ESW Guide

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ESW National

Branding Guide

“Design is the application of intent —

the opposite of happenstance,

and an antidote to accident.”

Robert L. Peters,

notable graphic designer and conservationist

Dearest Reader:

You might be wondering why this guide even

exists. A!er all, all this branding stuﬀ is a lot of

work and it would be easier if we just all agreed to

use the default styles in Microso! Word and called

it a day.

But ESW has never settled for the default.

We fight to create something better than the

default. This isn’t easy. Creating something better

than the status quo takes inspiration, research,

consideration, resolve, and trust in the outcome,

but we do it. We do it because it’s something we

believe in, because it’s why we exist as an

organization, and maybe even why we exist as

individuals. I believe it is vital that this ideology

pervades our communications eﬀorts as much as

it does everything else we do if we are to be taken

seriously as an organization.

In the case of branding and communications, we

should all seek to produce documents, articles,

posters, merchandise, and websites that are are

distinct, intentional, user-friendly, and consistent.

Lucky for you, dear reader, much thought has

already been put into how to do these things, and

this guide is the culmination of that thought. I

encourage you to use this guide both for the

advice contained in it, and as an example itself of

that advice applied to a real document.

When you need help, the Branding Committee

and Branding Director are there to help you— do

not hesitate to contact them. By doing so, you’ll

improve not only whatever it is you’re working on,

but also future iterations of this guide and thus

future things created by ESW.

Thanks for reading this and taking it seriously.

Now, read up and spread the ESW brand far and

wide!

Quick Reference

Logos

Information Conveyed/”Googlability”

There are multiple variations on our logo. Choose the sim-

plest one you can that conveys the information you need it

to for your use case.

Make sure to give the logo adequate space in your de-

signs— don’t crop down the whitespace included in the

logo files.

Opt to use vector formats (.ai, .pdf, .svg) over bitmap ones

(.jpg, .png, .gif) when possible. If you’re using bitmap for-

mats, choose the highest resolution file that makes sense

and scale it down, rather than scaling it up.

“Remixes” of the logo are permitted for special events, col-

laborations, and individual chapters. Read more here.

Diagram 1.2 Resizing logo images





Diagram 1.1 Logo spacing

The space around logos is there for a reason— don’t crop it out!



Typography

Use the font selection flowchart to

determine which fonts you should use in

your design.

All fonts are available for free download at

eswusa.org/drupal/brand and are quick to install.

If you’re working on a Google Drive document, Source

Sans is the only member of our font family currently avail-

able. If additional fonts are needed, we recommend finish-

ing formatting for your document in Microso! Word, Apple

Pages, or Adobe InDesign.

For external documents, use the PDF format to ensure

consistent formatting across all computers.

Color

The ESW color palette contains 8 colors which should

cover the vast majority of use cases.

See rules of thumb on color use here.

Tints

Pale Gray

230,240,235

#e6f0eb

Pale Blue

159,244,245

#9ﬀ4f5

Midtones

Gray

173,184,177

#adb8b1

Turquoise

0,177,184

#00bec4

Shades

Dark Gray

31,33,32

#1f2120

Midnight

23,26,43

#171a2b

Accents

ESW Green

33,191,39

#21bf27

Orange Red

208,44,6

#d02c06

Brand DNA

How do we want to portray ourselves as

an organization?

How do we make decisions about

our brand?

purposeful

Our work is constructive and impactful. Being part of

ESW means contributing to society.

empowering

We inspire, excite, and engage everyone who touches our

organization.

dynamic

We are an agile and creative group that tries new

things and provides our members with new, eye-

opening experiences.

responsible

We are an organized and dependable group that acts

conscientiously in all our endeavors.

optimistic

We are ever hopeful that our vision of a sustainable

world can be attained.

community

We work, have fun, and bring people together in our

chapters and beyond.

Brand DNA

How do we describe ESW?

Our vision is the future we want to create

as an organization.

Our mission is how we’re going to achieve

that future.

Our brand DNA is how being a part of ESW

(whether as a member, leader, alumni, or

sponsor) should make you feel. It’s how

you would describe the ESW experience to

someone who has never heard of us be-

fore.

At the 2013 ESW National Team retreat,

members of the ESW National Team

worked together to define this DNA. They

managed to compact it down to 6 simple

ideas, in no particular order:

Fitting the fabric of an organization into 6 words

is near impossible, but these can serve as useful

ideals when making decisions.

Does the newsletter you’re making promote

a spirit of community?

Does the sponsorship packet you’re putting

together feel dull and corporate, or dynamic

and empowering?

Is the blog post you’re writing done in a

purposeful, responsible manner, or is it

disorganized and unresearched?

Is the picture you’re posting on our Face-

book page depressing and inflammatory, or

optimistic and empowering?

Remember, if you’re having trouble making

your branded materials live up to these ideals,

ask the ESW National Team Branding Director

for help— that’s what they’re there for!

The ESW National Team, brainstorming brand DNA at the

2013 NT Retreat.

The creation of our Brand DNA

Logos

How do we symbolize ESW?

