CONTENTS
01. INTRODUCTION
Welcome
Welcome to the online brand guidelines for UK Sport.
These guidelines have been created to help you use and champion the UK Sport brand, ensuring our overarching brand architecture and visual identity is understood and applied correctly to create effective and consistent communications.
These guidelines also act as a brand asset bank, meaning that most of the assets that make up our brand can be downloaded directly from this page. If there are any assets which are not available then please email brand@uksport.gov.uk
National Lottery
Much of UK Sport's work is supported by The National Lottery (TNL) and their logo should be used to show our support for the Lottery where appropriate.
National Governing Bodies that receive UK Sport investment should use the TNL logo ONLY on their promotional material. For example, if a sport is getting new kit, it should only have the TNL logo on it and NOT UK Sport's.
The One National Lottery Guidelines document helps to explain this. It, along with TNL logo files, is accessible via the link.
For any queries relating to our relationship with TNL, please contact Fiona.White@uksport.gov.uk
02. BRAND LOGOS
Primary Brand Logo
Our brand logo is the primary asset of the UK Sport brand and acts as the key identifier of who we are and what we stand for.
The logo is made up of two separate elements: a brand icon (Victor) and a logotype (UK Sport). These elements should never be separated or used individually.
Exclusion Zone
The minimum exclusion zone around our logo (set to the height of 's' on 'sport') ensures the logo has the space to proudly stand out.
We do not ‘lock-up’ our logo with partner organisations. If our logo is to appear alongside partner logos, please ensure the minimum exclusion zone is maintained.
Animated Logo
An animated version of our logo has been developed for digital applications. You can request a copy of this file by emailing brand@uksport.gov.uk
Secondary and Linear Logos
Our logo suite also comprises a Secondary and Linear logo design for specific applications. The same minimum exclusion zone and colour treatment as the primary logo applies to all of these logos.
Secondary
Our secondary logo is a horizontally stacked version of our logo that should be used only in areas of limited vertical space where using our primary logo would impact its legibility.
For example: Landscape designs such as hoarding, web banners etc
Linear
Our linear logo is a single-line version of our logo that should only be used in areas of extremely tight space where the UK Sport still needs a visual presence.
For example: Extremely small spaces such as lanyards and digital portals.
Note: The secondary and linear logos are available on request only by emailing brand@uksport.gov.uk
Colourways
Our full-colour logo should only ever be used on a white or off-white background. If our logo needs to be used on any primary colours, secondary colours or imagery, the white-out version of our logo should be used.
Note: Always use the logo colourways provided and never recreate the logo in a different colourway.
Strapline
Our strapline acts as our call to action to get behind UK Sport and join in our mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments.
Our strapline should be used proudly on all brand communication touchpoints, ensuring the strapline is given enough breathing room to stand out as proudly and prominently as our brand logo. Our strapline should be seen as a separate element from our logo and should never be used side-by-side, space permitting.
Our strapline and logo have been separated in order to create more adaptability and prominence for each individual asset across the brand.
Our strapline should never be recreated or typed out. For all necessary files please follow the link below.
Logo and Strapline Hierarchies
Our logo and strapline should always be used in a prominent position across all key brand communications. For example, brochure front covers, digital adverts and merchandise.
The UK Sport logo should take prominence over the strapline.
As a rule, if both the logo and strapline are to be used on the same design the UK Sport logo should be used at the top of the design (for brand awareness) and the strapline should be used at the bottom (as a brand sign-off).
Primary Logo
Secondary Logo
Linear Logo
03. COLOUR PALETTE
Primary Colour Palette
Our primary colour palette has been taken directly from the colours of the Union Jack and should be used with pride throughout the identity.
Both Power Red and Impact Blue should be used proudly throughout the brand and at the first touch point of each communication. This means the first interaction with our brand should always be led by our primary colour palette.
