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VISUAL STANDARDS GUIDE
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VISUAL STANDARDS GUIDE ANNE HELLERSMITH
PAGE TITLE Page Subtitle
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GSA
Visual Standards Guide
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
05 The New GSA Our History What We Stand For Who We Are Who We Are Not
17 The Logo Alternative Logo Logo Uses Logo Anatomy Logo Restrictions
29 Visual Elements Typography Colors Imagery
43 GSA’s Future The GSA World
55 Sources
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GSA
THE NEW GSA
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PAGE TITLE Page Subtitle
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GSA
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OUR HISTORY
Girl Scouts is an organization working towards empowering girls to become confident, strong and courageous people and help make the world a better place. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March 12th 1912 in Savannah, Georgia. Their mission: “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.” Today there are around 2.7 million girl scouts. Through a large range of activities, Girl scouts focusses on the development of young girls into confident leaders of the community. Girl Scouts started off in 1912 as a place for young girls to play, explore and make a difference to their corner of the world, in a time where women didn’t generally get that option. In a time when women hadn’t yet gained the right to vote, Juliette Gordon Low encouraged young girls to embrace their own strengths and abilities, spreading this sentiment to the many girls to follow.
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These days there are around 3 million Girls Scouts in 92 countries world wide, including 59 million alumnae. Now, the GSA has grown up. We’re expanding our reach towards young women and away from the cute camp element of our past. We will now focus on empowering women personally, socially and financially no matter what their age. Expanded across a large range of platforms we seek to empower and support all women.
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WHAT WE STAND FOR Our Mission Statement
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GSA is about empowering young women to take control of their lives and become strong, confident leaders of the future. Visual Standards Guide
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WHO WE ARE
GSA is an organization working towards the empowerment of young women in all aspects of their lives, especially focussing on achieving personal, social and financial strength, wellbeing and confidence. GSA hopes to provide young women from all walks of life with the tools to take control of their lives, and shape their own future to become leaders and experts in their own right.
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Supportive & Encouraging GSA should provide a safe environment for young women where support will always be available, no matter what life throws at them. GSA will become a community where support will be readily available and encouraged for any young woman who feels she needs help regaining control in personal, social or financial aspects of her life.
Strong & Confident This is one of the main goals GSA will aim to achieve in every young woman they encounter. Far too many young women struggle with confidence and self-esteem. GSA will work towards turning this around and encouraging young women to find their inner strength and sense of self worth. In order for them to take/regain control of their lives.
GSA is there to help young women realize their dreams. Building a better future for young women everywhere. The new GSA believes that no dream is too outrageous and will do their best to be supportive and encouraging to anyone who needs it.
Empowering Through all their activities, the end goal will remain the empowerment of women across America. A GSA woman should become powerful and be encouraged to do whatever she dreams of, in part due to her experience and learning at GSA.
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WHO WE ARE NOT
Women are not delicate, fragile or cute beings that need protecting. Women are strong, intelligent and can protect themselves just fine. But unfortunately this is not the perception society paints of girls and women. The GSA is not a charity. We are not to be pitied. The GSA works towards bringing the best out of every woman, so that together we can change how we are portrayed and thought of by society. Cute The GSA is not a cute, let’s-hold-hands-and-sing-songs kind of organization. We will fight for and be loud about gaining gender equality and female empowerment. GSA women are bold, confident, intelligent and strong. Definitely not cute. This translates directly to our visual identity. Our colors are bold and bright. Avoid using pastels and other colors commonly described as cute. Same goes for imagery. Go for bold photos of strong confident women with bright warm tones. A Charity Though the GSA has not-for-profit branches, we’re not a charity. And in turn we believe women aren’t charity cases. We’re here to provide services that will help shape the leaders of the future, not just to throw money at the problem. And though we provide support options we believe the best results are to be reached through hard work and mutual effort. We’re not here to hand out freebies.
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THE LOGO
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THE LOGO
The logo is a combination/graphic representation of flames and a shield. The mark stands for the inner strength and confidence GSA works towards unleashing in the women we work with. The colors and grace of the mark hints at the feminine without becoming girly or cute. The Girls Scouts will from now on be known as the GSA, moving the emphasis away from the scouts aspect of the original organization, as well as making it sound less juvenile. The GSA is a mature version of its former self. The name being GSA makes it sound a lot tougher while still holding on to its heritage.