Circular and compact, this logo can be used

decoratively and for applications where simplic-

ity is key, but keep in mind this version of the

logo isn’t “Googlable”, so its best suited for appli-

cations where people either already know who

we are or don’t need to. Fun fact: it also looks

really cool when blown up to preposterous size

and set oﬀ the corner of a page.

The gear should be all one color (green, dark

gray, or white) unless you’re making a logo re-

mix for an event, chapter, or collaboration (See

the “Remixes” page in this section for details)

Note that using the logo with a transparent cen-

ter over a background color is fine— in fact, it

looks quite handsome on dark colors. Read

more about do’s and don’ts of color in the

Color section.

The Gear Symbol

The future of our planet is at the

center of everything we build.

Figure 3.1 The blow-up and oﬀset technique

Whoa.

Look at that gear. Sweet.

This version of the logo comes in two orienta-

tions and is great when you need something

that’s compact and simple but also allows peo-

ple to at least have a name to ask about or

search for online. Ideal for merchandise, and as

a base to build chapter or event logos oﬀ of.

Compact Logos

The Goldilocks versions

This is the full monty— our logo, name and ta-

gline elegantly balanced to tell people who we

are and what we do. Good for letterhead, web-

sites, and anywhere where the logo needs to say

it all. It comes in a 1-line and 2-line version—

choose the one which fits in your design better.

Full Logo

The whole kit and caboodle

The existing logos should cover most use cases,

but you may want a specialized logo for your

chapter, or a special collaboration or event.

That’s totally cool, make it! Here are some pieces

of advice to ensure what you make jives well

with the ESW brand:

•Don’t reinvent the wheel. Or more

specifically, the Gear. For consistency’s

sake, try to build oﬀ of the existing Gear

Symbol rather than drawing a new one

from scratch. #If you do decide to draw

your own, remember; the ESW Gear

always has 8 teeth!

•Consider using the type and color

guidelines from this guide. They’re there

for a reason— the fonts and colors work

well together and can make your life

easier.

•Don’t struggle in silence. If you want

help or approval from the National Team,

reach out to the Branding director; it’s

their job to help you!

Remixes

Put your our own spin on it

The ESW-RPI chapter logo is a great example of a

successful logo remix.

Figure 3.2 The ESW-RPI Logo

Color

How do we use color in our designs?

Using color aptly requires practice and a trained

eye. If you know what you’re doing, by all means

break the rules. If not, this section is a good

place to start.

Opposites Attract



wow! look at

they sure are

these color pairs!

sharp aren’t they?

Tints/white and shades go together— using one for a back-

ground and the other for your text is a safe bet.

You Don’t Need Both



There’s o!en no need to use both colors from a color class

(e.g. don’t mix midnight and dark gray, pick one or the

other). This is less true for accents, but don’t put them

right up against each other.

Green Hates Midtones



barf. please, just don’t

Avoid putting our green right up against the midtones. Red

can also be tricky with them, but it’s doable— just use cau-

tion.

Using Color

for fun and profit!

Accents Are Potent



Sustainability

by Brian Lange

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dolor risus, pellentesque at aliquam et, tincidunt et

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commodo eu aliquam aliquet, placerat eu sem.

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Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et

netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.

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erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci

luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nulla

Sustainability

by Brian Lange

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing

elit. Suspendisse placerat vestibulum elit, sed

tempor justo hendrerit eu. Curabitur turpis erat,

semper eget sodales vitae, varius id lorem. Sed

dolor risus, pellentesque at aliquam et, tincidunt et

ipsum. Sed vel lorem risus. Nullam urna nulla,

commodo eu aliquam aliquet, placerat eu sem.

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rhoncus a. Vivamus dictum tempor adipiscing.

Suspendisse ac sem lectus. Donec neque diam,

scelerisque sed iaculis a, lobortis sit amet turpis.

Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et

netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.

In sem risus, lobortis in eleifend quis, porttitor ac

erat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci

luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nulla

Accents can add pop to a design, but they shouldn’t make

up the majority of it.

Bulk Up When Contrast Is

Low

kinda hard to read easier to read



needs some oomph now we’re talkin’



doesn’t really pop hey, that works



When contrast isn’t particularly high (red on dark colors,

green on light ones, midtones on anything), compensate

by using heavier font weights, larger font sizes, or a combi-

nation of the two.

Shades Are The New Black

Black is generally unneeded (and not part of our palette).

Opt for dark gray or midnight instead. Shadows? Go gray.

Text on slides? Try out midnight. These dark colors provide

the necessary contrast without being as harsh as black,

and can provide your designs with more character. Not

convinced? Read more here.

Don’t Overdo It

In general, show restraint when it comes to color. A little

color goes a long way, and things won’t look “boring” if

they’re not blanketed in it, as long as you’re also following

our other guidelines on typography and layout.

Up next: More about the ESW Palette...

Our tints are for when you need or want a color that isn’t white, but still

provides nice contrast with darker shades.

Suggested Use

Sustainability

by Brian Lange

Sustainability

by Brian Lange

Callout boxes/sidebars Slide backgrounds/text

54% of all emissions

Wicked Problems

Both can act as backgrounds for black or one of our dark shade colors,

and both can act as text colors on those colors as well.

