Group Thing Identity Guidelines

groupthing is an initiative owned, managed and developed by The Reading Agency. As such, we work within The Reading Agency guidelines. This document is a reference to help us apply our visual identity appropriately on both print and screen. What’s the difference between a logo and a visual identity? Our logo is the mark that we use as a badge that identifies us. Our visual identity is the full palette of visual materials that we use, including colours, typefaces (fonts), patterns, and logos.

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 ur logo / the parts / O the ‘lock-up’ / the minimium size / the exclusion zone

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 ur colours / print colours / O screen colours / what the technical terms mean / examples of use / black (mono) / white (white out) / using background colour

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Don’ts / examples of incorrect usage

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 ur typeface / what it is / where to buy O it / how to use it / the history of the logo typeface / the secondary typeface

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 ur pattern / what it is / what to use on O 5 colour print, 4 colour (process) print and screen

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 upplied files / decison tree to ensure S we use and supply the appropriate file from this disk

12-17 R  eference / cyan / yellow / magenta / green (PMS 7488) / white (knock out) / black (mono)

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Our Logo Our logo is composed of three elements. These are contained in a ‘lock-up’. This ‘lock-up’ can include any of the faces that replace the ‘o’ of our name.

groupthing 1. Our name

2. The strapline

3. The faces

Together they form the logo ‘lock-up’

Logo ‘Lock-up’

Strapline

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Our Logo Our logo has a recommended minimium size to ensure legibility.

45mm

30mm

There is a recommended minimum size at which the logo should be reproduced. Going below the minimum size will make the text difficult to read, and therefore compromise the effectiveness of the logo. Minimum recommended size for our logo is 45mm wide with the strapline and 30mm wide without the strapline

Our logo has an exclusion zone around it to stop other elements interfering with it, visually. The exclusion zone is the height of the lowercase g. We should avoid putting other logos, photographs, graphic elements and type within this area.

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Our colours Our identity is built on a palette of five colours. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Green (PMS 7488) and Black.

Print colour references: stationery / signage / brochures leaflets / laser / inkjet printers NB to utilise the full range of colours we will need to print itmes on a five colour press. If that isn’t feasible then we will omit the Green (PMS 7488).

Process Cyan

Process Magenta

Process Yellow

Green (PMS 7488)

Process Black

C 100 M 0 Y 0 K 0

C 0 M 100 Y 0 K 0

C 0 M 0 Y 100 K 0

n/a

C 0 M 0 Y 0 K 100

R 0 G 173 B 239

R 236 G 0 B 140

R 255 G 255 B 0

R 151 G 206 B 139

R 35 G 31 B 32

00 AD EF

EC 00 8C

FF F2 00

97 CE 8B

Screen colour references: Powerpoint / email / websites E-flyers / Myspace / Facebook interactive white boards NB because different screens emit different qualities of light, the colours will vary in appearance from screen to screen. Web safe

23 1F 20

Pantone™ Colours

Process colour (CMYK)

Web safe (RGB)

These are specific colour references from the Pantone Matching System (PMS). Pantone™ is the industry standard on colour selection and is used as a reference point by all printers and sign makers.

This is the colour system used for printing. Known as Process colours, there are four standard printing inks – Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Black (K) – that are mixed together to make almost any colour combination.

Computers, televisions and any other light-emitting displays use a colour spectrum mixed from three colours – Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B).

Using this technology will ensure complete consistency in colour across all communication.

The colour mixes are defined in terms of percentage tints of each Process colour.

The bright colours are applied to these elements. There are colour examples on the next page.

G

G

These elements are always reproduced in black

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The internet has adopted a standard palette of colours that can be easily mixed from the RGB spectrum; these are known as Web safe colours.

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Our Colours In every instance we use the logo we ensure the colour used for the ‘o’ of groupthing matches the colour used on the strapline.

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Our Colours Our logo also works in black (mono) and white (white out).

We can also use the logo on simple background colours.

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Don’ts Do not use the logo on complicated backgrounds.

Do not use backgrounds that lack contrast with the logo. The logo needs to be clearly visable.

Do not change the typeface.

Do not change the relative size of any of the elements.

Do not stretch the logo.

Do not compress the logo.

Do not change the colour of the type.

Do not change the relationship between the elements.

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our typeface Our typeface is is called Din. It is widely available and can be purchased from: www.fontshop.com/fonts/ downloads/fontfont/ff_din/

ABCDEFGHIJKL MOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijkl mnopqrstuvwxyz 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 !@£$%^&*()+

This is 8pt type over 10pt leading (tracking value 0) and it looks like this when set as body copy. Magna feugait, qui blam, core vel erat ut ullam exer ilit veliqua mconsent la con elendio nsequisi eu feuisi. Im dolor iuscipis adignisi. Ip elendre minci te consecte tismod delesequat aci tet aliquis molobor perostrud ex ex eu facidunt wisis do ercil ulla consequi blan volor sum elesent nosto commy nonullamet nos dolore modolor peraesto odipisl iriusto er ipis nulla feumsandre dolore vullandipit la commy num dit atis dionsequisis dolorem in et nonsed tincil erostisi. Lor suscin eugiamcon velit velestrud modolessecte venibh et praesecte magna ad diat lortie velis at. Ut volese min ex etueros ad tio et dignissit, con hendit ing euipisi bla feugiat wissit vel euipis eugait veril dolor accummolent adigna feugait alit adigna faccummod dolor suscidunt wis ad euisi. Ugait nullupt atinci tat dio odio od tin eu facidunt verci bla feugiat. Duis autem dolorer si. Cum euis dit nulput lam vel euissim dit nim dolore feugait nonse euismodigna feugait velitSusto esequamet, quipsum nonse te consed moloreet, sit vullaoreros nosto et do od molore feu

