brand identity guide
cmi children’s museum of indianapolis
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table of contents
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about us 6 client brief 8 personas
our brand 14 brand identity 16 logos 24 color palette 26 shapes 28 typography 30 patterns
applications 34 print 36 digital 38 items & apparel 40 signage
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about us
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client brief The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, a nonprofit institution, was founded in 1925 by Mary Stewart Carey with help from Indianapolis civic leaders and organizations. The current location at 3000 North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana has been our home since 1946. As the world’s largest children’s museum, it has five floors of exhibit halls with a collection of over 130,000 artifacts. Starting with the lower level, the museum displays The National Geographic: Treasures of the Earth exhibit; then the Welcome Center with adult and juvenile Brachiosaur sculptures; then a 3,000-square-foot branch of the Indianapolis Public Library called the InfoZone; then The Power of Children: Making a Difference, a permanent exhibit featuring the stories of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White and the impact these children made on the world; and lastly the fourth floor houses the Broad Ripple Park Carousel in the Carousel Wishes and Dreams gallery. In addition, Dinosphere, which features a sound and light experience that simulates a day in the late Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, connects to several floors of the museum. Our mission here at the Children’s museum of Indianapolis is to create extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. It is our hope to be recognized as the global leader among all museums and cultural institutions serving children and families. We believe in preserving the legacy of the museum through their core values of promoting family learning; providing value to the community, state, nation, and the world; valuing people; and pursuing excellence always. As a museum
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The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis exterior architecture.
that revolves around letting children learn and explore, the primary audiences include children from pre-k to about sixteen years old and the secondary audience are the parents and caregivers that bring the kids to the museum and their various activities. We stay involved with our ever growing audiences through hosting thousands of activities annually such as classes, workshops, fund-raising events, plays at the Lilly Theater, and traveling exhibits. With one of our core values being involvement within the community, we constantly work to have a positive impact on not only the local Indianapolis area but throughout the state, nation, and world. We do this through being a major catalyst for neighborhood revitalization; seeking and collaborating with other institutions and organizations locally, regionally, nationally, and globally to create dynamic partnerships; providing a friendly, fun, clean, safe, and engaging visitor experience that is affordable and accessible; trying to be transparent in how we use our resources; and investing and participating in an environmentally sustainable museum and campus. In addition, we have our own certified preschool program to aid in the education of our community.
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persona: michael scott Michael Scott is an eight year old boy living in Indianapolis, Indiana with his mother (Megan Scott), father (Connor Scott), and younger sister (Olivia Scott). Michael is currently attending Westlake Elementary School where he enjoys his 4th grade science and gym classes. In his spare time, he loves exploring the outdoors with his friends, playing in the local baseball league, building with leggos, and learning more about dinosaurs and trains. When Michael grows up he aspires to be just like his dad and become a scientist. Michael also enjoys playing video games with friends like Minecraft where he gets to be creative and build his own worlds.
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persona: megan scott Megan Scott is a thirty-six year old mother of two, Michael and Olivia Scott. She has been married to her husband, Connor Scott for ten years. While Megan grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, she now lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband and kids. Before she became a stay-athome mom, she worked as a first grade teacher at Eagle Creek Elementary School. Because Megan values education, she wants her kids to explore and learn as much as possible as they grow up. In her not-so-frequent spare time, Megan enjoys reading books, watching her favorite shows, shopping, and volunteering as a Room Mother for Michael’s classroom. Megan is also involved with her local libraries board.
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our brand
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brand identity This brand’s primary inspiration is children. Therefore, we pride ourselves in having a fun, playful, flexible brand that can adapt to various applications. Children are creators, builders, and have an imagination that can run wild. We, at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, hope to show these kids that being creative and silly is awesome, and that their imagination should stop at nothing. Our bright colors, interesting shapes, and fun patterns are meant to exemplify how creative the mind can truly be. Follow the guidelines listed throughout this book to ensure that our brand is represented in its true, fun and playful form. This will help keep its use consistent throughout applications, while still allowing much creative freedom. Keep our brand playful, creative, and fun, just like the kids we hope to reach!
