A workshop covering the basics of visual identity. Green Hectares offers this content as part of an initiative to enable rural communities with technology.
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Microsoft, Explorer, Outlook, Windows , are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/
or
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3. Why is Visual Indentity important?
• Clearly separates company from competition
• Brand recognition
12. Typography & Text Size
• M yriad P ro C ond e ns e d
• Times New Roman
• Arial Narrow
• Body Copy: 10 point text
• Heading: 18 point text
• Sub Heading: 14 point text
17. Choosing Colours
• Good contrast between background and font
colours
• Colours and graphics that do not make text
difficult to read
18. Choosing Colours
• Coincide colours with company image
• Apply colours to as many pieces of marketing
materials as you can think of
• Good contrast between background and font colours
• Colours and graphics that do not make text difficult
to read
19. What Not to Choose
•Do not use too many colours.
•Try to stay within the colour themes of your
business
•Start off black and white and add colours
afterwards
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Welcome to Visual Identity - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The purpose of this workshop is intended to teach the students the importance of branding; go through the process of creating a logo and colour scheme. Ensure business cards, letterhead, print media and websites all follow their visual identity guidelines. * Instructor notes will be distinguished by italics. Make sure that the following are installed / updated: Internet Explorer Other requirements: Internet Connection (High Speed Preferred) * This course should be taught by a person with a graphics / web development background.
Having a visual design for your company gives the illusion of professionalism if it’s done well. Psychologically it earns customer trust – it makes the customer feel that they are dealing with a successful, professional company. This allows customers to remember your company when thinking of either the product or service your company provides. Brand recognition grabs attention without blatantly using the company’s logo. Example: Telus has been using a consistent brand by using various animals against white backdrops. Using a white backdrop, blue coloured font, and abstracting an animals body part is all Telus needs in printed ads. Rogers has the user with Rogers and great reception and the user that isn’t with Rogers is having unfortunate circumstances. The more recognizable the brand, the easier and faster a customer will be influenced by various marketing mediums.
Small businesses usually create various marketing materials as needed. The issues arise when using multiple designers since consistent materials are rarely created. A lot of the time designers will add their own style to create materials. The less consistent your marketing materials are, the harder it is for clients to remember your company. Companies that are consistently exposed to their brand may feel the need to freshen the look of their company’s image. Try to avoid re-branding since it will take several times for a client to be exposed to your branding before they begin to remember your company.
Sometimes creating something simple is best – the Nike swish. A more complex image; too much script font takes longer to process and longer for recognition.
It is important to have multiple versions of your logo for various mediums. Whether placing the logo on a poster, a flyer, a website, or an invoice a company’s logo needs to be versatile. A company should have a black and white version, a coloured version, and a text-only version. It is also important not to use graphical logos on marketing materials that require the logo to be small. Most complicated graphics do not translate well when sized down, therefore using the text logo in this case would be ideal.
To give a graphic designer the best opportunity to create a logo that best suits your company, they need a design brief. Company name : Describe your company : What your company does, do you provide a service or a product or both? Who is your target : Who is going to be the main demographic for your company’s services and products? Who are your main competitors : Who is your direct competition, how are you different than your competitors? *Ask students to brainstorm the answers to each bullet point.
How do your clients find you now: Is it word of mouth? Is it from the phone book? Is it from the Internet? How do you want your clients to perceive you: Are you a trendy company, a company with a long history, a conservative company? These are important for creating an image that best suits your company. *Visit some internet sites using example competitors from the students and discuss what you see: What do you like and why What don’t you like and why Even if you like what you see – is it for your company?
Two of the most common typefaces are sans-serif fonts or serif fonts. Sans-serif Sans-serif fonts are ones without the little pieces on each character. Sans-serif fonts are typically better for screen use as at smaller sizes the serifs on serif fonts make individual letters hard to read. Serif Serif fonts are typically used for long bodies of text on printed medium. The way we read words is not based on the individual letters but more importantly the shape of a word. The serifs create a natural flow of letters which makes the shape of words easier to recognize. * Ask students about think about their company and will it be marketing more via print mediums (magazines, newspapers, flyers) or online (eNewsletters, Google ad words)?
