Brand Book

C o m m u n i c a t i o n Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

LOGOSThe Council’s LogoFormatPlacementIncorrect Usage

TYPEFACESPrimary TypefacesComplimentary Typefaces

COLOURPrint Colour Palette

PHOTOGRAPHYColour PhotographyBlack and White Photography

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATIONERY

DESIGN EXAMPLESOutdoorPowerPoint SlidesE-mail Templates

WEBBranding BarWeb Colour PaletteTypefacesRecommendations

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

3RD PARTIES

CONCLUSION

Dear Colleagues,

The following brand book was created to help bring consistency to the way we all communicate about The Malta Council for Science and Technology.

Today, with the advent of the internet, globalization and the “open economy” branding is not just for consumer brands; branding is how you are seen and the way you want to be seen. Branding is the your ticket. Your ticket to the world and The Malta Council for Science and Technology has a ticket to give.

The first companies which, during the industrial era, realised that one day brands will be valued have become today’s POWER BRANDS. These are company’s who’s brand has become an equity, companies which brand name alone is as valuable as the products/services they offer. Many in those days looked down on these companies and must have snubbed their efforts. The latter are now history, though not mentioned in any history book. The former are Cadbury, Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson........The first companies which invested in the brand, exposure and all the efforts a healthy brand requires. However, the archaic steps in this long process was that of realising the need for a brand and its creation. Today, if you see a red box with a horizontal wave, you think COKE, a purple plastic bag with white writing you think Cadbury, simply because these brands have invested heavily in their branding and have always monitored the way it was reproduced.

This is what we intend to create with this document. We want to give you guidelines created for us by profes-sionals in the field. Guidelines which will give The Council equity as well as your job.

We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation.

Best regards,

David Micallef St JohnMarketing and Public Relations Executive

INTRODUCTION

A logo is the face and signature of the brand. It connects the brand to all forms of communication. The more consistent a logo looks and is used - the more likely it will be remembered and make an impact.

Each communication needs to be able to stand alone as a proper representation of the brand, but also gain strength as a cohesive and integrated collection of materials. These guidelines provide direction for how The Malta Council for Science and Technology should be used to help unify materials and continue to build the brand.

“The Magnifying Lens”This is the logo for use in all branding materials or communications from or about The Council. Examples include letterhead, business cards, print ads, Council collateral, fund application forms, television slots, videos, Web sites and more. Guidelines for how to use this version have been established to maintain consistency and are detailed in the following pages.

To avoid misuse of the logo, it will only be distributed in tiff, jpeg or eps format.No edit-able formats of the logo will be allowed to be given to 3rd parties unless it is necessary.

THE LOGO

The logo is made up of various elements most important of which are the colours.The primary colours are black and cyan and the use of the two colours in both fore and background is extremely important for uniformity’s sake.The logo is available in 3 formats for very important reasons and the use varies according to back ground colours and circumstances.The primary logo, which should be given most exposure is the two colour version. It is important that in corpo-rate communications; those dictated or prepared by the Council, should have a white background so that the primary logo is used. The white logo (reversed out) is meant to be reproduced against a very dark background. When we need to place the logo against a background of a grade higher than a 50% shade, we must use this logo.If or when the background is lower than 50% shade or lighter than (say) cyan, we use the black colour (mon-tone).

It is also very important to use the logo ONLY in its original format; i.e. In its 45° format. It is not allowed to use the logo in any other format but that.

On the left you will find some useful guides to help you with our logo’s use.

FORMATS

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Logo placement on light background colour visuals

Logo placement on light background monochrome visuals

Logo placement on dark background colour visuals

Logo placement on same colour visual

The logo is made up of 4 elements. The are the circular feature, the font, the angle and the colour. The continu-ous and proper use of these elements will help creating awareness of the identity.

The circular feature, which may also the called the artistic element will feature predominantly on our livery. Eventually, this mark will represent the logo on its own.

The font, HELVETICA, is one of the largest and most flexible font family created to date. The windows equivalent is Arial which from now on will be set as the default font for all communications both internally and with 3rd parties.

The 45° angle will be the main feature on advertising livery, and print/web design. This can be used in formats such as squares, text and pictures as shown in the examples.

Cyan, which is one of the primary colours used in the 4-colour process is a very easy, straight foreword and modern colour. The use is extensive and easy to use. Gradients should be avoided as it is considered a dated concept in design, however shades of cyan is highly suggested. Black, greys and white are the main colours suggested, however any colour DARKER than cyan can also be used.

As explained previously, the corporate colours are cyan and black and variations of the two are acceptable and may be used with the previously explained formats and placements.

The use of the other printing colour (C M Y K) magenta and yellow could also be used to compliment the logo when the logo is reproduced in either monochrome or reversed out. This applies to any other colour of choice.However, the generic colours should be cyan and black predominantly on white.

The use of white as a background is vital as it highlights the logo’s qualities in terms of angle and the circular element.

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IMAGINE

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The placement, where to put all the elements, also plays an integral part of the branding process as it helps portraying the identity in a uniform manner.

The logo: The complete logo with title & circle element should be placed as follows:• Print: on print matter (stationary, advertising, newsletters etc..) the logo should be placed on the top right

corner. The writing/typing margin should start at the corner generated by the end of the circle element (see left).

