--- title: "Machine-readable brand guides" url: "https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/article/machine-readable-brand-guides/" type: "article" category: ["Admin settings", "Highlighted features"] tags: ["DAM"] language: "en" published: "2026-11-06T08:55:01+00:00" updated: "2026-11-06T09:16:54+00:00" summary: "Describe your brand in a structured way, so AI tools and other systems can read it as brand.md and JSON, and use brand properties in your DAM designs. Currently in beta." --- # Machine-readable brand guides ![](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-09.30.04-1024x786.png?v=1793956606) > **Beta:** Machine-readable brand guides are currently in beta and will be available soon. The screens and options described in this article may change before release. A brand guide is usually written for people: a PDF or a web page that a designer or copywriter reads and interprets. AI tools and other systems can't reliably read a brand guide like that. They guess at which colour is the main one, which logo goes on a dark background, or which words the brand never uses. Machine-readable brand guides solve this. You describe your brand in Kontainer in a structured way, and Kontainer makes it available both as a visual brand guide for people and as structured files that AI tools and other systems can read. Every colour, font, logo and rule carries clear information about its role, how to use it and what to avoid. ## What you can use it for Because the brand information is structured, AI tools, other systems and your own team can use it to: - Understand and index your brand: who you are, what you offer, how you sound and how you look. - Generate on-brand text, such as product copy, campaign text and social media posts. - Generate on-brand images, videos and presentations that use the right colours, fonts and logos. - Follow your rules: preferred words, forbidden terms, logo clear space, and instructions that every AI tool must follow. - Embed brand guides visually in your DAM designs, using brand properties as flexible snippets in the Page Editor. ## Two formats: brand.md and JSON Each brand guide is available in three views: | View | What it is | Who it is for | | --- | --- | --- | | Formatted view | The visual brand guide with colour swatches, type samples, logos and do's and don'ts. | People | | brand.md | The brand guide as a Markdown file. | AI tools and language models, such as chat assistants and AI agents | | JSON | The brand guide as structured data. | Systems, integrations and developers | You can download the files, or copy the contents of brand.md directly and paste it into an AI tool. ## Preview what AI tools receive The **AI context preview** shows your brand guide as people see it and exactly what AI tools receive as brand.md and JSON. Switch between **Formatted view**, **brand.md** and **JSON** at the top of the page. Review the preview before you publish, so you know the information is complete and correct. From the preview you can: - Click **Download** to download the brand guide. - Click **Copy brand.md** to copy the Markdown version to your clipboard. ## Working with several brands If you manage more than one brand, choose the brand in the **Brand** menu at the top of the navigation. Each brand has its own brand guide, its own files and its own AI instructions, so information from one brand is never mixed with another. ## What a brand guide contains A brand guide is divided into sections. You fill in each section with descriptions and rules, and insert assets such as logos, icons and fonts from your DAM. ### Brand identity The basic description of the brand: - **Brand name**, **Industry** and **Geographic focus** - **Short description**: what the brand is and does, in a sentence or two - **Brand image**: an image that represents the brand - **Vision**: where the brand wants to be in the long run - **Mission**: what the brand does every day to get there - **Purpose**: why the brand exists, beyond what it sells - **Positioning**: who it is for, what it offers and how it differs from the alternatives ### Tone of voice How the brand sounds: - **Tone description**: how the brand sounds, in a few sentences - **Formality**: a scale from very casual to very formal - **Sentence style**: for example, short sentences in active voice - **Traits**: 3 to 6 traits that describe the voice, such as warm, calm or confident. Choose from the suggestions or add your own, and describe what each trait means for your brand. - **Examples** of the voice in use ### Words & writing The words the brand uses and avoids: | List | What it holds | | --- | --- | | Preferred terms | Words the brand chooses on purpose, with a note on how to use them. | | Terms to avoid | Words that are off-brand, what to write instead, and why. | | Forbidden terms | Words that must never be used, for example for legal reasons, and why. | | Naming | Rules for how the brand, products and collections are written, each with an example. | ### Visual identity The visual identity is split into pages such as **Colors**, **Typography**, **Logos**, **Icons**, **Imagery**, **Patterns**, **Social media** and **Business cards**. You can also add your own pages. Each item in the visual identity has fields that describe it for AI tools, such as its role, a description, what to use it for and what to avoid. ### Colors For each colour you can set: - **Name** and **Description**: what the colour stands for in the brand - **Role**: for example Primary, Secondary, Accent, Neutral, Background, Surface, Text, Success or Warning - **Color values**: enter the HEX value, and Kontainer shows the RGB and HSL values. CMYK is calculated