Brand Guidelines
Contents
Every business is a journey of growth. The journey is born of a desire for independence, a yearning to perfect your craft, and ultimately, to fill that sense of purpose that you’ve been longing for. It’s fuelled by the freedom to do things your way and to enjoy the reward of delivering for clients.
These strengths are heroic and essential, but they are not enough to prosper. The subtle art of managing oneself along this daily journey is the quiet challenge of every owner.
Business growth is personal growth. It’s a dynamic journey that requires continuous improvement. FreshBooks reshapes the path for all ages and stages of owners to unlock growth and satisfaction. We do that by delivering the 4Es, always knowing we don’t live in their shoes, we stand beside them.
We reshape the realities for small business to encourage a business full of passion, confidence, prosperity, and most of all, satisfaction.
Every experience we design is rooted in an understanding of the human experience behind every business. We promote the tools and habits that help you leap over stumbling blocks and get back to leading your business.
– Reshaping the journey of growth.
Logotype
Our new lockup identifies us, FreshBooks.
It retains integrity with our past by maintaining the recognizable leaf. This is a signal of evolution. The evolution of our mark is comparable to the journey that our customers are on.
Full-Color Logotype
The full-color logotype is the workhorse and is the primary logo used throughout all communications. It's also used on our website on a white background.
Contrast
For legibility and visual power, our logotype should always be used in a solid color to maximize contrast against the background. For lighter colored backgrounds use the black version of our logotype to provide maximum visibility.
Minimum Size
To maximize visibility and impact, our logotype should not be reduced smaller than 1.5” in width for any print or 150 pixels for digital applications.
Clearspace
It is important to maintain an unobstructed, clear area around our logotype when pairing it with other visual elements. These guidelines help eliminate visual disruption and clutter.
Our secondary logotype is center aligned. It is used when horizontal space is limited and our primary logotype renders too small. The secondary logotype can also be full color or in one color.
The Don'ts
One-Color Logotype
Our one-color logotype can also be used throughout all communications.
The white version is used on blue and the black version is used on cream and other light colors.
Logomark
Our logomark is how we show up big (and small) for FreshBooks. The logomark represents the customer journey in its most elemental form—a path with two choices, one leading to growth. This abbreviated version of the logotype is used in small spaces. It's the primary icon used for social media.
Our logomark is used for our profile identification on social media. Adhere to sizes recommended by each social channel.
Mark on Dark Background
The logomark shows up in white when displayed on a dark background.
Logomark on Light Background
The logomark shows up in blue on a light-colored background.
Typography
The typeface permissible to use within the FreshBooks identity is Founders Grotesk.
These fonts are for testing purposes only. Some punctuation characters are not included.
Primary
Founders Grotesk
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The typeface permissible to use within the FreshBooks identity is Founders Grotesk. When digital viewability issues arise, Arial should be used as a replacement.
Founders Grotesk displays as a friendlier and more human sans serif typeface. It evolves from our legacy typeface and supports our tone of voice with its simple and optimistic construction.
Text Color
Text can appear in Blue, Navy, tints of Midnight, or Cream for use on dark backgrounds.
Tracking
The preferred tracking for headlines is -10 and body copy is 0. The tracking of a particular line can be tightened slightly to avoid hyphens or widows. This should only be resorted to if tighter kerning of word-spacing proves ineffective. Tracking should be kept visibly consistent.
Leading
Leading should generally be tight yet readable for headlines.
Hyphens
Avoid the use of hyphens. Try to avoid breaking words across lines if possible.
The Founders Grotesk includes an
extensive family of weights.
FreshBooks uses the Medium, Regular, and Semibold weights.
To use Founders Grotesk, load the provided files (Mac or PC) into a type management program.
Arial is an acceptable typeface only if Founders Grotesk is not available. (e.g. Google slides)
These fonts are for testing purposes only. Some punctuation characters are not included.
