BRAND BOOK
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Four Legs
What We Do Our Brand
Our Values Our Voice Logo
Colors
Typography
Photography
School Identities
INTRODUCTION Eagle County Schools is an innovative public school district of nearly
6,500 students in 17 schools with around 450 highly effective teachers
and 400 excellent support staff members. In round numbers, we serve
over 20,000 community members (parents, staff members and students) in our mission to educate the County’s children. With a population of
51,854 (2011) people, we touch 40% of the population every day for nine
months of the year. We need to improve our communications with these core audiences: parents, staff and students.
We need to present Eagle County Schools as a strong and cohesive organization.
Our new strategic direction requires us to be proactive, responsive,
engaging, and effective in our communication efforts. Education has
become increasing complex and expensive, but our core purpose is simple and straight-forward: prepare students to be capable, confident, and caring citizens.
We must become more proficient in keeping parents informed about relevant changes in Education without losing them in the weeds of
complexity. This Brand Book provides communication guidelines to help
District leaders communicate while maintaining a consistent look and feel across all schools and departments.
THE FOUR LEGS OF OUR BRAND District Office
• The primary brand: Eagle County Schools • Maintains a positive impression of the District to foster support and confidence from parents and the community • Sets the overall style and voice for the brand • Communicates internally to staff • Communicates externally on district-wide news, accolades, legislation, achievement, finances, and personnel matters • District average v. State average test results • Interacts with all media • Originates from the Board of Education, Superintendent, and Department of Communications
Schools
• Sub-brands of Eagle County Schools • Maintains a positive impression of a specific school to foster support and confidence from parents and staff of that school • Communicates internally to staff • Communicates externally to parents on school-wide news, accolades, achievement, and activities • School level test results • Originates from the Principal and Office Manager • Primary influencer of teaching staff perception
Educators
• Brand representatives of both the school where they work and the District as a whole • Maintains a positive impression of the specific school and classroom/subject matter under their care • Communicates externally to parents on classroom news, activities, homework, field trips, needs, parties, and student progress • Forms the strongest, most trusted connection with parents and community • Primary influencer of parent perception
Support Staff
• Brand representatives of both the department where they work and the District as a whole • Essential to the operations and delivery of our primary function: education • More likely to communicate internally to colleagues versus externally to parents on a daily basis • Shapes the internal opinion of our brand through interpersonal communication • Still responsible for positively shaping our brand story
WHAT WE DO We take children from all walks of life, with varying degrees of ability, wideranging challenges, and guide them for 13 years through a sea of information and social situations so that they can succeed in life. It’s nothing short of miracle work. Regardless of competing stresses, we strive to inspire every student, every moment, to develop a lifelong passion for learning. We care for our students. We offer students and staff a safe environment for learning and living.
We look for new ways to engage students with learning, parents with the District, and the
community for support of our noble mission. Most importantly, we ignite curiosity, open
eyes, fuel confidence, protect innocence, feed intelligence, create joy, soften sadness,
stimulate creativity, and prepare children for adulthood.
Education is a lofty goal, but that’s what we do.
Eagle County Schools is a leader brand Leader brands are recognized by their industry for pioneering new ways forward. They are perceived as the benchmark, the one to watch, the trail blazer. Leader brands typically have the highest market share.
BRAND Our brand essence – Enthusiasm Creators Our essence reflects who we are and what we do. We build enthusiasm for learning and life in the hearts and minds of our students. Our essence is the idea that drives all of our key messages and communication.
OUR
It recognizes that education is not a once in a lifetime experience, but rather the experience of a lifetime. It emphasizes that education is about achieving academic success, teaching success, and social/emotional success. As professionals, we enthusiastically embrace research, best practices, and innovation to teach students better. Our enthusiasm is contagious. It is the fuel that propels our students toward success in whatever field they choose.
