Our Core Identity
Brand Guide 2
Our Core Identity
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Our Purpose
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Our Core Identity
Ron said best
“Our promise is to provide quality service driven by honesty, respect, and the outmost courtesy.�
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Our Core Identity
Introduction to Our Customers
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We Serve The Hispanic Community Curacao gains momentum with each passing year, with plans to enter Hispanic markets in new cities and give more communities access to our quality products and services. We value our unique relationship with our customers. The local Latino population is more than a market to us—it is a vibrant community, and Curacao is an active member.
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Our Core Identity
Our Company’s Inspiration
“Our new logo will serve as a reminder of the promise we made to our customers 30 years ago when the company was first founded.”
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Our Company’s Purpose
Growing with our clients We are committed to collaborating with organizations who share our goal of enriching the lives of the families and children in our communities. We are committed to empowering Latino youth in our communities through scholarships and educational opportunities. We are committed to providing families in need with home products that will improve the quality of their lives. We are committed to offering assistance, both locally and internationally, to communities affected by natural disasters.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Positioning
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Our Core Identity
Our Positioning We help our shoppers live better because we deliver low prices on the brands they trust, in an easy, fast, one-stop shopping experience.
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Our Brand The color blue represents loyalty, truth and wisdom. Many generations of Hispanic families have been loyal to our brand for decades. Our associates are committed to providing clients with the truth about our products and services. And we as community share a bonding wisdom that spans many generations.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Personality Cross-cultural leadership is our core character. Our team is committed to offering customers the best service and the best experience.
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Our Core Identity
Trait 1
Friendly Leave a lasting impression We’re everyday people like our customers. Genuine. Human. And authentic. We embrace our culture and provide service with a smile.
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Our Core Identity
Trait 2
Honest Customers value the truth We’re upfront with our customers, suppliers, and fellow associates. No hidden agendas, no ulterior motives. We look at problems as opportunities and see setbacks as learning experiences.
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Our Core Identity
Trait 3
Caring Show customers we care We’re caring, not cold. We welcome families with our hometown warmth and exclude no one — we welcome everyone through our doors. We care about our local communities.
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Our Core Identity
Trait 4
Unique Connect with authenticity Being unique is part of being authentic. Customers trust and value people who are real. Our Hispanic culture is also very unique and embracing our warm, genuine nature is essential to our brand.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Core Identity
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Our Core Identity
A comprehensive visual system We’ve created a complete set of design guidelines to ensure consistency over just about every instance of customer contact. The core design elements are the essential visual elements of our brand – our logo, color palette, typography, imagery, and graphics.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Core Identity
Our signature
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A comprehensive visual system Signature There are two different Curacao signatures, horizontal and vertical. The horizontal signature is preferred; use it whenever possible. Don’t separate or rearrange the logotype and symbol. The signature shoud be (R).
Flower The flower appears most often as part of the lockup for the Curacao logo, however the flower can be used alone on certain occasions.
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Our Core Identity
Stacked Logo and Tagline Great brands. Great deals.
1”
Great brands. Great deals.
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Great brands. Great deals.
Minimum logo size Never reproduce the logo/tagline lockup smaller than 1” wide, measured from the “C” to the registered trademark (R).
Minimum logo size • Maintain clear space around the logo to protect the logo from distracting graphics or type. • Never allow typography or other elements to “invade” the logo. • Never redraw or alter the logo, including the placement and size relationship of its letter or flower symbol.
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Our Core Identity
Signature and Symbol Specifications Consistency is powerful when it comes to our logo
3/4� Minimum logo size
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Clear space
Minimum space
Maintain clear space around the signature to protect the logo from distracting graphics or typography.
The signature reproduces well at almost any size. Going too small, however, can damage the logo’s integrity and effectiveness. Never reproduce the signature:
• For the signature, measure clear space by the height of the ® in Curacao for vertical space, and the width of the ® for horizontal. • For the symbol, measure clear space by half of the height of one spoke. • Never allow typography or other elements to “invade” the signature or the symbol. • Never redraw or alter the logo, including the placement and size relationship of its letter or flower symbol.
. . . smaller than 3/4” wide, measured from the “W” to the right side edge of the spark. . . . smaller than 1/2” wide, measured from the “W” to the right side edge of the “t.” . . . smaller than 1/8” wide, measured from one edge of the spark to the other.
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Our Core Identity
Using the Logo with Taglines
Great brands. Great deals.
Great brands. Great deals.
3/4” Minimum logo size Never reproduce the logo/ tagline lockup smaller than 3/4” wide, measured from “W” to the right side edge of the “t” in Curacao.
