Website style guide
A free template and 10 must-read links
A website style guide is a set of content and design principles that address every design and content element of your site.
These style guides establish rules and guidelines that help bring consistency to the voice of your product or service and shape your website’s personality.
A detailed style guide ensures consistency across all pages of your site.
Here is a free template that you can customize to your needs. It includes all the elements a thorough style guide should contain:
→ Content + Design Style Guide Template
Below are a few recommended resources* to help you get familiar with the basics of color, color theory, font choices and typography, and the role each plays in designing a successful website. Your site’s color choices, fonts and typography should all be included in your style guide.
Color
→ Your Guide to Colors: Color Theory, The Color Wheel & How to Choose a Color Scheme (HubSpot)
→ Color in Design: Influence on Users’ Actions (Tubik)
→ Color Theory for Designers: How To Create Your Own Color Schemes (Smashing Magazine)
Fonts & Typography
→ A Pro Designer Shares the Psychology of Font Choices (Crazy Egg)
→ A Typeface Overview For Print And Web Design (UX Planet)
→ Designing for Readability–A Guide to Web Typography (Designers)
(*At the time of writing, all links worked. Should a link be broken, please alert me so that I can fix it. Thank you!)
Bottom line: Without a style guide outlining your content and design choices, i.e. color, font and content-specific rules, your site can appear unprofessional and off-brand. Every new element on your site, regardless of when it was added or by whom, should follow one set of rules site-wide to enforce consistency.
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