Su p Sc ho ol
Three Peaks of World Class Learning
Standards
Learners
Unique individuals requiring reliable instruction tailored to their specific needs
Su pp or t s
Strong, internationally benchmarked standards, aligned curricula and assessments that create comprehension, synthesis, skills, and abilities in our students
Educators
ty
Supported, respected, effective teachers and leaders
ni
D
s rt po
C
om
m
u
If you put the three peaks of our logo in motion, they represent our core values, the Three Peaks of Learning – Standards, Educators, and Learners. We focus on efforts that directly impact these Three Peaks. For every initiative, we ask ourselves, “how does this improve one or more of these three
peaks?” School-based and Community-based supports wrap around our core. We are organized around the central concept that great teachers deliver great outcomes for students.
OUR VALUES
Aligned with our new strategic direction, our values describe what we want to communicate about ourselves. We should strive to bring these values to life in all that we do. Highly effective teachers
Teachers are the lifeblood of our organization. It’s that simple. We strive to hire the best, retain the best, and support the best with on-going, embedded professional development.
Leading edge instructional resources
Paramount to capturing the imagination of students and supporting our teachers is having modern, interactive, and engaging curriculum resources.
Creative programs
We provide unique programs, including visual arts, music, and languages in a variety of learning environments for our students and staff.
Exceptional support
Though teachers are at the forefront of our mission, to be successful our organization must have the best support staff, well-maintained facilities, and safe transportation.
Technology
We exist in the rapidly changing Information Age, and must keep up with technology, adapt to technology, and embed technological literacy throughout our curriculum. This is a dynamic shift from technology as devices/tools to technology as a skill set.
Community engagement
We’re constantly looking for new ways to engage our community. We strive to be highly collaborative with our benefactors, governmental agencies, PTA/O’s, and local businesses.
VOICE Our language is simple and straight to the point. We don’t say something in eight words that we can say in four. We don’t use elevated language or jargon, which only serves to disconnect us from our audience.
OUR
Our audience expects us to be able to simplify complex concepts into concise, coherent, and conversational language.
Our tone is upbeat, encouraging, and reflects our brand essence – Enthusiasm Creators.
Our key messages:
• Innovative excellence with altitude • Inspiring a passion for lifelong learning
These simple statements convey what we want to say about Eagle County Schools.
Internal Messaging Clarity, Coherence, Compassion Our communications focus for the foreseeable future is aimed at building a great, and effective, organization. We are a team with the single and complex purpose of educating the County’s students. We need each other to accomplish this task.
To be a great organization, we will focus on bringing clarity to our mission, coherence to our various initiatives, and compassion to our interpersonal relationships.
External Messaging Meeting community expectations Our communications focus for external stakeholders is connecting our values, focus, and initiatives with what the community expects from its public school district. From what they’ve told us, they expect: • A world class, innovative district committed to excellent instruction • Continued growth in student achievement • Respect for individuals with diverse personalities • Well-supported teachers with reasonable class sizes • Well-equipped schools • School to be challenging, yet fun and balanced
E
STUDENT AND TEACHER ORIENTED
To reflect our brand essence – enthusiasm creators – we need to put the student back in the center of our message. The general conversation about education has become usurped by data. Evidence of success. Achievement results. This is an important part of the story, but it has become the entire story. Lost in the conversation is the student. Curious little sponges who want to be noticed, cherished, loved and supported. They want consistency and constancy.
We are focused on the facts and skills we want them to learn. They are focused on friendship, playing, dating, sports, work, music, movies, and pop culture.
Meanwhile, teachers aren’t statisticians. They are unique people who love and enjoy children. They delight in seeing a child learn a new skill. They are patient when a student misbehaves.
Their souls are damaged when they see a child hurt. They understand the importance of their work. They want the respect and support of the District Office and community.
LOGO USAGE Our logo is the touchstone of our brand and one of our most valuable assets. Proper usage ensures consistent recognition and confirms our identity to students, parents, staff and vendors.
preferred
The preferred way to use the Eagle County Schools logo is in single color over a white background without tone in the sky. Solid black and solid white are also permissible. Most office level printers cannot reproduce the tone with high fidelity, resulting in a splotchy, unprofessional result. If you are using the logo in a digital format or sending it to a professional printer, the logo with tone may be used.
