2014 brand guidelines
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cont ents
the logo
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colours
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pie shed pink
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typography
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spacing & layout
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tone-of-voice
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our slogan
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photography
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a final thought
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this is our logo 4
the heart of our entire operation this logo has been designed to give the pie shed a contemporary, modern feel whilst representing the rustic food and heritage of the shop through the distressed texture. the clean lines and sharp typography say “we are a professional, modern business” whilst the textured finish ensures customers “you can trust us, we sell good food”. the ‘e’ used throughout the logo is not a standard part of our chosen typeface. instead it is constructed from a series of circles and lines to correctly fit within the dot of the ‘i’, and keep the ‘rounded’ feel of the logo. the logo should not be manipulated or tampered with in any way. there are three standard colour variations available, as well as a special monochrome option without the distressed texture.
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time to get colourful there are four colour choices when applying our logo to any material: • the original • the monochrome • the pink • the white the original should always be your first port of call. when our black and pink motif just doesn’t cut it, try out one of the alternatives. please don’t ever re-colour any part of our logo. the colours have been specifically engineered to give a feeling of friendliness and warmth with a touch of excitement. we also have our own shade of pink. it’s called pie shed pink.
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the original and arguably the best. this black & pink logo is the one to use when teaming it with a lot of text or content. it also works best for formal written documentation.
this is our secondary logo. the pink alternative works better than the black when the logo’s scale is to dominate a whole design. it can also be rotated slightly to give a ‘stamped’ feel. this subtle variant of the original is entirely monochrome and has no texture. only to be used when technical constraints inhibit the use of colour or texture, avoid this option in most cases.
if you’re potently plastering a page in pie shed pink, you should reach out to this white alternative. this variant works on any dark background and can also be rotated to look ‘stamped’.
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yeah, it’s pie shed pink! beautiful isn’t it? this is pie shed pink - our very own specially engineered shade of marvelous magenta. this colour has been chosen to reflect our company profile; a bold statement colour which is exciting yet still has a clear feeling of warmth and comfort, a bit like our pies themselves. our colour originates from a cmyk profile, so use this setup wherever possible to get the most accurate results.
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c:7 m:98 y:42 k:23 r:158 g:25 b:71 l:35 a:54 b:9 pantone 207 #9b1b4b
typog our chosen typeface for use throughout all pie shed publications is rockwell. this typeface has been chosen for its clean lines, with touches of the old school via blocky serifs. please don’t ever substitute rockwell for your own choice of typeface, unless absolutely necessary for technical or legal reasons. whenever this is looking likely, always check beforehand with your head of design. rockwell is a standard font on both windows and mac operating systems, therefore there shouldn’t be any compatibility issues either within design studios, or in online publications. you may also notice that we never use upper case letters. although this may seem a little unorthodox, the continuity of lower case lettering throughout our entire brand gives us a unique twist on a universally available typeface.
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graphy rockwell
heading: 56pt size, 67.2pt leading, no justify body text: 18pt size, 21.6pt leading, no justify, 16pt space before paragraph in most cases, left align is recommended in terms of justification. however, sometimes right align may be necessary - that’s fine by us, provided you gravitate your content (see ‘spacing & layout’) if necessary, don’t be afraid to blow the heading up to fill a space. examples of this can be seen at the top of this page, as well as on the ‘contents’ page. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 (!?£&)
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spacing & layout are important features of all pie shed publications look at all this white space! that’s because here at the pie shed, we love to lay things out in a structured, organised way. here are our basic rules for creating a good looking layout, the pie shed way:
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employ a grid structure to your work grids keep things neat and tidy, margins keep everything focused. grid structures are a key feature of modernist design.
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use predefined point size and leading. as mentioned in the typography guidelines, only use the spacing definitions which we have determined.
gravitate your content. pick a corner or feature to be your focal point, then gravitate and all content and alignment in favour of this fixture.
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be fearless. don’t be afraid to use bold layout and shapes, after all, we have our own shade of pink! just make sure to even it out...
be considerate. don’t over-do it either. use white space and negative space to balance your bold designs, as shown throughout this guide.
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tone of voice tone of voice is the way in which text is worded throughout publications aimed at our target audience. as you’ll notice in this booklet, we try to maintain an informal, friendly tone and use simple, down-to-earth wording. this makes the reader feel a sense of trust towards our brand, more like they’re chatting to a friend about pies rather than an authoritative organisation. steering clear of unnecessarily complicated words (such as authoritative), also makes our company more accessible to a much wider audience. for example, young children can understand what our brand is trying to say just as well as the most educated of adults. when writing on behalf of the pie shed, keep it short, succinct and informal.
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keep it friendly when describing a product, use emotive, expressive words in place of complex technical description try to use words like “we” and “us” as much as possible, to make the company feel more like a friendly family run business rather than a large organisation. instead of saying “the pie shed [does this]” say “here at the pie shed, we [do this]”. keep sentences short and uncomplicated. take this example as an embodiment of all these tips:
the pie shed’s produce is comprised of exceptional choice cuts, sourced from prize cattle reared only in great britain our pies use only the best of british meat
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“home made, hot & tasty� our slogan the pie shed is proud of the good home made food that it sells, therefor the slogan to be plastered alongside the logo and our famous pie shed pink should reflect that perfectly. taking into account a fitting tone-of-voice, this slogan ensures customers that what they’re getting is good food from a source they can trust. it reflects the essence of our products themselves, being free of unneccessary junk and envoking a friendly feeling towards the brand. the company slogan should be displayed whenever possible alongside the logo and house style, further affirming our consumers of our trustworthy and friendly brand. keeping to the chosen tone-of-voice for the company, the slogan as a whole is short and succinct, whilst still being informative and meaningful.
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photography being a low-budget company, it’s important that we don’t get in trouble regarding copyright infringement, particularly with the use of photography. our policy is generally to use photographs which are in the ‘public domain’. this means their age, owner or publisher deems them free for public use. public domain images are found via websites such as: • publicdomainpictures.net • public-domain-photos.com • pixabay.com if you wish to use your own photography or request permission to use copyrighted material, then please contact your head of design first. you must also consider all aspects of the imagery before application to your work such as ethicals, morals, religious and racial aspects, as well as any other content which some consumers may find offensive.
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a final thought
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the pie shed is a home-grown business where we are proud of what we produce and who we are. when designing and working for the pie shed, you are representing our company and communicating with our customers on behalf of the entire pie shed family. above all, we ask that you treat our brand with respect, following these guidelines and taking care in every aspect of your work. aside from that, we look forward to seeing what you’ve got and how it may shape our brand in the future.
have fun,
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Š the pie shed 2014 created by matthew jones