F ORAKER LAB S | BRA ND GUIDELINE S
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We’re a collection of fun, smart, hardworking people who love solving complex problems.
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We aim to combine our deep technical expertise with a human touch, and we believe our brand should reflect that goal. This guide is both an internal rallying cry and a competitive asset, designed to help us actively manage and share Foraker Labs with the world.
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OUR NAME
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O U R C O R E V A LU E S
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H OW W E D O T H I N G S
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OUR DNA
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OUR LINGO
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OUR TONE
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O U R LO G O
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T YPOGRAPHY
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C O LO R S
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P H OT O G R A P H Y
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A P P L I C AT I O N S
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ABOU 4
UT US 5
Our Name Foraker Labs takes its name from Mount Foraker in Alaska.
For starters, it’s not pronounced, “four acre,” but rather the emphasis is on the first syllable and the “a” is technically a schwa. More like FOR-uh-kur. Glad we got that straight! 6
Mount Foraker is nestled in Denali National Park–part of the Alaska Range. At 17,400 feet, it’s the third highest peak in the United States. Stirling Olson, Founder and President of Foraker Labs, first became acquainted with the mountain in 1996 while climbing on its giant neighbor Denali (aka McKinley).
So why name the company after a mountain in Alaska? Foraker Labs was founded with that “mountain in the distance” in mind–a challenge to accept, a vision to achieve, and something beautiful to behold. Inspired by his Alaskan adventure in ‘96, Stirling started what became “Foraker Design” three years later from his home office in New York. In 2004, after establishing an East Coast presence (and a roster of clients we’re still proud to call partners today), Stirling relocated the business to sunny Boulder, Colorado where it thrives as “Foraker Labs”. A picture of Mount Foraker hangs in our conference room, reminding us to feed the rat and climb to new heights.
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Our Core Values We make a lot of tough decisions. This set of values helps guide us, and we challenge ourselves to stick to them. It’s not always easy; but in the end, our company, our customers, and our work are better for it.
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LEARN NEW THINGS
It’s true what they say–knowledge is power. We keep our skills sharp so that we can do our best work, quickly.
BE CURIOUS AND SKEPTICAL
The most obvious answer isn’t always the right answer. We keep asking questions to get to the root of the issue, so that we can be confident in our approach.
CARE ABOUT AND STRIVE TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE
Software exists to serve people. We create the best software when we understand the user’s history, motivations, and goals. Our customers want to work with us when we show that we care. Our team is strongest when we are committed to helping one another.
NO SURPRISES
Communication is the glass of milk to the PB&J of our work. It keeps things going down smoothly. We communicate often with our clients, and with each other, to ensure that everyone is clued in, all the time.
INTEGRI T Y
Doing the right thing matters. Our customers value our trustworthiness, honesty, and fairness.
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How We Do Things Foraker Labs makes software for people. We hold that software up to uncompromising standards, so that we deliver the most value to our customers as quickly as possible. We want our emphasis on people, quality, and speed to show in all that we do. We give lots of shits.
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WE UNDERSTAND THE ‘WHY’
At Foraker Labs, we form deep partnerships with our clients and believe in face-talking as often as possible. We strive to understand their business, mission and users first and work to not only provide innovative solutions, but also talk them out of bad ideas (and ideally, save them $$$). Together, we unearth the “why” behind business goals and feature requirements, defer commitment on the non-essential, monitor success, and celebrate our wins.
WE ARE FOCUSED AND FAST
Our multidisciplinary group includes developers, designers, UX pros, project managers, and folks that live and breathe product strategy. That said, we keep our project teams small and bring in the right people when they’re needed. This approach enables us to be light on our feet and cost effective for our partners. We believe in limiting work in progress so that we’re delivering—constantly. We strive to build what’s most important first, so that features get into user’s hands sooner and pivots are small.
WE BUILD QUALIT Y IN
We don’t tolerate slops. We pride ourselves on being focused and fast, but by remaining strategic at each touch-point and analyzing the “why,” we ensure that quality is measured and monitored without pause. With a low tolerance for defects, peer review systems, and thorough QA, we make sure to sweat the small stuff so our clients don’t have to.
