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 &

Typography and colors are palettes. They have a limited number of choices in a given range. They have shades or weight.

Type on a 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 book, legally-protected registered , no . tradename and trademark. A ® This is required for international registration 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 Condensed colors it’s because that is exactly Black Oblique with very loose what they are. .

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

14 Natural Theme

Classic landscape provide a rich palette. The official , 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 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 was created as a of complementary color. Confetti companion type family. It is the color adds highlight to offical san light version. traditional design. These elements direct the eye. Frequently, they are Natural Colors colorized geometric 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 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 ’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, , Sabon’s commissioning Jan Tschichold to creator, based his design on a design the most faithful version of version of Garamond designed by ’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 fonts. late italics, recently identified. Punches and matrices for the Sabon- bd, reg, itl romans survive at the - 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., , , ), 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 following the subhead (even entry point onto the page. Three on web.) No drop cap after or four lines maximum— the last subhead. There should be at least line two-thirds length. Italic two staggered subheads per page. Sabon typeface is acceptable. Don’t orphan the subhead: two Caption text uses loose kerning lines copy before and three lines for legibility. Not written over the after relevant to the text following photo or in reverse type. No the subhead. smaller than 9 point. Sentence Caps Body Text Sentence Caps are not used for In print, body text is always subheads or headlines unless the Sabon. Franklin Gothic is used for subhead is an actual sentence. all other applications. Word Title Cap style is the preference. emphasis is shown with Sabon Italic—not with bolding or quote Pull quote marks. The pull quote is usually text taken from the article. Use Subheads Franklin Gothic medium or bold Subheads break up columns of with airy , and it should gray text. Use Franklin Gothic span a gutter. For pull quotes, the bold or medium. Subheads are a quotation marks should be single, compelling entry point in a story. with a caption containing an Subhead follows white space, bold attribution (source) when typeface, and is highly legible. possible. 24 Bulleted Lists Headlines and titles Readers are conditioned to look Franklin Gothic typeface for for summary information, so a list headlines for legibility. If you is often an automatic draw for notice the headline and can get the readers. Minimum three items on gist of the article without straining a bulleted or numbered list. your eyes, the headline passes the Maximum 7 items in a list. Large test. That’s how big the headline and bold bullet or number. Bold should be. the first word or short phrase of each list item, particularly when Banners the list items carry over several A banner is the line of text that lines. Place white space before and appears just below the headline after a bulleted list, but not and is sometimes called a deck. between list items (this spacing is An eyebrow is above the a loose or optional requirement.) headline. The headline stops the reader and the deck conveys Sidebars further specifics—often highlights People read sidebars more than about the story that might get the main articles. Use Franklin Gothic reader interested enough to read medium or bold, set loose the article. It also provides yet kerning. Use captions for another entry point onto the page graphics, lists, subheads, etc. in by offering a logical flow or sidebars. Sidebars may contain transition from the headline and information from the main article contrasting typographically. in summary form. Dropcaps Multiple dropcaps may appear on 25 a spread. Here are the guidelines for usage: Body Text 1. Sabon is preferred. Body text is never justified on 2. Dropcaps cannot be the same both borders. This causes rivers letter on a spread. It creates in the text which distract the eye. confusion. Rewrite for clarity. Just because you can doesn’t mean 3. There is a hierarchy of you should. Stay with ragged right emphasis: 4 line dropcap, 3 line. for body text. It is easier to read. and last 2 line. Equal line Left justified is allowed for dropcaps creates a confusion as to captions and heads when where to begin reading. appropriate. 4. It is recommended no more than three dropcaps exist on a Use of ALLCAPS, Title Caps, and spread. Small Caps ALLCAPS are optional in banners, Line spacing / leading headlines, and titles and are Leading should be approximately generally set in 18-point type or 130% of font size except for larger. Banners should use News pullquotes and sidebars which Gothic ALLCAPS, and be kerned require more leading. very loose. Headlines should be tight or very tight. Character spacing / kerning Titles and headlines set in Title Caps Franklin Gothic above 18-point Sabon Small Caps are always used should be kerned tight. Below that in the first few words following a should be normal. The larger the drop cap and are set in the same point size the tighter the kerning color as the dropcap. They may be should be. For example, 72 point bolded. Do not use fake dropcaps 26 would be very tight or hand except in a jam. Sabon comes with kerned for touching letters. a real dropcap character set. It is always preferred. Tradeshow Booths

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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