Use Brand Guidelines to give your team and Cedros a shared reference for how your business sounds, looks, and presents its promises. Good guidelines help someone write a useful page or reply without having to guess what fits your brand.
This guide uses an illustrative bicycle-repair business. Adapt the examples to your own approved materials and decisions.
Open the plan and gather your references
Open Assistant → Strategy → Plans → Brand Guidelines. Choose Fill it in myself for an empty plan, or Add details, Edit, or Review suggestions on a section. Select Save after editing each section; you can build the plan over several sessions.
For the shared editor and answer statuses, see Setting up your business strategy in Cedros.
The four essential decisions are Approved references & suggestions, Brand personality and anti-traits, Voice principles, and Claim rules. Begin with these, then add the details people need for your actual work.
In Starting Point & References, record:
- Starting point: whether you have established guidelines, a few existing materials, a new brand, or a refresh in progress.
- How much can the brand adapt?: what must stay consistent and where writers or designers can explore. For example, keep the logo and service names fixed while allowing a warmer tone in customer replies.
- Approved references & suggestions: links, sample copy, and notes about the materials people should follow. Include enough explanation to show what each reference establishes.
Label references Official, Inferred, or Suggested. Official means your business has approved it. Inferred means it was deduced from existing materials. Suggested means it is an option to review. A color sampled from an old page is not automatically an official brand color.
If you are starting from scratch, say which decisions are still open. Keep draft directions labeled as suggestions until the person responsible for the brand approves them.
Describe your identity and personality
In Identity & Personality, explain what the brand should communicate:
- What the brand stands for: the promise or belief that connects your work to your customers' needs.
- Brand personality and anti-traits: a few useful characteristics and their limits. For example, “Friendly, practical, and clear. Never patronizing, pushy, or full of technical jargon.”
- Brand relationship to the customer: the role you want to play, such as a knowledgeable local mechanic who explains the options.
- Desired emotional impression: how a customer should feel after an interaction, such as informed, respected, and confident about the next step.
For the repair business, a starting statement could be: “Help everyday riders understand what their bicycle needs and choose the work that suits them.” Check that this agrees with your Business Strategy plan, especially the customer and reason they choose you.
Make the traits useful for decisions. “Friendly” becomes clearer when you add, “Explain an unfamiliar part in everyday language; never make a customer feel foolish for asking.”
Turn your voice into writing rules and examples
In Voice & Writing, show how the personality should sound:
- Voice principles: a few repeatable rules. For example, explain the issue, give the available options, and state the next step before asking for a booking.
- Tone balance: describe the balance you want, such as warm and direct, with simple explanations before technical detail. This is a written description of your preferred tone.
- Writing style: specify sentence length, headings, spelling conventions, contractions, punctuation, and whether emojis fit your brand.
- Words to use & avoid: list the preferred term, the term to avoid, and a reason or replacement.
- On-brand and off-brand examples: pair sample copy with a short explanation of why it works or fails.
For example, avoid “Unlock elite cycling performance with our revolutionary service.” A more useful version for this business is “Tell us what feels wrong with your bike. We'll explain the repair options before work begins.” Use that promise only if it matches how the business actually operates.
Explain the difference: the revised version gives a concrete next step, uses everyday words, and tells the customer what to expect. A pair of examples like this is more useful than a long list of adjectives.
Include examples from the work you do most often: a service description, a booking reply, or an explanation of a delay. Keep the underlying voice consistent while adjusting the tone to the situation.
Set boundaries for claims and calls to action
In Claims & Calls to Action, separate what sounds appealing from what the business can support:
- Claim rules: record approved statements and their limits, along with claims to avoid. If same-day repairs are offered only for certain jobs and available slots, include those conditions.
- Evidence needed for claims: explain what supports a statement and where to check it. Use current service details, measured results, or approved customer feedback as appropriate.
- How we ask people to act: give examples of clear next steps, such as “Ask about a repair” or “Check available appointments,” where those actions are available.
- Sensitive topics and hard no's: list subjects and approaches your brand avoids, such as fear-based selling, invented urgency, or attacks on competitors.
Keep prices, promotional terms, and campaign offers consistent with the decisions recorded for that offer. A brand guideline about confident language does not justify an unsupported guarantee.
For the repair business, “We'll give you an estimate before starting” is useful only when it reflects the actual process. “We fix every bike the same day” needs much stronger support and may promise more than the workshop can deliver.
Record your visual identity
In Visual Identity, describe the assets and rules a designer should follow:
- Current visual identity: summarize what is established and what is still being developed.
- Logo and asset rules: identify the approved files, allowed versions, background requirements, and any old assets that should no longer be used.
- Imagery and graphic style: explain the subjects, composition, and treatment you want, with approved references where possible.
- Layout style: describe the intended feel, such as spacious pages with clear service information and one obvious next step.
Use the structured Color palette and Typography fields for the details below.
For colors, choose Add first color, then enter Role, Name, Hex, Usage, and Status. Use Add another color for additional entries. For example, a role might be Primary and its usage might be headings and primary buttons; copy the exact hex value from your approved source.
For typefaces, choose Add first typeface, then enter Role, Family, Weights, Usage, Fallback, and Status. Use Add another typeface for additional roles, such as body text. The preview uses fonts available in the browser, so a fallback preview does not confirm that your chosen font is installed on the website.
New color and typeface entries start with Suggested as their status. Change that to Official only after checking the approved source. These status notes describe the brand decision; they are separate from the answer's review status. Use Remove to take an entry out of the section, then Save to keep your edits.
Saving these details records your guidelines. It does not install fonts, apply a theme, or restyle existing pages. Apply and review those changes in the relevant website editing workflow.
Explain how to apply the guidelines
In Application & Review, turn the reference into instructions people can use:
- Adapting the brand by channel: describe the differences that matter. A service page may need concise facts and a booking step; a support reply may need more reassurance and a clear explanation of what happens next.
- Guidance for Cedros: state what to follow, avoid, ask about, or flag when the plan is used as a source. For example, “Use approved service names, explain unfamiliar terms, and flag any turnaround promise that lacks a confirmed service condition.”
- Missing or unconfirmed guidance: record gaps and who should resolve them, such as an outdated logo file, an unapproved accent color, or a claim awaiting evidence.
- Where these rules need to be applied: identify related plans and content to review, such as marketing messages, support replies, and website service pages. Note any conflicts that need a decision.
Some summary fields offer Draft from my decisions. This opens a prepared Strategy prompt for you to review before sending. AI replies can add to your usage and costs. Check proposed wording before choosing Accept reviewed answer, then Save.
Review the saved guidelines with a real piece of work
- Reopen the plan and read the saved sections. Check that official rules, inferences, and suggestions are clearly separated.
- Try the guidelines on a short page paragraph or customer reply. Check whether another person can tell which wording fits and why.
- Compare every promise with its evidence and conditions. Check the exact logo, color, and font references where they matter.
- If the plan shows Needs decisions, check the four essential decisions. Unknowns and unreviewed suggestions remain unresolved; you do not need to complete every Optional detail field.
- Review the related content you identified. Saving the plan does not rewrite existing pages, emails, or other plans.
Use Not known yet when a decision is still open and explain the next step. Use Not applicable with a reason when a question does not apply. Ready to use means the plan's readiness checks are satisfied; it does not confirm that every claim or asset has been approved by your business.
Revisit the guidelines when your positioning, services, voice, or visual identity changes. If a save reports a conflict, preserve your intended edits, use Reload latest plan when offered, and compare the newer version before saving again. For an unresolved editor problem, ask for help with the section name and visible error.