Space: Apache OpenOffice Community
(https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS)
Page: Branding Style Guide
(https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/Branding+Style+Guide)
Edited by Graham Lauder:
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{toc:outline=true\|indent=25px\|maxLevel=3}
h2. {color:#0e85cd}Introduction{color}
This style guide is loosely based on the original OOo style guide produced by
Bernhard Dippold and Steven Shelton back in 2005, with added elements from the
Visual Design pages of the UI project, updated to reflect our being part of the
ASF community.
This guide is produced for a number of reasons, but the main one is to achieve
a consistent look to present to the world across all media, whether print or
electronic.
The aim is to achieve a high level of brand recognition with a brand that
reflects the values and strengths of the project and product. This is
achieved by ubiquity, consistency, uniqueness, quality and recognisability
The challenge faced by the Community is to achieve quality and consistency when
pieces are being produced by volunteer artists, most often working alone . Not
only are there issues in matching fonts, text styles, and other elements of
design, but there are also technical issues surrounding different colour
standards for different media.
For this reason this Style Manual will be here to assist artists in creating
promotional pieces that will have a unified look and feel, as well as render
and print consistently. Each change in version and style would require the
manual to be up dated, so specific pages will be added for each new release and
completed in a timely manner well before feature freeze that allows any new
style elements to be integrated into the release and so any style updates will
speak to marketing materials for that release.
h2. {color:#0e85cd}Pallet{color}
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Short Term Pallet for 3.4 release{color}
Pallet is yet to be defined, however for the first ApacheOO release, consensus
is that retention of the latest Oracle OOo colour pallet is the best course.
[OOo3 Visual
design|http://www.openoffice.org/ui/VisualDesign/OOo3_refresh.html] covers most
of the colour elements.
|| colour || RGB \\ || CMYK \\ || Hex \\ || Pantone \\ ||
| !0E85CD.png|border=1! | 14 133 205 \\ | 93 35 0 20 \\ | 0E85CD \\ | |
| !87C2E6.png|border=1! | 135 194 230 \\ | 41 16 0 10 \\ | 87C2E6 \\ | |
| !CFE7F5.png|border=1! | 207 231 245 | 16 6 0 4 \\ | CFE7F5
| |
| !ECF5FB.png|border=1! | 236 245 251 \\ | 6 2 0 2 \\ |
ECF5FB | |
| White | 255 255 255 \\ | 0 0 0 0 \\ | FFFFFF | |
| Black | 0 0 0 \\ | 0 0 0 100 \\ |
000000 | |
!OOo_colors.png|border=1!
The above are usage cases, desirable and undesirable within the range of the
pallet.
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Future Pallet{color}
For ApacheOO 4.0 (If we retain the present version sequencing) there will need
to be a new Pallet drafted to give the brand a new lift. Historically the
pallet has changed through various shades of blue from the beginning of the OOo
project with each new release bugs have come and gone and new design elements
introduced. There is no reason that the 4.0 release should not have a entirely
new brand, new bugs, new style, to signal a new beginning.
h2. {color:#0e85cd}Logo{color}
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Logo Usage{color}
{color:#000000}It is recommended to use the logo without modifying it, although
you will probably have to scale it down to the appropriate size. Remember the
proportionality of the logo when you rescale it and use the appropriate logo
for your purpose (with or without the version designation) as previously
discussed. Any modifications to fit a specific use case that has not been
anticipated should be discussed on the marketing list{color}
{color:#000000}Please bear in mind that the logo is a complete package: all of
the elements are essential.{color}
{color:#000000}h3.{color} {color:#000000}Modifications/Additions to the
Logo{color}
{color:#000000}Modifications of the logo are discouraged as being in conflict
with the basic purpose of having a logo: to reinforce a recognizable, memorable
“brand.” Except under very special circumstances, the logo should not be
modified to display with different fonts, colours, or elements than those
currently included in the adopted version.{color}
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Bugs{color}
{color:#0e85cd}{*}The bird or "Seagull"*{color} {color:#000000}element of the
OpenOffice.org logo may be used as a “bug” (design element to be incorporated
into background images, icons, bullets, etc.){color}
!gulls3.png|align=right,border=1!
{color:#000000}in either black, gray, or RGB 14:133:205 (or its CMYK or Pantone
variants). It should not be used in any other colour except when referring to a
specific component of the suite, in which case it should be rendered in the
colour that matches the icons of that component. (For instance, the “Impress”
bird bug could be rendered in RGB as R249, G101, B1; “Calc” as R157, G201, B21;
and so on. See the section on “colour Usage” for more details.) However, the
complete logo should be included somewhere within the piece.{color}
{color:#0e85cd}*“wire gulls” or “wireframe gulls”*{color} {color:#000000}have
been used in the background of the splash screen from OpenOffice.org 2.{color}
!wire gulls.png|align=right,border=1!
