Table of Contents
Knox College
— Brand Guidelines
Updated June 2023
Questions & Support
Introduction
Welcome to the Knox College brand guidelines. You are reading this because you are a creator of branded materials for Knox. This guide is intended to be a helpful resource that outlines the brand’s various graphic elements and assets while also providing guidance on how to properly use them.
Consistently applying the brand across materials will help make all of our collective efforts more recognizable to our various audiences.
This version of the brand guidelines that you are reviewing now is a snapshot of where the brand is currently but we periodically review and update this guide to accommodate the evolution of sub-brands and various use cases as they arise. So although we want to provide guidance here, hopefully these guidelines are seen as a starting point that will naturally evolve and develop over time.
To that point about the brand needing to evolve, one of the most important parts of this guide is found at the end. A point person to contact in case you need any clarification while creating materials or encounter any uncharted territory to ensure consistency.
strategic founDation
The Knox College brand established in 2023 is built on a strategy that was informed by research and discussions with stakeholders across the institution. This section of the guide provides an overview of these strategic underpinnings that form the basis of the intent for the creative output we collectively create.
Audiences
These audiences are the general categories for the various individuals we will seek to reach and persuade with our marketing materials for a variety of different aims and objectives.
primary audiences
secondary audiences
→ Prospective Students - To consider Knox, schedule a visit, and apply.
→ Current Students - Realize Knox’s unique identity and enjoy the resource that is Galesburg.
→ Knox and Community - Knox to stop missing opportunities in their own backyard and repair the bond between Galesburg and Knox.
→ Knox Faculty and Staff - Realize Knox’s identity, align on its vision for the future, and push toward that together.
Establishing Idea
Before we create anything for the brand, we need to know the basis of the idea in order to properly express it. The following idea write up was the establishing theme that serves as that starting point. It is the first creative expression of the strategy and serves as a bridge from the strategy into the outward creative expressions to follow:
Knox is a welcoming place — situated in a city surrounded by an open landscape which opens up to big skies, leaving plenty of room for wonder. Here, you’ll meet a collection of students and faculty who are as smart and talented as you’ll find anywhere else in the world. Where differing points of view are actively sought because we know the more perspectives we can add, the better we will inform our own.
Some are scared off by all of this openness and freedom, but not us. In fact, we are drawn to it and inspired by it. And if that inspires you, chances are you’ll fit right in and find yourself at home, no matter who you are or where you’re from.
Establishing Art
COPY
Good brands have a sense of personality and tone that can be helpful to think of in the context of a voice. Sometimes it helps to imagine an actual person you know, or a character from a movie who embodies the brand’s persona and can serve as a muse for future writing.
Headlines
Example 1
Example 2
At Knox College Your Future Is Open.
Don't Just Come Here To Be Graded.
→ Building off of the theme of openness — we sometimes bake that them directly into phrasing of headlines themselves.
→ Use of a starting point that is known and even expected can be a place to jump to a bigger idea from.
Example 3
Example 4
Go Ahead And Declare
Yourself Undecided.
A Liberal Arts Degree Can Take You Far.
Sometimes All The Way To The C-suite.
→ Bold, confident, and declarative language like this can still weave in the theme of being open to new possibilities without spelling it out literally.
→ This headline structure uses an expected open and twists to close to deliver the main point we want to emphasize, in this case the success of John Lawler.
Example 5
Example 6
Made In Galesburg.
Small School. Big Opportunity.
→ Short and bursty language like this can be helpful for layouts and can harken to a blue collar, hard working tone that really pays off the spirit of the success stories our international stories experience.
→ This style of contrasting pair headlines can be good to use in situations like these pole banners where real estate for layouts is tight.
Example 7
Example 8
Knox Grads Are
Opening Up The Skies.
Miles Ahead Of The Competition
Is Just 45 Minutes Up I-74.
→ Another example of how we can and should actively look for opportunities to naturally weave in open language.
→ Context is everything and can enhance an otherwise general statement. The placement of a line like this adds some cleverness to it that represents the college in a good way and stands out to passers by.
Body Copy
Body copy can string together a starting idea and expand to a larger thought like we do here where we start by talking about attracting students who aren’t just looking to be graded, and by the time we’re through, you realize that statement means so much more than it’s literally saying. Ultimately driving home the point that our liberal arts approach and community are here to help you learn in a richer way than a larger, less personable institution might be able to offer.
