Stilguides

Stilguides is a term used to describe a family of style guidelines designed to standardize written language, typography, color, and interaction design across media. Stilguides can be created by publishers, brands, software projects, or communities, and are intended to ensure consistency in tone, appearance, and user experience.

A typical Stilguide combines text rules and visual specifications: editorial style rules (spelling, capitalization, terminology, voice), typographic rules (font families, sizes, line height), color systems (primary and secondary palettes, accessibility contrast), layout and component rules (grid, spacing, states for UI elements), and accessibility guidelines (as per WCAG).

Governance and evolution: Stilguides are living documents that evolve through versions. They are governed by maintainers or stewards who incorporate feedback, update examples, and deprecate outdated rules. They often tie into a design system or content management workflows.

Impact and critique: Stilguides help teams reduce ambiguity and improve efficiency, but can become bureaucratic if not managed with flexibility, and require ongoing maintenance to avoid drift.

See also: Style guide; Design system; Content strategy.