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ALTERNATIVE LOGOS
If for any reason the full-color logo can’t be used or needs to be overlaid onto a background other then white the logo should be turned into a single color. This color should never be anything other then full black or full white. The choice between the two will depend on which one will maintain a good/clear contrast. The details of when and how will be left up to the judgement of the designer. Simply put, though, the idea is to make sure the logo is highly legible and treated with care whenever used. The single color versions are generally more legible, so at smaller sizes it might be appropriate to switch to this version rather then the full color one.
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LOGO USES
Not all situations call for the full signature. At small sizes the icon might in fact lose any recognizability. When the logo is to be used at sizes smaller then one inch tall the wordmark should be used on its own. At sizes between one and two inches the choice opens up to using the icon on its own. Depending on the legibility and placement, the preference should go out to using the icon, especially when a more abstract representation of the brand is preferred. At any larger size, all three options are acceptable though the full signature should remain the first choice.
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Workmark Only
Icon Only
Full Signature
> 2 inch tall
1-2 inch tall
< 1 inch tall
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LOGO ANATOMY
Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an overview of how the full signature is constructed and proportioned. An absolute minimum of one x space should be left on all sides around the mark at all times, preferably more. None of the proportioned shown here should be messed with. This lock-up should always be used in this way and no other.
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x
x x ½x x ½x x x x
½x x
½x x
½x x
¼x ¼x x
½x
½x x
½x x
x
½x ½x
x
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LOGO RESTRICTIONS What Not to Do
Logo usage rules are pretty straight forward. Don’t mess with the logo in any way. Don’t rotate or distort the mark. Don’t mess with the colors besides the alternatives stated before and don’t outline the mark. In addition don’t use any kind of special effects on the mark. Don’t add a drop-shadow or embossing effects. And finally, don’t fill the logo with anything other then the assigned, flat colors.
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Don’t rotate or distort the logo
Don’t outline the shapes
Don’t fill mark with other colors then the assigned logo colors
Don’t apply a drop-shadow
Don’t fill with gradient
Don’t fill mark with image
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VISUAL ELEMENTS
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TYPOGRAPHY Large Headers
The typeface of choice for large headers is Avenir LT Std. It is a mostly geometric sansserif chosen for its legibility and clean design. To go along with the GSA’s goal, Avenir is powerful in it’s own right and doesn’t distract from the message. Avenir was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988. Frutiger has been known to state that he was inspired heavily by Futura. As opposed to Futura, however, Avenir isn’t entirely geometric. Frutiger added a slight variety of weights between the vertical and horizonal strokes, and shortened the ascenders. Overall the effect was to make the typeface more legible and make it an ideal sans-serif typeface for both headlines as well as body copy.
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Avenir LT Std 85 Heavy ABCDEFGIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 .,?!/<>:;‘“@#$%^&*()-+={}[]
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TYPOGRAPHY
Body Copy and Small Text
Designed specifically as a sans-serif that would be suitable for long blocks of text, Univers is a very versatile typeface and will become the GSA’s first choice for body copy and small text. Univers was also designed by Adrian Frutiger, and therefore is an obvious choice for a pair. Univers was designed in 1957 and undated in 1997 by Linotype. Univers is known as a typeface that pair well with a large variety of fonts as well as one that stand well on it’s own. Avenir and Univers are similar though, so to avoid any confusion between the two, however, Univers should be used in its condensed form only. Univers’ simple elegance lends itself perfectly to be used for our renewed brand. No frills, decorations or anything to distract from it’s simple beauty, just like the GSA. We don’t need to dress it up, we simple are.
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Univers LT Std 57 Condensed ABCDEFGIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 .,?!/<>:;‘“@#$%^&*()-+={}[]
Univers LT Std 47 Light Condensed ABCDEFGIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 .,?!/<>:;‘“@#$%^&*()-+={}[]
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TYPOGRAPHY
Small Headers and Accents
As a contrast to Avenir and Univers, Serifa is to be used as small headers and accents. Serifa is a slab serif that Adrian Frutiger designed in 1964 based off his earlier type design for Univers. Serifa has also been designed by Frutiger, in this case specifically to be a slab-serif version of Univers. Using Univers as a framework, Frutiger effectively just added the unbracketed, square serifs. The result is a surprisingly elegant, legible slab-serif and a perfect pair for Univers.
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Serifa Std 45 Light ABCDEFGIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 .,?!/<>:;‘“@#$%^&*()-+={}[]
Serifa Std 65 Bold ABCDEFGIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 .,?!/<>:;‘“@#$%^&*()-+={}[]
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COLORS Logo Colors
These are the logoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main colors. The logo should never be colored in any way other then with these colors or the black and white variations shown on page 23. They can also be used as accents through other branding related materials. These colors are not meant to constitute as restrictions, in fact, the use of other colors in highly encouraged. These are, however the colors through which the brand will be most recognizable. GSA Red in particular has been chosen to provide a dash of color. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effectively red, but with the slightest hint of pink, mostly to add a sense of the feminine without becoming too stereotypical or cutesy. The greys compliment this by softening it up a bit by adding a sense of elegance and grace.