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When we’re speaking with students our body copy can break the so-called “fourth wall” and play off of common phrases to turn them on their heads to illustrate a point of how the Knox experience is anything but ordinary.
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When we have interesting facts, look to make them as relatable as possible by framing them up with some relative idea that connects with something the audience can easily grasp such as our distance from the farm to the tables in our Caf.
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This glossary of terms has been developed to bring consistency to publications and correspondence written for and about Knox College. It focuses on the words and terms associated with the campus, region, and higher education.
Note: For any questions pertaining to writing style and grammar, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style for anything not covered here.
Design
The brand’s design is the most visible, and recognizable expression of the establishing idea and tone. To accommodate the various needs it has to create materials across forms of media and audiences it has a range to shift as needed.
In this section we breakdown the various components of the brand’s design system.
Window Grid
Inspired by the geometry of the glass windows and architectural detailing around Knox’s campus, this window grid system creates a framework for layouts that can be utilized in a variety of ways.
MOSAIC pattern
The pattern was made by filling the grid with alternating colors and textures. This is primarily used as a background layer (check out the Illustration and Layouts sections for examples).
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FRAMES
Here, the grid is used to provide windows which reveal photography. Create custom frames by tracing over the window grid, or download and drop in one of the pre-made parallelogram frames.
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Here the frame is given the mosaic treatment. This is a great way to highlight portrait photography. Create custom frames by editing the Mosaic Pattern EPS file, or download and drop in one of the pre-made parallelogram frames.
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collage
In its most dialed up form, the grid can be used to design impactful collages by combining the aforementioned concepts with photos and typography. This approach is more involved, but great for areas where a big splash is needed, such as murals.
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ILLUSTRATION
This expressive element of the brand is used in some eye-catching ways. Its inclusion is inspired by the unique and creative personalities of the Knox community and helps bring some of that character into our marketing and communications.
Illustration Bank and Brushes
For variety of personality, our identity contrasts inked opaque marks with oily transparent strokes. A premade bank of patterns and marks can be found below for ease of use—just download and drop into your layouts.
To make your own illustrative elements, you will need to purchase the appropriate digital brushes. Brushes are intellectual property and need to be properly licensed and installed for users who require them to create materials. Scroll past the swatches below for compatability info and links to purchase.
LEAVE YOUR OWN MARK
↓ To make custom patterns and marks, the brushes can be purchased below.
Compatability: Photoshop, ProCreate, Affinity, Clip Studio
Compatability: ProCreate
Compatability: Photoshop, ProCreate, Affinity, Clip Studio
Usage Examples
MARK UPS
These elements add a personal branded touch to layouts and photography.
Here an underline mark is used to highlight a portion on the headline, and custom arrows were drawn to help guide the eye through a specific path.
Marks Used:
Underline (headline)
Brushes Used:
Rusty Nib 4 (arrows and lettering)
Motion lines
Illustration lines can be used to amplify motion in photography.
This is also an example of using masks with patterns to create more organic shapes.
Brushes Used:
Oily Marker 2 (accent strokes and motion lines)
Patterns Used:
Sprinkle
PortraitS
Our portrait treatment is a great way to highlight and dress up a headshot. These are typically used in conjunction with students, faculty, or alumni features.
An initial library of assets featuring the illustration style applied to portrait photography will be provided by the branding agency. Any further portraits requiring this illustration style treatment will be handled by them. In a later version of the style guide we will revisit who handles the creation of these assets to allow for more flexibility once a significant library is established to reference by all.
→ Hover over image for the original
Brushes Used:
Oily Marker 2 (accent strokes and "shading"), Brush Dabs (shirt texture)
→ Hover over image for the original
Brushes Used:
Oily Marker 2 (accent strokes and shirt texture)
→ Hover over image for the original
Brushes Used:
Oily Marker 2 (accent strokes and shirt stripes), Brush Dabs (shirt texture)
Lettering
Custom lettering can be used to fill the empty space in a background. This treatment works best with heroic angles (more on this in the Photography section) and wide open skies. The lettering should feel fun and fluid, filling in the spaces between the subject and background.
