This is Ravensbourne — brand handbook. February 2010 — Reuben Armstrong Jonathan Gold Michael Scott
this is the future.
The Theory —
ravensbourne live. caption. brand values. our audience. intrigue. tone of voice. so.
The Brand —
logo on white. logo on black. the mark. spotting an em. ravensbourne sans. typesetting. logo construction. colour. don’t do this. layouts + grids. photography. on air. on demand.
The Application —
television. internet. print. environmental. physical.
The Theory —
The Theory —
Ravensbourne —
This is Ravensbourne, a communication + design college from south east London. We may be small but we have big ideas. We strive to be at the forefront of cutting edge, we stand true to long established values. We produce forward-thinking professionals. We know exactly what we want and how to get it.
Live —
Our live events are a showcase of our best work. We’re rightly proud of them, but we don’t need to stylise, editorialise or colour the work shown; we simply have to present it in the most transparent, accessible + appropriate way. This is Ravensbourne —
ravensbourne live.
—
If you try and be too fancy with the brand it’s almost insecure, and can even smokescreen the work on show. Our brand shouldn’t be the title. It is the caption. This is Ravensbourne —
caption.
The Theory —
Confident. Precise. Visionary. brand values.
—
Confident —
Ravensbourne students have a self-belief in their work instilled into them due to the renowned heritage of the college. We feel the event branding must be equally confident — the work being shown is of a standard so high it speaks for itself.
Precise —
A perfect day should be slick, considered and without fault. The event itself will be timed to perfection, punctual and thorough to the smallest detail.
Visionary —
As Ravensbourne students, we are the future, and visitors + delegates will want to see that we have an eye for new media and new ideas. Our forward-thinking innovation and passion are desirable traits that employers look for.
The Theory —
We are proud of our work and want to celebrate and showcase it. But our target audience is the industry professionals who hold the key to our future employment. Our aim is to advertise Ravensbourne students work to possible future employers. For industry professionals, they will have seen countless showreels from students up and down the country, “This is Ravensbourne—” is the perfect oppurtunity to show them what sets Ravensbourne apart from its competitors. They will want to feel like they’re seeing everything, our brand must feel completely transparent. We want to show them our confidence, attention to detail and vision of the future. The brand must be as confident as the work, and also neutral enough not to distract from it. Our brand puts the work on a pedestal, where everyone can see it in all it’s glory.
our audience.
—
Have you seen what Ravensbourne have been doing this year?
intrigue.
The Theory —
We are —
Assured Confident Prepared Honest Helpful Bold
tone of voice.
We're not —
Cocky Clever Complex Wacky Posh Dramatic
Assertive —
‘We are’ not ‘We could’ ‘This is’ not ‘This might be’ ‘We will’ not ‘We were’
Shorter words but not abbreviations —
'Show' not 'Demonstrate' 'Buy' not 'Purchase' 'End' not 'Terminate' 'We will do it' not 'We'll take appropiate action'
—
So, this is what we came up with —
so.
The Brand —
The Brand —
logo on white.
—
logo on black.
The Brand —
the em dash —
“Not because of interruption but because the speaker is too emotional to continue. It can show an abrupt change in thought or be used where a full stop is too strong and a comma too weak.” This abrupt change is the transformation that the brief pines for. It’s not just the change in terms of building or location, as the brand and heritage of Ravensbourne transcends bricks and mortar. It is a long-awaited change for Rave on Air and it’s ever changing identity to finally solidify and become as professional and renowned as the university itself. By putting an ‘em dash’ after the word Ravensbourne it puts subtle emphasis upon it and helps it to resonate louder.
the mark.
—
Hyphen
En-dash
Em dash
spotting an em.
The Brand —
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR STUVWXYZ -–—.,!?:; abcdefghijklmnopqrs tuvwxyz 0123456789 Ravensbourne Sans Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR STUVWXYZ -–—.,!?:; abcdefghijklmnopqrs tuvwxyz 0123456789 Ravensbourne Sans Regular
ravensbourne sans.
—
Say hello to Ravensbourne Sans, our house typeface. Based on Akzidenz Grotesk, we have tweaked the face to better represent our brand — Em dash —
We’ve extended the glyph to be a 7:1 ratio; the width of a lowercase ‘m’ in the bold weight; remaining 7:1 in the regular weight to ensure brand consistency across applications.
Circles —
We have transformed the face's square glyphs to circles where possible — circles are geometrically precise compared to quadrilaterals
The Brand —
So, the star of the show. Ravensbourne Sans. How do we use it?
typesetting.
Most of the time
On air, we use Ravensbourne Sans Bold for everything. Off air? Ravensbourne Sans Bold for headlines, titles, headings and to pull out text, with Ravensbourne Sans Regular for body copy and support text.
Alternative
Helvetica should be used online for body text, and for printed material only when Ravensbourne Sans is unavailable.
—
My font is bigger than your font —
For print, type in columns up to 70mm wide should be 9pt high; for columns up to 140mm it should be 13pt. On air (on 1080p broadcasts) it should be xxpx. Please stick two type sizes per page/screen/ novelty loo roll — small for the body copy & subheadings and at least three times as big for the headline.
Leading —
Line spacing for the ‘big text’ should be even, for ‘small text’ it should be +1pt.
