Queen City Bike Branding Guidelines

Chapter head

Brand Guidelines

QUEEN CITY BIKE 1

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

2

Table of Contents About

4 Identity

8 Mark and System 9 Typography 13 Imagery 14 Do’s and Dont’s 15 Applications 16

3

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

4

ABOUT

About

History Queen City Bike is five years old and began as a Bicycle Advisory Committee and mainly functioned as a club, organizing events such as rides and meet ups. Slowly they began to form a voice as the advocacy group for bikers in the Cincinnati area.

They are still social in function but are becoming increasingly political as well. They go to city council and neighborhood council meetings to advocate for bike’s rights. They started a program called Queen City Blinkies that hands out thousands of bike lights to cyclists, they organize safety campaigns, social events, and educational events to both children, adults and businesses.

Vision Queen City Bike aims to promote bicycling as a safe and healthy means of transportation and recreation in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Queen City Bike’s all volunteer membership creates and implements a series of bicycling education and advocacy initiatives throughout the year. Queen City Bike’s main message is to promote a city that isn’t dominated by cars and build stronger, holistically healthier communities.

5

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

“We envision our community to be a place where walking, biking, and taking transit are more attractive options than taking a car for daily urban travel. We want to see our streets become valuable public space, where people regardless of age, gender, or ability feel safe and comfortable walking and biking to get where they want to go. We believe the quality of life will grow in our already strong and close-knit neighborhoods by transforming our streets from car dominated space to people dominated space.”

Values “We believe that everyone should have access to active, safe and attractive transportation choices.

We value working in partnership with local neighborhoods and communities on bicycle advocacy and street calming projects. We value strategic, incremental change, and celebrating small victories. We value a bottom-up approach, doing advocacy work created by and for our community.”

“QUEEN CITY BIKE IS GREATER CINCINNATI’S ONLY MEMBER BASED BICYCLE ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION. WE WORK TO MAKE OUR STREETS SAFER FOR CYCLING AND TO BRING OUR UNIQUE AND DIVERSE BICYCLING COMMUNITY TOGETHER.”

6

Chapter head

7

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

IDENTITY 8

Identity System

Mark and System Queen City Bike’s uses the above wordmark as the centerpiece of their brand identity. The wordmark is comprised of two elements, the Bike Mark and the signature. The Bike Mark can be used alone or in conjunction with the signature to create a wordmark.

The wordmark is the strongest element of the brand identity and is celebrated for its sophistication, complexity, and conception. It is important to let the wordmark shine in any design piece.

The three bikes in the Bike Mark represent community, and by representing three different bikes (a road bike, a mountain bike, and a cruiser), the logo celebrates diversity within Cincinnati’s bike community. The bikes are breaking through title as if reaching out to the audience to show that QCB is out on the roads, ready to represent the community.

By using the colors green and gray, the logo touches on the idea of urban landscape meets sustainable transportation. The typeface choice, Gotham, was chosen for it’s similar stroke weight and curves to the Bike Mark, and is fitting since it’s based on New York City’s urban architecture.

SIGNATURE

WORDMARK

MARK

9

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

Colors to Use The following color options are appropriate representations of the logo. Select the most appropriate of the three variations of the insignia based on production requirements, media qualities, visibility and proper usage.

Full color on white. The primary color option, use on any white surface.

Black on white background.

An option for black and white pieces, faxable documents, anything where a one color logo is needed.

White on green background.

The white logo is best represented on a full bleed green background, giving the green color equity.

10

Identity System

Color Options The colors used in the wordmark are a particular green and gray. Please only use the following versions of these two colors, based on your design needs.

The Green: The Gray: CMYK 85 25 100 10 CMYK 0 0 0 60 RGB 57 134 64 RGB 128 130 133

Pantone 355U or 356C

Pantone 430U or 430C

Signature Alternatives A signature “Queen City Bike� is applied to the mark to create a word mark. This is the main logo for the organization. The mark alone can also be used as a design element, if the name to the company is clearly stated elsewhere in the design. Alternatives to the main signature are shown below.

