Living brand books, not PDFs. Every example on this page is a demonstration brand built on Playbook — none of them is a client — and every page is rendered from the brand’s own decisions. Open one and read it the way a supplier or a new hire would.
What a brand book should contain
A logo sheet and a colour swatch are a start, not a brand book. The books below open with why the brand exists and who it is for, and end where people actually meet it. These are the chapters to look for, in the order they appear.
Because the pages are rendered from the brand’s fields rather than exported, a colour changed in the studio changes on every page that uses it.
Brand foundationThe convictions everything downstream answers to.
AudienceThe people the brand is built for. Every decision traces back here.
LogotypeThe mark, the room it needs, and how it must never be used.
ColourRoles before values. Every combination is contrast-checked.
TypographyA display face for presence, a text face for reading.
Art directionHow imagery is chosen, treated and cropped.
PackagingLook, material, finishing — and the feeling of opening it.
Brand in useThe identity where people actually meet it.
The examples, and what to look for
Each card opens the full book. The quote under each name is read live from the chapter it sits in; hover a card to see more of the brand.
Use few words, all of them exact. Put the number before the adjective. Never tell anyone to push harder.
Tone & impact · Tone principles
Start with Tone & impact: rules short enough to check a headline against. Then Colour, where every swatch has a role before it has a value, and Packaging, to see the system hold on a hang tag and an unboxing.
A brand built on restraint has to spell out what it leaves out. Read Logotype for where the mark may and may not go, then Packaging for how the brand is carried when the mark stays out of sight.
The whole foundation rests on one odd image, so read Brand foundation first. Art direction then shows how pictures are chosen and cropped to keep it, and Environment & signage puts the mark at the scale of a building.
Plain, exact, unhurried. Short sentences. Never legalese in public.
Tone & impact · Tone principles
For a firm, the voice does more of the work than any picture. Read Tone & impact and the Communication platform side by side, then Brand in use for the identity on a website, in a campaign and in print.
Cleaning products you leave out on the counter instead of hiding under the sink.
Audience · Functional & emotional benefits
A product meant to stay out on the counter makes Packaging the chapter to read: the box, the tag and the unboxing are where people actually see the brand. Material language comes next: how to talk about ingredients without overclaiming.
A brand that lives on a shelf and in a group chat, so read Packaging first: the pouch is the poster. Then Art direction, which shows how the creature idea carries from the bag into campaigns without turning into a children's brand.
Plain before clever. Specific before general. Calm before loud. Say what a thing is, then what it does. If something is unknown, say so. If a number is on screen, it was computed from what it describes.
Tone & impact · Tone principles
Our own brand, kept in the same system as the others. Read the Introduction for how a book like this is meant to be used, and Tone & impact for the rules this site is written by.
Who is the brand for, and what does it promise them?
The foundation and the audience come first, because every later rule is checked against them. A colour or a typeface without a reason gets swapped the first time someone dislikes it.
Which logo goes where, and how small can it get?
Every version of the mark, the clear space around it, the smallest size it still reads at, which backgrounds it can sit on, and what it must never be turned into.
What are the exact colours, and which pairs can be read?
Values for screen and print, the role each colour plays, and which text and background combinations pass a contrast check. A swatch without a role gets used everywhere.
Which typefaces, in which weights, and where do we get them?
The display face and the text face, the weights in use, a type scale, and the licence. Without the licence, the font is the first thing a supplier substitutes.
What do our pictures look like, and what do they never look like?
Light, subject, crop and treatment, with examples on both sides of the line. This is the chapter that keeps a campaign from looking like stock.
How do we sound?
Tone rules short enough to test a sentence against, with do's and don'ts. Adjectives like “friendly” and “bold” are not rules; “short sentences, no exclamation marks” is.
What does it look like on real things?
A box, a sign, a website, a tote bag. Applications are where a system proves it works, and where a supplier looks first.
What changed, and who do we ask?
A version history and a contact. A brand book that cannot say when it was last right is one nobody trusts.
See what your website says about your brand.
Paste your website and see what your brand already says about itself.
Rather talk first? Thirty minutes on the brand you have or the one you are starting.