Ag Brand Manual
1 Ag Visual Identity
A guideline for creative talent. “Too much flexibility results in complete chaos, too much structure results in lifeless communications. Balance is the Design Continuity goal.” These guidelines are not intended to provide every All permissions are denied unless detail regarding graphics expressly granted. applications, production processes and standards, but to Guideline Purpose provide general direction for Promote the Ag visual identity in maintaining consistency with the most convenient, consistent the Ag identity. and efficient way and make sure no mistakes are made.
©2011 DECAGON PRINTED IN USA
v1.0
2 Heirarchy & Emphasis
Typography and colors are palettes. They have a limited number of choices in a given range. They have shades or weight.
Type on a page appears as a gray block to the eye. Weight is a degree of boldness or shade. Weight helps the viewer determine what is most important. It creates interest and attractive design.
Varying type weights give the illusion of depth to a page. Darker type moves forwards and lighter type receeds. This helps emphasize what elements should be viewed and in what order. These direct the eye of the observer or reader. This is presentation strategy.
If everything is emphasied equally, it creates visual noise. “Emphasizing everything equals emphasizing nothing.” —marketing adage. 3 Logo Application
The Decagon logo is described as No scanning logo artwork! a stack logo. Word parts of the logotype are not all on the same Logo Placement line. The logo should appear only once on each printed spread (not each The logo sides are sloped (italic). page.) The appropriate location is Because of this, the mechanical in the lower right-hand corner of center and visual center are are the spread. This is where it is not the same. It is more at the expected to appear by the midpoint of the slope. Thus, audience. The same is true for justifying right or left will require print ads and single page the logo to overlap the invisible publications. Any other placement grid a bit ot it will look awkward. can cause confusion. It should be accompanied by Clear space and minimum size “www.aqualab.com” in If reduced too far, the logo will lowercase. become unreadable and illegible. Unreadable means unpleasant or repelling.
Approved versions: where original files are kept. Talk with Derek Harris for original image files. Do not use corrupted art or low-resolution art (like a screengrab or web GIF image.) 4 Legal
The Decagon Devices name has PRINTED IN THE USA been in use since 1982 (?). It is a 8 point Franklin Gothic book, legally-protected registered ALL CAPs, no punctuation. tradename and trademark. A ® This is required for international registration symbol should appear import/export laws. in each document. It should appear once and only once per ©2011 DECAGON designed piece. To use it more is 8 point Franklin Gothic book, an obstacle for the eye and is ALL CAPs, no punctuation. considered unnecessary and Copyright laws changed in the unprofessional. 1990’s. No filing is necessary. But this mark must appear to protect In addition to the registration any intellectual property. mark, two other legal elements Ownership is determined in court should appear in designed pieces. if there is a dispute.
5 Official Logotype
DECAGON DDEVICES
The official corporate logo is Colors are Pantone 201 Red for constructed of a decagon symbol the symbol and Pantone Cool reversed out of a slanted square. Gray 10 for the type.
The Decagon logotype is set in a If these look like WSU Cougar stack with Helvetica Condensed colors it’s because that is exactly Black Oblique with very loose what they are. kerning.
6 Official b/w Logotype
DECAGON DDEVICES
When constructing the logotype for black and white print work, use solid 100% black for the symbol and 70% grayscale screen of black for the type.
7 Logotype color variations
DECAGON DDEVICES
Natural palette color combinations are allowed for matching themes. This allows latitude for contrast and readability. Do not vary the logo colors within one document. Be consistent in use from page to page. Reverses are allowed.