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GSA Red C:0 M : 100 Y : 80 K:0 Pantone 185 C Pantone 185 U
GSA Light Grey R : 235 G : 25 B : 60
C:0 M:0 Y:0 K : 30
GSA Dark Grey R : 190 G : 190 B : 190
Pantone Cool Gray 4 C Pantone Cool Gray 4 U
C:0 M:0 Y:0 K : 70
R : 110 G : 110 B : 115
Pantone Cool Gray 9 C Pantone Cool Gray 11 U
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COLORS
Color Usage Guide
The new GSA is a bold brand and we wish to exude confidence and power through every element of our branding. This means that we want our colors to portray this. Without restricting the color palette to a defined number of colors we have set up some simple guidelines. The key is to keep them bright and vibrant, avoiding pastels and not to use colors too similar to GSA Red, GSA Light Gray or GSA Dark Grey. The image on the right here shows how this might apply to the full spectrum of color choices. The key is to stay away from stereotypically “girly” colors such as pinks and pastels in favor of bright, bold tones. Anything too close to the logo GSA Red, GSA Light Grey and GSA Dark Grey should also be avoided so they don’t get confused.
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Avoid using pastels of any kind with the only exception being the two gray tones used for the logo.
Do use bright, vibrant and bold colors Do not use any color that is close to the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s red Do not use pinks unless for the smallest of accents.
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IMAGERY STYLE
The imagery style is key towards portraying the image of powerful, confident, happy women that we hope to support and build up through our organization. Images should be in full color with a warm tint/glow to them. They should exude positivity without being staged or “cheesy”. Stock imagery should be avoided especially when staged against a solid white or black background. In effect, imagery should look as natural as possible. The subject of the photos will logically be mostly women. Each and every one of these women should be shown as confident and in control. Images of women working with their hands or doing what would traditionally be seen as a “man’s job” are highly encouraged. We want to show that women can do it all.
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GSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FUTURE
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THE GSA WORLD
Going forward, the GSA will expand into a wide variety of new areas. All of our new initiatives will be grouped within four facilities: The GSA Community Center, the GSA Career Center, the GSA Sports Center and the GSA Wellness Center. 1. GSA Community Center
18. GSA Fix it
2. GSA Mentoring
19. GSA Small Business Loans
3. After-School GSA Program
20. Career Days
4. GSA Confidence Workshops
21. GSA Sports Center
5. Affirmation App
22. Confidence Run
6. GSA Dads
23. Move with Confidence
7. GSA Creates
24. GSA Self-Defence
8. GSA Pop-up Galleries
25. Sports Tester Classes
9. GSA Big Sisters
26. GSA Sports League
10. Dressed to Impress
27. GSA Wellness Center
11. Community Reform Projects
28. GSA Health Aids
12. GSA Career Center
29. GSA Period Pack
13. GSA Financial Education and Support
30. Sex Ed Groups
14. Career Finder (Website)
31. Breast Cancer Screening
15. Women in Leadership
32. STD Screening
16. GSA Workshop Series
33. GSA Moms
17. GSA Cookies
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Social
Personal 24.
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30. 21. 3.
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26. 15. 11.
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16. 18. 29.
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THE GSA WORLD Community
Building a community of women, because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re stronger together. GSA Community Centers will provide a safe and welcoming place for young women to go seek support and become a part of the larger GSA Community. The center will be the home of a range of events, classes and services all working towards strengthening relationships and improving self-confidence. Based in these centers are services such as mentoring and councling sessions, individual as well as in groups, afterschool programs aimed at giving young girls a place to go have fun and build up their confidence while providing their mothers with the time to work full-time if they wish to. The key being that the program is fun and educational at the same time. In addition, the center will organize confidence workshops for girls and young women to help them with issues of self-confidence and self-esteem. And, although most activities at these centers will be focussed around women, the GSA Centers will also host a program aimed at dads to help and educate them on how to encourage their daughters to follow their dreams and grow up to become confident, strong women. The highlighted points shown on the right are the brand extensions that will be explored in depth on the website.