Stacked: for use when a vertical identity is needed

QCB: when only initials are needed

11

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

Protected Space The “protected space” of the logo refers to the clear space surrounding it. This clear space ensures the unobstructed and visible placement of Queen City Bike Logo. The minimum width for the protected area is 1Q height from the edge of the signature, which is equal to the height of the letter Q in the Queen City Bike Signature. See image below for details.

Minimum size The minimum size one can use the signature is a height of 1 inch. After decreasing the logo less than 1 inch, please refer to using the bikes alone without signature, or see one of the alternative logos listed above, which are better for reading at a small scale.

Minimum Distance The logo must maintain a minimum distance from the edge of any page. This distance is equal to 3Q heights, which is equal to the height of the Q in the signature.

12

Identity System

Typography Important Titles You may use Gotham Light for important titles. This can be type set in black on white, gray on white, green on white, or white on green.

14/16

GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light

15 /17

GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light

16/18

GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light

GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light GOTHAM LIGHT Gotham Light

All Other Type Use Frutiger LT 45 Light for all body copy. Use 46 Light Italic, or 65 Bold for emphasis when needed.

Point sizes 10 –12 can be used for body text depending on the medium. Use size 8/10 for captions when needed.

If Frutiger is not available, please use Arial instead.

8/10

Frutiger

Frutiger LT 45 Light

10/12

Frutiger

Frutiger LT 46 Light Italic

11/13

Frutiger

Frutiger

Frutiger LT 65 Bold

12/14

13

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

Imagery When choosing imagery to represent Queen City Bike, Images should be bright, friendly and dynamic. Images can include bicyclists in motion, bike close ups, and shots of bicyclists in the city. All photos should reflect an urban environment, and should be similar to Cincinnati’s scenery. Images of people can be used, but make sure that their face is not looking directly at the camera.

Voice Queen City Bike is an organization that focuses on safety, accessibility, low-stress, friendly, fun, community, diversity, activity, and comfort. When choosing images or writing copy for Queen City Bike, please keep these adjectives in mind.

14

Identity System

Do’s and Dont’s Do • Use the horizontal nature of the logo to its advantage • Use the white or colored logo on imagery when

appropriate

• Use the mark as a graphic element if whole logo is

unnecessary

Don’t • Delete elements of the logo • Add new elements to the logo • Distort the logo • Use alternative sizes of the signature with the logo • Change the colors • Reverse the logo (white on black) • Add any glow, shadow, or 3D effects to the logo • Change the typeface of the logo • Add logo to a busy or dark image

QUEEN CITY

BIKE

15

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

16

APPLICA TIONS

Applications

Membership Brochure The membership brochure provides helpful information about Queen City Bike and is a convenient size to fit in a back pocket. QCB can pass these membership brochures out at events, and if the user wants to become a member they can tear off the right hand panel, fill it out, and mail it in to QCB to receive membership of the organization.

It combines the uses of an informative piece and a membership application in one handy brochure.

17

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

The Stationery System The stationery system for Queen City Bike includes letterhead (both first sheet and second sheet if needed), A10 envelopes, and business cards. The letterhead features the full color logo on the first sheet, and only the Bike Mark on the second sheet as if it’s an imprint of the logo from the first page.

The address information is located on the bottom of the page. The business card features the QCB Green on the back and uses the Bike Mark on both sides. The envelope uses the full color logo, the address on the back flap, and a peak of the QCB Green on the interior of the envelope.

18

Applications

19

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

20

Applications

2013 Annual Report Poster The 2013 Annual Report features all the updated information for Queen City Bike’s mission, values, and goals. The poster displays both the short term and long term goals of the organization in a fun, friendly way by depicting a timeline of the goals.

This poster can be folded in half and mailed to all QCB members and can be kept as a keepsake in addition to an informative piece.

21

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

Melinda Sekela Print Design Overview GRCD3040 Spring 2013 Professor Beckmeyer

22

Chapter head

23

Queen City Bike • Brand Book

24