(Journal)
What a guidelines file is really for
Guidelines are not a record of the identity. They are a tool for the people who use it after you leave.
Most guidelines are written for the designer who made them. They explain the concept, show the construction grid and list every colour in four formats. Then the client’s new intern opens the file, cannot find how to make a poster, and improvises.
Write for the person after you
The real audience is whoever makes the next thing: a marketing lead, a printer, a freelancer in another city. They need answers, fast, in the order they will ask the questions.
That means fewer pages about why, and more pages that show a real poster, a real email and a real social post, with the decisions labelled.
Three pages that matter most
- A one-page summary: logo, colours, type, in the sizes people use
- A page of good and bad examples, with short reasons
- A page on who to ask when something is not covered
Everything else is reference. Put it at the back, where it belongs.