Medium
The Medium weight of Founders is used for headlines and should:
• Appear in Blue, Navy, or Cream for dark backgrounds
• Have tighter leading. Start set solid (e.g., 55pt/55pt) and tighten optically
• Appear in sentence case
• Avoid hyphenation
• Use optical kerning
• Center justified
Semibold
The Semibold weight of Founders is used most sparingly throughout the system, mostly for subheadlines or callouts and should:
• Appear in Midnight, Navy, or Cream for dark backgrounds
• Maintain 5–10pts leading depending on point size
• Appear in sentence case
— Centered or left justified — Use metric kerning
Regular
The Regular weight of Founders is used for all running copy and should:
• Appear in Midnight, Navy, or Cream for dark backgrounds
• Maintain 5–10pts leading depending on point size
• Appear in sentence case
— Centered or left justified
— Use metric kerning
• Balance rag
• Avoid widows
Condensed
The condensed family of Founders can be used in app or other applications that require economy of space.
Arial
Arial can be used by employees without access to Founders Grotesk for internal communications.
Secondary
Moranga Regular Italic
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Our secondary typeface is Moranga Regular Italic. It's a playful and casual font that reflects the human side of our brand. It brings a subtle but not over prominent quirkiness without dominating Founders Grotesk.
Our secondary typeface adds variation to our primary font. It's limited for distinct purposes and should be used sparingly.
Moranga Regular Italic is reserved only for: Helpful tips, quotes, call-outs, and descriptive short lines (e.g., live webinar).
To use Moranga Regular Italic, load the provided files (Mac or PC) into a type management program.
Lora Semibold Italic is an acceptable Google font alternative if Moranga is not available (e.g. Google slides)
Text Color
Text can appear in Blue, Navy, tints of Midnight, or Cream for use on dark backgrounds.
Sizing and Leading
The smallest possible font size for Moranga Regular Italic should never go below 9pt. When the font size is 9pt the leading should be at 12pt (i.e., 10pt=13pt or 12pt=15pt). Adding 3 points will always keep the typeface at a comfortable spacing.
Hyphens
Avoid the use of hyphens. Try to avoid breaking words across lines if possible.
Improper Uses
While there are more weights in the Moranga family, only Moranga Regular Italic should be used. Do not over condense or expand the letterforms. Also, avoid tracking out too much space between text characters and lines.
Color Palette
There are 2 colors in our primary color palette.
These 2 colors are an evolution of our legacy color palette. The FreshBooks visual identity system relies heavily on these colors. The following breakdowns should be used and never substituted.
Primary
FB Blue
Tints and shades are allowed for this color in increments of 10% (up to 30%)
Cream
Tints and shades are allowed for this color in increments of 10% (up to 30%)
Secondary
There are 4 colors used in the secondary palette.
The colors Navy and Dandelion can be used within illustration, social media and as supporting elements throughout the brand without dominating the composition. CTAs should always use our secondary Green and text should always use our Midnight color on light backgrounds and white on dark backgrounds. The following breakdowns should be used and never substituted.
Navy
Tints and shades are allowed for this color in increments of 10% (up to 30%)
Dandelion
Tints and shades are allowed for this color in increments of 10% (up to 30%)
Green (CTA)
Midnight (Text)
Voice & Tone
How we talk is how we're perceived.
FreshBooks is a challenger brand. This means we offer a compelling alternative in our category. And we’re not afraid to stand out from our competition or do things differently. In fact, we would hate to blend in with other brands in our category.
The main way we’re different is that we focus on sincerely helping owners. We're not silent about the difficult things but are truthful, sincere, and straightforward. Customers never wonder if there’s a real person behind our communications.
To help develop a simple and conversational voice that appeals to everyone, we’ve taken the time to listen to and understand small business owners. We’re always learning what motivates, moves, and even annoys business owners so we can talk more effectively to them.
Our voice can be read aloud and sounds like a down-to-earth person offering smart advice.
Less Tony Robbins, more Brené Brown. We never come across as forced or awkward, and certainly never write typical jargon-filled, marketing or accounting speak.
If we need to be funny we tell jokes (dad jokes if necessary). Sometimes we make mistakes, and then we own them. If we need to show authority we “show, don’t tell”. No matter the situation, we remain human as we support our owners on their journey.
Voice & Tone: What Are They
A brand is a bit like a person; it has a personality of its own. Paul might be jocular and witty, and Sanjay might be kind and warm. That’s their personality—their voice—and it doesn’t change.
FreshBooks’ voice is understanding and honest.
But that doesn’t mean every time Paul talks he’s constantly joking. His tone can change depending on the conversation, context, and emotional state of the person he's talking to.
While our voice is constant, our tone changes according to the situation.