Here, instead of simply listing out the activities in a traditional layout, it was turned into a graphic moment for a big splash.
Notice the use of the colorful portrait style on the student, contrasted with the plain white lettering. This helps the lettering fade into the background, more as a texture; for example, if the lettering were rendered in full color, the image would feel too busy.
Brushes Used:
Rusty Nib 4 (lettering and filler texture), Oily Marker 2 (accent strokes), Brush Hatch (shirt texture)
COLOR
The colors of the Knox brand have expanded with this refreshed brand. Along with the new design elements, this color palette will provide an overall brand system that will catch the eye of target audiences and offer a lot of flexibility in the future.
The following color guide provides the necessary information to achieve consistency in color across materials being produced in a variety of ways.
101 About Color Options
RGB
CMYK
RGB stands for red, green, and blue and is useful for digital executions such as a presentation that are intended to be viewed on screen, banner ads, or a digital billboard for example.
CMYK is useful for more traditional four color printing methods using blends of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black colors to produce full color materials.
HEX
PMS
Hex codes, short for hexadecimal color codes, these six digit alpha-numeric representations of RGB colors are typically referenced for websites and other online applications such as email platforms that use html and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
PMS is short for Pantone Matching System, and offers the widest range of colors. This option is useful if you’re working on materials where a unique color can be premixed and be applied like the printing of a custom banner or choosing a spot color to add to a traditional CMYK print run.
Primary Palette
Usage
Purple and Yellow are our primary colors. Whenever we have a first-impression opportunity (e.g., mailer/brochure cover, viewbook cover, landing page, billboard), lean on these colors to help reinforce brand recognition.
From a color theory perspective, purple and yellow are a complementary color pairing, offering a truly optimal level of contrast; a great insight to keep in mind when trying to seek the attention of a more general audience. Or from a UI perspective, buttons, pop-ups, CTAs, etc.
As seen throughout this guide and example layouts, Purple is used for all typography as is plays well with our combined palette; of course, except when the background color itself is Purple. In those cases, use Yellow.
Purple
Yellow
Secondary Palette
Usage
Our softer secondary palette offers a balance to the high-contrast primary palette.
These colors are great to use once you've crossed the first impression threshold (e.g., mailer/brochure inside, viewbook spreads), allowing for more variety and character.
Violet
Lavender
Pink
Coral
Gold
White
Accessibility Standards
ADA compliance is an important consideration when creating any materials in the brand. The following color combinations pass for various use cases but this is something that should routinely be checked when producing materials to ensure we’re producing communications that are as accessible as possible to all audiences.
digital
When designing for web, refer to the diagram below for approved color pairings. A green check means the pairing passed WCAG AA standards within the associated category (Normal Text, Large Text, UI+Graphics).
Typography
Typography is a distinctive aspect of the brand’s design and informs the tone and is a key component to establishing messaging hierarchy in layouts.
Licensing
Typefaces are intellectual property and need to be properly licensed and installed for users who require them to create materials. The links provided along with each typeface below lead to where each typeface can be purchased as needed for anyone creating branded materials.
Usage Examples
Example 1 - Scale
Size, scale, and placement all play
a factor in how information is digested.
There is no exact rule or formula established here; simply be sure there is a noticeable hierarchy between fonts and sizes.
Our headline formatting style is geared around making impactful, 1-2-punch statements. Start with a small lead-in, followed by a big emphasis on the key takeaway.
Another way to think about it: what do we want the at-a-glance message to be?
Example 2
In advertsing/awareness situations (e.g., posters, billboards, banners, etc.), we can dial up the scale of the headline font, using it as the key graphic element. This is especially useful in situations where we're dealing with a more restrictive vertical space.
In this headline style, the impactful statement can be broken up (make sure to hyphenate), bouncing back and forth against the margins
You'll notice the addition of our tower icon as a graphic element. Use best judgement on where it will feel most balanced. The one rule is that it should always be aligned to either the cap height or base line of the headline (examples here are all aligned to the cap height).
Default Font Options
For situations where someone needs to create materials such as a branded presentation or email, but the platform they are using doesn’t support our specific brand fonts — these default font choices provide backup options that are available in Microsoft software and are generally available for use in email builders.