• Signage/outdoor: This depends on the orientation and size of the sign. In the case horizontal signs; the logo should be placed on the left. Whereas in the case of vertical format (which is the ideal for our logo) logo should be placed across the top spread from side to side.

The circles: The complete logo with title & circle element should be placed as follows:• Print: on print matter (stationary, advertising, newsletters etc..) the circles should be placed opposite the

logo (NEVER DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH). • Signage/outdoor: This depends on the orientation and size of the sign. In the case horizontal signs; the

logo should be placed on the left. Whereas in the case of vertical format (which is the ideal for our logo) logo should be placed across the top spread from side to side.

Placement

Villa Bighi

National Funding Unit

Science Popularisation Unit

Policy & Strategy Unit

National FP Funding Unit

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As explained earlier in this document, the font chosen for the new identity is Helvetica, however, the right usage of the font is not enough.The Helvetica font is extremely large and versatile and different versions of the font could be used to highlight words or phrases within a singular sentence or line. Example to the left.

One of the primary reasons behind the re-branding process was that of empowering the organisation and de-tach it from MCAST. The board decided to remove MCST from the logo and to use the full organisation name. This is meant to re-enforce and to remind what the organisation is about.

For this reason the only time we will be using MCST are in the case of the e-mail addresses, website and maybe when answering the phone. It is important that in future communications, literature and presentations MCST has to avoided.

When one is referring to the organisation, the FULL title should be used. When the organisation’s name is repeated within the same paragraph or sentence, one should use the word COUNCIL. An example can be seen on the left.

Corporate colours must also be reflected on how text is rendered. Headings, titles etc, should always be in either Black or Cyan.

Justification must always be to the left or right, NEVER, centred.

The font functions must also be respected; the use of bold and italics should differ according to relevance and/or importance. The sequence should be as follows:

BOLD: TitleSemibold: Sub titleNormal Text: bodyItalics: notes/clarifications

Text

QUESTIONEXPOSERECRUIT

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As we are committed to reaching the objectives set out for us, we have given the raising of the Council’s profile much importance. The new year will bring a new identity through re-branding and a revamped, more interactive website. Efforts to increase the press coverage received by the Malta Council for Science and Technology and its success stories is already underway.

David Micallef St John BA Hons. Political Science (Milano)Marketing & Public Relations Executive

Villa Bighi, Bighi,Kalkara KKR 1320,Malta

e-mail: david.micallef-st-john@gov.mt tel: +356 2360 2131 fax: +356 2166 0341 mob: +356 9986 1007

xjenza n.f. (pl. xjenzi) science. xjentificamentadv. scientifically, in a scholarly way. xjentifiku a.m. ( f.xjentifika, pl.xjentifici ) scientific, xjenzat n.m. ( f~a. pl.~i ), xjentist n.m. ( f.~a. pl.~i ) scientist.

Communication for The Malta Council for Science & Technology is split between 3 platforms and target audi-ence. There is a corporate level, which is that of communicating what the organisation is about and its duties. The funding mechanisms, which is aimed at expanding its reach to those niches which would be interested in the Council’s funding mechanisms and finally the Science Popularisation unit which is that responsible of expos-ing the council & its subject to the next generations.

Intrinsically, even though the communication platforms may seem distinct and specific, having one common subject makes the council’s communication very linear; meaning 1 common goal: that of communicating Sci-ence.

In a nutshell, what the above sentence means is that even though one may argue that we should have different “languages” to communicate to the different niches, studies show that those organisations which chose to be specific in their communications failed and messages today are written and portrayed as simple as possible to attract the mass. It is therefore the medium and NOT the message that differentiate the target audience.

It is also important, at this stage, to expose the new brand, and therefore, uniformity is extremely important. Therefore, we should be able to device a unique message and format which may be adjusted BUT NOT changed to the relevant audience.

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We are therefore working on visuals which will more or less work on the concepts drawn on the left.

The idea is to use elements of our logo, use them as magnifying glass and highlighting the scientific aspect of the specified area.

This concept could be as informative as intriguing and it could also be extended to be as technical as one chooses to be.

Advertising

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every photo has a story to tell...........

we focus on the scientific side of it

The Malta Council for Science & Technology

Is the government body responsible for research policy, promoting scientific research, management of the local research funding programme and is the national contact point organisation for the EU Research Framework Programme (FP).

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The Malta Council for Science & Technology

Is the government body responsible for research policy, promoting scientific research, management of the local research funding programme and is the national contact point organisation for the EU Research Framework Programme (FP).

When projects & research study is funded by The Council’s mechanism, it is imperative that it is duly com-municated. The contracts signed beforehand should state that any communications regarding the subject must include a mention of this and the corporate identity should also be reflected.

We have therefore devised guidelines which we can circulate to researchers and partners attached to the above mentioned contracts. These guidelines are also available for download from our website as soft copies.

As previously explained, our emphasis should always be based on white backgrounds, however we will also provide options for different circumstances.

Funding

Project financed by the Malta Council for Science & Technology through the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) (year)

Project financed by The Malta Council for Science & Technology through the National Research & Innovation Programme (year)