Corporate identity guidelines

Also called: brand guidelines

Corporate identity guidelines describe how employees should apply their organization's corporate identity. The guidelines often consist of a written document provided with examples. This protocol provides both instructions on how the house style could be used and rules on what is and is not allowed.

The purpose of corporate identity guidelines is to ensure that the corporate identity is deployed as intended, providing a consistent and neat appearance to the outside world.

Setting these guidelines and overseeing their use often lies with the organization's communications department, or this is outsourced to an advertising agency or communications firm.

An example of a general part of corporate identity guidelines is an explanation of the use of the logo in various expressions. For example, they often specify that it should not be rotated or distorted, that the colors should not be changed and that a certain margin should be left free around the logo. Colors, fonts, e-mail signatures and the like may also be described.

The corporate identity guidelines sometimes also describe more general matters. For example, whether customers are addressed as 'you' or 'your' and about wearing company clothing.