Module 4 workshop: a one-page brand guide

What you will be able to do

• Assemble a one-page brand guide covering identity, voice and messaging
• Test the guide by having someone else produce materials from it and counting the deviations
• Record the ownership, registration and accessibility details that sit behind the guide

A brand that lives only in your head cannot be handed to a freelancer, a new assistant, a printer or a venue that wants to list you. A one-page brand guide puts it on paper. It is not a glossy brand book. It is a working document that answers the questions people ask most: which logo, which colour, which words, which photos. Set aside about three hours. By the end you will have a guide someone else can follow without calling you.

Read the transcript

Module 4 workshop: a one-page brand guide.

A brand that lives only in your head cannot be handed to a freelancer, a new assistant, a printer or a venue that wants to list you.

A one-page brand guide puts it on paper.

What goes on the page, and what does not.

The guide has eight sections, each a few lines long:

The brand in one line: your roof message and who it is for.

Building the guide, step by step.

Your touchpoint audit, logo files, palette and contrast results, typefaces, photo style notes, voice chart, tone table, message house and founder story from the earlier worksheets.

Write the brand line. Put your roof message at the top, followed by a short line naming your client.

Worked example: Lantern and Lane's brand guide.

It fits on one letter-size page at a readable size, with small images of the logo versions and colour swatches beside the text.

Priya keeps a PDF for sharing and an editable copy for updates.

Organize the files behind the page.

The guide points to a shared folder.

Set it up so anyone can find what they need in seconds:

Test the guide on someone else.

A guide works only if someone who is not you can follow it.

Give it, with the folder, to a friend, a freelancer or a new hire, and ask them to produce two things: an Instagram post announcing a fall wedding date and a proposal cover page.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What goes on the page, and what does not

The guide has eight sections, each a few lines long:

1. The brand in one line: your roof message and who it is for.
2. Logo: the versions, clear space, minimum size and what not to do.
3. Colour: each colour with HEX, RGB and CMYK codes, and the contrast rules.
4. Type: the heading and body typefaces and their fallbacks.
5. Photo style: five lines on light, colour, subjects, framing and what to avoid.
6. Voice: three traits, what each is not, and one example line for each.
7. Messages: the three pillars, the 25-word founder story and a 50-word description.
8. Practical: where the files live, who approves new materials, and the version date.

Leave out the long explanations, the mood boards and the history of how you chose your colours. If someone needs the reasoning, they can ask. The page exists so that they rarely have to.

Building the guide, step by step

1. Gather your inputs. Your touchpoint audit, logo files, palette and contrast results, typefaces, photo style notes, voice chart, tone table, message house and founder story from the earlier worksheets.
2. Write the brand line. Put your roof message at the top, followed by a short line naming your client. Everything else on the page should feel like it belongs under that line.
3. Set the logo rules. Show each version small. State the clear space, such as the height of one capital letter on every side, and a minimum width in pixels for screens and millimetres for print. Add three don’ts: do not stretch, recolour or place the logo on a busy photo.
4. List the colours. Give each colour a name, its codes and its job. Add the contrast rules you set, such as “gold is never used for text on white”.
5. Name the type. Heading face, body face, fallbacks, and a minimum body size for print and screen.
6. Describe the photos. Copy your five-line photo style. If space allows, add three small thumbnails of approved images and one example of what to avoid.
7. Add the voice. Three traits with their opposites and one example line each. Add a short list of words you use and words you avoid.
8. Add the messages. The three pillars in one line each, the 25-word founder story and a 50-word description that a venue or a wedding show organizer can paste into a listing.
9. Finish with the practical line. The link to the shared folder, the name of the person who approves new materials and the date of this version.

Worked example: Lantern & Lane’s brand guide

It fits on one letter-size page at a readable size, with small images of the logo versions and colour swatches beside the text. Priya keeps a PDF for sharing and an editable copy for updates.

Organize the files behind the page

The guide points to a shared folder. Set it up so anyone can find what they need in seconds:

• 01 Logo: every version as SVG, PDF and PNG, with plain file names such as “logo-primary-teal.svg”.
• 02 Colour and type: a swatch file and the font files or download links, with their licences.
• 03 Photos: approved images in web and print sizes, each with the photographer’s name and the licence terms.
• 04 Templates: proposal, invoice, timeline, social post, story frame and email signature.
• 05 Copy: the message house, founder story in three lengths, the 50-word description and approved client stories with their consent records.
• 06 Legal: the designer’s copyright assignment and moral rights waiver, photo licences, business name registration and any trademark filings.

