Publication and corporate identity guidelines

Visual identity guidelines

It is important to adhere to our visual identity guidelines so that all university publications are consistent in style. Through consistent application of the visual identity we generate recognition amongst our audiences and ensure that the impression we create is one of confidence and trustworthiness.

These guidelines explain the elements of our visual identity and how they should be used, however if you are planning to produce a publication please talk to the publications team first.

Publications team

The publications team can assist with the production of university publications and a service level agreement is available which details the service the publications team can provide.

Beth Leese, publications and corporate identity manager x2606
Solveig Grover, publications officer x2569
Jo d’Ambra, graphic designer x2800
Mark Toynbee, graphic designer x2777

Templates

There are a number of Word templates available to help university staff produce documentation – please ask the publications team for details.

Our logo

The primary element of the university’s corporate identity is the star-logo. Subsidiary logos are not permitted to represent consituent parts of the university. The publications team can advise on appropriate alternatives.

The primary element of the university’s corporate identity is the star-logo. Subsidiary logos are not permitted to represent consituent parts of the university. The publications team can advise on appropriate alternatives.

The star-logo must appear in all corporate contexts. It is, however, limited to corporate usage (representing the institution) and cannot be used on students’ projects (printed or electronic) or correspondence.

The star-logo consists of the words ‘University of Brighton’ and the six-pointed star over the ‘U’. These elements comprise one fixed entity – they must never be realigned or adjusted in any way.

The logo is available in various formats from the publications team. The logo must not be ‘recreated’ by staff or external designers.

Ensuring correct proportions

The correct proportions of the logo must always be retained – the logo must not be stretched or squashed.

Exclusion zone

The logo should never be boxed within another shape and should be separated from adjacent items. The exclusion zone is shown below (measure ‘x’ and apply as shown).

Colour

The logo must always be one single colour and is generally black or white, but any colour may be used, as long as there is sufficient contrast between the logo and the background.

Size

In order to ensure consistency across a range of publications, the logo must always appear at a standard size, depending on the size of the document: A3: 85–105mm; A4: 65–85mm; A5: 50–65mm; A6 and 1/3A4: 40–50mm

Logo formats

Simple documents (reports etc): For ease, please refer to the Word templates which already contain the logo. If the templates cannot be used, the logo is available as a single-character font. Simply select Starfont from your font menu, 72 point from your size menu, and type the letter ‘s’. Documents containing Starfont MUST be saved as a pdf prior to emailing.

Design work: If you require the logo as a tiff, eps or jpeg please contact a member of the publications team.

Fonts and typography

Fonts

The university font is NeueHelvetica. We use versions 45 light (and 46 italic) and 75 bold (and 76 italic). Minimising the number of versions of NeueHelvetica we use creates contrast in the typography, however, in some design work we may also use 55 (56) and 65 (66) when required.

Typography

There should be between 1pt and 2pt difference between the size of the font and the leading (line-spacing). For example: 8pt text with 9pt leading or 10pt text with 12pt leading (in Word: Format / Paragraph / Line spacing).

Text and headings should be:

• aligned left – never centred or justified
• never underlined
• upper-and-lower case (upper-case for first word and then all lower-case)

Standard A4 documents

For body text on an A4 document, please use 10pt text with 12pt leading. Word templates have been created to ensure that documents can be produced easily with the correct style of typography – please ask the publications team.

For internal documentation and committee papers, Arial may be used as a substitute for NeueHelvetica.

Web pages

For web pages, the use of non-serif fonts such as Verdana or Arial is recommended. If you need advice on this, please contact the web team.

Other elements

The leaf symbol

Unlike the star-logo (whose use is compulsory), the leaf functions as an optional, supporting, mnemonic device. (The star-logo can appear on its own, but the leaf can never appear without the star-logo.)

Because of positional and reproduction constraints, the leaf is only used in contexts controlled by Marketing and Communications.

Colours

There are no specific university colours. We use a colour palette that is bright and bold, but not ‘primary’.

Images

Generally images should be bold, striking and uncluttered. People: Images of people should be authentic and reportage-style – capturing a moment in time and conveying an impression of university life. Stock images: We use some images from image libraries. These tend to be abstract images that hint at the subject matter. We avoid using pictures of people from image libraries.

Paper and production

We use either silk/matt coated paper (not gloss) or uncoated paper. Magazines are generally produced in silk/matt coated paper as images will be more vibrant. Core corporate material and recruitment material is currently produced on uncoated paper.

All paper must have a minmum recycled content of 50 per cent, with the remaining content from sustainable managed forests. All corporate publications adhere to this, and we also ensure that the printers we use employ environmentally-friendly techniques. The publications team is currently working with procurement on a tender for university printing and one of the main objectives is to ensure that all university printed material conforms to a minimum environmental standard of production.

Accessibility

NeueHelvetica is a sans serif font and is considered to be clear and legible.

For maximum legibility, text must be 12pt with 16pt leading, type should be dark on a lightly-tinted (not white) background and text should not be laid over images or reversed out of dark colours.

Many publications will not conform to these parameters for practical and environmental reasons. In addition, we communicate through design in our publications and must use our judgement in balancing design sensibility with accessibility issues. The publications team will provide publications such as the prospectus in alternative formats on request.

Note: although the image may appear very large on the screen, it will be much smaller when printed.