Graphic Standards

Visual Identity

The Blinn College Graphic Identity Program launched in 2003, provides a signature (logo) that combines the image of the Old Main tower with the words “Blinn College” presented with the powerful “Proven.” tagline. Additional major design elements communicate the Blinn College brand consistently in print and electronic communications.

The College’s brand in print and electronic communications is built around the concept of "Prepare for Success.” This concept typically is communicated by featuring images of two to four students actively engaged in a variety of classroom or campus activities.

Applying the Elements

Consistency is key.

The official, registered graphic signature (logo) of the College consists of the words “Blinn College” and the image of the Old Main tower. The font used for "Blinn College" is part of the graphic and should not be altered or used with a substitute font. The tower is not to be used as a single design element. The Old Main tower embodies the tradition and spirit of Blinn College. It represents the academic strengths, dignity, and reputation of the College as well as the spirit and the loyalty of its students, alumni, faculty, and staff regardless of campus affiliation.

Use of College Name and Logo

The Office of Marketing and Media Relations is responsible for the production and use of the college's institutional and athletic logos. As the premiere two-year college in Texas, Blinn College holds a unique position and our branding and marketing reflect that positive image. To maintain our quality and consistency of image and message, all materials prepared for public consumption should be approved by the Office of Marketing and Media Relations prior to production. This includes the use of the college's name, logos, color palette and individual design elements.

Fonts

Franklin Gothic (Frankfurt), Arbitrary Regular and Mrs. Eaves Italic type fonts are required for use in all College print materials directed to external audiences. (See the Web template section for specifics about typography on the Web.) Consistent use of the type families will strengthen the overall brand presence.

Campus users who do not produce a significant amount of correspondence directed to external audiences may use the Arial and Times Italic fonts on their personal computers.

Independent graphic designers and commercial printers who contract with the College must follow industry-standard guidelines with regard to font licensing.

Core Colors

Use of the College’s official colors is critical when reproducing the College signature.

Blinn College Blue

• Pantone 286
• CMYK (C-100, M-67, Y-0, K-23)
• Web or Hexidecimal - Please use colors defined in web templates

Color Palette

The color palette consists of colors chosen to represent the College's brand in print and electronic communications. All College materials and messages directed to external audiences must use colors from the approved color palette.

The color palette features a set of bold colors. The following guidelines apply when working with the color palette:

• All College materials and messages directed to external audiences must use the color palette set. When creating materials directed to prospective students, the color palette must be dominant.

• Use of the College's core blue color as a supporting color theme for four-color printed materials and Web pages is strongly encouraged. When creating two-color printed materials use approved Pantone colors and black. Contact the Office of Public Information for more details.

• The appropriate Pantone Matching System (PMS), four-color process or Web/screen media color specifications indicated must be used to ensure consistent display of the color palette.

Due to the inherent qualities of color reproduction and display technologies, the colors may appear differently in spot PMS, four-color process, and screen display applications.

Color Set

The bold color set must be used for materials and messages directed to prospective student audiences. Use of this set is also encouraged for other young audiences and may be used for all audiences. The College's core blue color should be used as a supporting color theme when working with the bold color set.

Editorial Style

The editorial style manual for Blinn College’s print and electronic marketing materials is based on The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition). A summary of the Chicago Manual is presented here. For a more thorough explanation, please refer to the Chicago Manual, which can be ordered from the Students Book Corporation.

News releases and media relations communications are based on the Associated Press Stylebook in accordance with industry standards. All media contact should be directed to the Marketing and Media Relations office .

The Web

The Web is the primary resource for students and others seeking information about Blinn College. Web page guidelines and templates have been developed to present the College's identity clearly, consistently, and with distinction. The templates also provide a consistent user interface to improve visitors’ navigation across all College web sites.

Although the templates contain required elements to ensure a consistent identity and user interface, they serve primarily as a structure for each unit to customize with content.

