Your company just got a new brand standards guide. The brand color page lists several complex numeric formulas for each color swatch — CMYK, Pantone^®, RGB, and HEX. What are these formulas for, and how do you use them?

These formulas are a set of numbers used to create a desired color. Each color mode renders very differently and is set up for a specific use. CMYK and Pantone^® are for print, RGB and HEX are for onscreen.

Colors In Print

CMYK is used for printed materials. CMYK (aka, 4-color process) is short for Cyan ♦, Magenta ♦, Yellow ♦ and Black ♦ — the four process inks used in color printing. In CMYK, colors are built one printing plate at a time using dots of these inks. Each of the four plates prints one color. A build-up of dots of these four ink colors achieves a wide variety of colors.

Why is Black a K? At one time, the plate with the black ink was referred to as the “Key” plate because it carried the key information and details of the printed piece. This is why black is referred to as K and not B. B could also be confused as “blue”, as in RGB.

Print is subtractive and deals with the absorption and reflection of light. When all the colors are subtracted from each other the outcome is no ink. Printing has a more limited color range than the web. This is why printed color performs differently on paper (reflective) than what is on your computer monitor (back light).

CMYK does not have white ink, because it is assumed that it will be printed on white paper. Therefore, colors will perform differently on colored stock.

How is a CMYK formula built? Every print color is built using a percentage from 0-100% of each of the four process inks. Combining these four inks in different percentages will result in a multitude of different colors. The following formula is a simple example: C=100% M=0% Y=100% K=0% is 100% cyan, no magenta, 100% yellow, and no black. Building ink colors uses the same technique you learned painting in elementary school: blue + yellow = green. So, the CMYK formula above is a primary green. If you use a smaller percentage of each ink, a lighter green will result.

Pantone^® Colors are an industry standard color matching system used for accurate color reproduction. Pantone^® has created standardized formula guides with thousands of premixed inks for printers and designers to reference. If you provide a Pantone^® color formula number to any printer, they can refer to the color guide and know the exact ink color you are requesting. This keeps your brand color consistent. For example, if you provide the vendor creating your brochures and the vendor producing your t-shirts the same Pantone^® ink color 355, both vendors will use the same formula­ ­— and your final produced pieces will be the same primary green.

Color Modes Onscreen

RGB is used for any application on a screen. RGB refers to Red ♦, Green ♦, and Blue ♦—the three colors of light used digitally on your computer screen, scanners, or digital cameras. RGB is additive color. All colors on your screen are built from a combination of these three colors. If you add all three colors together you will see white light.

Computers can display millions of colors, resulting in a larger color range than printing. Like CMYK, RGB uses numbers to build its formulas as well but since it has a wider color range, those numbers run from 0 to 255. So, the primary green we built above in CMYK would be Red =0 Green= 166 Blue=81 in RGB mode.

Hexadecimal (HEX) values are used in code by web programmers. HEX is based on RGB colors but converts the formula to a more compact format for the computer to understand. HEX uses a set of 16 symbols: 0-9 and A-F; colors are built by combining any 6 numbers or characters from that set. The HEX code for the green above is #00a651.

When we produce brand standard guidelines for our clients, we pay extra attention choosing color. We make sure the palette is an aesthetically complementary selection of colors which also includes a range of values that will accommodate a variety of usages. Therefore, our clients’ brand colors will be consistent across ALL forms of media.

Are you ready to create a new brand standard guide for your company? Contact us at Dever Designs today to start the conversation.

Spencerville Adventist Academy (SAA) is a college preparatory school serving grades Pre-K through 12 in the greater Baltimore-Washington area. We created a new identity for them a couple years ago including a logo, a detailed brand style guide, signage, banners, e-newsletters, and photo display areas. Since then, we have partnered with SAA on various projects.

Recently, SAA asked us to create large banners for display in their gym celebrating their sports’ team championships. They want the banners to add school spirit and show students and visiting teams their legacy of success.