Sans-serif: Sans-serif fonts are typically used to convey a contemporary image. Serif: Serif fonts are typically used for a more traditional image.
Typeface is available in many different weights and has many styles. You many use any of the suggested fonts demonstrated which should be available in Microsoft Office 2003 and up. Text size is a suggestion guide when creating a text document.
Vector files are created using mathematical lines opposed to dots of colour. The files are usually simple graphics that are great for logos and charts. Raster images are those requiring a lot of detail such as photographs.
These formats are considered Lossy formats meaning they have compression applied to them. Typically they are not the best files to provide for printed projects. GIF: Graphics Interchange File Limited to 256 Colours only. Supports animations Supports transparency Recommended only for logos and graphics JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group 1000+ colours Does not support transparency – which means when overlayed over top of a background image, there are areas of white Great compression vs. quality ratio. Great for photographs PNG: Portable Network Graphic 1000+ colours Supports transparency Terrible photo compression leads to very large file sizes Recommended for logos and graphics These formats are considered Lossy formats meaning they have compression applied to them. Typically they are not the best files to provide for printed projects.
These formats are considered lossless, meaning there is no compression applied to these formats. TIFF: Tagged Image File Format Most generic lossless file. Supported by the most graphic software. Have the choice to compress or not Great for high quality photos PDF: Portable Document Format Can contain both vector and raster components Great for newsletters or multipaged documents EPS: Encapsulated Post-Script Can be either vector or raster. Dependent on the program that creates it Just because it is an EPS does not automatically make it a Vector PSD: Photoshop Document Should only be used or sent as a last resort, as you need Photoshop in order to open this file Fonts are not embedded in a document, therefore if the computer that opens this file does not have the font installed on their computer, Photoshop will replace the font.
The benefit of using a vector format for print is image quality. Because the lines and colours are all created mathematically you don’t have to worry about quality being compromised due to compression that we see in raster files. The drawback is for complicated graphics such as photos, vector drawings can grow quite large in file size and do not have the same realism that photographs have. EPS: Encapsulated Post Script These files can be both vector and raster so don’t be fooled Ask your logo developer if the eps they provided is vector PDF: Portable Document Format Typically used for multipaged documents AI: Adobe Illustrator Much like the PSD an AI file should only be a last resort as only those using Adobe Illustrator will be able to open this file format.
Company colours are very important and can be used to influence your company’s message. Try to invoke an emotion when choosing colours. Example: The colour red for bold statements, blue for a refreshing image. * Google ‘colours and emotions’ to find articles and whitepapers to help you select colours. Try various colour schemes on as many marketing materials as possible. Colour schemes do not necessarily work on various marketing materials. For this reason, it is important that you create sample pieces or mockups of all possible marketing materials. This will ensure that when new marketing materials are created, the colours chosen will not negatively impact the project or the company’s image. This includes, signage, business cards, letterhead etc. * Practice: Spend 10 min. allowing participants to come up with their own colours. Use a participant as an example and (as a class) try to come up with suitable colours for the company.
Using too many colours will over complicate a design.
Providing consistency through all marketing materials allows clients the opportunity to start recognizing a brand. Once a brand has been established, it is important to vary and diversify marketing materials as to not bore your clients. Using a consistent logo, typeface choice, and colour schemes are a great way to maintain your visual identity while being flexible with images and marketing styles. Example: Apple had the mac and pc actors that were so successful, Microsoft launched their ‘I’m a PC’ campaign.
Make sure you use repeating elements to solidify brand recognition.
A visual identity guide will ensure that the steps that you have taken to create your visual identity is adhered to by graphic designers that create current and future marketing materials. It is important to pick both RGB colours and CMYK colours for your guide. RGB colours or Red, Green and Blue are colours used on screen. Websites will be created using RGB values. CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are colours used in print. It is also important to outline fonts used. This becomes increasingly important when using decorative fonts or rare fonts. By using exact font specification, all marketing materials can be created to compliment your logo and other materials.
