Title: Do You Include a “Don’t Do This” Page in Your Brand Guidelines?
Brand guides often highlight the polished elements: logos, color palettes, and a handful of ideal example posts. But what about the mistakes?
A few years ago, I stepped back from creating content for my family’s business. The successor only had access to the good examples, so they never truly understood what “off” looked like. A friend reused an old flyer template, the cream color was off, and no one caught the inconsistency.
This experience has me wondering if a single, concise page of “don’t do this” examples could prevent common missteps. Wrong cream beside the correct shade, a cramped logo, spacing issues, and other subtle errors—these are often the hardest to catch when you’re focused on the positives.
Do you include a dedicated section in your brand guidelines for what not to do? If so, what does it cover, and how do you present it to ensure teams avoid these pitfalls?
