Brand Guide vs. Style Guide vs. CI Manual
A brand guide documents a brand's complete identity, a style guide sets narrower rules for design or writing, and a CI manual is the traditional corporate design handbook. The terms overlap heavily, and in everyday use they often mean the same thing.
Brand guide, style guide, CI manual and brand book are four names for closely related documents that define how a brand is presented. A brand guide (or brand guidelines) covers the complete identity, from positioning and tone of voice to logo, colour and typography. A style guide is narrower and governs a single discipline, usually visual design or editorial writing, while a CI manual or corporate design manual is the established German-speaking term for the rulebook of a corporate identity.
Why the terms get mixed up
The vocabulary grew in layers. Corporate identity programmes of the 1960s and 1970s produced thick printed manuals, hence "CI manual" and "corporate design manual". Publishers had long used "style guide" for spelling and formatting rules; web designers later borrowed it for visual specifications. "Brand book" came with brand strategy consulting and describes a more inspirational, story-driven document. "Brand guide" became the umbrella term once identity, design and language were documented together.
The four terms at a glance
| Term | Scope | Typical content |
|---|---|---|
| Brand guide / brand guidelines | Whole brand identity | Strategy, logo, colours, typography, imagery, tone of voice, applications, downloads |
| Style guide | One discipline | Visual rules (UI, layout, icons) or editorial rules (spelling, grammar, terminology) |
| CI manual / corporate design manual | Visual corporate identity | Logo, colours, typography, stationery, signage, vehicles, sometimes architecture |
| Brand book | Brand essence | Purpose, values, personality, story, mood imagery, sometimes key design elements |
Brand guide
The brand guide is the most comprehensive of the four: it answers both "what does the brand look like?" and "how does the brand speak?", covering strategy, visual system, verbal identity, application examples and the files needed to work with them. Because it serves designers, writers, sales and partners at once, it is increasingly published as a website and often forms the core of a brand portal or brand hub, sometimes alongside a DAM.
Style guide
A style guide sets rules for one type of output. A visual style guide defines colours, typography, spacing, iconography and component behaviour for a specific medium, usually digital products; expressed in code and reusable components, it becomes a design system. An editorial style guide defines spelling, grammar, punctuation, terminology and tone for written content and is the working tool of newsrooms, publishers and content teams. Both usually derive from the brand guide and go into more detail.
CI manual and corporate design manual
"CI" stands for corporate identity, the sum of a company's design, communication and behaviour. In practice it almost always documents corporate design: logo, colour, typography and their application to stationery, signage, vehicles and buildings. The term remains widespread in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A modern CI manual and a brand guide are largely identical in content; the difference is vocabulary and format.
Brand book
A brand book focuses on the why: brand story, purpose, values, personality and mood imagery that conveys the intended feeling. It rarely contains technical specifications such as clear space or CMYK values, so it suits onboarding and leadership alignment more than a designer who needs the correct file.
Which term should you use?
- Brand guide or brand guidelines when the document covers visual and verbal identity and is meant for everyone who works with the brand.
- Style guide when the scope is deliberately narrow, such as a UI style guide or an editorial style guide.
- CI manual or corporate design manual when your audience expects it, typically in German-speaking markets or procurement documents.
- Brand book for the inspirational, strategic companion piece, not the rulebook.
How Branddoq handles this
Branddoq is built for the comprehensive case: the brand guide as a website. A modular builder stacks pages from modules such as principles, colour palette with HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone and RAL values, typography with self-hosted fonts, logo showcase with clear space and forbidden uses, do/don't pairs, gallery and downloads. Drafts and published versions are kept apart, and a PDF export serves anyone who still needs the classic manual. The demo brand VANTIC shows a complete example; the sandbox builder can be tried without an account.
questions & answers.
Not exactly, although the words are often swapped. A brand book concentrates on story, purpose and personality and is meant to inspire; a brand guide adds binding rules and technical specifications.
A design system is the technical continuation of a visual style guide: coded components, tokens and usage documentation for digital products. The style guide describes the rules, the design system implements them; both should derive from the brand guide.
Most organisations need one brand guide. Separate style guides pay off when a discipline has many detailed rules of its own, such as a large editorial team or a product organisation with a design system.
Corporate identity: the overall self-image of a company expressed through design, communication and behaviour. A CI manual usually documents the corporate design part, which is why "CI manual" and "corporate design manual" are used as synonyms.
see it for yourself.