Power Red
Impact Blue
White
Secondary Colour Palette
Our secondary palette expands and complements our primary palette to add texture and diversity to our communications.
Our secondary palette should never be used alone to lead our brand communications. Our brand identity should always be led by one or both of our primary brand colours with our secondary palette used to support them.
Note:
- Use white and white space to both represent the colours of the Union Jack and to give our designs the breathing room to stand out.
- Do not change our colour values.
Dark Power Red
Dark Impact Blue
Field Green
Court Orange
Open Blue
Material Grey
Colour Reference
The colours of our secondary palette have been taken directly from the world of sport.
Roll your cursor over this image to see an example of where some of our colour inspiration has come from.
Colour Tints
To add further flexibility and adaptability to our brand palette, we've introduced tints to add texture and highlights throughout our communications. These tints should only be applied in 75%, 50% and 25% versions.
Colour Spectrum
A colour spectrum helps to control and manage the application of colour across our many brand touchpoints.
As a rule, internal design applications and functional/informative communications should use our primary palette. More creative brand campaigns and social designs can explore more of the secondary and tint palettes to build a more creative execution.
Accessibility
Our brand colours and tints allow for a lot of flexibility and accessibility pairings across our brand. These examples show how some colour combinations can come together.
Please refer to the accessibility checker in this section to find the best pairing dependent on the design and its role.
Note: It is hugely important that the UK Sport brand is accessible by all. Please ensure the correct pairing of colours are being used and aim for AAA+ accessibility where possible.
04. TYPOGRAPHY
Termina
Our Display font, Termina, should be used sparingly to draw attention. Termina is great for titles and campaign headlines in order to stand out and deliver impact.
We can also outline 1 or 2 words per header to add character to our type or draw attention to specific keywords. Outlines should be used sparingly.
Termina is a free font accessible through Adobe Fonts via a Creative Cloud subscription. Please follow the link below to download the font.
Note: Termina should only be used in all caps.
Roboto
Roboto is our Headline font and should primarily be used for headers and sub-headers to create a distinctive texture between our title and body copy fonts. Roboto should never be used as a title or body font font.
Roboto is a free font accessible via Google Fonts by following the download button below.
System Font: Tahoma is our system font replacement for Roboto. Tahoma should be used for headers and sub-headers in documents such as emails, Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Rollover this image to view Tahoma.
Helvetica Neue
Helvetica is a classic, legible, sans-serif font that we use for areas that include long-form text and body copy. Helvetica should never be used in titles, headers or sub-headers.
Helvetica is a font that comes pre-loaded on most computers. If you do not have access to Helvetica please follow the link below to download a copy.
System Font: Arial is our system font replacement for Helvetica. Arial should be used for body copy in documents such as emails, Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.
Rollover this image to view Arial.
Type Spectrum
Our type spectrum shows the hierarchy system we use across different areas of our brand to highlight the varying importance of different information. We use the spectrum to help define the purpose of the design and identify which type of combination to use.
For example, a professional report or white paper would fall under 'Refined' and would use Roboto and Helvetica but no Termina.
Video
For consistency across our video content, please use the following fonts for on-screen text. Ensure there is sufficient contrast between the background and the text.
TERMINA BLACK
Roboto Medium
Subtitles: Helvetica Roman 55
05. PHOTOGRAPHY
The curation of photography plays a key role in our brand to help illustrate our people, role and purpose of leading high-performance sport to enable extraordinary moments that enrich lives. We use three different categories of photography to help achieve this: People, Moments and Success.
We're working to build a library of our own brand photography to use freely throughout our communications. This library of photography will be added to this section in time. For specific sport or athlete-focused imagery, we have a Getty Editorial subscription. For access please email brand@uksport.gov.uk
people
We use 'People' focused photography to highlight the pride and passion of our employees and demonstrate the role we all play to power high-performance sport.
Moments
'Moments' illustrate the smaller details that are critical to both an athlete and a team that help to bring us all together to power success.
