A collection of identity style guides from around the world

It can be helpful to see the various grids, layouts, and details included in the style guides designers prepare for clients. Here are some for reference.

  1. Alberta Government corporate identity manual (PDF)
  2. Animal Planet brand guidelines
  3. Apple Pay identity guidelines (PDF)
  4. Audi CI
  5. Bath Spa University brand guidelines
  6. Belfast brand identity guidelines
  7. Berkeley brand identity
  8. Boston University brand identity standards
  9. Boy Scouts of America brand identity guide (PDF)
  10. Brandpad guidelines and assets
  11. British Airways brand guidelines (PDF)
  12. British Council brand website (registration required)
  13. British Rail corporate identity manual
  14. Canadian National Railway Company visual identity guidelines (PDF)
  15. Carnegie Mellon brand standards
  16. Channel 4 identity style guides
  17. Christopher Doyle identity guidelines (PDF)
  18. Cisco logo usage and guidelines
  19. Code for America website style guide
  20. Columbia University visual identity (PDF)
  21. Cornell University brand book
  22. Dropbox logos and branding
  23. Duke University brand manual
  24. easyGroup brand manual (PDF)
  25. Edinburgh Council brand guidelines (PDF)
  26. Facebook brand assets
  27. Google visual assets guidelines
  28. GOV.UK elements
  29. Haas School of Business style guide
  30. Heineken visual identity
  31. IEEE brand identity guidelines
  32. Kew Royal Botanic Gardens brand guidelines
  33. Liberty University brand identity policy
  34. Lloyd’s brand guidelines (PDF)
  35. Macmillan identity guide
  36. MailChimp brand assets
  37. MasterCard brand center
  38. Microsoft corporate logo guidelines
  39. Mississauga’s Brand Story
  40. Mozilla Firefox branding
  41. NASA graphics standards manual (mid 1970s)
  42. National University of Singapore identity
  43. New York University identity and style guide
  44. NHS identity guidelines
  45. NYU-Poly identity style guide
  46. Ohio State University brand guidelines
  47. Ohio University brand standards
  48. Oregon State University brand identity guidelines
  49. Pacific University brand standards (PDF)
  50. Pearson logos and style guides
  51. Pizza Hut brand standards identity manual
  52. Princeton University graphic identity
  53. PRSA guidelines & logos
  54. Queen’s University Belfast brand guidelines
  55. Redfern brand identity guidelines (PDF)
  56. Royal Mail logo guidelines (PDF)
  57. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College style guide
  58. Santa brand book
  59. Sapo (PDF, in Portuguese)
  60. Skype trademark and brand guidelines
  61. Sony USA brand identity guidelines
  62. The Beano Comic brand guidelines
  63. The Scout Association brand guidelines (PDF)
  64. The University of Texas brand guidelines
  65. Twitter brand assets and guidelines
  66. Uber brand guide
  67. Ubuntu brand guidelines
  68. University of Arkansas style guides and logos
  69. University of California brand guidelines
  70. University of East Anglia brand identity guidelines
  71. University of Louisville brand
  72. University of Northern Colorado identity style guide (PDF)
  73. University of Wisconsin-Madison brand identity guidelines
  74. US web design standards
  75. Vanderbilt University graphic standards
  76. Vimeo brand guidelines
  77. Virginia Tech identity standards
  78. Walmart brand center
  79. WordPress logos and graphics
  80. Yale University identity
  81. Yelp styleguide

More elsewhere:

Find Guidelines, via swissmiss.
Website Style Guide Resources.
Corporate Identity Portal.

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November 13, 2012

Comments

What an extraordinary reference. Thank you. What a smart way to protect and preserve an organization’s valuable asset.

Reply

I know I have posted above. But I was wondering if anyone here charges additionally for the style guide. I would include it on larger projects that are fully funded but not for smaller ones. Would be good to hear others on this.

Reply

Thanks for this David – I can see a couple of weeks of heavy reading coming up!

@Sean – I always charge for style guides; separately for large jobs, inclusively for small ones.

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Anyone know the agencies/designers behind these beautiful, functional pieces of artwork? May have a project that needs some good loving. Skeptical that these were all done internally, but I’ve been known to be wrong before. Thanks!

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I’m in the process of establishing a style guide for the City of Reno. This was a great blog post to come across for reference. Thank you!

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I have always been interested in brand standards and style guides. At what level of a brand do you think this is necessary to include with a logo design? All cases? I feel like the company paying for the branding has to want it. If you give them rights to the logo/branding they can really do whatever they want with it once it is out of your hands, right? David, do you include brand style guides with all the brands you develop?

Reply

I don’t, Andy. I’ll offer some examples of how a design can be used in context, but hardly any of my projects need a guide the size of some of these. Generally, the bigger the company, the greater the need, because more people will want a say in how the design is implemented.

Reply

Really interesting and useful resource to refer to in many ways. As a small and growing business made me think more about our own branding and in house style guides and how we should do it!

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Does anyone have any examples of brand books for non-profit organizations? Im looking for BCRF, MMRF, Susan B Komen, American Diabetes Association. Basically the larger charities that are more complex.

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What a boon this list is; I’m about to create my first branding guidelines/press book for a logo I created for a radio station. It will be great to see how so many other designers and brands have handled showing the dos and don’ts. Thanks!

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If I’m looking for a specific fashion brand’s brand standards/style guide, would you be able to locate it?

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Does anyone have a style guide they have created that I could use as a template to get me started?

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Thanks for the information! It’s a one stop shop with a great peak into the professional world of guidelines and logos. These lists really help to give me a head start and are an excellent learning source. I am currently a design student looking for great design blogs to learn from and to gain more knowledge.

Reply

I used this post back in 2013 and 2014 and it was great. Then you had the UVA brand identity guide. Do you still have that link? Thanks!

Reply

Amazing resource guys, so handy to help us develop our own guidelines. There seems to be a real trend for online guides these days but the PDF/ print ones always seem nicer.

Reply

Love this set of resources. I’m a prof at U of Louisville (No. 71 above). Rather embarrassing that a sports marketing firm designed our visual standards and simply used the sports mascot (a toothed bird) for the entire university. Without the sports mascot emblem, there is little unique, memorable or distinctive in the typography. I use this in my visual identity classes as a “counter-example” of good design thinking!

Reply

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