WE MAKE USER S HAPPY
People matter most, and it’s all for naught if we’re not making users happy. It is why we throw on our capes and come to work each day–to rid the world of bad software! But for real, our team incorporates user feedback throughout a project by truly putting the “X” in UX. We focus on the facts via research; we create user studies, develop personas and competitive analyses, and test our software with live humans. By doing our homework, listening, and observing, we work with the end users to build stellar products.
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MOVINGFA STKICK NGASS HAVING 12
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Our DNA We have fundamental and unique characteristics that set us apart. Our culture, mission, focuses, offerings, and target market make us distinctly, Foraker Labs. And boy, do we have fun.
smart, efficient, confident, honest, insightful, discerning, witty, optimistic, and human
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Our Lingo We definitely don’t brag, but when someone asks about us, we’re stoked to communicate intelligently about our talent and exciting work. When referring to Foraker Labs for the first time, always use the full name, “Foraker Labs”. It’s easy to leave off the ‘Labs’, but including it gives people a little more context to the type of company we are, so that they don’t think we’re a restaurant or pet store. Once a relationship has been established, feel free to shorten our name to “Foraker”. The shorter version is also common in everyday communication around the office. Use initial caps when writing our name (the ‘F’ and the ‘L’ should always be capitalized), and Foraker Labs should be displayed as two separate words. Again, just “Foraker” is acceptable once the full name has been established.
When someone asks what we do, feel free to dazzle them with any or all of these phrases:
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We build awesome web and mobile apps. We combine technical expertise with a human touch. We love solving complex technical problems.
George Orwell did us a solid by providing a simple set of rules for writers: Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out. Never use the passive where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Some other helpful tips we like to keep in mind: Use the language of everyday speech. Don’t write like a lawyer, politician, or PR representative. Long paragraphs and sentences confuse readers. Avoid them when possible. Many readers skim. Understanding who you’re writing for is essential for success. Just as when we build software, we need a healthy amount of empathy for our audience. Technical terms or those specific to our industry have a place but be sure to explain them if the context calls for it. There’s no excuse for spelling or grammatical errors. Please polish up your copy before it is shared for editing–this is not the last step, it’s an ongoing responsibility.
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Our Tone We want to make sure we come across the way we really are. Help people get to know us by speaking and writing in our tone.
We like to think we’re...
We’re definitely not...
C A S U A L LY C O N F I D E N T
ARROGANT
HUMAN
CRUEL
F R I E N D LY
RUDE
FUN AND WITT Y
P U S H OV E R S
OPEN AND HONEST
SEXIST
PURPOSEFUL
DIVISIVE
INSIGHTFUL
OV E R LY N E G AT I V E
F I E R C E LY E M P AT H E T I C
UNPROFESSIONAL
OPTIMISTIC I N C LU S I V E
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We’d say something like We probably won’t get through everything in this meeting—but that’s OK—because we look forward to working closely with your team throughout the project. Hey! Hope you had a great holiday and are full of turkey, stuffing, and lingonberries like we are! We’re rested, fueled up, and ready to rock out the next feature. I’m sorry to hear that feature didn’t work the way you expected! We’d love to get some info on what you entered, where you clicked, and what you expected to happen, so we can get to work on fixing that up.
Not like Really? It’s not working? Are you sure you’re doing it right? I’ve got a ton of other stuff to do but I’ll see if I can get to it… That’s impossible. Yes, some things are hard and there are often tradeoffs, but we dig in and talk about that stuff. We figure out a solution that is possible and that will satisfy the client’s goals.
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LOG TYP 18
GOPE 19
Our Logo When you look at our mark, what do you see? A maze? Puzzle pieces? Letters? Arrows? Our logo was created to represent the beautiful, complicated process of developing custom software. It is intended to be loved and respected, so please use it correctly and make us proud!
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When explaining what it is that we do to the outside world, we often leverage metaphors:
When I try to explain what’s it’s like to develop software at Foraker, I tell people it’s like playing with Lego pieces. We create systems by decomposing problems into the smallest, atomic pieces, and then combining those pieces together to form a solution.