If the logo must be placed on a dark background, then the logo can be knocked out to white.
=2x
=x
Remember to observe the clear space around the logo to maximize visual effectiveness. The space is two times the height of the small caps in the logo as shown in the diagram. Do not change orientation, add effects (like drop shadows), change colors, attempt to recreate, scale unproportionately, repeat as a wallpaper, or make alterations/ additions.
VEHICLES Our logo should be reproduced in one color cut vinyl in a dark/navy blue that is the closest match to PMS 541 and applied centered on driver’s and passenger’s door panels, and on the rear of the vehicle. Positioning on tail gates is on the right side of the panel as shown, unless a license plate prevents such location. All three logos should be the same size. On dark vehicles, the logo can be in white cut vinyl.
APPAREL eagleschools.net
eagleschools.net
Our logo should be reproduced in one color stitching (embroidery) in a dark/navy blue that is the closest match to PMS 541 and applied to the left front pocket area, no larger than three inches in width. The District’s website should also be stitched along the back to be about 75% of the width of the collar. Alternatively, the website can be printed under the logo on the front pocket. Arial should be used for this font. “WWW” can be omitted from the web address so that it is simply: eagleschools.net. School-specific apparel should follow these same guidelines in terms of placement and size.
COLOR Eagle County Schools Blue
Eagle County Schools White
CMYK 100, 75, 33, 22
CMYK 0, 0, 0, 0
PMS
541 C
RGB
0, 62, 116
HEX
Slate Blue
Plum
CMYK 69, 42, 33, 5
CMYK 73, 92, 33, 23
5415 C
RGB
90, 126, 146
HEX
Yellow
5a7e92
PMS
116C
RGB
255, 203, 0
CMYK 0, 19, 100, 0 HEX
5f3032
NA
RGB
255, 255, 255
HEX
003e74
PMS
PMS
PMS
525 C
RGB
85, 46, 95
HEX
Mustard
552e5f
PMS
131 C
RGB
210, 142, 0
CMYK 17, 46, 100, 2 HEX
5f3032
Our colors give us personality. We use rich colors to confer reliability, integrity, and creativity.
ffffff
Rich Brown
Brown
CMYK 48, 77, 67, 64
CMYK 42, 78, 66, 49
PMS
4975 C
RGB
70, 35, 36
HEX
462324
PMS
1817 C
RGB
95, 48, 50
HEX
5f3032
Light Brown
Orange
CMYK 31, 76, 100, 30
CMYK 5, 82, 100, 1
PMS
1615 C
RGB
136, 68, 29
HEX
88441d
PMS
166 C
RGB
229, 83, 2
HEX
e55302
Brick Red
Grey
CMYK 31, 95, 72, 31
CMYK 31, 24, 25, 0
PMS
202 C
RGB
135, 36, 52
HEX
Red
5f3032
PMS
1797 C
RGB
201, 40, 45
CMYK 15, 98, 93, 4 HEX
e55302
PMS
Cool Grey 5 C
RGB
179, 179, 179
HEX
5f3032
Apple Green PMS
583 C
RGB
170, 179, 0
CMYK 39, 17, 100, 1 HEX
e55302
Logo Color: PMS 541 blue Use our logo color sparingly in a document to not outshine the logo.
Supporting Color Palette These colors add variety and expand our brand personality. Use of color can be complex to the untrained designer. For best results limit color choice to black, one color as a primary accent color, and another color as a secondary accent. Too much color on one page or in a single document can look busy, difficult to read, and unprofessional.