Setting —
Type should be set ranged left, never centred, justified or ranged right. Please don’t stretch or skew the text, or use software type effects to embolden, underline or italicise it.
Tracking —
Where possible, set the tracking to -30. For small text, body copy should be kerned optically, for larger text please carefully kern by hand wherever possible.
Case —
The first line of captions should be in sentence case finishing with a space and an em-dash. The section line of captions should be in lowercase, ending with a full stop.
Making an em —
To accurately reproduce our em-dash across platforms use these codes: Mac — Alt + Shift + Hyphen Windows — Alt + 0151 Unicode — U+2014 HTML — —
The Brand —
Start with an em dash (a 7:1 rectangle).
Rotate a copy 90º and fit to height.
Duplicate small rectangle.
Move small rectangles to inside-left of original rectangle.
Rotate small rectangles 90º and move to inside-left top and bottom.
This forms the text-exclusion zone for logotype.
Insert logotype.
Pat yourself on the back.
logo construction.
—
-19-
48 -25-
25
logo kerning.
logo exclusion zone.
-7
-16- 10
-13-
7-
22
-3
-24-
46 -2
-24
The Brand —
We'll put it in black and white for you; This is Ravensbourne — is in black & white. A rich, confident black, and a crisp, airy white.
— Rich Black
— C M Y K 100 70 70 100
— R G B 255 255 255
— HTML 000000
— White
— C 0
— R 0
— HTML FFFFFF
colour.
M 0
Y 0
K 0
G 0
B 0
—
Our logo has to be constructed exactly as we've specified — it has to be precise. Please don't change the proportions of the em dash, the relationship of the text to the dash, or the colours in the box.
don’t do this.
The Brand —
layout + grids.
Vertical Grid —
We carry precision through to our grid, which is always 4 columns (16 columns for the internet). This allows for flexibility in layouts whilst retaining the brand's clean aesthetic.
Logo Placement —
The logo should be placed in the bottom left of the page, retaining whitespace around it — it is a caption, not a heading.
For Example —
We never use the middle columns on their own; often putting most of our content in the 3rd & 4th column with a caption in the 1st. We like to keep layouts asymmetric.
The Brand —
7:1
16:9
photography.
Why —
Photography is a great way to support our brand — it should be original, iconic and eyecatching. It should take the viewer behind the scenes and give a window into the talent we have at Ravensbourne.
How —
Photography works best either with full-page images, or those in the 7:1 or 16:9 ratios.
—
Full Bleed
The Brand —
on air. live. red button. interactive.
— Pantone 186 EC
on air.
— C 2
M Y K 100 82 6
— R G B 198 12 48
— HTML C60C30
—
on air logo kerning.
on air logo exclusion zone.
The Brand —
documentaries. dramas. pin–point. open your eyes.
— Pantone 299 EC
on demand.
— C M 86 8
Y 0
K 0
— R 0
G B 161 222
— HTML 00A1DE
—
on demand logo kerning.
on demand logo exclusion zone.
The Application —
The Application —
television.
On Air —
For the live channel the idents could be a moment frozen in time. It puts epic emphasis on the precise moment. The logo could be frozen in mid air, integrated into the scene. Using motion tracking and cleverly planned scenes the idents would grab attention whilst also showcasing the skills involved in the complexity of the shoot. The marriage of precise direction, camerawork and graphics would offer a stunning visual.
On Demand —
For the on demand channel, idents could be a panorama of video, slowly panning 360º round the room before pulling back to reveal the video is a 7:1 rectangle made up of several shots, anchored from the same position and knitted together.
Lozenges —
We use a rectangles to allow us to caption idents; these may be reduced to 80% opacity to reduce obstruction of our content. Because that's what really matters.
—
20% Title Safe
Centre
20% Title Safe
10% Title Safe
108px
1⁄3 Down
360px
2⁄3 Down
720px
10% Title Safe
972px 384px
Positioning for 1920px × 1080px
960px
1536px
The Application —
television.
—
The Application —
television.
—
The Application —
internet.
—
The Application —
print.
—
The Application —
print.
—
Installations — We like to use everything we pay for — and matter is noted for its state of the art array of projectors mapped onto the walls. Ravensbourne itself is moving towards being an efficient, sustainable institution, looking at ways to cut down on waste. We can use these to provide a wayfinding solution that uses as few posters as possible; and we can also use these for cutting-edge art installations and interactive games based on our em dash. This is an example of an art installation in room 2 projecting onto the wall covered in bricks. It could be on a 15 minute loop all day, showcasing everything that is on. The em dash logo could map onto specific bricks, flying on and landing precisely each time. The bricks could flash before captioning the action. Wayfinding — This is Ravensbourne — extends into the wayfinding system utilising the em dash to dictate direction instead of a conventional arrow, achieving further consistency across our brand. Colour comes into play to distinguish where events are taking place in relation to "on air" + "on demand" giving the viewer confidence in exactly where they are going.
environmental.
The Application —
Our mark is applicable throughout any medium — here we can see how it can be used on wristbands and t-shirts. The less our mark is placed in context (i.e. next to 'This is Ravensbourne —') the greater its power. Abstraction creates value and intrigue.
physical.
—
—
Good design is as little design as possible.
dieter rams.