AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 1 BRAND GUIDELINES

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1 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 1 BRAND GUIDELINES V1 October 2012

2 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION OUR BRAND ESSENCE OUR LOGO 1.1 Introducing Our Logo Logo Construction Exclusion Zone Condensed Logo Logo Usage OUR COLOURS 2.1 Colours Primary Colours Secondary Colours Single Colour OUR TYPOGRAPHY 3.1 Primary Typeface Gibson Secondary Typeface Arial Tertiary Typeface Pluto Bold Fonts to Avoid OUR PHOTOGRAPHY 4.1 Photographic Style OUR GRAPHICS 5.1 Graphic Style CONCLUSION

3 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 3 INTRODUCTION The AYR brand is all about the way we conduct business and the way people perceive our service. We re a bright and fresh company. The use of the new logo and design system is intended to help support this bright freshness by portraying AYR in a consistent and professional way! These simple instructions have been produced to guide the way you use the AYR logo in the future and enable a fully coherent brand identity. It gives details of specifically selected brand colours and advice regarding what each version of the logo should be used for. There are also strong recommendations as to what NOT to do with the logo. If you have any problems or queries that are not answered in this document, please feel free to owen@owenjonesdesign.com.

4 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 4 OUR BRAND ESSENCE AYR is not an abstract ideal. It is a practical solution that results in all your important tasks being taken care of by trusted, quality providers. The freedom that this brings is one of confidence and assurance, leading to a genuine, stress-free lifestyle change. This brand statement gives a good idea of the essence and tone of voice of the AYR brand. It portrays the benefits of AYR s service, gives assurance and instils peace of mind. It is not long winded or confusing but friendly, familiar and reassuring. Above all though it shows that AYR is a professional and trustworthy service provider.

5 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 5 OUR LOGO 1.1 Introducing our Logo The AYR logo may seem basic but its simplicity stands for a lot! Q _ How do you show something is in the air? A _ By showing where the ground is. We give you the space you need The name AYR is clearly above ground, in the air and in plenty of space. This gives it a light and relaxing feel, despite the strength and boldness of the capital letters. We know where the ground is Rather than floating aimlessly, the green line gives context and assurance a foundation that shows that AYR are in control and aware of their responsibilities. We treat your life and what you do seriously Underlining words is a technique we all use for showing importance and priorities. AYR take our role very seriously, allowing the client to offload their concerns and get on with their life.

6 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 6 OUR LOGO 1.2 Logo Construction The Type The Bar The logo has been specially constructed with care and precision to give the right balance between dependability and freedom. If the type and the bar were too tightly positioned it would feel cramped and constricted not very AYR-y at all! But too much of a gap would suggest our heads were in the clouds which we know they re not. It s just right.

7 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 7 OUR LOGO 1.3 Exclusion Zone With any logo it s important to make sure it has enough breathing space around it wherever it s placed. How much more so for AYR? There should always be plenty of space left between the logo and other elements (graphics, photographic detail, page edges etc.). Y X The ideal gap (blue dotted line) is the height of the full logo (Y) all the way around but sometimes we know space is tighter and we should observe the minimum exclusion zone (green dotted line), the height of the letters (X) shown on the logo to the right.

8 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 8 OUR LOGO 1.4 Condensed Logo From time to time you may need a condensed version of the logo, for example a social media avatar or small icon. The single letter A with underlining bar forms a useful alternative to the main logo in these instances, although initially it would be recommended to use the full logo wherever possible, to increase brand recognition whilst it becomes established. It is important to keep the gap between the letter and the bar the same as the main master logo artwork will be supplied specifically for this use.

9 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 9 OUR LOGO Please don t Logo Usage Just a summary of some of the main things to avoid doing to the logo!... change the master logo to an inappropriate colour (see colour guidance on the following pages);... Rearrange the positions or sizes of the type and the bar;...substitute the font;... create a version of the logo using effects or filters applied (3D, blur, outlines etc.);... use a box/shape (rectangle, circle, star etc.) to constrain the logo;... use the logo in a colour that doesn t stand out from the background;... use the logo smaller than 10mm wide if possible;... stretch or squeeze the logo out of proportion;... or use the type alone without the bar.

