Should I put all font weights and widths on my brand guidelines?

Question

I'm creating a brand guideline, in which my logo uses one typeface for the logo, and one typeface for the slogan.

• The logo typeface only has one weight which is bold
• The slogan typeface has multiple weights and witdhs; I use a regular weight, and a light weight.

Should I put only this two variants on my guidelines or should I put 'em all?

Answer 1

You might want to put them all and add the conditions (do and donts) on when to use the light or the regular weight.

For example:

• Maybe you use the light weight font on the slogan when the background is light or white, and/or when the logo has a minimum size of 3" width.
• And maybe you use the regular weight when the background is dark or black, and/or when the logo is used at very small size.

---

What you want is to avoid seeing your client use the slogan with the font weight/size that will make it unreadable or unclear! So for these reasons, it's not a bad idea to be specific.

You certainly used different weight for a good reason and it's important to mention them in the guideline.

Answer 2

It's not necessary to mention the font the logo / tagline is made with at all, because that could give the illusion that the client can recreate it themselves, when you no doubt spent much time tweaking the space between the letters, etc. to make these items perfect.

You should supply the logo and tagline in vector format, with the fonts turned to outline, so the font should never be an issue.

What would be appropriate to mention in the guidelines is, the font that is to be used alongside the logo / tagline for body copy in supplemental materials and how it is to be used (for ex: headline, subhead, body copy, etc).