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Taglines clear space • Maintain clear space around the signature. For the signature, measure clear space by the height of the “r” in Curacao for vertical space, and the width of the ”r” for horizontal. • For the symbol, measure clear space by half of the height of one spoke. • Never allow typography or other elements to “invade” the signature or the symbol. • Never use the tagline alone or linked to a product or service. • Keep the lockup intact, and use only authorized, original art. • Don’t alter the tagline. Should not be less than 4 pt. 39
Our Core Identity
Alternate color backgrounds Use medium blue (PANTONE® 299 C) for a blue background, and reverse out the logo
If the logo is used on a color background that is an equal value or brighter than PANTONE® 299C, reverse the logo out to white • PANTONE® 7706 C is acceptable if necessary, though NOT preferred. Use them in restricted instances, such as in materials for services
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Four-Color logo Preferred logo. Use on white background. Gray logo Use PANTONE® Black 6C 50%
One-Color logo Use PANTONE® 299 C Black and white logo Use PANTONE® 299 C
Two-Color Cool Blend PANTONE® 299 C + PANTONE® 376 C Two-Color Warm Blend PANTONE® 7406 C + PANTONE® 1505 C
Full Color Cool Blend PANTONE® 299 C + PANTONE® 376 C + PANTONE® 7406 C + PANTONE® 1505 C
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Our Core Identity
Using Color and Logos with Taglines
Great brands. Great deals. 42
Great brands. Great deals.
Great brands. Great deals.
For color use of the logo with tagline lockup, follow the same guidelines as those for the signature used without the tagline.
Great brands. Great deals.
• Logo with tagline color • One-color application
Great brands. Great deals.
• Black and white application • Using the logo and tagline on a color background
Great brands. Great deals. 43
Our Core Identity
Using the Logo with Taglines Locked-up type treatments are used with services to establish an identity consistent with the Curacao brand.
Money Transfer
Money Transfer 44
Money Transfer
Examples of Curacao Service Type Treatments Be sure the relationship of the service to the Curacao logo is consistent, whether on lab coats, uniforms, or patches.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Color Palette
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Our Core Identity
Why Blue? It embodies pride, dignity, security, stability, heritage, and trust. Blue also communicates image attributes such as “friendly,” “approachable,” “reliable,” and “trustworthy.” Darker blues convey “tradition” and “quality,” while brighter blues are used to convey “innovation” and “technology.” Blue can also signal “fresh” and combines well with red, green, orange, and yellow. In the context of our brand, it symbolizes the sky is the limit; infinte possibilites. The multi-color flower over blue represents the diversity of Hispanic cultures blossoming and growing under the same infinite sky.
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C: 35 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 0
C: 65 M: 10 Y: 0 K: 0
C: 90 M: 15 Y: 0 K: 0
C: 85 M: 45 Y: 0 K: 0
C: 100 M: 45 Y: 0 K: 25
C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 10
C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 25
C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 50
C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 65
C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 75
C: 49 M: 4 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 58 M: 0 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 49 M: 4 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 58 M: 0 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 87 M: 23 Y: 100 K: 11
C: 10 M: 100 Y: 91 K: 2
C: 0 M: 100 Y: 86 K: 15
C: 0 M: 100 Y: 76 K: 36
C: 0 M: 95 Y: 63 K: 48
C: 0 M: 93 Y: 60 K: 52
C: 0 M: 74 Y: 99 K: 0
C: 8 M: 78 Y: 100 K: 1
C: 7 M: 87 Y: 100 K: 1
C: 12 M: 89 Y: 99 K: 2
C: 21 M: 98 Y: 100 K: 12
C: 2 M: 0 Y: 59 K: 0
C: 2 M: 8 Y: 85 K: 0
C: 0 M: 20 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 6 M: 29 Y: 100 K: 0
C: 12 M: 48 Y: 100 K: 1
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Our Core Identity
Our core colors
Our highlight colors
• With rare exception, use only authorized blue (C: 90 M: 16 Y: 0 K: 0) the logo • Please emphasize the use of blue (C: 90 M: 16 Y: 0 K: 0) for full fields of color in marketing communications
• Use highlight colors in combination with our core colors. These colors add depth, but use them sparingly.
Color matching: PANTONE® • The appearance of our brand colors will dier from spot color to a four-color process • There will be slight color variances when printing on dierent paper stocks • Always minimize visual dierences by matching to PANTONE® color swatches • Ask the printer to adjust the four-color process formula to the paper
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Color Ratio Use the pie chart to the left to guide you in balancing core and highlight colors in Curacao-branded materials.
