Owners for headings and adjust the size or kerning to match your design needs. Changes are reflected instantly in the preview pane.

Typography styles can be managed globally, so be careful with permissions. Anyone with editing rights will affect all sites using this brand.

Using Templates

With your brand assets uploaded, it's time to create a site using a built-in template.

In Guidelines, you can select either:

  • One-page guide – condensed, with all brand elements on a single page
  • Seven-page guide – expanded, with dedicated sections for logos, colors, typography, and more

For this tutorial, we'll choose the seven-page guide. Once selected, the site is generated and available to edit in the platform.

Navigating the Editor

The editor interface is split into two main areas:

  • Left-hand panel – shows your pages (e.g., Logo, Colors, Typography, Photography)
  • Right-hand editor – where you edit the content on each page

The homepage functions as a cover page and automatically generates a table of contents as you add and publish content.

Adding Sections and Blocks

Guidelines organizes content into sections (rows across the page) and blocks (individual content elements within sections).

Adding Sections

Click the + button to add a new section. Choose from prebuilt templates for logos, colors, typography, or start with a blank section.

Adding Blocks

Within each section, you can add blocks such as:

  • Text
  • Images
  • Videos
  • Logos
  • Color palettes
  • Typography specimens
  • Clear space diagrams

Blocks can be resized, aligned, and styled to suit your layout.

Publishing Your Site

When ready, click Publish to make your site live. You can configure publishing options:

  • Public (anyone with the link can view)
  • Password-protected
  • Restricted to specific users with Guidelines accounts

Collaborators with access will see updates live as you make changes.

Editing Text and Formatting

Editing text on a page is simple—click directly on the text to type or apply formatting.

You can:

  • Apply your typography styles (headings, body, fine print)
  • Use bold, italics, or add links
  • Restrict text colors to your brand palette for consistency
  • Set heading tags (H1, H2, H3) to maintain accessibility and SEO structure

Every block has its own toolbar, allowing you to change background colors, borders, alignment, and spacing.

Page Layouts and Grids

Guidelines includes built-in grid controls to make layout adjustments easy.

  • Sections – stack vertically, with options to set background colors, padding, and height
  • Grids – adjust spacing between blocks for desktop and mobile layouts
  • Mobile preview – toggle between wide and narrow views to ensure your guide looks great on any device

Changes in the mobile grid don't affect the desktop grid, giving you full control over both experiences.

Working With Logos

On the Logos page, you'll see the assets you uploaded earlier. Use the toolbar to:

  • Swap between logos or icons
  • Change background colors
  • Adjust layout, sizing, and positioning

Clear Space Blocks

Add a clear space block to show how much space should surround your logo. Adjust the ratio (½, ⅓, or ¼ of logo height) to define spacing.

Clear space blocks can also illustrate co-branding, ensuring logos are used correctly alongside partner marks.

Preview and Download

When viewing the live page, users can hover over logos to preview and download files. If you've uploaded multiple formats (RGB, CMYK, etc.), all will be available.

Creating Color Palettes

On the Colors page, you can display and customize your color palette.

  • Add primary and extended palettes
  • Show multiple colors within a palette block
  • Display hex, RGB, HSL, CMYK, or Pantone values
  • Enable one-click copy for easy use

Colors are also searchable. Users can type a color name into search to see values and run accessibility contrast checks directly in the platform.

Typography Pages

Typography pages showcase your fonts and styles.

  • Use typography blocks to display font specimens
  • Label specimens with either font names or style names
  • Show the full Latin set, sample text, or custom text
  • Adjust colors for better visual presentation

Users can view detailed style settings, including size, line height, and kerning. A Copy CSS option makes it easy for developers to implement these styles in digital products.

Adding Images and Video

Enhance your guide with brand applications, mockups, or media.

  • Replace placeholders by clicking an image block and uploading your own files
  • Adjust image layout (cover, contain, full width)
  • Reposition and resize blocks for a better flow
  • Add videos by clicking + → Video, then upload an MP4 or paste a link (YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, etc.)

This is a simple way to demonstrate your brand in use.

Navigation Options

Guidelines provides several navigation tools to improve usability:

  • Sidebar menu – appears on desktop (left or right side) and converts into a mobile menu on small screens
  • Floating menu – follows the user down the page, with options for menu links or search
  • Footer navigation – lets users move to the next or previous page, or enables infinite scroll
  • Menu blocks – can be added to individual pages to link to sections or headings within the same page

Sharing Your Brand Guide

Once your site is ready, share it with your team or external partners.

In Site Settings (bottom left corner of the editor), you can:

  • View and copy your site domain
  • Add analytics tracking
  • Set access permissions

Sharing options include:

  • Public access (anyone with the link)
  • Password-protected access
  • Restricted to specific users with Guidelines accounts

On enterprise plans, you can set up domain grants so anyone with your company's email domain automatically gets access without needing to be added individually.

Conclusion

You've now created your first brand guide in Guidelines. By uploading logos, defining colors, configuring fonts, and using templates, you can build a professional, shareable guide for your team.

With flexible sections, easy publishing, and collaboration tools, Guidelines helps you maintain consistency and provide your team with the resources they need to use your brand effectively.