8 Logo Good Placement
9 Logo Bad Placement
10 Logo Misuse
11 Logo Good PowerPoint
12 Logo Good PowerPoint
13 Business System
14 Natural Theme
Classic Fonts landscape provide a rich palette. The official typefaces, Sabon and This style can have a somewhat Fraklin Gothic, both extremely unpolished or rustic look. This is legible. This is one reason why authentic, unaffected, serene and they work well together as a font without artifice. It is organic, pair. Both fonts are considered untreated, health-giving, full of useful classics. greens and environmentally- correct neutral tones. Franklin Gothic never had a light version design. To fill this gap, Confetti is very small festive flecks News Gothic was created as a of complementary color. Confetti companion type family. It is the color adds highlight to offical san serif light version. traditional design. These elements direct the eye. Frequently, they are Natural Colors colorized geometric dingbats like Designs in natural style often use squares, triangles, circles, etc. raw outdoor colors. Earthy pigments like olive, burgandy, and Paper color is best if it is bright tans are popular. An outdoor white, creme, or offwhite.
15 Color Usage
Dominant / Subordinates / Accent
Improper Color Usage Background colors and 587 warm gray 6 5747 overprinted type must have a grayscale differential of 30%. To test for this readbility and legibility, convert a document page from PDF to a CMYK TIFF. 9143 5625 5797 Then convert to grayscale. Use an eyedropper tool to sample the grays and make sure there is always 30% difference. Correct the document colors as necessary. 5753 464 520
5655 cool gray 9 5787
414 4665 9183
16 Sabon serif font family regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
bold italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
bold OsF ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
bold italic OsF 1964ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ small caps AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLl
Sabon works as a font pair to Franklin Gothic and News Gothic abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 17 Sabon font history
n the early sixties, the German The name refers to Jacques Sabon, masterprinters’ association who introduced Garamond’s Irequested that a new typeface romans to Frankfurt, although the be designed and produced in typefaces that Sabon himself cut identical form on both Linotype towards the end of the sixteenth and Monotype machines so that century have a faintly awkward text and technical composition style of their own. would match. Walter Cunz at the Stempel responded by In 1964, Jan Tschichold, Sabon’s commissioning Jan Tschichold to creator, based his design on a design the most faithful version of version of Garamond designed by Claude Garamond’s serene and Jakob Sabon and Conrad Berner. classical roman yet to be cut. The Sabon was the first typeface of the boldface and particularly the italic foundry D. Stempel AG whose are limited by the twin characters were the same for requirements of Linotype and linotype, monotype and hand Monotype hot metal machines. setting. Classic, elegant, and The Bitstream’s Cursive is a return extremely legible, Sabon is one of to the form of one of Garamond’s the most beautiful Antiqua fonts. late italics, recently identified. Punches and matrices for the Sabon- bd, reg, itl romans survive at the Plantin- Moretus Museum.
18 Franklin Gothic font family condensed heavy italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW condensed italic medium ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY condensed bold demi ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX condensed bold italic medium italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY heavy demi italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW1902ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ black smallcaps bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ AaBbCcDdEe smallcaps black italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
19 Franklin Gothic more extra compressed book ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ extra compressed demi ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ book compressed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ book compressed italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ demi compressed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ demi compressed italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
20 Franklin Gothic font history
ranklin Gothic, one of the to solve impossibly tight most popular sans serif copyfitting problems, while Ftypes ever produced, was maintaining high legibility designed by Morris Fuller Benton standards. ITC Franklin in 1902 for American Type Condensed provides medium Founders. In 1979, under license weights of narrow proportions. It with ATF, Vic Caruso began work is frequently seen in newspapers, on more weights of the design for advertisements, posters, and ITC. This version adheres closely anyplace with space restrictions. to the subtle thick and thin Franklin Gothic served as the pattern of the original design; the American Grotesk prototype. The slightly enlarged x-height and robust character of the font gives condensed proportions of the new text a modern feel. Franklin version result in greater economy Gothic remains one of the most of space. This typeface is a widely used sans serif typefaces standard choice for use in even today. newspapers and advertising. In 1991, David Berlow completed Franklin Gothic- cond, cond the family for ITC by creating ital, cond bold, cond bold ital, compressed and condensed heavy, black, black ital, heavy weights. ITC Franklin Gothic italic, med, dm, md itl, Dm itl, Compressed is designed especially Capsbold, smallcaps
