Title sounds familiar, hurrrrrrrrmmmm.

I like your item build, its basically the same as mine just in a different order lol pretty good tips and everything, although you could spend some time and make it a little easier to go through and read than just blocks of text. And what's with people centering their text? It just hurts my eyes.

Summoner spells are a little wacked. Ghost can't save you in a teamfight when you get targeted, nor is it useful for chasing a flashing opponent or a jumping one. i.e trynd/trist/kass/ezreal. Clarity is ok, but the only reason you need it is because throwing PoF everywhere and hitting nothing wastes mana. Just level up conflgration first.

Sounds fair enough, good luck with your editing. I still think Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration would fit better (even if you don't actually buy them in game). Clarity works fine, I don't have a problem with it (though I personally run Ignite- Flash).
As for the blue buff, actually the new EU meta is turning into 2 AP carries, a ranged DPS and support on bot, and a melee DPS jungle. You might be up for some competition for blue.
Anyway good luck with your guide.

I think that you get Needlessly Large Rod a little early but nice items

@Purpleges, I get Clarity because I find it very helpful in the early game. In my experience, I have gone solo top 2v1 and been zoned out or not able to participate in a gank because I ran out of mana. People don't realize it, but Pillar of Flame takes a huge chunk of your mana. Yes, many people don't run Clarity with Brand, but I think it is a great spell throughout the game. Ignite and Exhaust are okay, but they don't truly help your laning phase, they only help in securing kills, which really shouldn't be a problem as Brand.

@PsiGuard Thanks for the tips. I actually was writing this at 3 am, so there are bound to be many errors. I will reformat my guide within a few days to make it clearer, but I was just trying to get the gist of it out there. And again, Clarity just helps with the laning. Late game, you don't really need any extra mana items if you can obtain the blue buff. In a team comp, who is going to get blue buff over you? Another AP carry? Well if they are doing better than you are, sure, but Brand should always try to obtain a blue buff. This is also why I don't get any cooldown reduction items on him.

purpleges is right, you should be able to play Brand without Clarity. However, if you continue using this summoner spell, I suggest you change your seals to Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration. You have no mana regen in your build at all, so these will help late game when your Clarity becomes less useful.

I noticed in your main build, you only have Boots. Update it to include Sorcerer's Shoes.

I have no qualms with the rest of your items, runes, and masteries (except that Good Hands > Perseverence ), but the rest of your guide is in need of a proofread. You have several coding mistakes (like Rylai's Crystal Sceptor instead of Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Put some headings over the Pros/Cons section too, it will make it more clear.

I think the actual content of your guide seems great(tbh I didn't read the whole thing :3), just you need to work on formatting. You've got a very good start with some basic coding, but adding some color, icons, columns and headings will make your guide flashier and easier to read.

This guide will help a bit with different methods of coding and organization. See if there's anything you can use. If you like, you can PM me if you overhaul your guide. If I see a lot of major improvements, I'll probably give you an upvote. Good luck on your guide!

Instead of getting clarity why don't you just rush a catalyst...the passive is amazing sustain and you'll be able to build it into an roa later. You shouldn't be spamming your abilities in lane so much. I suggest not using abilities on minions unless you're pushing so you can go b. If you push the minions to their turret, they'll be able to last hit easier. Save your abilities for zoning. Restricting your lasthitting to auto attacks will push the lane slowly.