Today I thought I would talk with you about the importance of having a style guide when working with a virtual assistant (va).

If you are not familiar with the term, a style guide is a document that lists and shows examples of all the different fonts and sizes that are to be used when creating documents or graphics. The style guide should also contain a list and examples of brand colours with #hex codes and/or RGB values. It can also contain details about the brand itself, the logo and how it is to be used and positioned on documents and graphics.

The style guide is a very important document for a va to have access to as it will save an enormous amount of time, worry, frustration and it will keep everything consistent and “on brand”.

For va like myself, who likes to have everything perfect (or as close as humanly possible), a style guide is a must. Without it I would be lost. I would also be asking constant questions about what colours you like and do you like cursive font and where should the logo be positioned etc. And you as a client, would also spend countless hours proofing work only to be frustrated that it just didn’t look right and would be thinking “why can’t this va get anything right…”

A style guide solves these issues. But it is also a “living” document. Meaning that as your business and brand evolves, it does too. If you decide that a particular colour no longer suits then you can omit it from the document. Or if you want to change how the logo is to be placed on documents or images, then you can make changes within the style guide to reflect this.

A style guide doesn’t have to be many pages, only enough for you to express your brand details, colours, logo, preferred fonts and any other relevant information. There are plenty of programs that you can use to create your style guide.

If you would like some assistance to set up or review your style guide please contact me. I’d be happy to help.