Test the guide on someone else

A guide works only if someone who is not you can follow it. Give it, with the folder, to a friend, a freelancer or a new hire, and ask them to produce two things: an Instagram post announcing a fall wedding date and a proposal cover page. Do not help them.

Then check their work against twelve points: the right logo version, clear space, colours, contrast, typefaces, photo style, voice traits, a pillar message, spelling, the founder line, the contact details and the file format. Lantern & Lane’s first test found 3 deviations out of 12, a 75% match. Two were the guide’s fault: it did not say which logo to use on a photograph, and it did not give a minimum text size for social posts. Priya added both lines. The second test, with a different freelancer, scored 11 out of 12. That is the goal: a page clear enough that mistakes become rare and easy to spot.

Keep it alive

Put a version date on the page and review it once a year, or whenever your offer, your logo or your message house changes. Send the new version to everyone who has the old one, and delete outdated logos from shared drives so nobody finds them by accident. A brand guide that is a year out of date teaches people the wrong rules.

In Canada and Ontario: the records behind your guide

A brand guide tells people how to use your brand. The documents behind it prove that the brand is yours to use. Before you share the guide, check the six items below. This is general information, not legal advice; for your own situation, check the sources or ask a lawyer or trademark agent.

• Logo ownership. Under the Copyright Act the author is the first owner of copyright, and an assignment is valid only in writing signed by the owner. File the designer’s signed assignment and a moral rights waiver in the Legal folder. Without them, a freelancer could object to the very changes your guide permits.
• Photo licences. For photos taken since November 7, 2012, the photographer owns the copyright by default unless a written agreement says otherwise. Note each photographer’s name and the licence terms beside every approved image, so nobody uses a photo in a paid ad when the licence covers only your website.
• Name consistency. The name in your guide should match your Ontario business name registration or corporate name, your invoices and your Google Business Profile, which must use the real-world name without taglines or service descriptors. Ontario business name registrations must be renewed, so check the current term on the Ontario Business Registry and put the renewal date in the practical section.
• Trademark status. If you have applied to register your name or logo with CIPO, note the application number and stage. CIPO forecast an examination wait of about 8.2 months for applications filed in October 2026, and registrations last 10 years before renewal. CIPO’s trademarks page shows current wait times.
• Accessibility. Ontario businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA on their public websites; smaller businesses benefit from following the same contrast rules. Record the contrast minimums in the guide: 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text. Under the AODA Customer Service Standard, every organization with one or more employees must provide information in accessible formats on request, so keep text versions of key documents in the Copy folder.
• Disclosure for partners. If creators, couples or other vendors post about you in exchange for a fee, a discount, a gift or free services, Ad Standards’ Influencer Marketing Disclosure Guidelines treat that as a material connection. Add a line to the guide telling partners to disclose clearly and upfront, with #ad as the preferred label, and to use the platform’s paid partnership tool where it exists. The guidelines list the acceptable labels and say brands share responsibility for compliance.

GTA practice notes

Share the guide, or a short version with the logo, colours and the 50-word description, with the venues and planners who list or recommend you. GTA venues that keep preferred vendor pages and wedding show organizers who print exhibitor guides will use whatever you send them. Sending the right files with the right description is the easiest way to look consistent in other people’s materials.

Plan print work around the calendar. Banners, handouts and signage for the fall and winter wedding shows, and for corporate holiday season showcases, should go to the printer well ahead of the rush, with a proof checked against your CMYK values. If you serve families in other languages, add a line to the guide on which materials are translated and who checks them, so translated pages keep the same voice as the English ones.

Finally, include a line on claims. The 50-word description and the pillars will be copied into listings you do not control, so every number and credential in them must be true and current. Under the Competition Act, a representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material respect is reviewable conduct, wherever it appears. Review the description each year alongside the rest of the guide, and send venues the updated version.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet and complete it for your own business, using Lantern & Lane as the model where it helps. Keep it with your marketing plan. It takes about 15 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)