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1. GSA Community Center A network of community centers set up to provide a safe and welcoming space for any woman who feels she needs it. 2. GSA Mentoring Mentoring sessions set out through community centers. 3. After-School GSA Program Providing moms with the time to work during normal business hours as well as girls with a fun place to help shape them into strong young women. 4. GSA Confidence Workshops Workshops set up with the goal of encouraging women to gain self-confidence. 5. Affirmation App A simple, fun application that gives the user quick and simple affirmations and encouraging phrases at sporadic times throughout the week to boost mood, self-esteem and confidence. Compliments can go a long way. 6. GSA Dads Program supporting and educating dads on how to encourage and help their daughters to become strong, confident and follow their dreams.
7. GSA Creates Series of events gathering girls and women together to encourage creativity and healthy expression through art projects and collaboration. 8. GSA Pop-up Galleries Pop-up style galleries focussed on celebrating the achievements of women around the world and providing young girls with people to look up to. 9. GSA Big Sisters Partnering with the Big Sisters & Big Brothers of America GSA will look at paring up successful women with at-risk youth to provide a positive role-model. 10. Dressed to Impress Clothing line breaking the stereotypes of femininity. Tough, exciting items that aim to boost confidence, especially focussed on providing young girls with a larger variety of inspirational (not pink, frilly and cute with meaningless text) clothing. 11. Community Reform Projects Projects initiated by GSA members in which they choose a space within their immediate environment they believe could use re-vamping and do exactly that. With the aid and support of GSA, the women will construct a plan to clean up, enliven a specific area and carry it out from start to finish.
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THE GSA WORLD Career
Helping women climb the professional ladder and achieve their dream career. GSA Career Centers will focus on helping women further their careers, achieve equal pay and break through the glass ceiling. The center will aim to achieve this by providing financial education and support for any woman who might need it as well as general career advice. Women will be able to come here to learn from other successful women and gain knowledge from their experiences within the world of business. Workshops will be held at the center as well to provide insights into the issues women face in professional work environments. This could range from topics such as how to have a great interview, to how to approach asking for that raise you know you deserve. GSA Careers Centers will also be the home of the GSA Cookies project. This will still be aimed at younger girls though and be a means through which they can learn about finance and business practices.
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12. GSA Career Center A series of career centers providing support and advice on anything from building a resume to managing your finances, to getting promotions.
18. GSA Fix it Series of courses teaching young women skills usually/traditionally reserved for boys such as: how to fix a bike, auto maintenance and carpentry.
13. GSA Financial Education and Support Programs focussed on financial education and supporting women who struggle managing their finances.
19. GSA Small Business Loans The career center will work to provide women with every chance to better their lives financially. This includes hooking them up with small business loans to get started.
14. Career Finder (Website) A job seeker website focused primarily on linking women seeking jobs with employers known for women friendly policies and providing equal pay. 15. Women in Leadership Conferences/workshops lead by women already in leadership positions to share their experiences, provide advice and answer questions.
20. Career Days The GSA will help populate career fair with equal opportunity stands and reaching out to girls with career prospects other then what they might be used to seeing.
16. GSA Workshop Series GSA themed educational workshop series focussing on a range of topics. 17. GSA Cookies Still sold to raise funds and challenge young girls expand their business prowess and understanding. Possibly expanded into more co-branding opportunities to build upon the ones that already exist.
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THE GSA WORLD Sports
A safe, encouraging space for women to work out, play sports and feel comfortable in their bodies. GSA Sports Centers are focused on helping girls and young women feel comfortable working out and staying active. The centers serve as both a hub for various womens sports teams as well as a location for a range of classes. These range from dance lessons to self-defence classes. The centers will also be the home base for various events such as a confidence runâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a fund-raising running event focussed on making young women feel confident and accomplishedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as well as a move with confidence event which will look a bit broader and encourage women to feel confident with all forms of movement and improve their self-image.
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21. GSA Sports Center Women specific sports centers to provide safe, comfortable and encouraging space for women to work out and stay active. 22. Confidence Run Event/run to raise funds and boost confidence. 23. Move with Confidence Events focussed on movement and staying active. Encouraging women to feel comfortable with their bodies. 24. GSA Self-Defence Self-defence classes teaching girls and women how to defend themselves and others if the need arrises. 25. Sports Tester Classes A series of classes specifically set up as a means through which to try out a sport before joining a team. These classes are like teasers specifically aimed at beginners, teaching the basics so these women will be more comfortable once they find the sport the want to join. 26. GSA Sports League A GSA organized sports league set up for girls and young women to play amateur sports together and in a friendly, encouraging environment.
