BRAND GUIDELINES
ARIA
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CONTENTS
4 INTRODUCTION 6 BRAND BACKGROUND 9 MISSION STATEMENT 10 BRAND VALUES 12 PERSONALITY 14 ELEVATOR PITCH 16 OUR READER 18 TONE OF VOICE 20 LOGO 22 TYPEFACE 26 COLOUR 28 IMAGE
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AN INTRODUCTION
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As a lifestyle magazine with a clear creative aesthetic, it is important to create a set of guidelines and standards to allow the vision of the brand to be correctly coordinated throughout every design element. Ensuring Aria’s message is communicated in every possible outlet, a document needed to be produced to provide a definite code in which freelancers and staff can refer to when submitting material to the magazine. We understand that although we recognise what is suitable for Aria, others who are not so familiar with the brand may not. The message we want to portray should be defined within the document, regarding all brand design elements. Font, colour, typeface and tone of voice are all very important aspects, with rules that have to be highlighted to establish a common alignment within the magazine. When used correctly, the brand guideline document will allow decisions regarding design to be made easily and confidently. The standards set will ultimately help produce a clear, concise and beautiful product.
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BRAND BACKGROUND Aria Magazine is a quarterly published lifestyle magazine whose concept was born in February 2015. Finding a gap in the market, we wanted to produce a publication which offered articles written in a personal and specific manner. Existing magazines were found to be too general, commercial and not relatable. As a huge lover of the familiarity of blogs and vlogs, we used this as a benchmark and set out to create a product which uses these elements whilst still being beautiful. Wanting to bridge the gap between blogs and magazines, we researched into consumer preferences on content and format. We found that personal articles were a highly popular choice, with most consumers craving a physical product in this ever growing digital world. From there, Aria was created using our expertise and collaborating with other creative individuals to produce the first issue of the magazine.
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MISSION STATEMENT
Aria is the voice of the individual. We understand how important it is to connect with a feeling, a person, a story. Escaping from our days made up of digital moments to share an honest view whilst appreciating a creative and beautiful aesthetic. Aria leads the reader to discover gorgeous content and encourages curiosity and open mindedness through the stories of inspiring and interesting human beings. We want to provide a product which can be taken on long car journeys, trips to the beach and walks in the woods. 9
BRAND VALUES
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HONEST AUTHENTIC TRUSTWORTHY FAMILIAR UNIQUE 11
PERSONALITY
a warm cup of tea on a cold winters night. a friend and confidant. 12
a long stretch after an afternoon nap. a strawberry ice lolly on a summers day. 13
ELEVATOR PITCH
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WHO ARE WE? Aria is a lifestyle magazine for an inspired, creative individual who enjoys interesting and beautiful content. Printed quarterly, the magazine allows the reader to experience different pockets of content within the issue, which allows for a varied and exciting read. Being familiar, relatable and honest is what we pride ourselves on, we are a friend to our readers. WHAT DO WE OFFER? Fashion, travel, food, art, emotion and stories of interesting individuals written in a personal and specific manner. WHY SHOULD YOU READ US? We combine traditional magazine content with the approach of bloggers, creating a truly unique publication. Where else can you read something like Aria?
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OUR READER
APPRECIATES BEAUTIFUL AESTHETIC. EXPERIENCES WANDERLUST, A LOT. LOVES TO ESCAPE FROM THE WRATH OF THE DIGITAL WORLD. IS INTELLIGENT, CONFIDENT AND KIND. IS OPEN MINDED AND ACCEPTING. 16
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TONE OF VOICE
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Our voice is familiar and friendly. We want the reader to feel relaxed and at ease when reading Aria. Therefore we ensure that our tone is quite informal and easy going, we’ll even throw in a casual hashtag every now and then. (We aren’t opposed to humour either!). 19
LOGO Our logo is a simple one, however we do have a few requirements in which it can be used. DO’S Leave space around the logo. Place the logo onto a neutral coloured background.
DONT’S Rotate the logo. Place on a busy background, the logo will be lost. Add embellishments such as embossing or drop shadows. Change the colour of the logo, if you have a dark background, use the negative logo provided. Place the logo in a frame.
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ARIA ARIA 21
TYPEFACE Roboto Light The Roboto font family is our most used font. The ‘light’ variation is used for main body text.
Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Roboto Thin The ‘thin’ variation is used for headings and the logo.
Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Roboto Bold The ‘bold’ variation is used for text and page numbers in the header and footer.
Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Roboto Black The ‘black’ variation is used for headings that stand out.
Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
TYPEFACE
We use some other fonts throughout the magazine where appropriate. These are used sparingly, however they help stop the magazine becoming too repetitive. Use these accordingly to their suitability of the article they are placed with.
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Sweet Pea
Aa Aa Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Bebas Neue
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
Letter Gothic Std
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
COLOUR
The colours in the magazine will vary from issue to issue, however generally the tones should be muted. No bright or garish colours should be used and the use of black and white is encouraged. Heading colours should be black unless the background colour is dark, then the heading can be white.
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IMAGE The images used within the magazine should be of a high quality. No pixelated images should be used. They should be of a professional standard, with good lighting and the correct angles used. When a product is being featured, it should be on a white background. When appropriate and possible, images should be large. If the image is very small, it should not be included. Changing the opacity of an image can produce a creative effect, therefore this should be experimented with throughout the issue (not within every article). Illustrations are a welcome addition to the issue, therefore can be included when suitable if the quality is high.
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