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We use two weights: regular and bold. We use italics in both weights to distinguish certain words, titles, names, foreign words, for emphasis and words produced as sounds. We do not italicise punctuation. We use the regular weight for copy and the bold weight for headers and to ensure that groupthing stands out in paragraphs. groupthing never has a capital G, even when used at the start of a paragraph. Our minimium typesize is 8pt over 10pt leading.

This is 10pt type over 12pt leading (tracking value 0) and it looks like this when set as body copy. Magna feugait, qui blam, core vel erat ut ullam exer ilit veliqua mconsent la con elendio nsequisi eu feuisi. Im dolor iuscipis adignisi. Ip elendre minci te consecte tismod delesequat aci tet aliquis molobor perostrud ex ex eu facidunt wisis do ercil ulla consequi blan volor sum elesent nosto commy nonullamet nos dolore modolor peraesto odipisl iriusto er ipis nulla feumsandre dolore vullandipit la commy num dit atis dionsequisis dolorem in et nonsed tincil erostisi. Lor suscin eugiamcon velit velestrud modolessecte venibh et praesecte magna ad diat lortie velis at. Ut volese min ex etueros ad tio et dignissit, con hendit ing euipisi bla feugiat wissit vel euipis eugait veril dolor accummolent adigna feugait alit adigna faccummod dolor suscidunt wis ad

We adjust the letter spacing if it improves readability. For example, in headlines, some pairs of letters create awkward space, so the space between them needs adjusting. Expanding or condensing the space between characters is known as kerning. In Adobe packages we use the term tracking to describe the adjustment of groups of letters in a block of text. We can use it to make text more open or dense. On groupthing text we usually set the tracking to the default setting. Below are a number of visual guides for body text. On the next page are a couple of visual guides for headings.

This is 12pt type over 14pt leading (tracking value 0) and it looks like this when set as body copy. Magna feugait, qui blam, core vel erat ut ullam exer ilit veliqua mconsent la con elendio nsequisi eu feuisi. Im dolor iuscipis adignisi. Ip elendre minci te consecte tismod delesequat aci tet aliquis molobor perostrud ex ex eu facidunt wisis do ercil ulla consequi blan volor sum elesent nosto commy nonullamet nos dolore modolor peraesto odipisl iriusto er ipis nulla feumsandre dolore vullandipit la commy num dit atis dionsequisis dolorem in et nonsed tincil erostisi. Lor suscin

groupthing

our typeface

This is a heading it is set at 24pt over 28pt leading (tracking value 0)

This is a heading it is set at 36pt over 40pt leading (tracking value 0) The typeface used on our logo is North Bergen North Bergen is a typeface designed by Pablo A. Medina in 1996. Pablo A. Medina designs and teaches in New York. He grew up between Washington DC and New Jersey where he skateboards and listens to the Clash. North Bergen is named after the Northern New Jersey town. It is modelled after the lettering painted on the wall of a magazine store on Bergenline Avenue.

We have a secondary typeface that we use for occasional pull quotes, facts, figures, fun and our strapline. This typeface is called Bokka, we use the ‘Shadow’ version. We never write the word groupthing in Bokka.

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our pattern Our visual identity toolbox contains a pattern that we use as a graphic element where appropriate. There are three versions of the pattern on our visual identity disk for specific applications:

5_colour_print_pattern This uses cyan, magenta, yellow and green (PMS 7488). To print this pattern with black type we will need to print on a five colour press.

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4_colour_print_pattern This uses cyan, magenta and yellow. To print this pattern with black type we will need to print on a four colour (process) press.

5_colour_screen_pattern This uses cyan, magenta, yellow and green. This file has been reduced in size to allow it to display quickly when used on screen. Do not try and print from this file.

groupthing

Supplied files The logo is supplied in various file types which suit different applications. We can use this decision tree to ensure that we are using and/or supplying the appropriate file. in_house_jpg

print_tif

print_vector_eps

screen_png

Use on documents to be produced/printed in house. Do not supply these files to printers or design suppliers.

Use for leaflets and posters. Supply these files to printers and design suppliers.

Use for printing at any size, without any loss of quality. Before supplying to a printer or design supplier ensure that they accept Adobe Illustrator eps files.

Use these files for websites. Supply these files to your website designer. Do not try and print from these files.

G Once you have decided which file type is appropriate for the application choose colour

G Cyan

Magenta

Yellow

Panton Green

Black

White

G Choose which face to use

G

Ralf

Shaun

Jake

Sue

Sam

Kate

Martin

Rose

Lucy

Mike

Zoe

Chris

G Use and/or supply that file

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Simon

Ali

Cyan

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yellow

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magenta

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green (PMS 7488)

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black (mono)

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white (white out)

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