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Why Your Blog Needs a Style Guide (And How to Create One)

Raise your hand if you’ve been struggling to design your own blog?

If I had to guess, you:

• Cringe when you look at your current blog’s design?
• Can’t figure out how to do things like choose a color scheme for your blog…or
• Don’t have thousands to spend to pay for custom web or blog design…

Am I right?

Then there’s the time spent scouring the web trying to find information that tells you how to design your blog that…well doesn’t really help you do much.

One person says to do this…and someone else says that you should do that.  

Oh anddd let’s not talk about the friggin YouTube videos.  You’ve tried watching some of the video tutorials but none of them have helped you out at…all.

Talk about frustrating!

I’ve been there my friend.  And I really don’t want that for you.  So I put together this blog post for ya in hopes that it will help you overcome some of your design challenges.

Pssst… (Want to design your own banging blog DIY style? Check out these blog branding kits)

I Spent Years Spinning My Wheels Trying to Figure Out How to Streamline My Blog’s Design

Seriously folks.  

Before I started offering web and blog design services, I spent YEARS trying to figure out how to design my own blog (and websites too).

Like many of you, took to Google University to try to find solutions to these challenges.

I mean….

Day after day I searched high and low for information that would help me but… ummm nothing did.  I was engrossed in reading articles online and learning as much as I could!

After following along with some of the blogs that I admired on the web I noticed something:

They all seemed to follow a certain pattern:  

Meaning that….

• The majority of blogs that I liked had consistency throughout their blogs designs
• Their blog’s designs were minimal (not too much going on)
• I could tell their branding from anywhere on the web
• The look and feel of the images they used to brand their blog posts were branded well

As I got more into learning about website and blog design, I realized that I was missing a key ingredient in my design process:

A Style Guide!

Yeppp you heard that right…

This is the ONE resource that you need in place to streamline your blog’s design.

What is a Style Guide?

In my little humble opinion:

“A style guide is a resource that you can use as a reference guide for your visual design projects.”  

I first discovered style guides as I was surfing along on Pinterest looking for design inspirations for certain projects.

I mean…it was like EUREKA!

—> Style Guide…where have you been all of my life?

If you don’t know already, Pinterest is a gold mine for gathering design inspiration. You should definitely use it if you are not already.

But..errr…

Once I discovered the POWER of using Style Guides for design projects, they have become a staple in my branding, web design and visual arsenal.

3 Reasons Why You Need a Style Guide for your Blog

Reason #1:  Your Style Guide Will Serve as a Great Reference Resource

I’m telling you…this resource will serve as a super awesome reference point for your blog’s design.

Case in point:

Before I started using Style Guides for my design projects, I was kinda all over the place. I didn’t have a central point of reference that to use that had all of the information that I needed (design wise) as it pertained to a project.

Reason #2: A Style Guide Keeps Your Blog’s Design and Branding “Consistent”

Consistency for the win!

I have stated this prolly 500 times in all of my visual design related articles here on the blog.  

But…

if you want to stand out online and get people to notice your brand, you need branding that is consistent.

This is where your style guide comes in. It is the template essentially that you will follow to make sure that your blog’s design follows certain guidelines.

Reason #3: It will keep you “Organized”

So, I’m going to spill the beans here a little bit:

I am not a very organized person. Not.At.All.

And so, before I created a Style Guide for my blog, things were a bit scattered.  I couldn’t remember what color I used for this, or what font I used for that.

After I created my style guide, this issue was resolved.

Creating a Style Guide for your Blog: 5 Essential Items You Need Add

“Alright Kim…I get it (you say). I need a style guide for my blog. So what information do I need to add to it?

In Blazing Branding, these are some of the essential items that I recommend you add to your style guide: 

#1:  Your Blog’s Fonts: as in what fonts you are going to use for your content.  This should include your H1, H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6 Headings.  You will also need to add the font you want to use for your paragraphs. 

#2:  Your Blog’s Color Scheme –  Yep, so after you have decided what colors you want to use to design your blog, you need to add them to your Style Guide.  If you have trouble putting colors together, use this tool.

#3:  The Font’s Used for Your Blog’s Logo:  Here, you can add the names of the primary and secondary fonts you are using in your logo.  If you are adding a tagline to your logo, you should include that font too.

#4:  Your Logo’s Colors:  From your blog’s color scheme, you want to choose two colors that you will use in your logo.

#5:  Images of Designs and Patterns that Inspire You: If you come across some designs, patterns and etc that inspire you and pair well with your blog’s overall look and feel, add them to your style guide.

Where Else Can You Use Style Guides?

In my opinion, you should can use them for a lotttt of stuff. 

Whether you are designing your own blog, rebranding your website, or even designing your home a style guide will come in handy!

By the way, if design is a barrier for you, and you need help designing your blog, Blazing Branding may be the way to go.  Check it out here.

Over to You Peeps!

I would love to know if you are using Style Guides for visual and graphic design programs?  If pairing fonts together, choosing a color scheme for your blog and designing your blog in general is a struggle, these branding kits will help. 

Let me know what your experience has been like with using them.  

Cheers yall!