Tints

Pale Gray

rgb: 230, 240, 235

hex: #e6f0eb

Pale Blue

rgb: 159, 244, 245

hex: #9ﬀ4f5

Fun midtone facts: our turquoise is derived from photos of Earth taken from deep

space, while the gray contains some green and blue to jive with the rest of our colors.

Suggested Use

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Presentation

by Alex Dale

Backgrounds

Further reading

If this section happens to spark an insatiable

thirst for typographic knowledge, we recom-

mend these online supplements:

•Butterick’s Practical Typography

• Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton

Typography & Layout

“Endowing human language with a

durable visual form.”

-Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

What font should I pick?

A helpful flowchart

Source Sans Pro is ESW’s primary typeface. It’s

professionally designed, highly legible, and avail-

able for use on your computer, on the web and in

Google Drive documents.

Background

Source Sans Pro was released by Paul Hunt in

2012 as Adobe’s first open source typeface. It

was originally designed to be used in user inter-

faces, meaning it was optimized for clear read-

ability on screen at small sizes and low resolu-

tions. To achieve this, Hunt drew inspiration

from classic Morris Fuller Benton “grotesque”1

sans-serifs like News Gothic and Franklin Gothic.

The result is a typeface that looks great at a vari-

ety of sizes and even in print.

Use it for:

•Body text, especially web or short-form print

like articles, press releases, 1-pagers, etc.

•Document headers, titles, subtitles

•Labels and captions for charts, figures, and pic-

tures

•Presentations

•UI text for websites, apps, etc.

Source Sans Pro

Our workhorse typeface

with you through thick and thin

precise

friendly

flexible

functional

digital

unique

legible

professional

new

distinct

available

open-source

modern

tactful human

1 “Grotesque”/“Grotesk” (sometimes also called Realist) is a classification of sans-

serif typefaces. Grotesques fall in the middle of the spectrum between humanist

sans-serifs which take cues from calligraphy (example: Gill Sans) and geometric

sans-serifs which favor symmetry and geometry (example: Futura).

Grotesques tend to be neutral, legible from distance, and communicate stability.

Examples you may know include Helvetica, Arial, and Highway Gothic (used on US

traﬀic signs). #

League Gothic is our headline typeface. It’s

heavy and attention getting while being horizon-

tally compact thanks to it’s tall, condensed

shape. It can look good in all caps, but this also

makes the font appear heavier and less read-

able, so exercise restrain when using it this way.

Background

League Gothic is an open source revival of Morris

Fuller Benton’s 1903 sans-serif Alternative

Gothic, created by The League of Movable Type.

It pairs well with Source Sans Pro thanks to their

shared heritage— both are modernizations in-

spired by turn-of-the-century grotesques by Mor-

ris Fuller Benton.

Use it for:

•Headlines/titles

•Striking statistics

•Other large text

League Gothic

The attention getter

HI. I’M LEAGUE GOTHIC.

What’s your name?

Source Sans Pro is great, but when you’re

working on long-form or highly formal docu-

ments intended for print, you’ll want to use

our serif font, Charter. Charter is modern and

distinct while being comfortable to read at

length.

Background

Charter, sometimes also called Bitstream Char-

ter, was designed in 1987 by Matthew Carter,

a respected digital type designer who later

went on to design Georgia, Tahoma, and Ver-

dana. It was designed to maintain legibility

when being used by fax machines and low

resolution printers, and as a result, it also per-

forms well when used on screen (which tends

to be lower-resolution than print).

Use it for:

Body text, sparingly. Most times Source Sans

Pro works superbly and suits our brand bet-

ter, but for very long reports, legal docu-

ments, books, or other situations where

Source Sans Pro seems inappropriate, default

to Charter.

Charter

Our serif font for long print documents

The ESW Branding Director who picked Charter as our serif

once read all of Brothers Karamazov set in it, so he can per-

sonally vouch for its superior performance in long reading

sessions.

Scriber Bold Stencil

If you need a stencil font for painting or chalking,

or are looking for an industrial/technical display

font, check out Scriber Bold Stencil. The Scriber

family is inspired by text in early CAD programs

and speaks to our roots as an engineering group.

It should go without saying, but don’t ever set

body text in this.

Permanent Marker

If you’re looking to impart a more guerrilla or

activist aesthetic, check out Permanent Marker.

Frequently used by 350.org, it screams

grassroots/call-to-action. It technically has

lowercase and uppercase letterforms, but the

only diﬀerence is size— anything you type will

look all caps. Again, don’t ever use this for

extended strings of text.

Accent Fonts

Spice up your designs

Fully automated

100% off-grid

Stick it to

the man, man!

Initial version created by Brian Lange, ESW

Branding and Technology Director

First released: January 2014

Most recent revision: February 2014

Full edit history available on Github.

This guide would not have been possible with

the the assistance of the ESW National Team and

Branding Committee, Doria Nathanson, and Yale

Unbound Press’s version of Albers’ Interaction of

Color. Many thanks to all who assisted.

Credits

ESW Guide

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