{color:#000000}This design is available from{color}
{color:#000000}[here|http://marketing.openoffice.org/art/galleries/marketing/design_elements]{color}{color:#000000}
in both raster and vector formats. While the wire gulls are not part of the
official logo and should not be used as a “bug”, they do make an attractive
background for both print and web pieces. Artists are encouraged to use the
wire gulls in this manner. The wire gulls may be cropped and scaled (and will
likely have to be cropped or scaled in most usage), but as with the
OpenOffice.org logo, any resizing should be proportional (if the wire gulls are
scaled to 45% horizontally, they should be scaled to 45% vertically). General
colour usage guidelines apply: under most circumstances, the wire gulls will
probably be rendered in black or RGB 14:133:205 (or its CMYK or Pantone
variants and screened to approximately 30%, but a different colour might be
appropriate in some contexts (for instance, a piece promoting a{color}
{color:#000000}specific OpenOffice.org component).{color}
{color:#000000}Be aware of rendering problems when printing the wire gulls: at
100% of its normal size (704 x 546 pixels), the line width of the graphic’s
smallest line is 0.01 pixel and the thickest line is 1.0 pixel. Scaling the
graphic down significantly will make these lines nearly impossible to print on
a press or printer, and may cause the lines to be invisible or “fuzzy” when
displayed on a computer screen.{color}
{color:#000000}Future bugs may come into common use as part of the new Apache
OpenOffice branding, however these must reflect the project and product and
must be approved by the community before they are added to the style
guide.{color}
h2. {color:#0e85cd}Text{color}
{color:#000000}Because of the many different uses of text in promotional and
marketing pieces (ranging from full-featured brochures over simple web banners
to Impress presentations), guidelines for the use of styles in text are, for
the most part, just those: guidelines. They are to be considered when creating
a design, but are nothing like canons that must be followed. Before deviating
from the guidelines, however, any artist working on an OpenOffice.org piece
should consider the following factors:{color}
* {color:#000000}How consistent with other Apache OpenOffice pieces the art
will look;{color}
* {color:#000000}The nature of the piece (in general, text-heavy pieces should
be more consistent);{color}
* {color:#000000}The goal of the project to create a unified, professional
image;{color}
* {color:#000000}The “look” of the piece; and{color}
* {color:#000000} Readability of the copy by the target audience.{color}
{color:#000000}It may or may not be appropriate for a designer to vary from the
standards based upon these factors. In the end, the decision is ultimately that
of the designer, but more consistent and attractive pieces are likely to have
greater distribution and impact.{color}
These are only the barest of styles. Additional styles should probably be
created for picture/table captions, page numbers, cover page titles, and so on.
Community input needs to be solicited before any recommendations can be made on
these. The fonts chosen are all available, mature open source fonts. Because
the fonts used in legacy OpenOffice.org logos ( Frutiger Bold Condensed
and Frutiger Condensed) are not open source or even freely available, the
decision was made to avoid using this font on the heads and subheads.
Bitstream Vera Sans was chosen as the heads/subheads font for several reasons:
There was a great deal of discussion about using Bitstream Vera Sans in
creating the next version logo, this is a font that is similar in look to
Frutiger Condensed, it is freely available, and so on. The 78% scale width was
intended to enhance its similarity to Frutiger Condensed.
Bitstream Vera Serif was chosen for the body text for the following reasons: it
is a freely-available open source font, as a serif font it has higher
readability and clarity (a lower case “l” will never be mistaken for an
uppercase “I”, for example), it is distinct from more commonly used serif fonts
(such as Times, Garamond, or Schoolbook), and it allows the heads, subheads,
and logo to stand out.
It should be noted that the Bitstream family of typefaces are under a
restrictive license. While this is not in fact an issue under Apache
policy, from a consistency point of view a Typeface with a license that is more
in line with Apache philosophies would be preferable.
Font sizes for the different text styles (headings 20 pt, subheadings 16 pt,
body text 12 pt, for example) are not currently designated because of the great
variety of pieces that could be created. (For instance, a trifold brochure
would obviously need to use a different font size than an 8.5 x 11 multi-page
manual for body copy.) However, it may be desirable to create base “standards”
that can then be used as a reference point for proportional changes.
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Main Headlines{color}
Main headlines (the top-level headlines) should have the following
characteristics:
Font: Sans Serif, bold
colour: {color:#000000}RGB 14:133:205 (or its CMYK or Pantone
equivalents){color}
Font Effects: Small capitals
Scale Width:100%
Alignment: Centered
Indents: None
Spacing: 0.5 inches (or 1.27 cm) below
Line Spacing: Single
Position: Normal
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Subheads{color}
Subheads should be progressively smaller the deeper they go. In general, they
should have the following characteristics:
Font: Sans Serif, oblique (not bold)
colour: {color:#000000}RGB 14:133:205 (or its CMYK or Pantone
equivalents){color}
Font Effects: None
Scale Width: 100%
Alignment: Left
Indents: 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) - or match body text
Spacing: 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) below, same space above (except when following
main headlines, when there should be no additional space above)
Line Spacing: Single
Position: Normal
h3. {color:#0e85cd}Body Text{color}
Body text makes up the bulk of a printed piece. (You’re reading “body text”
right now.) In general, body text paragraphs should have the following
characteristics:
Font: Serif
colour: Black
Font Effects: None
Scale Width: 100%
Alignment: Left
Indents: 0.25 inches (0.64 cm)
Spacing: 0.25 inches below
Line Spacing: 1.5 Lines
Position: Normal
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