BRAND IDENTITY STYLE GUIDE
introduction The goal of the rebrand of the California State Parks System was to give the brand a whole new look that was more appropriate to our time. In order to do that, the rebranding was done with the concept of simplicity, elegance, versatility, and economics in mind. The new aesthetics of the brand allowed the logo to work in more situations as well as apply to more items. The bear was taken away from the logo and instead went with the concept of nature for the main graphics. As a result, the rebrand is a much more easily readable and univeral aesthetic.
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logo The redesigned California State Park Logo was produced with modernizing and simplicity in mind. While the old logo was in a circular emblem fashion, the new logo is layed out in a horizontal manner. California is represented with the graphic treatment of the sun and the tree. These elements represent the nature aspect of state parks. Tagline: California is one of the few places on Earth where one is able to go snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing in the same day allowing parkgoers to enjoy several seasons in under 24 hours. Thus, this quality of California is mentioned in the logo as “All Nature, All Weather� which shows viewers that the possibilities of enjoying all kinds of activities, unavailable elsewhere, endlessly.
Primary Logo Color Palette Color Variations Reduced Variations
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supporting graphics In addition to the logo, supporting graphics can also be used to illustrate California State Parks. The tree from the A of the main logo is repeated and overlapped and scaled individually to represent the consistency of trees that many California State Parks has to offer. This helps signify the nature aspect of the state parks in addition to adding graphical activity in large blank areas.
“A� Tree Pattern Pattern Variations
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logo misuse The simple aesthetic of the logo should not be tampered with. It would be considered as misuse when extra and uneeded flair and detailed are rendered into the logo. The examples of the logo misuse consists of improper application of colors, outlines, patters, drop shadows, gradients, among other misuse aesthetic applications.
Bad Dropshadow No Outlines Wrong Gradient Improper Colors Striped Pattern Wrong Gradient
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typography The typography of the rebrand is significantly correlated to the typeface from the logo. The simple and modernized characteristic of the rebrand is illustrated by the Tw Cent MT typeface. This typeface is used for all documents and items from California State Parks. In addition, Century Regular was chosen as the secondary typeface for it compliments the Tw Cen MT typeface well by presenting a nice contrast between the primary and secondary typefaces. Century Regular is only to be used for situations where significant use of text is involved.
Primary Typefaces Secondary Typeface
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stationery The statioinery items of the California State Parks rebrand was designed with the same mentality of the business cards. All the graphic elements were kept simple and clean with significant use of the supoorting graphics. In addition the letterhead utilizes a photographic illustration to complement the overall compositon. The main letter text here uses the fitting treatment of the secondary type.
Envelope Letterhead
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dept. of parks and recreation 1416 9th street sacramento, ca 95814 PO Box 94296 sacramento, ca 94296
March 16, 2001 Ernie English 1234 Writing Lab Lane Write City, IN 12345 Dear Mr. English:
info@parks.ca.gov www.parks.ca.gov
The first paragraph of a typical business letter is used to state the main point of the letter. Begin with a friendly opening; then quickly transition into the purpose of your letter. Use a couple of sentences to explain the purpose, but do not go in to detail until the next paragraph. Beginning with the second paragraph, state the supporting details to justify your purpose. These may take the form of background information, statistics or first-hand accounts. A few short paragraphs within the body of the letter should be enough to support your reasoning. Finally, in the closing paragraph, briefly restate your purpose and why it is important. If the purpose of your letter is employment related, consider ending your letter with your contact information. However, if the purpose is informational, think about closing with gratitude for the reader's time. Sincerely,
Lucy Letter
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business cards The business cards of the California State Parks were designed to go along with the simplicity of the rebrand. The front side consists of the logo in white placed on top of a green background which contrasts nicely with the white back side which consists of the information of a California State Park employee. The text is kept in Tw Cent MT typeface and the supporting graphic is added to create balance and harmony within the composition.
Front Back
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dept. of parks and recreation 1416 9th street sacramento, ca 95814 info@parks.ca.gov www.parks.ca.gov
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postcards One great advantage the logo has is that it works very well with photography. Therefore, effective postcards are able to be made using just the logo and a photo from a California State Park. The postcards shown here are made with the appropriate treatment of the logo for the different kinds of photos. Pictured on the right are photos from Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The photographs were rendered in a monototone manner to create more contrast between the logo and the picture.
White Monotone Sephia
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individual park logo use The graphical treatment of the numerous parks of the California State Parks is not too different from the main logo in terms of aesthetics. The sun-tree CA is also used however the type treatment differs most from the original logo. The name of the indifidual park is stated along with “state park” right under. The names of the parks are vertically two times larger than the size of “state park” to signify which park it is rather than showing that it is just another state park.
brochure covers The aesthetics of the brochures for California State Parks were designed to show a beautiful aspect of the park that the brochure is representing. To do so, heavy use of photography was applied. On top of the photos, an overlay was applied in the shape of the tree from the “A� of the rebranded logo. This treatment of the contrasting overlays acts as a kind of a preview to each individual California State Park.
BIG BASIN REDWOODS STATE PARK
CASTLE ROCK STATE PARK
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website The redesign of the website gives the brand a more calm nature tone. Also rendered with simplicity in mind, a blurred photograph was used as the background to allow viewers to gain a general idea of the kind of nature California State Parks has to offer. The main links are shown towards the top right of the screen and includes a search bar on the left.
Home Page On Screen
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HOME
search
VISIT A PARK
PARK MANAGEMENT
JOBS
LEARNING
FIND A PARK zip code/city
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search
HOME
VISIT A PARK
PARK MANAGEMENT
FIND A PARK zip code/city
JOBS
LEARNING
NEWSROOM
NEWSROOM
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application on clothing The redesigned California State Park Logo is also good to apply on different kinds of clothing. The logo can be used as a whole or can be taken apart. In addition, using just the supporting graphic elements in some cases work well also.
T Shirts Polos Sweatshirts Color Palette
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