To our customers, creating software to solve business problems can feel like they are lost in a maze. Our job is to lead them confidently through the twists and turns, to their goals, while keeping them out of dead-ends.
Testing with real users is like reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. The basic construct of the plot is there, but you don’t know which way readers will go.
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Our Logo Our logo echoes many of these things: interlocking parts, an adventure to take, a network of paths to navigate.
Regardless of what you see, the letters form something completely new, unique, and inspiring. We’re a collection of multidisciplinary individuals, and aren’t complete without one another. To properly join technical expertise with a human touch, we have to mix a dash of yin with our yang.
01 C U S T O M ‘ F ’ We tweaked the length and height of the second appendage of the ‘F’ to match the mark’s ‘F’. This also fixed the tightness between the ‘F’ and ‘O’.
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02 E X T R A S P AC E By increasing the kerning of the original typeface, our logo has room to breathe and is therefore more legible.
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Lockups Lock it out, lock it in, lock it down, but never lock it up any other way than what you see here.
01 B R A N D M A R K Whenever possible, the emphasis should be on the ‘F’ and the › arrow should be a lighter shade. May be used when context is not absolutely necessary.
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02 H O R I Z O N T A L LO C KU P The wordmark should always be shades of gray and never a color. Classic, primary lockup. Should be used on our website.
03 L E F T A L I G N E D LO C KU P Secondary lockup to be used for smaller width needs and likely for apparel.
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Clearspace Our logo likes its own space. No type, imagery, or any other element should infringe upon its territory.
01 X H E I G H T The innermost corners of the › arrow of our mark define the ‘x’ height. This height is used as a distance to mark the clearspace that should exist around the perimeter of the logo. The x-height will vary depending on the size of the mark, but will help maintain consistency in ratio.
MINIMUM SIZE The minimum size logo that may be used for print is 0.25 in. high.
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02 T Y P E D I S T A N C E The 45 degree angles created by the slopes on our mark gave us the perfect opportunity for defining the distance between the mark and type on the classic horizontal logo.
18px 109px
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Color Variations Please use the approved color variations for full color logos on both white and reversed backgrounds. This applies to both horizontal and left aligned lockups.
Full Color Logo
Reversed color logo on Dark Gray #1E140D
Reversed color logo on Medium Gray #545352
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The logo may be displayed in grayscale on the following background colors. Specifications for the percentages of Dark Gray #1E140D are as follows:
Percentatges of Black may also be used as an alternative only if color is not available 90%
50%
90%
25%
Grayscale logo on White
Grayscale logo on Lime #CEF13B
Grayscale logo on Light Gray # CACCCE
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Color Variations The logo may be displayed in white on the following background colors. Specifications for the percentages of white are as follows:
Reversed grayscale logo on Dark Gray #1E140D
100%
Percentages of white on Foraker Blue #4FC2FB
Reversed logo on Medium Gray #545352
Reversed logo on Gray #787D80
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50%
100%
35%
The mark alone may be displayed in the following combinations of mark colors and backgrounds.
Percentages of white on Foraker Blue #4FC2FB
Reversed mark on Medium Gray #545352
Reversed mark on Dark Gray #1E140D
Percentages of Dark Green #849A04 on Lime #CEF13B
Percentages of Lime #CEF13B on Medium Gray #545352
Percentages of Lime #CEF13B on Dark Gray #1E140D
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Violations Our logo makes us happy, but not when it’s used incorrectly. Take a moment to think about how you apply the Foraker Labs logo. We’d hate to have to give out spankings.
01 P O O R LO C KU P Never use a lockup that is not one of the three specified.
02 R E F L E C T E D M A R K Never flip flop or reflect the mark in any way.
03 R AT I O C H A N G E Do not resize any aspect of the logo or mark.
04 T I T L E D Never rotate any part of the logo or mark in any way.
05 C O LO R H A P P Y The wordmark should always be a specified shade of the grayscale and never a color.
06 S Q U I S H Y Never distort, skew, or stretch the logo.
07 E Y E S O R E Never use color variations other than specified.
08 S O A LO N E Never use the wordmark alone.
09 E F F E C T S Never use drop shadows or other effects on the logo.
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TYP GRA 34
POAPHY 35
Typography “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto” – Styx
Aa Roboto
Roboto is a clean and simple, versitile font that is easy to read at many sizes. It’s structure is slightly boxy and geometric, which emanates our mathematical approach and techy vibe. Download Roboto
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Use Roboto Thin for titles and large headline copy.
