How to create brand guidelines for video

What are video brand guidelines?

Video brand guidelines are the part of your brand book that sets out how your brand looks and sounds in video. They adapt your logo, colour and type rules for moving images, and add what only video needs: motion, sound, captions and a layout for each format.

A complete set covers:

• The logo on screen: version, position, size and time on screen
• Typography, captions and on-screen text
• Colour, footage and stock footage
• Motion, templates and end cards
• Sound, music and voiceover
• Aspect ratios and accessibility
• Rules for AI-generated content
• Who owns the guidelines and how they’re updated

Many brand books were written for print and websites, so they stop short of video. The result shows up on screen: a logo that flashes past in half a second, captions in a default font, or a lower third in a blue that’s close to the brand’s but not quite.

Below, we go through each part with example rules you can adapt. The examples use real numbers on purpose. Swap in your own values, but keep them as specific, because an editor can check a precise rule without having to interpret it.

The logo on screen

The logo rules in many brand books assume a still page. On screen, you also need to say where it sits, how big it is relative to the frame, how long it stays and how it arrives.

Cover these points:

• Which version to use: the full logo, the symbol only, or a wordmark, and which colourway goes over light footage, dark footage and busy footage.
• Position, such as bottom right for a persistent bug and centred for the end card.
• Size as a share of the frame, not in pixels, so it works at every resolution. For example: “At least 8% of frame width on the end card.”
• Minimum time on screen. For example: “The end-card logo stays on screen for at least two seconds.”
• Clear space around it, also as a share of the frame.
• Animation. If you have an approved logo sting or animated reveal, link to the master file and say it must not be re-animated or retimed.
• What’s not allowed: stretching, recolouring, drop shadows, placing it over faces or text, or running it at low opacity.

Add a still frame showing the correct placement at 16:9 and 9:16. A picture of the right answer settles more questions than a paragraph.

Typography, captions and on-screen text

Text in video has to be read in a few seconds, often on a small screen, sometimes over moving footage. Your print type rules are a starting point, but they need adapting.

Fonts and sizes

Name the typefaces and weights for each kind of on-screen text: titles, lower thirds, captions, data callouts and end cards. Set sizes relative to frame height so they hold up across formats, and set a minimum that stays readable on a phone. For example: “Lower-third names in the brand sans, semibold, at least 4% of frame height.”

Say which fallback font to use if the brand font isn’t available in a tool, so editors don’t pick one themselves.

Captions and subtitles

Captions are often styled by whoever exports the file, so they often vary from one video to the next. Decide:

• Font, size, colour and background box or outline.
• Position, and how high to lift captions in vertical video so platform buttons don’t cover them.
• Maximum lines and characters per line.
• Whether captions are burned in or delivered as a separate file, for each platform.

Reading time and copy

Set a minimum on-screen time for text. A simple way to set it is a fixed minimum plus extra time per word. For example: “Every text card stays on screen for at least two seconds, plus half a second for every three words.”

List the words that must always appear exactly as written: taglines, product names, legal lines, and how to write numbers, dates and prices.

Colour, footage and imagery

Colour for screens

Give every brand colour as RGB and HEX values for screens. Print values don’t translate reliably to video.

Then say how colour is used in motion: which colours are for backgrounds and which are for text or accents, which text and background pairs are allowed, and the minimum contrast between them. For example: “White text only on brand navy or brand teal. Never on brand yellow.”

Add a note on grading. A strong grade can shift graphics that sit over footage. State that graphics and title cards are added after the grade, or are checked against the palette once it’s applied.

Footage and photography style

Describe what your footage should feel like in concrete terms: natural or stylised light, real people or actors, handheld or locked-off camera, close-ups or wide shots. Include a few reference stills of footage that’s right and footage that isn’t.

Stock footage

Set rules for stock: which libraries are approved, which licence level is needed, and that preview files with watermarks must never reach a client cut. Ask editors to log the source and licence of every clip, so nobody has to work it out later.

Motion, templates and end cards

How the brand moves

Motion is part of a brand’s personality. A bank and a snack brand shouldn’t move the same way. Describe your motion in a few plain rules: the speed of transitions, the type of easing, which transitions are allowed and which aren’t. For example: “Cuts and simple fades only. No spins, wipes or zooms.”

If you have motion design files, such as animated title styles or a transition library, link to them and say which version is current.

Templates for recurring elements

Templates stop many errors before they happen, because editors start from a file that’s already right. Build and share project files for:

• Title cards and section headers
• Lower thirds for names and job titles
• Data callouts and quote cards
• Caption styles
• End cards for each campaign type or market

Give each template a clear version number and store them in one place, so editors always start from the current file.

End cards and calls to action

End cards change from campaign to campaign, which makes them easy to get wrong. Specify the layout, the logo version, the URL format, how long it stays on screen and how the call to action is worded. If different campaigns or markets need different end cards, list each one and when to use it.

Sound, music and voice

Sound is often left out of brand guidelines entirely, even though viewers hear it in almost every video.