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primary logo The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’ primary logo is an abbreviation of the name locked up with their full name below. The logo is meant to be playful, fun, and creative with the use of a different bright color from the color palette for each letter. The colors can be changed at any time as long as a color is not repeated and is not already used as the background color. This fun vibe is pushed further with the alignment of the white outline of the letters slightly off. The outline should always be moved up and to the right of the colored abbreviation. The outline and the full name lockup always needs to be white, so the logo must be used on top of a color from the color palette. The full name must always be below the abbreviation and left-aligned. The full name is allowed to be removed when necessary as long as the treatment of the abbreviated letters remains the same. The abbreviated letters can also be created with patterns or shapes. The same pattern must be used throughout the letters, and the outline and full name must be locked up the same and be white. If shapes are used, each letter must be created with a different repeated shape in a different color from the other letters. However, the shape cannot be white or the same color as the background. The outline and lockup must remain the same and be white. Because this is the primary logo, it should be used across applications whenever the logo is a significant part of the design and on any primary brand applications. The variations of the abbreviated letters give a flexibility to adapt it to various applications, but it is important to stay within the guidelines to ensure the success of the brand and the logo.
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cmi
primary logo
children’s museum of indianapolis
cmi children’s museum of indianapolis
shape variation
children’s museum of indianapolis
minimum logo size should be about 1.5” wide
pattern variation
children’s museum of indianapolis
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secondary logo The secondary logo is still a fun and playful combination of the museum’s abbreviation locked up with the full name. The logo must use a different color from the palette for each letter, along with a different color for the full name. The only exception is when a single color logo is needed (refer to page 21). There is no white outline on the secondary logo, but white can be used for the letters or full name. The logo is not to be used on the same color background as any of the colors used in the logo. The lockup must always have the abbreviation on the left with the full name left-aligned to the right of the abbreviation. The secondary logo should be used in instances where the logo needs to be smaller or is not a primary part of the application’s design. The secondary logo should be used in place of the primary logo, and they should never be used at the same time.
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secondary logo
minimum logo size should be 2.25� wide
secondary logo usage example
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logo usage In order to maintain consistency and ensure the logo is legible, there should be a minimum clear space around both the primary and secondary logo. The most consistent way to follow this is to make sure there is enough room around both logos to fit the height of the “c� on all sides. This space prevents the logo from competing with other elements of the design. It is also important to make sure that the outline is aligned correctly for the primary logo. The best rule of thumb for this is to make sure the space between the abbreviation and the outline is 1.5 times larger than the width of the stroke of the outline. Because an important aspect of the logo is color, it is important to make sure the primary logo is always on a colored background. Any color from the palette may be chosen, but then that background color can no longer be used on that version of the logo. The secondary logo may be used on any color background as long as that color is not being used in the logo. If the logo needs to be represented as a single color, the secondary logo should be used.
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clear space guides
cmi children’s museum of indianapolis
single color logo options
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unacceptable logo usage a. Don’t put the logo at an angle other than 0° or 90° b. Don’t squash or stretch c. Don’t use a color that is not in the color palette d. Don’t change the lockup e. Don’t change the color of the outline f. Don’t repeat a color g. Don’t use a color that is the same as the background h. Don’t make the outline too thick i. Don’t change the location of the outline
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color palette Our brand follows a strict color palette that sets a fun and playful tone for our children’s museum. These colors are never supposed to be used as tints or shades. RGB or CMYK may be used depending on the medium of the application. When applying the brand, white only should be used as a background color minimally or not at all, primarily because the logo uses white. However, white needs to be used in the primary logo and can be used in patterns or shapes. The color palette can be used in any color combination. The dark blue color should be used in place of using black, except for necessary situations such as a ticket bar code. The dark blue should also be used for body copy. When body copy needs to be used on the dark blue, use white.