Due to no close default alternative for Gooper Semi-Condensed, we recommend using Arial in its place for subheads (see usage example below the type specimens).
Note: If you run into an issue where these default fonts are not available please notify the primary contact found at the end of this guide and we can work to find a solution.
Photography
Images play a big role within the creation of branded materials. In addition to applying some general best practices, in this section we outline a few art direction points to keep in mind whenever we’re shooting for selecting new photography assets for layouts.
Candid and Action Portraiture
We want to bring the concept from our brand platform to life with photography that puts the full Knox experience on display in a candid, real-life approach. This observational, documentarian style will seek to provide a window into these unguarded moments showing members of the Knox community as openly and authentically as possible.
Shooting on eye level and making it feel like the camera’s point of view is nested in the scene alongside subjects creates an immersive, in-the-moment quality. Having objects out of focus in the foreground can help provide a sense of being in the scene. Always ask yourself if the action is looking natural as it is showing up in what is being captured as it would if a camera wasn’t in the room. Taking time to talk with the person we’re shooting a portrait of so they feel as comfortable as possible will help them come across at ease and natural in their shots.
Keep in mind leaving room to the left or right to accommodate various layouts and cropping. The open concept could benefit from having a healthy amount of negative space in layout so this is a consideration when staging any shot but especially portraiture.
Heroic and Establishing Portraiture
For hero and establishing shots, using a wide angle lens to create larger-than-life portraits and expansive landscapes allows us to communicate the openness and freedom of Knox and the surrounding Galesburg area.
These more stylized shots are high-impact and serve as great contrasts to the candid, documentarian photography mentioned above. Perfect for book covers, print ads, digital banners, and splash pages where making an attention-grabbing first impression is needed.
Keep in mind leaving room to the left or right to accommodate various layouts and cropping. The open concept could benefit from having a healthy amount of negative space in layout so this is a consideration when staging any shot but especially portraiture.
Lighting
Whenever possible, natural lighting is preferred. Shooting by a window or in a room with good natural light can provide nice depth to subjects. If the sunlight is harsh, using a diffuser or a semi-transparent curtain can help soften the light.
When shooting outdoors, cloudy days provide natural diffusion that can help produce better photographs. If shooting when it is sunny, rotate your subject until you find the optimal light angle so as not to flatten their features with too much direct sun. If you find yourself shooting in an excessively sunny situation, shooting under a tree or a similar setup can sometimes provide a better alternative.
Logo
Although the Knox logo itself as an element was not updated as part of this new brand, how we use the logo in layouts is getting an update. Rather than using the full logo with its mark and wordmark, moving forward we sometimes use the wordmark or the bell tower mark as standalone elements to represent Knox.
Primary Logo (Preferred)
Secondary Logo
The horizontal orientation is our primary logo. It's preferred to use this whenever possible to help reinforce brand recognition.
The vertical – or stacked – orientation is our secondary logo and provides an option when space is limited and the primary logo's readbility is compromised; for example, on digital banner ads (e.g. 120 x 600 "skyscraper").
primary logo
CLEARSPACE
For digital and print, the minimum clear space around the primary logo should be equal to the height of the icon. Even if you’re just eyeballing it, use this diagram as ageneral guide to ensure nothing encroaches in its space.
SECONDARY LOGO
CLEARSPACE
For digital and print, the minimum clear space around the logo should be equal to 2x the height of the wordmark. Even if you’re just eyeballing it, use this diagram as ageneral guide to ensure nothing encroaches in its space.
MINIMUM height
To ensure optimal readability, make sure to stick to these minimum sizes.
Digital: 35px
Print: 1/4"
Digital: 60px
Print: 5/8"
COLOR COMBINATIONS
Stick to these approved combinations for optimal contrast and readability.
logo misuse
Avoid any of the following with all versions of the logo.
Stretched
Non-brand colors
Warped
Rearranged elements
Replaced fonts
Effects
Rotation
Busy background
Layouts
Working together, the brand’s various graphic elements, photography, color, and typography form the layouts that create the look and feel of the Knox brand. As mentioned in the introduction, a brand with diverse needs such as Knox College benefits from having flexibility to cover the range of audiences and situations it needs to be used across. The following examples provide an overview of the range of layouts developed to date.
Creating a Layout
When creating a new layout, it's important to keep a few best practices in mind. Here are just a few helpful examples to guide you through.