That means if a customer is upset we don’t crack jokes. But if a customer is cracking jokes we match their humor.
No matter what our tone, we’ll always stay true to our voice. So, let’s take a deeper dive into what understanding and honest really mean …
We Are Understanding
What Does “Understanding” Sound Like?
We listen in order to understand and meet our customers where they’re at. We recognize that small business owners are client- and craft-obsessed; they want to do great work, with great people. Whether their goal is work-life balance or to build an empire, we’re here to support them.
We Are Honest
What Does “Honest” Sound Like?
Running a business is hard and we try to make it a bit easier. Our response? Straight talk, normalizing not shaming, helping you see the solution. We avoid being mean or cynical while helping our customers find a better way.
We’re This, Not This
Everything is a spectrum, so we want you to be able to judge if you’ve pushed too far. If your writing starts to read like anything in the right column, it’s a good sign it needs to be pulled back.
We're This
Light-hearted
Straightforward
Funny
Trustworthy
Honest
Knowledgeable
Understanding
Kind
Smart
Sometimes wrong
Not This
Flippant
Sarcastic
Cutesy
Precious
Infallible
Pompous
Patronizing
Coddling
Bossy
Defensive
General Writing Guidelines
Write Like This
Write in a way that feels 1:1
(more like support)
Make our customer the hero
Always think through two-fold benefits: The user and their clients (remember our users are client-obsessed!)
Use basic words
Expand acronyms on first use
Inject power words*
Cut the fluff
Be specific
Show*
Data > adjectives
Be loud and proud about our product
Anticipate questions
Write for skim and scan*
Have a compelling call-to-action (CTA)*
Not Like This
Write in a way that feels 1:many
(bad marketing)
Make FreshBooks the hero or
overdo the “we”
Forget what motivates our customers and focus on ourselves and what we need
Use jargon
Use unexplained acronyms
Choose weak verbs or passive voice
Take too long to say what it’s about
Write vague platitudes
(lazy marketing)
Tell
Heavy on adjectives or weasel words
Understate the difference our product makes
Leave unanswered questions
Kitchen-sink your messages
Make it easy to bounce or be forgettable
*Want to learn more about these? See our deep dives at the end.
Writing Mechanics
The boring stuff. You’ll get this wrong some of the time and that’s okay—it’s part of being a human brand. But as much as possible, we want to try to do the following:
The Fundamentals
Whatever else you do, do the following:
• Capitalize the “B” in FreshBooks
• Capitalize FreshBooks features like Expenses and Invoices
• Say “FreshBooks” more often than “we”
• Use title case in Headings (this is a handy tool, even writers use it)
• Use sentence case in email subject lines and snippets
• All punctuation is on the table … but don’t! overdo! it! right?!
• Don't overuse too many commas, hyphens, and/or brackets. If you do, odds are your sentence is too long …
The Important Details
• … Ellipses … are always three periods
• After a colon, question mark, or exclamation: The first letter is capitalized
• Oxford commas are grammatically correct
• There’s only one character space between a period and the start of the next sentence
• Don’t put periods at the end of short one-sentence bullet points
• Numbers should always be written numerically (7 or 8) and never spelled out (seven or eight)
• Idioms and metaphors (even the ones that seem timeless like “easy as pie”) can be hard to understand for people of different backgrounds. Sometimes the origins of these idioms can be questionable too. So try to just say it in plain English.
What About Emojis?
Every day we all use emojis in Slack, text messages, and emails. So we use them for FreshBooks too. It’s a great way to be human and approachable.
Emojis can add levity 😂, communicate at-a-glance what it would take many words to say 🤯, and make something seem awesome 💥.
Emojis We Love
😂😊🧐😎 🤩 👋 🙌 🤦♀️💃 🕺✨ ⚡️ 💥 🔥💸 🚀
Not Really Us
🤢 🤮😡 🤬🤑 😈 👿 👹 👺 🤡 💩 💀 ☠️ 👽
Q: Do we use different skin tone emojis?
A: It’s up to the sender/byline. There’s no hard rule here. Just don’t misrepresent. Default to yellow if uncertain.
Some Great Places to Use Emojis
• Subject lines
• P.S.
• Social media captions
• Live chat
Some Emoji Don’ts
• Don’t force them
• Don’t overuse emojis
• Don’t leave room for misinterpretation
Photography
Photography should feel “real”.
