Every project leaves you with a brand sheet.
One page that says what your business looks like and how it’s meant to be used. You get it whether you asked for it or not, because the alternative is everybody who touches your brand after me having a guess.
What’s on it
- Your colours, with the hex codes and what each one is for
- The typefaces, the weights, and where to download them
- How your name is set, and what not to do to it
- Buttons, labels and the small pieces that repeat
- What your photography should look like
- How you sound in writing, with examples
Why it exists
Most businesses have never been given one.
Your colours live in somebody’s head, or in a logo file from years ago that nobody can open any more. So a sign writer picks a green that’s nearly right. The person doing your social uses whatever font was on their laptop. Your invoices look like they came from a different company to your website.
None of that is anyone’s fault. There was never anything to work from. A brand sheet is the thing you send someone when they ask what your colours are, and it means the answer is the same every time, long after I’ve finished.
Examples, none of them real clients
Four businesses. Four sheets that look nothing alike.
Same sections every time, and that is the only thing they have in common. Square corners or round, serif or monospace, light or dark. The sheet is built around the business rather than dropped on top of it.
Everything gets printed, so the palette had to survive a menu, a paper cup and a chalk board. Serif headings, soft corners, nothing that looks like software.
Brand sheet
Ash & Oak
Neighbourhood cafe
Colours
Moss
#3d5a45
Signs, headings, the main button
Terracotta
#b4622f
Highlights, one thing at a time
Oat
#f6f1e7
Backgrounds, menus, packaging
Bark
#2b2620
Body text, everywhere
Type
Headings
Coffee, and a place to sit
Body
Open from seven. The same beans every week, ground when you order. Bring a laptop, or don’t.
Buttons
Voice
- DoShort sentences. Say the thing.
- DoWarm, never twee.
- NotNo “artisanal”, no “curated”.
- NotNever shout in capitals.
Example only. Ash & Oak is made up for this page and is not a client.
The work is the drawings, so the brand gets out of the way. Square everything, one accent, and more white space than anybody is comfortable with.
Brand sheet
MERIDIAN
Architecture studio
Colours
Black
#111111
Type, rules, the whole structure
Signal
#d6452c
One accent, used sparingly
Paper
#ffffff
The canvas, kept empty
Concrete
#8a8a8a
Captions and secondary type only
Type
Headings
Buildings that age well
Body
Residential and small commercial work across the north west. Drawings, planning, and site visits until it is finished.
Buttons
Voice
- DoPlain, factual, unhurried.
- DoName the place and the year.
- NotNo “bespoke”, no “vision”.
- NotNever use three adjectives.
Example only. MERIDIAN is made up for this page and is not a client.
Read on a phone at arm’s length in a room with the lights down. The sheet itself is dark, because that is how the shop and the site actually look.
Brand sheet
Kerbside
Barber shop
Colours
Pitch
#16181d
Everything behind everything
Amber
#e8a33d
Buttons and anything to tap
Chalk
#eceef2
Type on pitch
Smoke
#7c8391
Secondary type, never body
Type
Headings
Book it in ten seconds
Body
Pick a barber, pick a time, done. No app to download and no account to make first.
Buttons
Voice
- DoDirect. Nobody is browsing for fun.
- DoSay the time and the price plainly.
- NotNo “grooming experience”.
- NotNever make them read a paragraph.
Example only. Kerbside is made up for this page and is not a client.
Sold to operations teams who live in the product all day. Monospace, tight radii, and a palette that still works at four in the afternoon on a bad monitor.
Brand sheet
stackline
Logistics software
Colours
Violet
#3b2fd4
Primary actions and the logo
Signal green
#00a37a
Success, live, on time
Mist
#f7f8fb
App background, never pure white
Carbon
#12141c
Type and data tables
Type
Headings
Every load, one screen
Body
Track shipments, exceptions and costs without opening four tabs. Built for the person who gets the phone call.
Buttons
Voice
- DoLead with the number.
- DoName the job, not the category.
- NotNo “seamless”, no “unlock”.
- NotNever say “revolutionise”.
Example only. stackline is made up for this page and is not a client.
Where it ends up
It’s only useful if you hand it to people.
A sign writer
So the green above your door is the same green as everything else.
A printer
Menus, cards and packaging that match the site instead of nearly matching it.
Whoever runs your social
They stop guessing, and every post looks like it came from you.
The next person who builds you something
Including one who has never spoken to me. That is rather the point.
The rest of it
The sheet comes with the work, not instead of it.
It’s one part of a build. The site, the system behind it and the brand all get done together, by the same person, which is why they end up matching.