Is there a standard brand book template?

There is a common structure — foundation, verbal identity, visual identity, applications — but the depth per section depends on how many channels and people the brand has to serve.

Both. A living digital version with a version number for daily use, and a snapshot for people who need something fixed to work from.

Brand book examples: public references, structure and a template

A brand book becomes much easier to understand once you've seen a few. Several large brands publish their guidelines openly online, precisely because they want outside parties to apply them correctly. Below are a handful of examples you can browse freely, what you can learn from each, and a table of contents you can use as a template.

The complete overview of the topic is in our guide to the brand book.

Short answer

Public brand books and brand guidelines worth looking at include Slack, Spotify, Firefox, Shopify Polaris and the UK government's GOV.UK Design System. They vary widely in size, but share the same structure: first what the brand is, then how you apply it, then the files.

Five examples and what you can learn from each

Example	Type	What it does well
Slack media kit	Compact, externally focused	Short, with direct downloads and clear prohibited uses
Spotify design guidelines	Digital, per-application guidance	Shows incorrect usage next to correct usage
Firefox brand	Brand story plus practical rules	Ties values to concrete choices in colour and language
Shopify Polaris	Design system, not a classic brand book	Guidelines as working components rather than static images
GOV.UK Design System	Strict style system	Predictability across hundreds of teams and services

What stands out when you look at them side by side: none of these is an eighty-page PDF full of pretty pictures. They're online, structured, searchable, and they link directly to files. That's not because they're big brands — it's because it works, and it's just as achievable for an organisation of fifteen people.

We wrote a separate piece on Polaris: Shopify Polaris and why constraints speed up development. It's a good example of how guidelines and technology overlap.

Template: a working table of contents

This is the structure we use as a starting point. Cut what doesn't apply — it's a framework, not a requirement.

1. Introduction
   1.1 How to use this brand book
   1.2 Version, date and owner

2. Brand foundation
   2.1 Why we exist
   2.2 Brand values and what they mean in behaviour
   2.3 Brand personality

3. Positioning
   3.1 Positioning in one sentence
   3.2 Target audiences and their language
   3.3 What we do and don't claim

4. Verbal identity
   4.1 Core message
   4.2 Tone of voice
   4.3 Writing rules
   4.4 Do/don't examples

5. Visual identity
   5.1 Logo and variants
   5.2 Colour (HEX, RGB, CMYK) and contrast rules
   5.3 Typography, including webfonts
   5.4 Imagery and iconography
   5.5 Layout and grid

6. Applications
   6.1 Website
   6.2 Social
   6.3 Presentations and documents
   6.4 Email
   6.5 Physical and signage

7. Governance
   7.1 Where the files are stored
   7.2 Who decides in case of doubt
   7.3 Review moment

Our recommendation: place chapters 5 and 6 as high as possible in the navigation. Those are the parts people look up daily; chapters 2 and 3 get read carefully just once.

One component up close: tone of voice

Abstract guidelines get interpreted freely; concrete rewrites don't. Here's what that section looks like in our own brand books:

Not like this	Like this
"We are the partner for all your digital challenges."	"We build websites and campaigns that deliver measurable results."
"Our innovative solutions are industry-leading."	"We test what works and show you the numbers."
"Feel free to reach out to our team."	"Call us or drop us an email."

Add at least five of your own from your own material. Real sentences, not invented ones.

What a good example is not

A moodboard: nice to look at, but not applicable
A logo manual with no brand story: that's brand guidelines, not a brand book
A PDF with no version number: within a year, three copies will be circulating
Guidelines without files: everyone ends up exporting their own version anyway

Frequently asked questions

Can I copy an existing brand book as a template? Copying the structure is fine, and sensible. Copying the content isn't: it's different for every brand, and the thinking behind it is exactly what has value.

Is a brand book built in Canva or Figma good enough? For layout, that works fine. What matters more is that there's one findable, up-to-date source with the files right next to it.

Do I need a public brand book? Only if outside parties — press, partners, resellers — use your brand. Otherwise, an internal, access-controlled version is enough.

Also read: creating a brand book in six steps, what goes into a brand book, or go straight to brand book as a service.