THIN
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 (.,:;?!$&@*)
Use Roboto Light for all body copy and smaller headline copy.
LIGHT
0123456789 (.,:;?!$&@*)
LIGHT I TALIC
Bold and Italic versions should be used seldomly; only for emphasis when absolutely necessary.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 (.,:;?!$&@*)
BOLD
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 (.,:;?!$&@*)
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Typography “Just a little of that human touch” – Bruce Springsteen
Nexa
Aa
Nexa is our logotype font. It’s heavy, but soft structure reflects on our grounded and resilient, yet approachable, lovable nature (like a champion sumo wrestler). It expresses our balanced, human side. Download Nexa
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Use Nexa Bold for small headlines. We occasionally use Nexa Bold as a display face for decorative, abstract words and phrases.
BOLD
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 (.,:;?!$&@*)
We like to keep the kerning wide for Nexa. You’ll need to adjust the kerning to around 120 pt. We like to display Nexa in all caps like the logo for small taglines and headlines. Our two typefaces can be used for both online and print purposes.
Nexa Bold in our logotype.
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Structure of Type We like to stick to these general guidelines for ratio, size and style of the elements listed within this spread.
Details Title
Headline Body Copy
S T R I P S T E A K F AT B AC K S A L A M I P O R K
Belly Hamburger Ground Round Pork Chop Porchetta Short Strip steak fatback salami pork belly hamburger ground round, pork chop porchetta short loin ribeye. Capicola picanha leberkas jerky pig ground round doner chicken landjaeger kevin meatloaf. Ground round strip steak pork belly kielbasa. Kielbasa doner andouille corned beef strip steak beef ribs short ribs t-bone. Ham ball tip short loin pork chop, boudin cupim ham hock sirloin. Tenderloin alcatra doner, beef meatloaf boudin jowl shoulder drumstick meatbatip leberkas. Kielbasa doner andouille corned beef strip steak beef ribs short ribs t-bone. Ham ball tip short loin pork chop, boudin cupim ham hock sirloin. Tenderloin alcatra doner, beef meatloaf boudin jowl shoulder drumstick meatbatip leberkas.
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Blockquote
Kielbasa doner andouille corned beef strip steak beef ribs short ribs t-bone. Ham ball tip short loin pork chop, boudin cupim ham hock sirloin.
Bold
Kielbasa doner andouille corned beef strip steak beef ribs short ribs t-bone. Ham ball tip short loin pork chop, boudin.
Unordered List
Pullquote
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Kielbasa doner andouille corned beef strip steak beef Ribs short ribs t-bone. Ham ball tip short loin pork chop Cupim ham hock sirloin meatbatip leberkas
Kielbasa doner andouille corned strip steak beef ribs short ribs t-bone.
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COL 42
LOR 43
Color Palette Our bright, bold, and confident colors show off our personality. We’re zesty, energetic, friendly, professional, and down to earth.
These are our primary colors for logo treatments, marketing materials and text. Our Main Squeeze CMYK 93, 29, 0, 0
CMYK 58, 4, 2, 0
CMYK 24, 0, 100, 0
CMYK 65, 56, 53, 29
RGB 39, 153, 240
RGB 79, 194, 251
RGB 206, 241, 59
RGB 84, 83, 82
HEX 2799F0
HEX 4FC2FB
HEX CEF13B
HEX 545352
PMS 2192 C
PMS 2985 C
PMS 381 C
PMS 425 C
Our hero color is blue. It’s quite approachable and symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, and truth. It’s linked to consciousness, intellect and precision. A hint of lime sprinkles a little zest on top. Lime stimulates mental activity and suggests happiness, intellect, and energy. It’s also an attention-getter!
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These are our secondary colors for other applications like our website and apparel.