We often use stock photography but even our original photography “feels like stock-imagery”. How might we determine the elements that make a photo feel real so that we better select and direct photography for our brand?
Photography Style
Our genre is Lifestyle, slice of life, candid moments that represent the real (and sometimes aspirational) reality of our customers. We avoid glossing over the human imperfections we all experience every day but celebrate wrinkles, quirks, and oddities as part of what makes every owner's journey of growth unique.
We believe that business growth is personal growth and all growth relies on the love and support of family, friends, and community. Therefore we strive to show our ideal customer interacting with people who are important to their lives and
their livelihoods.
Do This
Talent Choose real small business owners from diverse backgrounds
Environment Shoot in natural work environments, lit by natural light, amid natural materials or surfaces (wood, plants, wicker, clay, stone)
Direction Capture customers in candid moments at work and find ways to demonstrate human connections between owners and their clients, partners, coworkers, vendors, family
Styling Style customers minimally
Treatment Treat photos as minimally and naturally as possible
Not This
Talent Don't cast generic-looking fashion models
Environment Avoid shooting talent in cold unnatural overstyled studio environments with artificial 3-point lighting
Direction Don't ask our talent to smile for the camera or pose unnaturally
Styling Avoid over-styled hair and wardrobe
Treatment Don't treat photos with artificial effects and color treatments or use distracting wide-angle lenses
Genre
Our genre is Lifestyle, slice of life, candid moments that represent the real (and sometimes aspirational) reality of our customers. We avoid glossing over the human imperfections we all experience every day.
Do: Avoid perfection; show the honest behind-the-scenes truth of running a business. Ask yourself what’s the one imperfect thing?
Don’t: Strive for perfect/ overproduced studio shoots, with posed models in unrealistic/dishonest scenarios that leave little to chance or imperfection.
Talent
Look for diversity that reflects actual business owners as much as possible.
Do: Select non-normative talent across multiple intersections (age, gender, body, race, orientation). Celebrate unique attributes of all kinds.
Don’t: Select forgettable, non-diverse, professional-looking talent that “blends-in” and represents normative versions of attractiveness.
Wardrobe/Styling
For many owners their wardrobe is part of their personal brand and working from home means they might not always look perfect. Style talent to reflect their personality first and foremost.
Do: Use real clothing with simple patterns or mismatched items, mid-dress (towel on head, unfinished makeup), palette adjacent colors (just not exactly our color palette).
Don’t: Use over-directed unrealistic editorial styling, overly professional attire, perfect hair and makeup, uniform color palette.
Environment
More owners work from home than ever before; their personal spaces and professional spaces intersect. Seek out diverse spaces as close to the actual work environments of owners as possible (rural and urban).
Do: Clutter; it's ok if things aren't perfect. Include plants to evoke growth and natural textures and fibers to add warmth. Domestic cues like beds, kitchens, and children's toys are welcome.
Don’t: Use sparse over-directed unrealistic spaces and propping. Avoid stereotypes like calculators, coffee cups filled to brim, and fountain pens. Cold textures like metal and glass should be avoided as well.
Lighting
To support the reality of our environment choices, finding natural light from a single identifiable light source is ideal.
Do: Look for visibly cast sunlight and shadows or a visible light source in the frame (i.e., a window).
Don’t: Use artificial or overproduced 3-point lighting or light that doesn’t make sense (e.g., lens flares, artificial backlighting, post-lighting-effects like sepia tones).
Treatment and Color
Treatment choices should enhance rather than distract from the sense of reality in our photography.
Do: Choose lenses and camera positions that mimic a human POV (e.g., 50mm (+/- 20), high speed shutter, eye level). Warmer color grading is prefered but not distractingly so.
Don’t: Choose wide angle or distracting lenses, unrealistic POV (e.g., too low/too high), blurred/bokeh backgrounds, filters, lens flares, lens leaks, or high contrast. Color grading that is exaggeratedly warm or cold should be avoided.
Brand Hierarchy
It’s worth noting that there’s a hierarchy of information in our brand:
We should not rely on decorative elements and/or illustrations to bring the brand to life. Our brand is driven much more by the words we use.
Photography will help support the copy, followed by the occasional use of decorative elements/illustrations like icons when they’re required. However, they shouldn’t be used to rescue the design and compensate for lack of copy or photography.
