Brand Guidelines Software for Agencies
You build brands for a living. The handover is where the work gets lost. Branddoq turns your brand guide into a website with attached assets, so the client always finds the current version and you stop answering the same questions.
Where agency handovers break
You finish the brand. The client receives a 90-page PDF, a folder of logo files and a link to a font. Six months later:
- The PDF exists in three versions on three laptops. Nobody knows which one is current.
- A new colleague at the client asks for "the logo" and gets a JPG pulled from a presentation.
- A print partner reads the CMYK values from a screenshot and gets them wrong.
- Your account manager answers the same three questions every month, unpaid.
The work was good. The handover format is what fails. A static document cannot be updated, searched or checked against.
What changes with a living brand guide
A brand guide as a website behaves differently:
- One address. The guide lives at branddoq.io/your-client. Everyone links to the same place.
- Always current. You edit a draft, publish, and every visitor sees the new version. No re-sending.
- Assets attached. Logos, fonts and templates sit in the media pool next to the rules that govern them.
- Checkable. The AI Design Check compares an uploaded layout against the guide's own rules and shows what deviates.
We built Branddoq because we needed it ourselves. Von Helden und Gestalten in Stuttgart has been handing brand guides over to clients since 2015. The PDF problem above is ours, too.
How the workflow looks with Branddoq
1. Decide who owns the account
Two models work, and both are common:
- Agency-owned. You register, create the guide and invite client users as viewers or editors. You keep control over structure and publishing. Good for retainers.
- Client-owned. The client registers, owns the subscription and invites your team as editors. Good when the client wants full independence after the project ends.
Roles are admin, editor and viewer. Moving a guide between accounts later means moving the content, so decide early.
2. Build pages from modules
Every page is a vertical stack of modules: colour palette with HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone and RAL; typography with self-hosted font upload; logo showcase with variants, clear space, minimum size, allowed backgrounds and forbidden uses; do/don't pairs; principles; gallery, video, table and downloads. Drag to reorder. The live preview shows exactly what the client will see.
If a finished PDF already exists, Premium and Enterprise can generate a first draft with AI guide creation from PDF. You review and correct; nothing is published automatically.
3. Fill the media pool
Upload logo packages, font files and templates into folders per guide. Download modules on guide pages link straight to them. Visitors can pull single files or a ZIP of a whole folder.
4. Publish and hand over
Draft and published are separate. Visitors only ever see the published snapshot. Set the guide to public or protected, send the link, done. In the client portal, the client sees their guides, usage, design-check history, guide settings and a help centre with a support form.
5. Keep it alive
A colour changes, a sub-line launches, a rule needs clarifying: edit, publish. If the client needs a deck, export the guide as 16:9 PDF slides.
Which plan fits which agency
| Situation | Plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Try the builder with one guide | Trial, €0 | 1 guide, 3 pages, 10 basic modules, 1 GB, no AI, no credit card |
| One client owns their own account | Standard, €69/month | 1 guide, unlimited pages, 5 GB, 5 design checks/month |
| Agency runs up to three client guides | Premium, €149/month | 3 guides, 10 GB, 100 checks/month, AI features, 3,000 credits/month |
| Client portfolio, contract and DPA needed | Enterprise, from €499/month | Unlimited guides, 20 GB, unlimited checks, 10,000 credits, individual contract |
Prices include VAT, monthly, no minimum term. Payment via Stripe. Credit packs: €10, €45 or €99 for 1,000, 5,000 or 12,000 credits.
Limits to know
- Guides live under branddoq.io/{slug}. Custom domains are not available yet.
- The editing workspace is German today; the published guide is in whatever language you write it.
- No Figma plugin, no API, no DAM integrations, no SSO, no version history.
- The AI Design Check judges rules, not taste or strategy; its imagery verdict depends on how well the guide describes imagery.
- Hosting is in Germany, fonts are self-hosted, only necessary cookies are set, a DPA is available.
questions & answers.
Not with a custom domain. You control the guide's content, logo, colours and fonts, so it looks like the client's brand, but the address stays branddoq.io/{slug}.
Either. If you own the account, you pay and can pass the cost on. If the client owns it, they pay and invite you as an editor.
Yes. The Trial plan is free and needs no credit card. The sandbox builder at /demo works without an account, and the demo brand VANTIC at /vantic shows a complete published guide.
Nothing, as long as the subscription runs. If the client takes over the account, they keep the guide and its media pool. A PDF export is available at any time.
see it for yourself.