Brand Style
Brand style is the consistent manner in which all of the elements of our brand is applied to print pieces, digital properties, signage and others. In addition to logo usage and color usage, a consistent use of fonts and typography, photography, layout, and writing is also necessary for strong branding.
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type. What fonts are used, versions within a font family, and how they are laid out in a design, establish a hierarchy and a roadmap to communicate the message. Typography provides visual direction and leads the reader through the composition, emphasizing here and counter-balancing there, engaging the viewer to read further.
Knockout font should be used singularly as a title, headline or important callout or notice:
Alternate web font: Oswald
Alternate Powerpoint font: no condensed font available
The Gotham font family is a secondary typeface used for subheads or callouts (bold or black weight) or as body copy (book or light weight):
Alternate web font: Lato
Alternate Powerpoint font: Verdana
Adobe Garamond or "Agaramond" can be used to stress history, formality and tradition in special cases:
Alternate web font: Merriweather
Alternate Powerpoint font: Georgia
Writing Style
The Writing Style Guide is designed to promote clarity and consistency in writing about and for the University of Illinois System. It includes rules about how to refer to each of the system entities, the system itself, provides capitalization and punctuation guidelines, and more.
Copy & Headlines
Headlines should be short, bold, and impactful. At the University of Illinois System, the potential for greatness is around every corner. Inspire the reader with confidence and optimism.
Example:
"This is where impossible is no impediment."
Use an active voice and keep sentences direct and punchy. Copy should reflect a driven and opportunistic attitude. We're here in support of the greater good. To make an impact. We seek excellence and will let nothing stand in our way. Let that pride and confidence shine through in body copy but keep it sincere and ego-free. Be bold and direct but honest.
Example: "We're the number crunchers who will cure cancer. The quietly audacious with our heads above the clouds. Those who lead by excellence and example. Every day, across the state, around the world, seven-hundred-thousand times over. Where others see the improbable, we see the way to make a world of difference."
Web/Digital Style
All outward-facing system office websites should implement design elements that identify the sites as being part of the U of I System and under the system offices umbrella. This consistency helps increase understanding about which units serve the entire system, and strengthens our overall identity. While many of the elements of print visualization can be applied to an electronic environment, fonts and colors are rendered differently in web and other digital environments. Therefore, the guidelines for expressing the brand in these environments differ than those outlined for print. See Web/Digital Style for details.