The matrix
DRIVERS
TOOLS
Identity system elements
The identity system consists of all verbal and visuat tools in addition to the identifier that can be used to express the institution's presence, composition and personality. That includes the nomenclature system (principal unit names, taglines etc.) and such visual elements as type fonts, colors and unit signatures.
Tools | Tactical options |
The visual system includes all visual tools other than the logo itself which can be used to help convey a distinctive and consistent visual presence... preferred type faces, color palette, and such visual devices as linear forms, shapes, and patterns.
Visual system |
Type faces specified for division and unit signatures, for the stationery system, and preferred (if not mandatory) for text in corporate communications materials.
TypographyDesign devices other than the logo, to be used to give advertising and other communications materials a distinctive and consistent appearance. Common examples: ruled lines, repeat patterns, supergraphic treatments of a symbol.
Graphic devicesColors, in addition to log colors, preferred for use in design of corporate communications materials. Often includes a primary palette of three to five strong colors and a secondary palette of more muted or pastel colors.
Palette |
Verbal elements are all the words, other than the communicative name itself, used to convey messages which identify and characterize the presence of the institution, and of its defining components. (Also called 'nomenclature system.')
Verbal elements |
Corporate names can take three forms, or 'levels:' Choice of the formal name extension, in particular, can be seen as an opportunity to communicate identity information without weakening the everyday communicative name. Words chosen to designate either (or both)
Institutional tag lines can include...
Words chosen to express parent/unit relationships (and often used as tags with unit signatures). BETA an Alpha company |
The Unit Signature System specifies how business units are to express their relationship to the corporate parent, both visually and verbally, when they sign their own communications materials. In the early days of CI, unit signature systems were called "association models" and more recently, "brand architecture." |
In a monolithic signature system, only the corporate brand is visible in unit communications. The unit may sign itself with a descriptive name, using a designated corporate type face, with the corporate logo.
MonolithicBOISE Office Solutions In a "visual endorsement" signature system, the unit name can be non-descriptive (a brand name, for example) and can be featured, endorsed (rather than overbranded) with the parent logo. The unit name, however, is best treated typographically (not in logo form) to avoid the confusion of competing logos. In a verbal endorsement (or no endorsement) signature system, a "multibrand" system, the unit signs itself with its own logo. An afffiliation tag ("an Alpha company") may adjoin the signature, or appear elsewhere ...or not at all (this is the 'holding company' model). In a Mixed signature system, some unit signaturees may feature the corporate brand, while others feature the corporate name but their own logo, and yet others use an unrelated name and logo. |
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