Step 1:
Document Setup
Before you set up your document, you must first determine the type of grid you will need to accommodate the content in your layout. The more content you have, the larger the layout grid you will likely need.
Digital
When designing for mobile or other vertically oriented screens (except tablets), use a 4-column grid.
Designing for a tablet in its vertical orientation can be done using an 8 or 12-column grid.
For horizontal tablets, desktops, or other horizontally-oriented screens, use the standard 12-column grid for the web.
When designing for standard vertically printed collateral, use a 4 or 8-column grid.
Horizontally printed collateral should be laid out using an 8 or 12-column grid.
Note: When designing horizontal print spreads, the 8 or 12-column grid should be disitributed across the two pages; meaning each page will have 4 or 6 columns, separated by the page gutter (see Step 2 for an example).
Non-Standard Layouts
For non-standard document sizes, always use an even number of columns when creating a custom grid. Grids can vary from 2-columns to as many as you need.
Step 2:
Setting the Headline
The way we set our headlines is a defining part of our brand. To start, set your lead-in copy in Gooper Semi-Condensed, followed by the impact statement set in Obviously Condensed.
Step 3:
Building it out
Now that our headline has been figured out, we can move on to the rest of the composition. Build out from your headline and add the additional necessary content such as photographs, patterns, and body copy—aligning everything to your grid and in relation to one another. Start with larger elements like photographs and patterns.
While arranging your layout, you may discover that you need to adjust the scale or stretch the dimensions of your headline so it fits within a relative space. While it's a major rule of thumb to not stretch typography, Obviously Condensed has enough weight and personality to allow for a moderate amount of stretching.
With the dynamic angles created by our angled grid, this headline flexibility was set in place to help us better control a layout's balance. This is especially helpul in situations where the headline is broken up and bounced from margin to margin (e.g. vertical pole banners; scroll down to the "Environmental" section to see this specific example).
Again, this specific typeface (Obviously Condensed) is a very unique case, so DO NOT stretch any of our other typography (Gooper and Inter), or brand elements (logos, photography, patterns).
Editorial Examples
Over the course of a multi-page piece like a lookbook, it helps to have some quieter, simpler layouts like this one that utilizes a single color background and simplified layout in between other, more dialed up spreads.
This spread is a good example of a balanced use of brand elements for a layout that has some added touches but isn’t fully dialed up. A 5 out of 10 on the dialed up scale.
As mentioned in the Illustration section, the masks can be used to frame portrait photography.
Our alumni success stories provide a chance to dial up the more expressive elements of the brand such as the illustration and grid pattern with its various textures to work in balance with surrounding spreads as needed.
Here is another example of "bouncing" the headline (previously mentioned in the Typography section). This treatment allows up to dial up the scale and energy of the headline font, using it as the key graphic element.
In this headline style, the impactful statement can be broken up (make sure to hyphenate), bouncing back and forth against the margins.
As shown here, imagery can be used in the resulting empty spaces. Use best judgement on where it will feel most balanced. The one rule is that it should always be aligned to either the cap height or base line of the headline (examples here are all aligned to the cap height).
Environmental Example
For instances like these banners intended for our campus community, we can dial up the expressiveness of the use of pattern textures with bold typography.
Note the use of our primary palette for the key messaging, supported by secondary colors. The pairing of Purple and Yellow gives us optimal headline contrast.
Out of Home
The brand can dial up its boldness in out of home campaigns such as this example when it needs to compete against other consumer campaigns.
As noted in the Color section, the primary palette is key in both creating eye-grabbing contrast, and establishing Knox College brand recognition, especially in general audience placements.
Direct Mail
We can do all type based layouts to stand out in an unconventional way at times.
Note how we use the primary palette to further grab attention, then use a secondary color on the reverse as a softening contrast.
Digital
The brand’s colors are a huge asset and can help differentiate the Knox brand immediately. Simpler layouts like these that feature the color and typography can work hard for the college.
Contact
With a newly established brand there are sure to be questions, and plenty of situations where you run into uncharted territory. Whenever you are unsure about how to best apply the brand for a given situation, you are encouraged to reach out to the Communications Department for guidance.
Knox College
Office of Communications
Communications@knox.edu