21 News Gothic font family
Light Condensed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Light Italic Condemsed Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ regular Bold Condensed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Italic Bold Condensed Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Demi Extra Condensed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Demi Italic Bold Extra Condensed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Bold Italic News Gothic is considered to be the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1908light version of Franklin Gothic. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 22 News Gothic font history
n 1908, Morris Fuller Benton Intertype released in 1955. Like designed News Gothic for Franklin Gothic, these typefaces IAmerican Type Founders. The are classics for newspaper original design, with two headlines, advertising, and condensed faces, is essentially a packaging. light version of Franklin Gothic. In the late 1940s, after a decline in Despite, or perhaps because of, the popularity because of the success font’s unconventional relationships of the sans serifs from Europe in proportion and form, News (i.e., Gill Sans, Futura, Kabel), Gothic has long been a popular American gothic typefaces made a typeface for almost any use. comeback. It was during this time that more versions of News News Gothic- DmIt, LtIt, It, Gothic were designed, including BdIt, CnIt, BdCnIt, BdCn, News Gothic Bold, which BdXCn, Lt, Cn, Dm, XCn, reg
23 Print Typography
Captions Images Avoid using all caps, favoring These are reader stoppers. Each sentence case. No white space image needs a caption to create an
1. Adhere to a one-benefit-per- 5. The field or cone of vision for panel rule. signage covers a 60° angle. Consistency in the height of signs 2. Readability: The six-by-six rule in a system reduces the viewer’s states no more than six elements need to search for information. per line and no more than six lines per panel. The average person’s 6. Legibility: keep the fonts simple reading rate is about 250 words and use basic colors for lettering per minute. Therefore, signs that (black and white are best). will only be seen for a few seconds should include no more than six 7. Legibility: Make type 1 inch items. high for every 3 feet back. To read copy 12 feet away, the letters 3. Lists: No numbering of bulleted should be about 4 inches tall. lines. No asterisks. Those are associated with footnotes or “fine 8. The average height of a viewer’s print”. eye level, measured from the ground when standing, is about 5 4. Avoid placing copy over feet, 6 inches. When sitting, it is images. Position copy in a about 4 feet, 6 inches. separate border or block near the image panel.
27 Color Strategy
1. Background colors (paper) are judgement as subordinate and either bright white, creme, or accent colors. offwhite. Offwhite is used on the web to reduce screen contrast. 4. Confetti colors are used for Bright white is recommended in colorizing small portions of text print and booth applications. and dingbats. They are best if they are the compliment of a color. 2. Colors are always in the natural They must be used sparingly. Use theme. these to guide the eye (visual signage cues.) 3. Gray and black are not “cool” colors but allowed with good
28 Image Elements
Photography is a Principle gives more life and personality to Communication Device a page. It generates interest and curiosity. It has energy. It sometimes Illustration is Not a influences the color scheme. It's Substitute for Photos best not to place words on top of Illustrations are not usually photos (some exceptions- covers). acceptable substitutes for hightech A large amount of space needs to product photographs. Viewers will be allocated to images. Also a big make the assumption a product chunk of ad budget. Photography drawing is a concept and not is available from many sources: finished —a psuedo-product or custom, stock CD-ROM, online, vaporware. Photos have more clip art (photo), flatbed scanned credibility. images, and digital camera. When to Use Illustration Avoiding Photo Monotony Illustrations are preferred in Besides photography in visualizing abstractions or rectangular boxes, it adds interest concepts like physical properites to the page to include a cutout or setup diagrams. This way photo or two with a possible drop illustration is a shortcut to shadow effect. Also known as understanding. Illustration Object Photography. This reduces the complexity found in technique breaks the Grid. Word photos to just those elements wrap can be used around an edge. needing emphasis. It's a break from monotony and
29 Contact for Questions
Bryan Wacker [email protected]
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