Style guide
A documented set of visual and written standards for a product — covering typography, color, iconography, tone of voice, and usage rules.
What it is
A style guide is the human-readable documentation of a design system. Where a design system provides the components and tokens, a style guide explains the rules: when to use this button vs that one, what tone to use in error messages, how to handle empty states, which icons mean what. Style guides range from simple one-pagers to comprehensive books. They're especially important for ensuring consistency when multiple people contribute to a product over time.
When you would use it
When multiple people work on a product and you need everyone to make consistent decisions.
Common operations
- Looking up the approved color palette before designing a new screen.
- Checking the writing guidelines before drafting an error message.
- Onboarding a new designer or developer by pointing them to the style guide.
Related terms
Where this is taught
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