At Dever Designs, we always keep the clients’ needs in mind. We know that educational organizations have limited budgets, so we suggested a few options to help keep SAA’s costs down.

Always anticipate. We prompted the client to think ahead and carefully consider how these banners will be used in future years. The process began with a start-up meeting that included all the decision-makers to ensure that we understood the parameters of the project. We asked SAA many detailed questions, such as how these banners would integrate with existing banners in the school, what sports they would commemorate, where they would be placed, and how they would be hung to accommodate future championship victories. Taking time to think ahead ultimately saves time and money.

Set up a template. We created a template that SAA can use to build additional banners in-house. We suggested they utilize the resources available to them and enlist their student body and/or parents familiar with the software to volunteer their time to set up any future banners. To ensure consistent application, we developed a detailed set of guidelines and instructions on how to use the template to prepare the files for output. The banner template was designed to adjust easily depending on the amount of information on the banner. SAA has several athletic teams, so we designated a different color to each sports category. For example, all banners for the soccer tournament championships will be green, while those for the gymnastic championships will be purple. Over time, this will allow the client to minimize expenditures because they can layout subsequent pieces on their own.

Direct them to a vendor. To produce the banners, we introduced SAA to one of our trusted long-term vendors. This allows SAA to deal directly with the manufacturer on all future banners without having to go through us.

At Dever Designs, we work with our clients as a collaborative partner. If you have a project you need help with, please give us a call at 301-776-2812 to start the conversation.

Recently, the Pantone Color Institute™ announced with much fanfare their “Color of the Year”. The ordained hue for 2017 is “Greenery”, which they describe as a “fresh and zesty yellowish green”, one of “nature’s neutrals”. Since 2012, this division of Pantone® has annually selected and promoted an individual color to the design industry for the coming year.

Just across the river in Alexandria, Virginia, the Color Marketing Group was established in 1962 as a not-for-profit international association for “color design professionals”. Both groups offer a range of services that analyze, forecast, and consult on color trends. This is a real asset to the designers, manufacturers, and marketers of the next generation of consumer goods. A brief survey of the past few decades illustrates these trends, reflected in everything from automobiles and make-up to fashion and home furnishings, as prominent colors burst into the marketplace only to fade away as passé.

There is a direct correlation between how successful or trendy a color is in the marketplace and how soon it will fade and be seen as out-of-style, old. The short life cycle of trends, including colors, are the lifeblood of manufacturers and marketers hawking lifestyle goods and services. They survive by inventing and promoting the next big thing we all must have. While identifying and exploiting color trends works well for the fast-paced consumer goods industry, it may be short sighted for long-term brand building in the less volatile world of non-profits, associations, and institutions.

Here’s where your design team can help by offering expert advice and consultation. What are the mission and vision of your organization, and how might your brand’s color choices reflect those values? Is it time for an evolution of your brand, or merely time to refresh and support an existing legacy identity? Careful consideration might also be given to the psychology of colors, or the international perception of certain hues in different cultural contexts. For example, the color of good luck is red in China, but it is green in the Middle East; in Indonesia, however, green is “the forbidden color”.

Color is one of the most powerful communication tools in graphic design. Use it wisely to differentiate and distinguish your organization, and not merely to be caught up in the latest fad.

“Neither a leader nor a follower be”

—with apologies to Shakespeare

Looking for some guidance on how color can enhance your identity? Email or call us at 301-776-2812 to start the conversation.

Your brand represents everything your organization is. It encompasses the visuals, the messaging, and even your organization’s personality. That’s why when it comes to presenting your brand to the public, you want to get it right.

Why do you need a brand guide?

As a company reveals a new or updated logo, it may seem like all employees are initially on board regarding its usage.

But what happens when Nadia in marketing is creating a new social media profile picture and skews the size of the logo to make it fit her needs? Or maybe Alex in accounting decided to have some T-shirts made for a golf fundraiser, but preferred a different shade of gold than what was approved for the logo?