Color balance • Use our core colors for a consistent platform • Color ratio depends on the individual application • Use the ratio pie chart to balance colors correctly
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Our Core Identity
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Our Typography
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Our Core Identity
UltraLight Helvetica Neue Regular Bold Condensed Bold Condensed Black 54
Typography Typography is used to center our brand identity and should be used consistently across official marketing assets. Correctly used, Helvetica Neue its modern, simple, commands attention, and creates a voice. This is why typography is so essential to our brand identity.
Aa
Aa
Aa
Helvetica Neue Condensed Black
Helvetica Neue Regular
Helvetica Neue Regular UltraLight
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Our Core Identity
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Typographic Style Use typeface, type size, and type weight wisely to establish a clear hierarchy of information.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
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Helvetica Neue Condensed Black
Title • Our primary title font is Helvetica Neue Condensed Black. The font size should be large and bold to immediately grab the reader’s attention. The title will be all uppercase or sentence case when directed.
Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold
Sub Title • Sub title font is Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold.
Helvetica Neue Regular
Body Copy • Helvetica Neue Regular is used as our body copy font.
Helvetica Neue Bold
Keywords • Helvetica Neue Bold can be used to highlight important text within the copy, such as sentence starters, keywords, etc. Beware of over-using this element as it may cause clutter or visual confusion on the page if not used thoughtfully.
Helvetica Neue Regular UltraLight
Quotes • Helvetica Neue Bold can be used as a quote or call out, using all caps with large tracking to help bring emphasis to the content.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Imagery
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Our Core Identity
Lifestyle Select images that are: • High quality • Family oriented • Positive and optimistic • Colorful - logo colors • Reflecting our identity
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Re-use or duplication of any of the photographs on this page is prohibited without obtaining a rights clearance. These photographs are used to represent style and guidance and are not for use on actual projects, as FPO, or in any other situation which would require reproduction.
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Our Core Identity
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Our Core Identity
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Our Core Identity
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Our Core Identity
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Our Voice
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Our Core Identity
Our Tone and Voice Through the language we use, our tone and voice lets the world experience our brand.
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A Guide to Writing in Curacao
The Curacao Voice
Friendly Honest Caring Unique
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Our Core Identity
Reassure customers that we have the solutions to the challenge they face.
How to be friendly • Use positive language • Use more “dos” than “don’ts” • Always be helpful and smile • Explain information clearly
Friendly Trait 1
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• Share your enthusiasm
Customers recognize the truth and appreciate honesty without fluff.
How to be honest • Be brief and be clear • Write in straightforward manner • Use short sentences and paragraphs • Limit the use of metaphorical words • Avoid confusing phrases
Honest Trait 2
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Our Core Identity
Think of someone you care about and how you would convey a message to them.
How to be caring • Write with empathy • Know what you’re taking about • Offer tips and good advice • Avoid writing in all uppercase letters
Caring Trait 3
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• Stay away from exclamation points
Think about how people speak and use every day words to express your message.
How to be unique • Write conversationally • Be friendly but not phony in your copy • Use words that average people use • Use common sayings appropriately • Connect with the uniqueness of our audience
Unique Trait 4 75
Our Core Identity
1. No shouthing. Using all caps within a sentence implies that you are shouting, so make sure you avoid this practice at all cost. 2. Conversational approach. A nice conversational tone is what makes us different. Speaking in fragments helps convey a friendlier style of communication. (i.e., we, you, our, your). 3. Our voice is gender neutral.
Best Practices
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Make sure our messages sound neutral and inclusive of both genders. Imagine the person delivering the message and think of how it will be received.
4. Contractions are good.
7. A “call to action” should be impactful.
Using contractions can help copy sound more natural and more relaxed. A colloquial voice will allow us to connect with our customers much better.
Using active verbs is the perfect way to make a lasting impression, but avoid sounding demanding.
5. Short sentences are key. A good, smooth rhythm punctuated with longer sentences will keep readers more engaged. Headlines will often be an exception. 6. Avoid marketing jargon. Write as a normal person would actually speak. Highly complex sentenses or polsihed language may alienate some people.
8. Always write in the first person. “We are glad to serve you,” sounds better than “Curacao is glad to serve you.” Instead of “Find everything you need at Curacao,” say “We’ve got everything you need.” 9. Periods instead of commas. By using periods instead of commas you will create sentences that are more understandable. “Save on smart phones. TV’s and accessories. Furniture and appliances. And much, much more.” 77
We are the new
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