is a brand guidelines document out of scope?

A minimal usage note can reasonably accompany logo delivery — clear space, core colors, a few don'ts — and many designers include that as a courtesy. A full guidelines document is a different animal: a structured manual codifying the entire identity. The line is between a quick reference that helps the client use the mark correctly and a comprehensive brand book that documents a whole system. The first can ride along with the logo; the second is its own project.

Scope it by what it contains, then price it as a standalone deliverable rather than a small add-on. A real brand book involves defining and documenting color systems, typography, spacing, imagery, voice, and application examples — work that can approach the logo itself in effort. Quote a flat fee tied to the sections and depth you'll deliver, not an hourly rate that invites the document to balloon. If the client wants something lighter, that's a smaller, separately priced version.

Close the gap calmly by pointing to what the logo engagement actually delivered versus what a guidelines document is. Explain that the mark is complete and the book is a distinct piece of work, and offer it as a clearly scoped next step. If a quick usage sheet would satisfy the underlying need, offer that as a low-cost middle ground. Don't absorb a full manual to avoid the conversation — name the difference, and let the client choose.

Scale and ambition. A usage sheet is a page or two covering the essentials of using the logo correctly — clear space, color values, basic restrictions. A full brand book is a multi-section system that governs the entire identity: how color, type, imagery, and voice all work together, with rules and examples. One helps a client avoid misusing the mark; the other equips an organization to apply a coherent brand everywhere. They're different deliverables with very different price tags.

It can, which is why precise language matters. 'Brand identity' is broader than 'logo' and may reasonably imply some system-level documentation, so a client reading it that way isn't being unreasonable. If your proposal used that phrase without defining the deliverables, you're closer to ambiguous territory and a fair split may be in order. The fix going forward is to list exactly what 'identity' includes — logo, files, and whether or not guidelines are part of it.

Including a light usage sheet by default is often smart and inexpensive, and it heads off this exact request. A full brand book, though, is substantial enough that you'll want to keep it as a separately priced offering rather than bundle it silently. The cleanest approach is to state in your proposal precisely what the logo package delivers and to position full guidelines as an available next-step engagement, so the boundary is set before anyone assumes the book is coming.