Guidelines that
write themselves.
Anchr Guide reads the brand from the Illustrator file you already built, places it into a designed template and saves a PDF. Folio writes the tone of voice and the usage rules you set in the panel into the guidelines, and the brand portal publishes them whatever the template.
It reads the brand from your file.
No retyping. Everything Anchr Guide needs is already in the document, and every field stays yours to change.
Colours
Up to six colours from the named swatches of the document, with Illustrator's default swatches filtered out. HEX, RGB and CMYK are written wherever the template shows a colour.
Typefaces
The header, subheader and body roles are prefilled from the fonts in use. Pick any installed font instead, and the name and style are written as the foundry spells them.
Logos
Set the logomark, the logotype and the full logo from your selection. Anchr saves each one as SVG and places it where the template expects it, on the pages that show it.
The brand name comes from the document name. Edit anything, and Anchr keeps your edits the next time it prefills.
No Illustrator file at hand? Try the free brand guidelines generator: a one-page brand sheet from your logo, in your browser.
The words a file cannot hold.
The Voice and rules section of the panel holds the tone of voice and the usage rules. Folio, the 12-page template, writes all of it into the guidelines; Atlas takes the minimum sizes on its Minimum Size page. Publish the brand with Anchr Portal and they fill its Voice and Usage sections, whatever the template.
Tone of voice
Six presets, Confident, Warm, Premium, Playful, Expert and Minimal, each a one-line summary and five principles. Start from one and rewrite any line; the summary and the principles fill the Tone of voice page of Folio and the Voice section of the brand portal.
Clear space and minimum size
When Anchr Grid draws the clear space, it records the measurement in the document, and Guide states the real rule, such as X is the width of the logomark, or at least 1.2 cm. Set a minimum size for the logomark, the logotype and the full logo, in mm for print and px for screen. Folio gives each rule its own page, the clear space with a diagram; Atlas prints the sizes on its Minimum Size page. Both rules appear in the Usage section of the portal.
Do's and don'ts
One rule per line, prefilled with standard rules you can keep, rewrite or delete. Folio prints both lists on its Do's and don'ts page, and the Usage section of the brand portal shows them next to the clear space and the minimum sizes.
Without a Grid measurement, the clear space rule uses the height of the logomark. Narrow, the one-page summary, has no rule page; the portal still publishes the rules.
Three templates, from twenty pages to one.
Atlas, in 20 pages, for the full guidelines. Folio, in 12 pages, with the tone of voice and the usage rules written in. Narrow, in one page, for the summary a small client actually reads. Filter by length, pick one, generate.
- Output
- A PDF, saved to Desktop/Anchr Guide History and named after the brand, that also opens in Illustrator for edits.
- Colour codes
- HEX, RGB and CMYK, wherever the template shows a colour.
- Typefaces
- Family and style, written as the foundry spells them.
- Voice and rules
- Folio writes all of it: a Tone of voice page, a Clear space page with a diagram, a Minimum size page and a Do's and don'ts page. Atlas's Minimum Size page gets the minimum size rule and the sizes of each logo version. Narrow has no rule page. The brand portal publishes all of it, whatever the template.
- Page numbers and year
- Generated with the document.
- Apply Changes
- Re-applies the brand to an open guidelines document when a colour or a font changes after delivery.
- Brands library
- Save a brand (name, fonts, six colours, logos) and reuse it for the next deliverable.
- Requires
- Adobe Illustrator 2023 or newer, macOS 12 or Windows 10 and later.
How it works.
Open the brand's Illustrator file
Anchr Guide fills the name, the colours and the three type roles from it. Correct anything that should read differently.
Set the three logos
Select the logomark and click Set Logomark; the same for the logotype and the full logo.
Set the voice and the rules
Pick a tone preset and adjust its principles, enter the minimum sizes, and check the do's and don'ts. Draw the clear space with Anchr Grid first and Guide uses its measurement. Folio writes all of it into the guidelines, Atlas the minimum sizes, and the portal publishes it whatever the template.
Pick a template
Filter by length, 1, 12 or 20 pages, and choose Atlas for the full guidelines, Folio for 12 pages with the voice and the rules, or Narrow for a one-page summary.
Generate
The guidelines open in Illustrator and the PDF lands on your desktop. Changed a colour later? Apply Changes updates the open document in place.
Questions designers ask.
No. Name your swatches in Illustrator and Anchr Guide reads up to six of them, then writes the HEX, RGB and CMYK values wherever the template shows a colour.
Yes. The guidelines open in Illustrator as a normal document, and the PDF keeps its editability. Change a sentence, move a logo, add a page.
The parts that belong to the brand, yes: the name, colour codes, typefaces, logos, page numbers and the year. Folio also writes the tone of voice, the clear space rule, the minimum sizes and the do's and don'ts, each on its own page, and shows six misuses drawn from the brand's own logo. Atlas takes the minimum sizes on its Minimum Size page, and its Logo Misuse page keeps its own six illustrated don'ts. The template carries the structure around them, and every sentence remains editable in Illustrator. The brand portal publishes the voice and the rules, whatever the template.
From Anchr Grid. When Grid draws the clear space guide, it records the measurement in the document, and Guide states the rule from it, such as X is the width of the logomark, or at least 1.2 cm. Without a Grid measurement, the rule uses the height of the logomark. Folio writes it on its Clear space page, with a diagram, and the brand portal shows it in its Usage section.
Change the swatch, open the guidelines and click Apply Changes. The document is updated in place, then publish the new version to the portal so the link shows it.
Both, if you want. Anchr Guide produces the PDF. To give the client a page instead of a file, publish the same brand with Anchr Portal.
How to write the guidelines, in detail.
- Brand color codes: HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone and RAL, done right
HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK for print, Pantone for spot inks, RAL for paint: what each code is for and how to write a palette nobody misreads. · 9 min
- Logo variations: the versions a brand needs and where each is used
What each logo variation is, where it goes, how many a small client needs compared with a large one, and how to name and document them in the guidelines. · 10 min
- Logo size in pixels for websites, social media and print (2026)
The logo sizes a website, a social profile, an email signature and a printer ask for, and how to set up the Illustrator artboards so exports come out right. · 9 min
- Brand guidelines PDF vs online: what clients actually open
PDF or online brand guidelines? What each format does well, where each fails, and how to decide for each type of client. · 8 min
- Minimum logo size: test it in Illustrator, then document it
Why every logo needs a minimum size, how to find it with real tests instead of a guess, and how to document it so people respect it. · 9 min
- What to include in brand guidelines: the freelancer edition
Which sections always matter, which only sometimes, and how to size the document to the client instead of the template. · 9 min
Everything you make here goes on the brand portal your client actually opens.
Colours, type, logo files and usage rules, published from Illustrator to one hosted page. No PDF, no attachment, always the current version.
Write the guidelines in the time it takes to read this.
Anchr Guide turns the file you already built into a PDF, then a page your client keeps.
Start your brand