Web Template sets include the following:

• Templates for academic divisions, general College sites, and faculty pages.

• Secondary Page Templates with options for variations in the size of the Site Identifier Zone and menu styles in the Navigation Zone

• Photoshop graphic files to customize and replace the graphic placeholders in the templates

Who should use the College Templates

The guidelines governing use of the College templates vary depending upon the source of the Web site and the nature of the content.

Macromedia Dreamweaver Standard

The College web page templates are provided in Dreamweaver formats; College web page developers are encouraged to standardize on Dreamweaver and take advantage of its template files and strong site management capabilities.

• Downloads and Guidelines

PowerPoint Templates

PowerPoint templates that incorporate the College's brand design elements provide the campus community with a time- and cost-effective way to create PowerPoint presentations that communicate the College brand effectively and consistently. Please contact the Marketing and Media Relations office for template needs.

Displays

Displays are a key component in the campaign to effectively communicate the Blinn College brand. They often create the first impressions key constituents form of the College, so it is important they fully reflect the brand design elements. The content of displays should be targeted to the audience.

The Marketing and Media Relations office can create a customizable display incorporating the brand look.

Downloads

Selecting artwork prepared in the format appropriate for the medium in which the art will appear is critical to the quality of the reproduction.

For example, electronic art developed for print use (vector artwork) in most instances is not appropriate for use when developing a Web site, which requires the use of bitmap art. Conversely, artwork developed for use on the Web should not be used for print applications.

Color specification and mode is also critical to maintaining high-quality reproduction. Artwork prepared for the Web should be in RGB mode, while artwork prepared for the print environment should be created in one, two, or four colors.

Electronic art files provided on this Web site were created for a variety of applications and for both PC and Macintosh platforms.

For the print environment, vector artwork, or eps files, is available. Bitmap, or tif files, are also available in one and four colors.

For the Web environment, bitmap files in RGB mode are available in gif , jpeg and tif formats. Vector, or eps art, which can be used to create additional RGB bitmap files, is also available.

Selecting the Proper File

If you plan to reproduce the College signature (logo) in a black-and-white environment—such as on a local desktop printer or copier—download the one-color version of the signature.

If you plan to reproduce the College signature in an electronic environment, you likely will need a RGB file in a bitmap form.

Need help? Contact the Marketing and Media Relations office .

Vector Files

A vector image is a set of geometrically defined shapes. A vector image can be scaled infinitely, both larger and smaller, with no loss of clarity, thus making it the most flexible to use.

However, vector files cannot be used on the Web; they can only be used to make files to place on the Web. Vector graphic files are available on this Web site as Macintosh and PC eps files.

Bitmap Files

In a bitmap file, each pixel is defined individually, making the file essentially a very fine grid of squares with information about the color of each square. If a bitmap file needs to be enlarged, the computer must guess (or interpolate) to create new pixels between the old ones. The result is that an enlarged bitmap files becomes blurry. Bitmap images for the Mac or PC should never be enlarged from the original file, although they can be reduced in size. The bitmap files located on this Web site are Mac and PC tif and gif files.

If the bitmap files located here are not large enough for your needs, you can make a new bitmap file from one of the vector files. If you need help to make the larger file, contact the Marketing and Media Relations office.

Color Mode

When selecting electronic files for downloading, be certain to select the right color version for your use.

Print Media

If you plan to reproduce the College signature (logo) in a black-and-white environment—such as on a local desktop printer or copier—use the one-color version of the signature.

If you plan to reproduce the signature in a two- or four-color environment, use the two- or four-color versions of the signature.

If you are unsure as to which version of the signature to use, contact the Marketing and Media Relations office .

Electronic Media

If you plan to reproduce the College signature (logo) in an electronic environment, you likely will need a RGB file in a bitmap form. These are all the RGB gif, jpeg, eps, and tif files.

If you are unsure as to which file to select, contact the Marketing and Media Relations office .

Page Last Updated: December 3, 2008