TYPOGRAPHY Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890 Arial Black: Headlines, subheads, for emphasis
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890 Georgia Regular: for text and general use body copy
Georgia Italic and Bold: for emphasis
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
Aa bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
Aa bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 1234567890
Arial Regular: for captions and disclaimers
Typography is a key element to communicate a unified personality for Eagle County Schools. We have selected Arial Black as our headline font and Georgia as our primary font. Arial Black Arial Black is a strong, heavy weight, sans serif font that provides solid contrast from our standard font. This allows the reader’s eye to quickly move from topic to topic. Georgia Georgia is a strong, well-designed serif font most notably used by USA Today. A serif font facilitates ease of reading because the serifs enhance visual flow from letter to letter. Both fonts are readily available in most standard font sets that ship with computers.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Visual identity is made up of four elements: logo, color palette, typography and photography. Of the four elements, photography is most effective at reflecting our brand essence – enthusiasm creators. Dynamic, Iconic, and Professional Images
Images that show students actively and enthusiastically enjoying school. Images that show staff engaged with students or actively teaching.
Images that celebrate individuals by allowing personality to shine through.
The use of a single large and dramatic image is preferred over small collages.
Collectively, these images present a community of enthusiastic students and teachers with a passion for lifelong learning.
engaged
accomplished
interested
honored
connected
activated
intrigued
involved
captivated
As parent and student-facing sub brands, individual school identities play an important role in our overall communications strategy.
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SCHOOL IDENTITIES
U G A R
TIGERS
Brands and sub brands The public knows the brand CocaCola, but they drink, and have the direct relationship with, a specific sub brand. Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Mello Yello. Each has a unique personality and customer base.
In our organization, parents also have the direct relationship with a specific sub brand – the school their child attends.
VAIL SKI & SNOWBOARD ACADEMY
Our Schools are visually identified by mascots. They offer distinct instructional options to appeal to particular learning styles while operating primarily as a community school. Most attendance is based on proximity to a school, however parents do have an option for their child to attend the school of their choice.
For most communication at the school level, the individual school identity should be used and emphasized, with the District identity used on a secondary basis. However, maintaining the color palette, typography and photography standards create a degree of cohesiveness and consistency.
SCHOOL IDENTITIES District letterhead is one color, PMS 541 Blue on a solar white sheet. School letterhead uses the same fonts, placement, and color, except that the District logo can be replaced by the school mascot. One color printing is more cost effective and recommended for high use items like letterhead, but presenting your mascot in color to establish greater group identity may be worth the added expense.
Present the school name, the instructional profile, and the Principal’s name. If no instructional profile is needed, leave that space blank.
Jason E. Glass, Ed.D.
Superintendent and Chief Learner jason.glass@eagleschools.net @COJasonGlass
District Office
In the address line, keep the District app and website information, but substitute school twitter and facebook accounts, along with address and phone numbers
District business cards, on the other hand, carry the District logo and identify individual schools and departments with typography.
Transitions As a frugal school district, we’re not expecting everyone to discard standing inventory of printed material to immediately implement the revised look. The transition plan is to adapt to the new look as materials are consumed and at first re-order.
Schools can keep the District logo or change to their mascot logo.
948 Chambers Ave., POB 740 Eagle, Colorado 81631
Letterhead and business cards School letterheads are consistent with the District letterhead, except the District logo may be replaced with a school’s mascot. Importantly, the mascot must occupy the same general space as the District logo. This restricts the overall size of the mascot logo to prevent it from becoming overbearing in the design.
myapp.is/EagleSchools web: eagleschools.net twitter:@eagleCOschools facebook: eagle.schools pho: 970 328-6321 fax: 970 328-1024
Business cards will all consistently display the District logo. In this example, the words District Office changes to reflect a specific school or department.
Where possible, as in digital documents, we should begin evolving to the new look during the 2013-14 school year.
PRESENTATIONS A Powerpoint Presentation template is provided for consistent use across the district. Anytime that you present to the Board of Education or outside entities, please use the presentation template. It contains colors, fonts, and logo placement compatible with our brand guide. We provide a seasonal first slide for Fall, Winter and Spring/Summer. School Presentations When speaking to a school staff and/or parent group of a school, then use these same templates, but replace the Eagle County Schools logo with the relevant school logo. This properly identifies to the audience who is presenting the information, yet also maintains the consistent, professional look of the District. In provided templates, make the logo change on Master slides and the update will appear on all slides.
ENTHUSIASM CREATORS