These images are not about the podium finish, instead, we crop in tightly to focus on the emotion and small details that make a big difference.
Success
These images show high-performance sport at its most dynamic and inspirational. These images should be captured in the moment of celebration to feel raw and authentic.
Abstract
We can use close-cropped images of sports surfaces or equipment where we don't focus on an individual. These images must be clearly sports-related and where possible should not show brand names or manufacturer logos.
Treatment
If appropriate to the design an image treatment can be applied to our photography to benefit the communications and create a more ownable photography style. These treatments fall into two categories.
Gradient
A slight single-colour gradient is pulled in from any corner of a photograph to create a light, colourful glow. This gradient colour should only ever be Power Red or Impact Blue.
Colour Wash
A double gradient that uses the primary brand colours to apply a Union Jack colour spectrum across our photography.
Note: These treatments do not always have to be used and should only be used where necessary and appropriate to the design.
06. GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
Sporting Graphics
Our sporting graphic assets are a series of patterns that take inspiration from high-performance sport.
We use these patterns throughout our brand to frame compositions, complement empty space and guide the eye toward focal points if needed.
Roll your cursor over these graphics to see how they form the underlying base of our communications.
Types
Our sporting graphics can be broken down into six different designs. These designs include Victor, Dressed Victor, Water, Track, Court and Winter.
Each one of these designs has been chosen to represent a wide field of sports that we promote.
These designs have been supplied in multiple colour ways and weights in the download button below.
Pre-made Graphics
A selection of sporting graphics in our brand colours have been designed and can be downloaded here. Originally created for the UK Sport intranet, they are thumbnail size images and can be used on digital platforms or to help signpost content. For other applications or dimensions, please create using the individual sporting graphics.
Usage
Each brand pattern should be used sparingly to deliver impact and aid each piece of communication.
Patterns do not need to be used against sport-appropriate photography. For example, you do not have to use the 'water' pattern when using swimming or diving specific imagery. They should be used expressively across the brand and across a diverse range of sports.
Each pattern has been supplied in a series of brand colours, line weights and file types. It is up to the designer to choose the appropriate colour and line weight to best match their design.
Super Victor
Our Victor graphic can be blown up into a 'Super Victor' in order to create large, abstract graphic shapes that can be used as background textural shapes and holding devices.
These shapes should only be used to help add legibility and frame text.
Roll your cursor over the image to view the underlying Victor wireframe.
Super Victor Crops
These graphics can easily be created by adjusting crops of Victor to best suit your design. The final cropped shape must be abstract rather than still recognisable as Victor. Alternatively, a set of starter crops in A4 and 16:9 format have been designed and supplied below.
Roll your cursor over the image to view the underlying Victor wireframe.
07. brand platform
Our brand architecture helps define how the UK Sport brand looks and feels in the world and helps to guide how we show up when working with our broad range of funders, partners and audiences. We do not create new logos, sub-brands or ways in which to work with partners and should always follow the guidance outlined in this section.
Ongoing Programmes
How Do We Define Ongoing Programmes
• A significant body of work.
• An ongoing, multi-year programme.
• A diverse multitude of activities.
• Usually supported by a campaign.
• Focus on supporting the sector.
The Role Of The Brand Within These Programmes
• Bring together a group of activities to power our strategy.
• Help the master brand be known for these activities.
• Signpost the sector to the right support.
• Transfer brand equity back to the master brand.
Activation Guidelines
• The creation of a bespoke marque to be used alongside the UKS logo is allowed.
• These can be supported by bespoke master graphics that form the wider graphic language.
• The focus of the colour palette can be shifted away from the primary colours.
Roll your cursor over this image to see guidelines brought to life.
Cycle related activity
How Do We Define Cycle-Related Activity
• Targeted towards a Summer or Winter Olympic Games.
• Official communications such as; plans, documentation and reviews.