When it comes to protecting, promoting and presenting your brand, consistency is key. That’s why creating and using a brand guide is so essential. A good brand guide will accommodate creativity while policing the parameters.

The Value of a Brand Guide

• Helps maintain control of the brand
• Helps provide direction and focus, keeping everyone on target
• Spells out and reinforces the tone of your organization
• Empowers employees to keep the brand cohesive

Applying aspects of your brand willy nilly or allowing employees to have a free-for-all with the logo is equivalent to not even having a brand at all. It’s essential to have and maintain brand standards that all employees will follow.

Components to the Brand Guide

A brand guide can be as in-depth as what you might imagine a company like Walt Disney would utilize, or it can be short and sweet, depending on your needs and budget.

Visual – Every element of your brand, from the logo to stationery to supporting graphic elements needs to be consistent. Colors, typography and even details such as the amount of white space around your logo, should be carefully outlined in your company’s brand guide. This guide will define the parameters within which you communicate your brand at every level.

Voice – How your organization presents its tagline or other standard language will also be outlined in the brand guide. When, and how, you use this messaging, as well as its legibility, are important aspects of branding.

Tone – Every organization has a particular way in which they interact with their audience. This can mean they take on a friendly and helpful tone or perhaps more of an authoritative, industry expert approach. The brand guide will help define your organization’s personality, which will be captured in industry messaging moving forward.

A brand guide can be distributed in print format, although, increasingly, companies are making it available in a digital format, either as a PDF or a microsite. It’s important to know that the brand guide will constantly evolve as new issues come into play. Be sure to work with your design firm to keep your brand guide up-to-date.

Want to take a fresh look at your company’s brand guide?
Give us a call at 301-776-2812.

So your organization is going to rebrand; you’ve gathered and heard all stakeholders, assessed your motivations, determined your goals, and built consensus. Now what?
 
Timing is Everything
It’s always tempting to unveil something new at major conferences or events. What better way to show membership how their money has been spent than to launch a new website or present a new logo to an attentive crowd? And you CAN build a lot of buzz for your organization by doing just that—IF you’ve allowed enough time to do it right. As you’ve already learned, your brand is the composite portrait of who your organization is and the perception customers will have of you. Creating a new identity can take anywhere from three months to more than a year depending on the scope of the project, so it’s essential that companies plan ahead in order to best capitalize on the launch. Ideally, your design partner has been involved in your decision-making process thus far, but if not, now is the time to integrate them into your team. A good design firm can help you develop realistic timelines and set achievement targets to monitor progress along the way.
 
What to Expect
This is where the rubber meets the road. Whether you’ve decided to take your brand in an entirely new direction or evolve it by building on existing strengths, the process should include several key elements.
• The Logo—Using the knowledge gleaned through focused discussions, logo options can be presented to decision-makers. Through constructive feedback, ideas can be narrowed down and refined to arrive at the right solution for your organization.
• Language—What you say and how you say it is a crucial part of your brand identity. Your design team can advise you on adding or amending a tagline to support the logo, maintaining consistency of language and tone in your messaging, or energizing marketing copy.
• Visuals—Will you use photos or illustrations to share your vision with the world? What colors and fonts best reflect your corporate culture? In an increasingly visual and digital environment, ancillary graphics can speak volumes about your organization. Thoughtful curation of these elements by your designers can propel your brand to the fore of public awareness.
• Branding Standards—Launching your new identity is just the beginning; for a brand to resonate, it has to be nurtured and reinforced. Developing style guidelines that define what the elements of your identity are and how to use them arms your staff with an invaluable tool to consistently implement your brand and foster institutional buy-in.
 
Having helped numerous organizations develop lasting identities, Dever Designs has the experience to guide organizations through the process of creating or updating their brand. Ready to start? Visit deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.