A brand style guide locks in your identity and keeps it consistent over time.
Without it, every new material starts from zero and your image quietly falls apart. With it, your quote, your brochure, your posts and your site finally look like they belong together.
You have a logo. You think you have an identity.
A logo is a mark. It doesn't say which color goes with it, which font writes your headings, or how much space to leave around it on a page. No one has those answers. So everyone improvises, starting with you.
The gap never shows on a single piece taken on its own. It shows the moment you put them side by side.
Your quote doesn't look like your website
You send your quote. Default font, logo pasted in the top corner, a little squashed. Your client just spent ten minutes on your site, polished down to the last detail. They don't put it into words, but they register the gap: the document that commits their money looks less serious than the page that convinced them.
Every provider starts from zero
A brochure from one designer, a roll-up from one printer, a banner from one freelancer. Each one asks for your colors. You send the logo as a PNG and a screenshot of your site. Each one eyeballs a slightly different shade, picks their own font, their own margins. Three materials later, you have three versions of yourself, and no one made a mistake.
Your printer hands you back a different orange
Your orange looks bold on screen. On business cards, it drifts toward brown. No one cheated: the screen works in RGB, the printer in CMYK, and without a value decided in advance for each, the machine chooses for you. You find out once the print run is paid for.
Your LinkedIn lives its own life
You post regularly, with visuals made quickly, by hand. A font found in the tool, a background picked that day, a logo size eyeballed. Taken one at a time, they pass. Lined up on your profile, they tell the story of four different companies. And that's exactly where your prospect discovers you, before they even reach your site.
The decisions your style guide locks in
A style guide isn't a moodboard. It's a sequence of written decisions that anyone can apply without calling you.
Color palette
Your primary and secondary colors, with exact codes for web and for print. Your developer and your printer finally read the same value.
Typography system
The typefaces for your headings, your body text and your accents, with their sizes and weights. No more decisions to make over again for every new material.
Logo usage rules
Minimum sizes, clear space, approved backgrounds, forbidden uses. What people are allowed to do with your logo, and above all what they're not.
Grid and spacing
The structure that holds your layouts together: columns, margins, breathing room between blocks. It's what makes a document look finished instead of thrown together.
Icon style
The kind of icons that fit you: outline or filled, rounded or sharp corners, stroke weight. Your icons stop coming from five different sources.
Photo direction
What works and what doesn't: framing, light, treatment, subjects. Enough to pick an image without hesitating, and to turn down the ones that ring false.
From signature to delivered guide
- 01
Signature
You sign the quote online and pay the deposit. The project starts.
- 02
Stocktake
We look at what you already have: logo, materials, photos, habits. We spot what holds up and what's pulling in every direction.
- 03
Visual direction
We show you the colors, the typefaces and the point of view. We rework them until you give a clear yes.
- 04
Writing the guide
We write the document, rule by rule, and hand it over to you. It becomes the reference for every one of your providers.
One document, and not a single more question about your colors.
They wanted a site that brings them clients
Reviews translated from the original French.
A huge thank you to Matthis for the redesign of the DALINA CONSEIL website. Beyond the expertise, what struck me was how he listened, how invested he was, and how deeply he understood my world and my ambitions. A true professional, driven and involved. I recommend him without reservation.
Cynthia Gando
Founder, Dalina Conseil
Thanks Matthis for your professionalism, responsiveness and creativity. You managed to bring my vision to the site with efficiency and energy.
Régis Daniel
Founder
I want to thank Matthis, who built my website with inspiration, creativity and professionalism, in a very short time, and who knew how to adapt to what I wanted. I recommend him without hesitation!
Jérôme Carion
Founder
I recommend Matthis for his expertise, his professionalism and his good humor! A result that meets my needs perfectly, with a real understanding and translation of my brand world. All while adapting to what I needed in terms of managing and running the site on my own. A partner you can trust if you're an entrepreneur who wants a site that looks like you, not a template!
Cindy Boujema
Founder, QualiCie
Our latest projects
Logo, visual identity, brand style guide, art direction: what's the difference?
These four words get used interchangeably every day, and that's exactly where quotes stop being comparable: two studios can bill the word "identity" for two scopes that have nothing to do with each other.
| The term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Logo | The mark. What people recognize at a glance. |
| Visual identity | The complete system around the logo. Colors, typefaces, iconography, layout. |
| Brand style guide | The document that locks in these rules, so everything stays consistent over time and across every material. |
| Art direction | The point of view that gives the whole thing its character. |
In other words: the logo gets drawn, the visual identity gets built, the art direction gets decided, and the brand style guide writes it all down so it holds.
More of what we do
Custom website design
A complete multi-page site, in the image of your company.
Landing page design
One page carries your whole argument and turns a visitor into a client.
Framer website
Framer leaves you running your own site from the day it goes live.
Brand style guide
The document that settles your palette, your typefaces and the rules for using your logo.
Logo and visual identity
The mark, its variants, the favicon and your source files.
Art direction
The visual stance that gives the whole thing its character.
Rebranding
An audit of the image you have today: what stays, what changes, and in what order.
Your questions about the brand style guide
I already have a logo. Do I still need a brand style guide?
A logo answers one question: what people recognize you by. It doesn't say which colors surround it, which font writes your headings, at what size it stays legible, or what you're not allowed to do with it. The guide answers all of these once and for all. Any provider can find the answer there without calling you.
Logo, visual identity, brand style guide, art direction: what's the difference?
The logo is the mark, what people recognize at a glance. Visual identity is the complete system around the logo: colors, typefaces, iconography, layout. The brand style guide is the document that locks in these rules, so everything stays consistent over time and across every material. Art direction is the point of view that gives the whole thing its character.
Is the style guide included when you build my site?
No, they're two separate services. Building your site means making visual decisions: colors, typefaces, layout. The guide writes those decisions down in a document anyone can use, including outside the web. The two are often taken together, and that's the most logical time to do it.
What format do I receive the guide in?
The format is agreed with you at the start, based on the materials you use and the tools your providers work with. What doesn't change is the content: color codes for screen and for print, fonts, sizes, logo usage rules, grid and spacing. The document is built to be handed straight to a printer, a designer or a developer.
Will a style guide box me in?
A style guide sets a frame, not a straitjacket. It settles what shouldn't be rediscussed for every new material: colors, fonts, logo usage rules. Your ideas, your campaigns and your formats breathe inside that frame. That's actually where a brand becomes recognizable: improvisation always shows.
What's the budget for a brand style guide?
The amount depends on the scope: what you already have, the materials to cover, the rules to write down. We quote it after a first conversation, once we know what you actually need.
Your identity, written in black and white.
Forty minutes on a call, no strings attached.
Check if we're a fitor write to us: matthis@rymav.studio