Music

Describe the kind of music that fits the brand, with a few reference tracks. Say which music libraries are approved and what licence is needed. If you have a sonic logo or audio sting, give the master file and say where it plays, such as only on the end card.

Voiceover

Describe the voice in plain terms: pace, warmth, accent preferences and how formal it should sound. Add a pronunciation list for the brand name, product names and any difficult words. A mispronounced brand name in a voiceover is as off-brand as a wrong logo.

Levels

Set clear rules for how music sits under dialogue, and a delivery loudness for each destination. Broadcast usually has a fixed loudness standard, such as EBU R128 in Europe. Online platforms publish their own recommendations, so list the ones you deliver to and check them once a year.

Formats, platforms and accessibility

Aspect ratios

Many brands now deliver the same video in several shapes. Your guidelines should show how the layout changes in each, with a reference frame for every ratio you use.

Aspect ratio	Typical use	What to specify
16:9	Website, YouTube, presentations, TV	Standard logo position and title layout
9:16	Stories, Reels, Shorts and other vertical feeds	Safe zones clear of platform buttons, larger text, caption height
1:1 or 4:5	Social feeds	How titles and logo reposition, what gets cropped

Platform interfaces change, so link to each platform’s current safe-zone guidance instead of copying fixed numbers into your brand book.

Accessibility

Treat accessibility as part of the brand and write it into the same guidelines:

• Captions on every video with speech.
• Enough contrast between text and background, using a stated minimum.
• No important information shown only as text that disappears too fast, or only in sound.
• Avoid rapid flashing effects.
• A transcript or audio description where your market or sector requires one.

These rules make videos easier for everyone to follow, including the many people who watch with the sound off.

Rules for AI-generated content

If your team or agencies use AI to generate shots, voices or music, your guidelines should say where that’s allowed. Leaving it out means each editor decides alone.

Points to settle:

• Where AI-generated footage is allowed, such as backgrounds and b-roll, and where it isn’t, such as product shots or real customers.
• Whether synthetic voices or AI avatars can be used, and for which kinds of content.
• That generated people must not look like real, identifiable people without permission.
• Whether AI content must be labelled, and how. Some platforms and markets have their own disclosure rules, so link to the ones that apply to you.
• That AI-generated material goes through the same brand review as everything else. Generated shots can drift from your palette and style as easily as stock footage.

Keeping the guidelines alive

A video section that nobody owns soon goes out of date, because platforms change and brands refresh.

Give it an owner

Name one person or team responsible for the video guidelines. They approve changes, answer editors’ questions and decide on edge cases. Add their name and contact to the front page of the document.

Version it

Put a version number and date on the cover, keep a short change log at the back, and archive old versions where nobody can pick them up by mistake. When you update, tell every agency and freelancer you work with, and replace the old file wherever it’s shared.

Review it regularly

Once or twice a year, look at the videos you’ve published and the feedback editors have given. Recurring questions point to rules that are unclear. Recurring mistakes point to rules that are missing or templates that need fixing.

Write it so it can be checked

Every rule in this guide uses a number, a named file or a clear yes or no. That makes the guidelines easier for editors to follow and possible to check automatically. Our post on AI brand review for video explains how to tighten existing rules for that.

Daab.app reads your brand guidelines PDF and any custom instructions, then reviews each video against them for logo placement, size and version, colour, fonts, on-screen typos, tagline misuse and watermarked stock. Issues appear as comments at the exact timestamp, so every cut gets checked against your guidelines, including the ones nobody had time to review by hand.

FAQ

What is the difference between a brand book and a video style guide?

A brand book sets the overall identity: logo, colours, fonts and tone of voice. A video style guide applies those rules to moving images and adds what only video needs, such as motion, sound, captions, end cards and layouts for each aspect ratio. Many brands keep the video style guide as a section of the brand book.

How long should video brand guidelines be?

Long enough to answer the questions editors actually ask, and no longer. A short document with plenty of example frames, plus a folder of templates, usually works better than a long one. Short, specific rules are easier to follow than long descriptions.

Who should write video brand guidelines?

The brand or marketing team owns them, but write them with the people who make the videos: in-house editors, a motion designer and your main agency. They know where the current rules leave gaps.

Do small teams need video brand guidelines?

Yes, even if it’s a two-page document and a few templates. Small teams often rely on freelancers, and a short written guide saves explaining the same rules to every new editor.

Should video brand guidelines include templates?

Yes. Templates for title cards, lower thirds, captions and end cards stop many errors before they happen, because editors start from a file that’s already correct.

Where to start

You don’t need to write the whole video section at once. Start with the three areas that cause the most rework in your videos, which for many teams are the logo, captions and end cards. Write those rules with real numbers, build a template for each, and share them with every editor and agency you work with. Add the other sections over the next few months.

Once your guidelines are written, Daab can check every video against them. Try Daab.app free by uploading your guidelines and a recent video, or email hello@daab.app for a demo.