Welcome to my introduction to my favourite champion type: Bruisers.
The way I see a bruiser, is someone who gets in and does his damage, advantages of bruisers over glass include their sustainability and durability.
If you are looking for an in-depth guide on a specific champion this isn't the place to go, I'm just here to give some of my thoughts on how to play using this style.

I will also add more bruiser basic builds as I find more viable items, champions and styles.

Pros: More Damage than full Tank
Lots of durability
Not prone to focusing
Dangerous late game
Generally Strong Early game

Cons: Requires decent amount of farm
Often mistaken for full tank
Carries still do more damage
Sometimes frowned upon :(

These are some of the summoner spells I consider viable on bruisers:
Ignite: Is quite strong on most bruisers, I take this on every bruiser I play, unless Jungling, that 50% healing reduction can be handy. (Damn Soraka's)

Exhaust: 50% reduction of enemy damage is really handy, plus if mastered in masteries, provides reduced armour aswell, I generally take this on any bruiser without a decent stun/slow or gap closer, I.E Garen.

Ghost: Great for bruisers like Garen, Olaf, Dairus works especially well with Merc Treads, as you get that reduced CC. Covers more distance than Flash.

Flash: No explanation necessary.

Smite: Only take if your bruising the jungle. :)

No No's: Surge/revive: Karthus only viable person to have revive on lol's plus surge is just for Teemo and his global taunt.

I think Heal would be viable, but I prefer more aggression.

Boots:
Mercury Treads: The Ideal Boots for a bruiser, the CC reduction and magic resist goes well with the decent health pool you can build up.
Ninja Tabi: Same as merc treads, but for those AD heavy teams.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Pretty handy, especially for those bruisers with bucketloads of CC or Olaf and his true damage.

Regular Items Seen on Bruisers:
Now I prefer to go for the aggressive damage in Maw (hex drinker upgrade) and Atma's impaler, Combined with a Randuin's and Trinity-force/Frozen mallet, gives you a decent health pool with super damage, with a decent amount of resists to back you up.
I take this item combo on about every bruiser I play.
I finish it up with either some life steal in Zeke's/ Wriggles or Bloodthirster, or if necessary buy an AoL for that defensive Aura.


Trinity Force or Frozen Mallet?
Completely dependent on the champion, now for champions that have abilities that apply on-hits, for example Wukong, I prefer Trinity-Force.
But champs like Olaf, I prefer Frozen Mallet for the advantage of health and that passive slow.

Maw: This gives magic resist, damage, and a bubble. YAY. Works too well with Olaf as he gets low.

Atma's: Still strong after a slight nerf, 1.5% of your max health as damage seems small, but in this build, you can rack up to around 3k health on some champs.

Randuin's Omen: Armour, Health, Health Regen and to top it off, a kick-*** active, there's many great things to come from this item, but, if the full tank is taking this, I would consider replacing it with Frozen Mallet if you have gotten your Trinity, but if your not planning on Trinity, go with some more health in sun fire or warmog's.

Warmog's: Great health boost, I only take this if a Randuin's isn't needed, I.E someone else has already got one. But is viable on any bruiser.

Some other great items:
Bloodthirster: Lifesteal and Damage. YAY!
Ghostblade: Isn't too great, but the active can surprise an opponent.
Zeke's: Life Steal Aura/ Attack speed, nuff said.
Wriggles: Life Steal, Armour, free ward, Great to pick up if your losing your lane aswell.
Aegis: If your support or tank isn't picking it up, but Randuin's has been, definitely consider this.
Infinty Edge: This item can be pretty strong, generally I only pick this up if I'm not getting focused.

This build is to only be used if your team can supply a lot of damage already.
The reason for this build, is to be able to get 5 stacks of his passive onto someone, and perma-slow them, as the W will have around a 1 second cooldown with the 40% CDR. You will be able to take ALOT of punishment. The main problem with this build is that it is very expensive.
If you are going to be unable to complete the build in your game, I recommend getting to a finished randuins, Aegis and Shurelias. The other 2 items be whatever you can afford that provides CDR or durability.

Simple tips: Keep the wards up, be wary of ganks, and just farm until you see fit to group up with your team to push.
Same as any other play style really.

As a bruiser, your job is to do some decent damage to the enemy carry, or protecting yours, whichever is more vital to the team, if you have larger amounts of hard CC it would be wiser to protect your own carry, while, if you hold alot of gap closers like Wukong, your best bet would be to focus the carry, while doing damage to the rest of the team.

Initiating: If your playing someone with a strong initiation, E.G. Wukong your job is to initiate the fight. However if your playing someone like Garen, your job is to be right behind your tank when he decides to jump in.

Just stick on that carry until he's dead, then jump on the next bloke.

In summary: Durability + Damage = Pain to opposing team
Keep others off your squishies.
Make sure to look at what your teams building.

Still under construction, but advice and item tips won't be ignored.

Champion requests accepted, just gimme time to play them after the request and see what I can do with it :)