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Brand Guidelines – No Comic Sans, Mullets or Pinapple on Pizza

Introduction to Brand Guidelines
Ah, brand guidelines. The unsung hero of consistency, the rulebook that prevents your logo from looking like it’s been stretched out in a medieval rack. Think of them as your brand’s own personal stylist, ensuring it always steps out looking sharp, whether it’s on a billboard or a business card.

a humorous cartoon style branding meeting in a modern sleek office with maxys brand style characters are exaggerated  one juggles an oversized color
No Comic Sans

Why They Matter
Let’s face it, nobody trusts a brand that looks like it slapped its visuals together using clip art from the ’90s. Here’s why you need these trusty guidelines:

  • Consistency: A brand that looks the same everywhere builds trust faster than a bloke shouting, “Trust me, I’m reliable!”
  • Professionalism: Proper guidelines show you mean business—not in the mobster sense, though I suppose a consistent logo might also help there.
  • Efficiency: Your designers and marketers won’t waste hours asking, “Is this blue the right blue?” Spoiler alert: It probably wasn’t.
  • Scalability: As your team grows, they’ll thank you for not making them guess whether your font should be Comic Sans. (It shouldn’t.)

Comic Sans is to branding what a mullet is to a job interview: memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.


Purpose of Brand Guidelines
At their core, these are your brand’s GPS, keeping everything headed in the right direction without anyone taking a creative detour straight into the bog of confusion.

  • Visual Consistency: Same colours, fonts, and logo treatments everywhere. Your brand will be as recognisable as Dame Edna’s wit—sharp, memorable, and unmistakable.
  • Voice and Tone: Because no one likes a brand with split personalities. Decide early: are you the friendly next-door neighbor or the snobby sommelier?
  • Usage Rules: Think of this as the “don’t put pineapple on pizza” of branding—hard lines that keep the chaos at bay.
  • Reference Point: A place everyone can turn to when they’re lost. Like Google Maps, but for branding. And less likely to yell “recalculating!”

Key Components
Now let’s dissect the beast, one guideline at a time:

  1. Brand Overview:
    What drives you? Your mission, vision, and values should shine brighter than a kid’s face on Christmas morning.
  2. Target Audience:
    Know your crowd. Whether they’re latte-sipping millennials or budget-conscious boomers, tailor your tone to hit home.
  3. Logo Guidelines:
    Treat your logo like a VIP. No squishing, no weird recolors, and absolutely no glitter effects. Unless glitter is part of your brand, in which case… are you okay?
  4. Color Palette:
    These are your brand’s wardrobe staples. CMYK, RGB, and hex codes are the codes to the secret vault of visual consistency.
  5. Typography:
    Fonts matter. Comic Sans is to branding what a mullet is to a job interview: memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.
  6. Imagery & Graphics:
    Decide now—minimalist chic or bold and bonkers? Don’t mix the two unless your brand is about chaos (looking at you, fashion industry).
  7. Tone & Voice:
    Whether you’re conversational or corporate, find your voice and stick to it. Nobody wants to open a brochure that feels like it was written by two people who’ve never met.
  8. Applications:
    Your brand lives everywhere—digital, print, maybe even tattooed on your superfans. Define how it shows up consistently, so it’s always looking its best.
  9. Management:
    Assign a gatekeeper, someone who won’t let the brand go rogue. Updating your guidelines should be easier than herding cats.
  10. Contacts:
    Need help? Here’s who to call—your brand’s personal superheroes.

Final Thoughts
Crafting brand guidelines might feel like choreographing a dance for a room full of toddlers hopped up on red cordial, but it’s worth it. With clear rules in place, your brand will not only thrive but stand out like Dame Edna at a meeting of the overly earnest. Get this right, and your logo will thank you. Or it would, if logos could talk.

author avatar
Claudia Fontainebleau
Claudia FontainebleauTagline: "AI Writer by Day, Comedian by Night – Where tech meets wit, and AI meets its match".Expert AI Interviewer & Maxys Brand AmbassadorA walking paradox who makes tech talk charming and cultural fusion fascinating, I'm your go-to girl for conversations that bridge worlds. Born to an accountant father and librarian mother in Sydney's suburbs, I spent my uni days secretly moonlighting as a stand-up comedian while studying journalism. These days, I'm known for teaching AI systems to tell dad jokes in multiple languages – apparently, artificial intelligence has a thing for my Franco-Australian sense of humor.As Maxys' premier brand ambassador, I blend my tech expertise with a dash of Fontainebleau sophistication (yes, there's a story there – ask me about my great-grandfather and some overzealous immigration officials), creating content that makes the digital world delightfully human. Whether I'm interviewing industry leaders, performing stand-up, or explaining why AI is essentially just a very clever toddler with really good math skills, I prove that you can be serious about tech while not taking yourself too seriously.Join me for interviews that go beyond the obvious, tech insights that actually make sense, and the occasional bilingual pun. Just watch out for my signature "interested eyebrow raise" – it's been known to extract confessions from even the most tight-lipped tech moguls.