🎨 Creative practice · Guide
One Page Of Brand
Colours, type, logo and voice, decided once and written down
One Page Of Brand
Colours, type, logo and voice, decided once and written down
Your name
A4 · this is a layout preview in the “Washi” design. When you generate, the studio writes every chapter in full, paints the cover and chapter art, and composes a downloadable A4 PDF with your name, bio and store link on it.
Most small brands are not inconsistent because the owner has poor taste. They are inconsistent because nothing was ever written down, so every new post is a fresh set of decisions. This guide produces one page of rules covering colour, type, logo use, photography and voice, which is enough to make everything you publish look related.
What's inside
- 1Three colours and where each one goesYou choose a main colour, a neutral and one accent, then write the rule for what each is used for rather than just listing the codes. After this chapter you have three hex values with jobs attached, plus the check for readable contrast.
- 2Two typefaces, four sizesYou pick one typeface for headings and one for body text, then fix four sizes and stick to them everywhere. This chapter includes what to do when a platform will not let you use your fonts.
- 3Your logo, and how not to ruin itYou settle on one primary mark and one smaller version for tight spaces, then write the short list of things nobody, including you, is allowed to do to it. After this chapter you have files in the right formats and the rules that keep them usable.
- 4Photographs: one look, keptYou decide the light, the surfaces and the framing that your pictures will share, and write three rules that make new photographs match the old ones. This chapter also covers stock images and when they are worth using.
- 5Voice: six rules you will rememberYou write six short rules about how you sound, including the words you do not use, and a two-line example of the same sentence before and after. After this chapter someone else could write a caption that sounds like you.
A sample from chapter one
Pick three colours and give each one a job
A brand palette does not need to be a fan of twelve swatches. It needs three colours and a rule about where each goes. One main colour that carries the brand, one neutral that most of the page is made of, and one accent used sparingly for the things you want people to click. Written like that, the palette makes decisions for you rather than presenting you with options.
Give each colour a written job. The main colour appears in headings and the logo. The neutral is the background and body text. The accent is buttons and links, and nothing else. The discipline is in the last two words, because the fastest way to make a page look amateur is to use the accent for a decorative flourish and then again for a button, so nothing stands out.
- Record three hex values, each with a written note saying where it is used.
- Check your text against its background for contrast, and adjust the colour rather than the text size.
- Keep the accent colour for actions only, so it always means the same thing.
- Save the palette somewhere you can copy from on a phone, not only in a design file.
Key takeaways
- Three colours with defined jobs are easier to keep to than a large palette without rules.
- Consistency comes from written rules, not from taste you have to reapply every time.
- An accent colour reserved for actions makes a page easier to use as well as tidier.
The studio writes every chapter from this outline, paints the art and hands you a PDF you can sell the same afternoon.
Start free