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color palette
color usage examples
hex: e13626 rgb: 225, 54, 38 cmyk: 6%, 94%, 100%, 0%
hex: 7cd1ef rgb: 124, 209, 239 cmyk: 47%, 0%, 3%, 0%
hex: e26428 rgb: 226, 100, 40 cmyk: 7%, 74%, 98%, 0%
hex: 053a59 rgb: 5, 58, 89 cmyk: 100%, 76%, 41%, 32%
hex: e8e55a rgb: 232, 229, 90 cmyk: 12%, 1%, 79%, 0%
hex: ffffff rgb: 255, 255, 255 cmyk: 0%, 0%, 0%, 0%
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shapes The shapes used in this brand were inspired by the exterior architecture of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Each shape comes from part of the museum, which makes them unique to this brand. Each shape can be scaled up or down, overlap, be used in any color from the palette, and can be filled or used as an outline. The shapes cannot be squashed or stretched. The shapes can be used in many different ways throughout the brand and applications. For example, they can be used to create graphics such as a dinosaur, a face, or a lightbulb. They can also be used to create fun, colorful patterns or be placed behind text such as on the employee name tag. These shapes are an important aspect of this brand because they show what a little bit of creativity and imagination can do.
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shapes
shape usage examples
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typography The entire brand uses the Gotham typeface because it is bold and minimal which allows a lot room to be playful in its use. For the logo, titles, and subtitles, Gotham Black should be used. For any body copy, Gotham Book should be used. All type should be lowercase except body copy, which should be sentence case. The main title treatment should be used whenever the title is a primary part of the design and/or may have subtitles. These titles are treated similar to the logo, with different colors for the letters and a white outline. Colors can be repeated as long as they are rotated in an order or are used to put emphasis on a word. The outline should be white and placed higher and to the right of the filled in letters. Just like the logo, it is important to make sure that the outline is aligned consistently for all main titles. The best rule of thumb for this is to make sure the space between the filled in letters and the outline is about 1.5 times larger than the width of the stroke on the outline. Body copy should be the dark blue color from the palette. When the body copy is on a dark blue background, a different color can be used. All uses of type should either be left-aligned or centered, depending on the application and the overall design. The type should never be the same color as the background color behind it.
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logos titles subtitles
body copy
title treatment
gotham black
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890
gotham book abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890
main titles
type usage examples
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patterns Patterns are an important part of this brand because they help carry on the fun, playful, and colorful vibe. The primary part of all patterns should be shape and color. Outlines and shapes can be organized in any way as long as they are repeated evenly throughout the pattern. The patterns can be used to fill in the letters of the logo, create a background, or stand alone as its own design. More patterns can be made as along as they follow the brand guidelines.
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pattern samples
pattern usage examples
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applications
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print Our advertising should be bright, playful, and inspirational to catch the eye of kids and their parents. A primary way to do this is to exemplify the creativity and imagination of the brand through creating images with the shapes. Type can then be used to relay a fun and inspirational message. The tickets are a great way to use all aspects of the brand because they are an example of something that people save to remember their experience at the museum. The ticket utilizes both the primary and secondary logos, colors, shapes, pattern, and type to portray the values of the brand.
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digital Digital applications are a great way to get our primary audiences involved with our brand. This iPad app, for example, focuses on the main audience of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis: the kids. The app allows the kids to completely engage with the color and shapes that help make the brand what it is. It lets the kids use the templates and shapes that they recognize from the museum, or lets them take the reigns and let their imagination run wild to make their own designs.
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items and apparel Physical items are a great way to display our brand to our audience and the general public. The bags show how all elements of the brand can be used on one application. These vibrant and fun bags depict various combinations of the logo, colors, shapes, type, and patterns. The employee shirts and name tag utilize all parts of the shirt to display the brand. The manager shirt is more subtle with the pattern only used on the collar and sleeves and the logo displayed on the top right. The regular employee shirt uses the pattern on the whole shirt to help the employee stick out to any customers who may need help. The circular name tag fits in with the pattern, maintaining the playfulness of the colorful and fun shirt.
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signage The signage is a great way to exemplify the guidelines of the brand throughout the museum. For example, way-finding arrows can be created from the brand shapes, signs can be in various brand shapes, patterns can be used, and type can be used to provide necessary information. All signage should be designed to maintain the fun, playful, and creative vibe of the brand while staying consistent through the brand guidelines.
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