# What makes a brand rule easy to follow > Six things that let a designer, an agency or an AI agent follow a brand rule without a question: an exact value, an example, a reason, the file, a date. A brand rule is easy to follow when a person who was not in the meeting can apply it without a question. Six things make that possible. A rule does not need all six, but a vague rule usually does not have at least one of them. Each note on the quotes on this site says which of the six the quoted rule has. The examples below are made up, to show each thing. The quotes on the [parts](https://aibrandguidelines.org/parts) and [examples](https://aibrandguidelines.org/examples) pages are real. - **Exact value: A value anyone can check.** A color code, a size, a font name, or a word to use. Vague: “Use our blue.” Fixed: “Blue: #2457C5 on screen, Pantone 2728 C in print.” - **Right and wrong: A right and a wrong example.** The rule followed and the rule broken, side by side. Vague: “Keep error messages friendly.” Fixed: “Do: “Try a file under 20 MB.” Do not: “Oops!! Too big!!”” - **Where it applies: Where it applies, and where not.** Print or screen, product or marketing, and what the rule does not cover. Vague: “Use the green.” Fixed: “Green is for buttons only. Never for text.” - **Reason: Why the rule exists.** With the reason, people can handle the cases that the rule does not list. Vague: “Never shorten our name.” Fixed: “Never shorten our name: people search for it in full.” - **Real file: The file, not a picture of it.** A link to the logo, font, or template that people must use. Vague: “See the logo above.” Fixed: “Download logo-primary.svg and logo-white.svg.” - **Date: When it last changed.** The date of the last change, and the person to ask. Vague: “Brand guidelines.” Fixed: “Brand guidelines v3.2, changed 4 March 2026. Ask the brand team.” ## Exact value: a value that anyone can check “Use our blue” makes a designer pick a blue from a screenshot, and it makes an agent pick a blue that it already knows. “Blue: #2457C5 on screens, Pantone 2728 C in print” leaves nothing to pick. Give each value in every form that people need. These are hex for screens, CMYK and Pantone for print, the font name and weight, and the minimum size in pixels and millimeters. Words need exact values too. “Write in plain English” is a direction, but “say ‘sign in’, not ‘log in’” is a rule. ## Right and wrong: an example of each A rule with one example of the rule followed and one example of the rule broken stops most arguments. Put the two examples next to each other. Label them in words, and not only with a check mark and a cross in a picture. Then the examples also work when people or agents read the guide as text. ## Where it applies, and where it stops People apply rules in places that the rule was not for. Say where each rule stops: print or screen, the product or marketing, the main logo or the app icon. For a voice trait, say what the trait is not, for example “dry, but not sarcastic”. ## Reason: why the rule exists With the reason, people can handle the cases that the rule does not list. Here is an example: “Leave clear space around the logo, so that the logo never looks attached to something else.” With that reason, a designer knows what to do on a crowded partner page that the rule does not mention. ## Real file: the file, not a picture of it A picture of a logo in a PDF is not a logo. Link the files that people need. These are the logo in SVG and PNG, each color version of the logo, the fonts or the place to license them, and the templates. If an AI agent has only a picture of the logo, the agent will draw the logo again. ## Date: when it last changed Copies of a guide stay in use after the guide changes. A date and a version on every page tell a reader if the rules are current. A named contact tells them who to ask. Also say what changed, so that people know what to update. ## How to find the gaps in your own guide Take one part of your guide, for example the logo. Then read its rules one at a time, and ask these questions: - Exact value: Can a person check this rule with a ruler, a color picker, or a word search? If not, add the value. - Right and wrong: Is there an example of the rule followed and an example of it broken, with labels in words? - Where it applies: Does the rule say where it applies? - Reason: Does the rule give its reason? - Real file: Is the file that the rule refers to one click away? - Date: Does the page say when it last changed, and who to ask? A rule does not need all six. A color value needs an exact value and the file more than it needs a reason. A voice trait needs a right and a wrong example, and where it stops, more than anything else. --- Source: https://aibrandguidelines.org/start/good-rules Last updated: 2026-11-11 Published by Annotated Guidelines. Annotated Guidelines is run by the team at Rainbrand.