Here is a hymn to the Garnet and Gold, ringing to the sky.
Here is a song for the men and women bold. Sing with heads held high.
Striving ere to seek to know, Fight for victory.
Alma Mater, this our song to you. Echoes, F.S.U.
The University Communications Office cares deeply about Garnet and Gold, particularly after having invested considerable effort in a 2009 update of FSU's visual identity. This update brought a contemporary and consistent look to all visual elements of FSU. The picture below shows about ten years and three iterations of design evolution between the old seal on the left, (ca. 1990), and one of the many new versions available today. See this link for a comprehensive guide to usage and different formats available.
(Click on image to see full size.)
Designers, printers, web developers, and anyone else involved with FSU identity can find all the guidance they need at FSU Voice and Visual Systems. This landing page, and then its link to the main Voice and Visual System Document (upper left corner) contain exhaustive graphics standards for everything from letterhead to vehicles to architecture and signage. Downloadable artwork is also available from the main page for anyone with an FSU Login and Password.
The section within the Voice and Visual System Document I want to highlight is the one devoted to color as many print jobs show up at our shop with incorrect colors specified within the file.
(Click on image to view full size.)
Note in the graphic above that FSU has taken great care to specify spot color Pantone numbers as well as their CMYK, RGB and Hex equivalents. To further refine the standards, distinct Pantone numbers for coated and uncoated paper are provided for the Garnet, and a Pantone Metallic number for the Gold if it will utilize metallic ink. (On succeeding pages of the Color Guide section specifications are provided for building color gradients of each.) All of this represents a tremendous amount of work on the part of FSU, and a unique opportunity to get your project off on the right foot.
If you don't know which color model your actual printing will use, it's important to find out before proceeding to first base with the file.
Beyond the general note that the University Communications Office cares deeply about these standards two things are important to understand; one is that FSU will help in any way they can to make this information accessible and understandable, and the other is that compliance is not optional. Like any major entity, FSU has a huge stake in projecting and protecting a unified brand.
On the latter point, compliance, you must become familiar not only with the guidelines, but also trademark and licensing issues. The last thing you want to happen is have your product look like a mismatch or, even worse, to get in serious trouble by misuse of copyrighted or trademarked material.
To end on a positive note, I've always found Frances Conaway (fconaway@fsu.edu or 644-2913) at University Communications to be an extremely helpful person for information beyond what's on the web page. She is one of many people who care deeply about FSU, and was kind enough to preview and help me with this post.
With best wishes to all friends of the printing business, both on and off campus,
Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business
2 comments:
This was educational - I just followed some of the links and learned how this color branding is done...very interesting.
These professionally prepared "Style Guides" are really something. I've printed a few in my career and never had so much attention paid to the accuracy of the ink colors.
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