Minty Greens CMYK 20, 0, 18, 0
CMYK 42, 3, 35, 0
CMYK 71, 34, 58, 12
RGB 180, 253, 216
RGB 149, 203, 179
RGB 89, 127, 112
HEX B4FDD8
HEX 95CBB3
HEX 597F70
PMS 332 C
PMS 623 C
PMS 625 C
CMYK 52, 24, 100, 4
CMYK 61, 44, 100, 31
RGB 132, 154, 4
RGB 91, 96, 1
HEX 849A04
HEX 5B6001
PMS 7496 C
PMS 378 C
CMYK 41, 29, 65, 3
CMYK 55, 43, 68, 20
CMYK 61, 61, 67, 53
RGB 154, 157, 111
RGB 109, 112, 85
RGB 66, 59, 52
HEX 9A9D6F
HEX 6D7055
HEX 423B34
PMS 5773 C
PMS 7763 C
PMS Black 4 C
CMYK 20, 15, 14, 0
CMYK 55, 44, 42, 8
CMYK 64, 68, 71, 81
RGB 202, 204, 206
RGB 120, 125, 128
RGB 30, 20, 13
HEX CACCCE
HEX 787D80
HEX 1E140D
PMS 428 C
PMS Cool Gray 9 C
PMS 426 C
Earthy Greens
Earthy Browns
Grays
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Color Ratio There’s certainly a method to the madness when it comes to how thick we lay on each color choice. Take a deep breath and enjoy the balance.
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Use a majority of blue, with big splashes of lime, and little splashes of mint and Earth tones. Whites and grays should be prominent to keep things looking clean and crisp. Various percentages of our colors may be used when necessary, but never at less than 40% lighter.
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PHO GRA 48
OTOAPHY 49
Photography We know we’re pretty good looking, but we try to stay humble and practical. The imagery that reflects our brand is warm, down-toearth, inviting and unrefined with a hint of irreverence. The emphasis is on our people and our work. Imagery should reflect our culture and our enthusiasm for creating fucking awesome software. We like large, expansive images that make users feel like they’re a part of the scene.
X TOO MUCH CHEESE We steer clear of cheesy posing and forced smiles. We’re workin’!
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BLEEDS We try to have images bleed off of the page on at least one side.
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Photography Images should capture people doing ordinary things on ordinary days...
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...even if we’re not-so-ordinary.
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Photography We’re intimate...
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...in the most professional sense of the word.
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Photography And, we like to make things feel like home.
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Photography Usage We’ll likely have a set of photographs taken professionally that you can freely use, but there may be times when you’ll need to use stock photograpy or snap your own photos. Please use your best judgement and consider the following ideas when choosing images:
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Collaborative meetings, sketching sessions and work in progress Tools and techniques in use Intimate, close up, cropped images Large, full bleed, impactful images Wide, but short images for use on web Warm, down-to-earth tones Dreamy, in and out of focus images
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APPL CATI 58
LIIONS 59
Attributions Consistency is key to a strong brand. We want to look good wherever we are. Here are a few specific areas where we’d like our logo and message to be a certain way.
01 O P E N S O U R C E GitHub open source example. Use the classic horizontal logo and the default text style from the application for copy. Copy should be stated verbatim from this example, including a link to our website. Use attribution_logo.png from our assets folder.
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02 E M A I L S I G N AT U R E Use this signature format for all emails sent from your Foraker account. Please personalize it with your name. Use Arial Regular for the font (Bold for your name) and the image email_signature_logo.png from our assets folder.
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About Foraker Labs
Foraker Labs is a Boulder based Ruby on Rails and iOS development shop. We’d love to help build your product. Give us a holler! This project is maintained by Foraker Labs. The names and logos of Foraker Labs are fully owned and copyright Foraker Design, LLC.
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FNAME LNAME Job Title
4775 Walnut Street, Ste 200 Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 449-0202 | foraker.com | @forakerlabs
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The End Thanks for respecting Foraker Labs’s brand and usage. If you’re ever in doubt, just refer back to this document. Or, you can always ask a fellow designer. We don’t bite.
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