The Role Of The Brand Within These Activities
• This is core activity and as such should re-enforce our master brand.
Activation Guidelines
• Simple typographic marques are permitted.
• Everything else should be master brand.
Roll your cursor over this image to see guidelines brought to life.
Partnerships: National Lottery
How Do We Define National Lottery Activity
• For sector-related comms: UK Sport is leading the conversation, but the funds are coming from The National Lottery.
• For public-facing comms: The National Lottery is given priority brand presence, to help the public make the link to play and understand that The National Lottery has made their experience possible.
The Role Of The Brand Within These Activities
• Create a positive association with the National Lottery.
• Educate audiences on our relationship with the National Lottery.
• DO NOT create the feeling this is from, or that we are the National Lottery.
Activation Guidelines
If it’s a public-facing sponsorship communication then the National Lottery Logo is used instead of the UK Sport logo. For sector-facing communications use both the National Lottery and UK Sport logos following these simple rules:
• Always use each logo at least once in every communication.
• Never use the two logos in lock-up.
• The National Lottery logo can be used as a sign-off at the end of material.
For further information on how to use the National Lottery logo
please visit their brand guidelines via the link below.
PARTNERSHIPS: NON-NATIONAL LOTTERY
How Do We Define Non-National Lottery Activity
• We’re the primary funder or delivery partner within a partnership.
• We’re providing equal joint funding and/or delivery within a partnership.
• We’re playing a role within the partnership.
The Role Of The Brand Within These Activities
• Highlight our role.
• Where appropriate, take ownership.
Activation Guidelines
If we are the lead partner funding, driving or managing the activity then the materials must be produced using our master brand, with the secondary addition of other partner logos.
If we are an equal partner within the activity then a decision should be made as to which brand has the most equity with the target audiences. In limited circumstances where both/all brands have equal equity, a neutral brand should be created but still featuring our logo, our primary colours and photography style.
In partnerships where we play a secondary role to other partners, use our primary logo adhering to exclusion zone guidelines.
Roll your cursor over this image to see guidelines brought to life.
Major Events
How Do We Define Major Events Activity
• Advertising opportunities provided by events - anything from corporate box branding to adverts in the programmes and LED boards around the pitch.
The Role Of The Brand Within These Activities
• For corporate partners and key stakeholders at events we are looking to define our role as a strategic partner to sports over and above a provider of funds.
• For public audiences, in addition to ensuring The National Lottery is appropriately represented, there is a chance to amplify our social impact projects, sustainability projects and other major events. Or to provide a platform to our partners/athletes working in these areas (while highlighting UK Sport’s role as a facilitator of these activities).
Activation Guidelines
• Prominence should be given to The National Lottery brand.
• If referring to our role as a strategic partner, our logo can be used alongside The National Lottery logo (not locked-up) together with supporting text context. For example: ‘UK Sport works in partnership with sporting, national and regional organisations to ensure that the UK hosts the world's biggest international sporting events.’
Roll your cursor over this image to see guidelines brought to life.
08. brand in application
White Space
The use of white space will be your biggest asset in using the brand. We should hero white space wherever possible and not fill every available space of a design. Communications that have the room to breath look smarter and more legible.
Be Selective
The UK Sport brand includes alot of brand assets such as type, colour, patterns, photography and graphics. These assets should not all be used at the same time - consider the audience and end goal and apply what is needed appropriately.
Creative Freedom
The content of this site should act as an expressive guide of what is possible, rather than restrictive guidelines. The brand basics should be followed but some creative license can be taken to keep our brand fresh, current and flexible.
This brand spectrum should be used as a guide and source of inspiration to help show how all assets of the UK Sport brand can be used together to create a wide range of branded communications, from formal internal documents to bold and creative campaign executions that still feel considered and on brand.
Thank you.
For any questions or support, please contact brand@uksport.gov.uk
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© Copyright UK Sport
Updated 05 / 2023