from HEX, and you can adjust it to match your print profile. You can also add a Pantone reference. - **Usage**: what to use the colour for, and what to avoid A preview shows how the colour works with white and black text, so you can check readability. ### Typography For each font family you can set: - **Font name** and **Description** - **Role**: for example Primary, Secondary, Display, Body or Monospace - **Source**: for example Google Fonts, with the stylesheet URL from Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts - **Fallback**: fonts to use when this one is not available - **Styles**: the weights and styles in use, such as Regular 400 and SemiBold 600 - **Usage**: what to use the font for, and what to avoid ### Logos For each logo you can set: - **Name** and **Description** - **Role**: for example Primary, Secondary, Wordmark, Icon, Horizontal or Vertical - **Made for**: the background the logo is designed to sit on, such as light or dark backgrounds - **Logo file** from your DAM - **Minimum size** on screen (in pixels) and in print (in millimetres) - **Clear space**: the free space around the logo, for example 0.5 × the logo height, with a written description. A preview shows the clear space around the logo. - Do's and don'ts, such as which backgrounds to use and what not to do with the logo ### Icons On the Icons page you describe the icon style in general, for example outline icons with a fixed stroke width, and add do's and don'ts. You can attach an image to each rule to show what you mean. For each icon you can set: - **Name**, **Category** and **Style** - **Meaning**: what the icon stands for, so AI tools use it for the right thing - **Keywords**: words people might search for when they need the icon - **Icon file** from your DAM ### Brand rules General rules for the brand that apply across all channels and materials. ### AI instructions Instructions that every AI tool follows when it works with the brand. Write each instruction as a direct command, for example: - Use only approved assets from this brand context. - Never invent product claims, prices or certifications. - Never alter, recolour or recreate the logo. - If information is missing, ask instead of assuming. - Never mix information from other brands. ## Use brand guides in your DAM designs The brand properties you set up will also be available as resources in the [Page Editor](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/article/custom-landing-pages/) in your DAM. This means you can create brand guides as resources and embed them visually in your DAM designs. Instead of maintaining your brand guidelines in a separate document, you can use brand properties as flexible snippets in your page designs, for example: - Show your brand colours with their names, values and usage on a brand landing page. - Display your logos together with clear space, minimum sizes and do's and don'ts. - Present your typography, icons or tone of voice where your users need them. Because the snippets are based on the brand guide itself, your designs always show the current brand information. When you update a colour, a logo or a rule in the brand guide, you only need to do it in one place. ## Tips for a good machine-readable brand guide - **Be specific.** "Use for backgrounds and large areas" is more useful to an AI tool than "Our main colour". - **Fill in roles.** The role tells AI tools which colour, font or logo to choose first. - **Write down the don'ts.** AI tools follow explicit rules much better than implied ones. - **Describe meaning, not just appearance.** For icons and imagery, explain what they stand for and when to use them. - **Review the AI context preview** before you publish, and read the brand.md version the way an AI tool would. ## When will it be available? Machine-readable brand guides are in beta and will be available soon. We will update this article when the feature is released. If you want to know more or are interested in trying the feature, contact your Kontainer contact person. ## Other languages - [Dansk](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/da/article/maskinlaesbare-brand-guides/index.md) - [Deutsch](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/de/article/maschinenlesbare-brand-guides/index.md) - [Español](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/es/article/guias-de-marca-legibles-por-maquinas/index.md) - [Français](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/fr/article/chartes-de-marque-lisibles-par-machine/index.md) - [Nederlands](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/nl/article/machineleesbare-merkrichtlijnen/index.md) - [Svenska](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/sv/article/maskinlasbara-varumarkesguider/index.md) ## Related articles - [Custom folder design & landing pages (Page Editor)](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/article/custom-landing-pages/index.md): Create designs, guides and landing pages inside your folders to better introduce colleagues, partners, and customers to your content. Present an elegant and user-friendly platform customized to fit th… - [Multi-Brand Guide](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/article/multi-brand-guide/index.md): The Multi-Brand feature allows you to create and manage multiple branded experiences within a single Kontainer account. Each brand can have its own logo, colors, fonts, styling, and login experience,… - [AI Features for PIM](https://helpdesk.kontainer.com/article/ai-text-generation-and-translation/index.md): Set up AI text generation and translation on your PIM fields, and see which of the DAM AI features carry over to your product data.