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THE GSA WORLD Health
The healthcare of a woman provides a unique set of challenges only other women will fully understand. GSA Wellness Centers will be a series of women’s health clinics run by GSA and focussed uniquely on women. The health centers will provide services such as sexual education courses for young teens, breast cancer screening and STD screening and treatments. The health centers will focus on providing young women with a safe, no judgement zone where they can bring and discus any health concerns they might have. This will also be the hub out of which a range of health products will be sold as well as a period “starter kit” will be launched aimed at young teens to ease them into dealing with their periods.
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27. GSA Wellness Center Working with women’s clinics to provide safe, high quality healthcare specific to women and the health issues unique to them. 28. GSA Health Aids A series of products and supplements working towards shifting the focus from outer beauty to inner and most importantly, staying healthy. 29. GSA Period Pack Feminine Hygiene products. “Starter Kit” aimed specifically at young girls learning how to deal with it as well as a product line for women in general. 30. Sex Ed Groups Sex ed programs working towards preparing and educating young girls as well as groups focussed on reaching their parents. 31. Breast Cancer Screening The GSA Wellness Center will co-brand with the breast cancer awareness campaign and to provide breast cancer screening options for women. 32. STD Screening GSA Wellness Centers will also provide a safe, no judgement environment for women to get tested, treated for and advice about any and all sexually transmitted diseases. 33. GSA Moms GSA Moms will be a support group of sorts for both expecting moms, new moms and provide a social circle for moms with children of a similar age.
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SOURCES
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SOURCES
02–03 Image: https://unsplash.com/search/woman?photo=kEK6JV642fQ 05 Image: https://unsplash.com/search/woman?photo=KlUjrn4lk8g 06–07 Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/smiling-woman-87346/ 11 Image: https://fashionnotfear.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/photo-1441995355085-824a251a5996.jpeg?w=1200 12–13 Image: https://static.pexels.com/photos/103127/pexels-photo-103127.jpeg 15 Image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/photo-1461595520627-42e3c83019bc.jpeg 17 Image: https://4likeevercom.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/26799908181_12f8a093ee_o.jpg?w=1200 18–19 Image: https://unsplash.com/search/woman?photo=ZvPoZtY-0ng 30–31 Image: https://unsplash.com/search/woman?photo=3O3-8eymCNI 32 Typography Info: https://www.linotype.com/1245613/avenir-family.html?site=details 34 Typography Info: https://www.linotype.com/1212814/univers-family.html?site=details 36 Typography Info: https://www.linotype.com/1574515/serifa-family.html?site=details
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43 Image: https://static.pexels.com/photos/7096/people-woman-coffee-meeting.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/26254305@N08/14158693137/in/photolist-o8KwFm-p8qipi-q3q4qG-qMVckX 9NGKrb-pNwtzi-pNg1sb-9NJybd-cXshU9-boA4g9-9NGabs-nza1bV-rDU1c9-gfnC7D-o5Jj9k-F1xCwQ-fv2ERi 7Cy8k8-qC1NRD-oGZ9Jt-ofeRsR-9KXAuW-8dW6v8-9bBioz-eSx2iZ-abLRQ2-abLRSD-nZ8Vnz-pN86Sf-fvh7V5 fXKbrP-3XD5y-owGHDC-opjSET-eMrxe1-abPGrj-fvh3rY-bgmnTM-abx1f5-f9CXRJ-9e4g9A-orQpUN-abLRPz fvgLG7-abQxEz-abLRQF-r7oZYo-9Td2KG-abx1ks-abua1X https://www.pexels.com/photo/friendship-58592/ http://www.laurel.org/laurel-content/uploads/bike-mechanic.jpg 44–45 Image: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5355959ee4b0240356d30e99/t/581392042e69cf145305ea49/1477683061 359/photo-1460518451285-97b6aa326961.jpeg 56–57 Image: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5547e08de4b0e6c7c688c0d9/557dbc63e4b02f16630ec87c/583475d29de4 bb511a4f8b7f/1479843791009/photo-1479569057788-b5a81cf434a5.jpg?format=300w 60–61 Image: http://images.unsplash.com/photo-1477512076069-d31eb021716f?ixlib=rb-0.3.5&q=80&fm=jpg&crop=entropy&c s=tinysrgb&w=1080&fit=max&s=e5ad8185913059b7d2e7cb57164d7eb7
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Design_Anne Hellersmith a.m.hellersmith@hotmail.com www.behance.net/ahellersmith Class_Nature of Identity Instructor_Hunter Wimmer College_Academy of Art University
Disclaimer: This book is a non-commercial project for education purposes and is not intended to represent the Girl Scouts of America Organization nor Brand. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form of by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of Anne Hellersmith
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