Brand Style Guide for a Shopify Store: One Page, Applied
A brand style guide for a small Shopify store fits on one page: your logo files and where each is used, three to five colors with HEX codes, two fonts, a few rules for how you write, and a description of your photos. Its job is practical. Anyone who edits the store, a freelancer, a new hire or you in six months, can set the theme, checkout, emails and packing slips the same way without guessing. Most of the guide maps to specific Shopify settings, listed below.
Shopify facts come from the Help Center pages on brand assets, Shopify Messaging template branding, checkout styling and packing slips, read on October 23, 2026.
The one-page guide
Copy this structure into a document and fill in each line with your own values:
Logo
- Default logo: PNG or JPEG, at least 512 px wide (Shopify’s minimum). Note which background it works on.
- Square logo: a mark that still reads when Shopify crops it to a circle; Shopify recommends 512 x 512 px.
- Clear space and the smallest size you allow.
Colors (with HEX codes)
- Primary: the color people associate with you.
- Secondary: a supporting color. Shopify’s secondary color field isn’t available on the Starter plan.
- Contrasting: the text and button color that stays readable on both.
- Accent for buttons and links, if different from the above.
Fonts
- One font for headings and one for body text, chosen from what your theme offers.
- A web-safe fallback for emails, because Shopify Messaging supports only web-safe fonts.
Voice
- Three words for how you sound, each with an example sentence, such as “plain: we write ‘Ships in 2 days’ rather than ‘Lightning-fast fulfillment’”.
- Words you use and words you avoid (do you say “customers” or “members”, “shop” or “store”?).
- How you sign off emails and who signs them.
Imagery
- Product photos: background color, angle, size ratio, how many per product.
- Lifestyle photos: who appears, in what setting, natural or studio light.
- What you never use, such as stock photos of people who aren’t your customers.
Slogan and short description
- The slogan (Shopify allows up to 80 characters) and the short description (up to 150), written once and used everywhere.
Keep only lines that change a decision someone makes when they edit the store.
Apply it in Shopify
Each part of the guide has a home in your admin. Set them in this order:
| Guide item | Where it goes in Shopify |
|---|---|
| Logos, colors, slogan, short description | Settings > General > Brand assets > Manage. Compatible themes, sales channels and apps that use Shopify’s Brand API read them |
| Theme logo, fonts, colors | The theme editor’s Theme settings. If the logo doesn’t appear, link it with Connect dynamic source under Theme settings > Logo |
| Checkout logo, colors, fonts | Settings > Checkout, then Edit next to your checkout configuration; the editor’s Settings sidebar has Logo, Color palette and Typography |
| Order and shipping emails | Settings > Notifications, where customer notifications can carry your logo and brand colors |
| Marketing emails | Apps > Messaging > Templates > Manage branding. Template branding starts from your Brand settings; Messaging needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for text such as the unsubscribe link |
| Packing slips | The packing slip template, customized with Liquid for layout and styling |
| Social profiles | The square logo and cover image from brand assets; on the Starter plan, social links are set in brand assets too |
Checkout and order notification emails don’t read brand assets automatically, and marketing email templates only start from them, which is how a store ends up with one logo on the website and another on the order confirmation. Go through all seven rows once after you finish the guide, and again whenever a color or logo changes.
The voice section has no setting. It shows up in product descriptions, the About page and every email; our guide to brand storytelling covers the words, and our Shopify branding guide goes into each setting in more detail.
Keep it current
- Keep one copy in a shared folder, with the logo files next to it, and link it from wherever your team keeps instructions.
- Change the guide first, then the settings. A color changed only in the theme leaves emails and checkout on the old one.
- Date every change at the top of the page, so a freelancer can see whether their copy is current.
- Review it once a year, or when you change themes, since a new theme brings its own font and color options.
More guides on brand and marketing are in the marketing and SEO hub.
Frequently asked questions
What should a brand style guide include for a small store? Logo files and their uses, three to five colors with HEX codes, a heading and a body font, a few voice rules with examples, photo rules, and your slogan and short description. One page is enough.
Where do I set brand colors in Shopify? Under Settings > General > Brand assets for the store-wide values, then in the theme editor’s Theme settings, the checkout editor, notification emails and Shopify Messaging’s template branding, because each of these has its own color settings.
What size should my logo be for Shopify? Shopify asks for a PNG or JPEG at least 512 pixels wide for the default logo and recommends 512 x 512 pixels for the square logo, which may be cropped to a circle.