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Adding Contextual Information

Use Notes, Banners, and Guides to explain your Assets and communicate usage rules.

Edward Boatman avatar
Written by Edward Boatman
Updated today

Assets alone don't tell the full story. Notes, Guides and Banners add the context your audience needs—explanations, instructions, and usage rules that make your Kit actually useful.

Only Kit Editors can add contextual information.

Notes

Notes are flexible content blocks for any kind of explanation or context. Simply drag the Note content block from the Insert Panel to your Canvas, then add your text.

What to include

  • Introductions - Set context at the start of a Page

  • Instructions - Explain how to use Assets

  • Callouts - Highlight important information

  • Descriptions - Explain what visitors are looking at

Formatting options

Notes support rich text formatting:

  • Bold and italic

  • Headings (H1, H2)

  • Bulleted and numbered lists

  • Links

  • Blockquotes

  • Horizontal rules

  • Inline code

Styling Notes

Customize how Notes appear using the Action Menu/Display panel:

Card color - Apply semantic background colors:

  • None - no background or padding

  • Neutral - General content or less emphatic information

  • Info - Informational callouts

  • Warning - Cautions or important notices

  • Success - Confirmations or best practices

Size - From Thumbnail to Full Width

Tip: you can customize the preset colors in your theme. Read How Theming Works to learn more.


Banners

Banners are images that provide visual context alongside your Assets—think hero images, section dividers, or illustrative examples. Unlike regular Assets, Banners aren't meant to be downloaded and used; they're there to support and enhance your Kit's presentation.

When to use Banners

Banners work well for:

  • Page introductions - Set the tone with a hero image at the top of a Page

  • Visual dividers - Break up content with illustrative imagery

  • Context images - Show Assets in real-world applications

  • Mood boards - Display inspirational imagery that supports your content

Banners vs. Assets

Banners are actually just assets that are preconfigured with display settings to look like banners. This is such a common use case that we included the banner block on the insert panel to save a few clicks.

After you've created a banner, you can always adjust the display settings using the Action Menu to change size, alignment, and allow downloads just like any other asset block.


Guides

Guides are specialized content blocks for usage rules. They're perfect for brand guidelines, do's and don'ts, and specifications.

Adding a Guide

  1. Navigate to the Page where you want to add a guideline

  2. Drag a Guide content block from the Insert Panel

  3. Choose Do or Don't

  4. Add your text and optional image

Do vs. Don't

Every Guide is marked as either Do or Don't:

Do (green with checkmark)

  • Approved usage and best practices

  • "Maintain clear space around the logo"

  • "Use the primary logo on light backgrounds"

Don't (red with X)

  • Prohibited usage to prevent mistakes

  • "Don't place the logo on busy backgrounds"

  • "Don't rotate or distort the logo"

Toggle between Do and Don't using the Action Menu—look for the toggle in the Display Panel.

Text-only or with imagery

Guides can be text-only or include an image:

Text-only - Best for specifications and rules:

  • Color values

  • File format requirements

  • Size guidelines

With images - Best for visual examples:

  • Correct vs. incorrect usage

  • Placement demonstrations

  • Before/after comparisons

Toggle between modes using the Action Menu.

Supported image formats: JPG, PNG, HEIC, WEBP, SVG, TIFF

Where to place Guides

Put Guides near the content they refer to:

  • Logo guidelines in your Logos Page

  • Color rules in your Colors Page

  • Typography specs with your Fonts

Making Guides effective

  • Be specific - "Minimum size: 24px" beats "Don't make it too small"

  • Use examples - Show correct and incorrect usage

  • Keep it scannable - People skim; make key points stand out

  • Prioritize - Put the most important rules first

Code Snippets

While code snippets are actually created as an asset, in some cases they can be used to support you assets. Perhaps you are including code snippets for web developers to implement icons or other assets in a web project. You can use the display options to adjust the size and alignment of code snippets to fit your layout needs.

Learn more

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