> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog-new.hidingelephant.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Keep Every Generation On-Brand with Brand Guides - URL: https://blog-new.hidingelephant.com/keep-every-generation-on-brand-with-style-guides/ - Published: 2026-02-05T09:18:44.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-10T08:52:03.000Z - Description: Brand guides keep logos, colors, and brand rules in one place. Artwork style guides capture artistic looks. Both help generations stay consistent without rewriting the same instructions every time. - Author: Hiding Elephant - Tags: Product, Brand, Brand Guides, #Import 2026-10-11 13:00 Suppose your brand uses deep green packaging, warm cream backgrounds, and a restrained serif typeface. You mention the green in a prompt, but the result comes back teal. The background is bright white. The type looks playful. It may be a perfectly good image, but it does not look like your brand. Repeating a longer prompt can help, but then every teammate has to remember the same instructions every time. A **brand guide** gives those brand rules a permanent home inside Hiding Elephant. ![A creative team producing consistent branded media with shared guidance](https://blog-new.hidingelephant.com/content/images/2026/07/teams-on-brand-2.webp) ## Brand guides and artwork style guides In Hiding Elephant, both live under style guides, but they solve different jobs. A **brand guide** is for a company or product identity. Think logos, brand colors, fonts, messaging, and the visual rules that make something look like your brand. An **artwork style guide** is for an artistic look. Think reference-based styles, creative direction, lighting mood, illustration feel, or a visual language that is not necessarily tied to a logo system. Use a brand guide when the output needs to feel like a particular brand. Use an artwork style guide when you want to repeat a creative style across many generations. You can use both, depending on the work. ![Adding a brand guide and design style for consistent generations](https://blog-new.hidingelephant.com/content/images/2026/07/add-brand-guide-2.webp) ## What goes into a brand guide? A brand guide can include: - Logos and approved variations - Brand colors - Fonts and typography choices - Reference images that show the right brand direction - Written guidance about tone, composition, and details to avoid Those inputs are saved for reuse. When someone applies the brand guide to a generation, they are starting from the brand's real ingredients instead of reconstructing the look from memory. ## What about artwork styles? An artwork style guide is useful when the main goal is a look rather than a brand system. For example: - Soft product photography with natural light - Flat editorial illustration - A cinematic ad style you want to reuse across a campaign You can build that from reference images and custom design rules. It helps keep the artistic direction consistent, even when the brand identity itself is handled separately. ## A practical example The coffee brand from the opening could create a brand guide with its dark green and cream palette, approved logo, fonts, and a note such as: > Use warm natural light, quiet compositions, and tactile materials. Avoid saturated colors, glossy plastic surfaces, and playful display type. If the team also likes a specific photographic mood for summer ads, they can save that as an artwork style guide and apply it when they want that look. Now a marketer making a social post and a designer exploring a campaign can start from the same brand rules, and optionally the same artistic direction, without rewriting the brief every time. ![On-brand generations guided by a brand system](https://blog-new.hidingelephant.com/content/images/2026/07/brand-guideline-generations-2.webp) ## Ellie gets smarter as you use it Brand guides and artwork style guides sit inside [Brand Intelligence](https://www.hidingelephant.com/how-it-works/brand-intelligence?ref=blog-new.hidingelephant.com), alongside your products and reusable assets. As you add more of that context and keep creating with it, Ellie has a clearer picture of your brand and style. Over time, generations feel less like starting from scratch and more like continuing from what your team already knows. ## Start with the brand rules people get wrong For an individual designer, a brand guide saves repeated setup. For a team, it also reduces interpretation. A new teammate does not need to find an old brief or ask which logo file is current before making a first draft. It will not make every result identical, and that is not the point. It gives exploration useful boundaries. You can create a brand guide or artwork style guide in [Brand Intelligence](https://www.hidingelephant.com/brand/guides?ref=blog-new.hidingelephant.com), then apply it while generating on the canvas. If you are just getting started, begin with the brand pieces people get wrong most often: logos, palette, a few strong references, and a short list of things to avoid. That is often enough to turn "close to our brand" into a much better first draft.