10 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 10 OUR COLOURS 2.1 Colours Primary AYR GREEN C 30; M 0; Y 27; K 0 Blue & green. Simple, right? Pretty much! But for consistency, there s an AYR Blue and AYR Green that should feature as primary colours for the logo and supporting graphics when placed on a white/very light background. Blue represents the sky; the feeling of fresh air in our lungs and the freedom of space around us. Green represents the ground; a solid foundation. Together they form a fresh, natural combination. The other clever thing about our logo though is its adaptability. When placed on a photograph, the letters can become white instead of blue for clarity s sake and the green bar takes on the colour of the ground, terrain or surface at the bottom of the image! More about that on the next page though here s the primary colours for you. AYR BLUE C 45; M 0; Y 0; K 0 R 126; G 211; B 247 Pantone 2905 R 179; G 221; B 198 Pantone 566

C 45; M 0; Y 90; K 0 C 35; M 20; Y 70; K 0 Even grass and fields take on different hues in different

Why should our green bar stay the same each time?

better context and a dynamic unpredictability across branded materials.

11 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 11 OUR COLOURS 2.2 Colours Secondary Like a chameleon... Photographs of stunning vistas sky and ground are a key part of the AYR brand and are really useful in portraying a sense of freedom, but the primary colours of the logo won t often stand out or sit naturally in that context. That s why making the logo adaptable to its surroundings is so important. C 45; M 0; Y 90; K 0 C 35; M 20; Y 70; K 0 Even grass and fields take on different hues in different situations, let alone the many other terrains and surfaces you might see. Why should our green bar stay the same each time? Picking a key colour from the background photo (with enough contrast against the base colour) will give it much better context and a dynamic unpredictability across branded materials. Here you can see a selection of secondary colour suggestions but these are, in a way, limited only by the choice of photograph. And don t forget, it s only the bar that will be picked out in this colour the type should ideally remain white. C 70; M 0; Y 20; K 0 C 75; M 25; Y 70; K 10 C 35; M 45; Y 90; K 15

12 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 12 OUR COLOURS 2.3 Colours Single Colour There are some occasions when the logo needs to be used in either black, white or another single colour. We ve already seen how the logo placed on a photograph and reversed to white should appear with a secondary coloured bar, so a white-only version of the logo should only really appear when it s a watermark or there isn t a secondary colour to pick. Similarly, a black-only version of the logo will generally only be appropriate in a black and white setting (ie. photocopying, black and white printing, faxing etc.) as it would be too harsh and dominant in a coloured application, going against the calm and free feeling of the AYR colour palette. Another single colour may be used when necessary but only if a primary or secondary coloured version is not possible. If it can be the primary AYR blue or white, that s ideal. Other than that please use your discretion based on the guidance in this document and common sense (e.g. silver might be acceptable but red will almost certainly not!).

13 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 13 OUR TYPOGRAPHY 3.1 Primary Typeface Gibson Gibson Light Gibson is a smart and simple font family which has been chosen for the AYR brand because of its clarity. As with everything else so far, communicating clearly is really important. Gibson has a range of weights (light up to bold) as well as italics and it works well as a headline font or as body copy. The fact that it isn t on most people s computers might seem like a pain but it also means that it feels fresh and a bit different to the normal selection of fonts we ve grown used to on Microsoft programmes! This distinctiveness is really helpful as we establish our brand. The font can be purchased and downloaded at a very reasonable cost from the following website: Gibson Regular Gibson Semi Bold Gibson Bold

14 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 14 OUR TYPOGRAPHY 3.2 Secondary Typeface Arial Arial? Isn t that a bit boring? Ok, we all know Arial appears everywhere and sometimes we go to great lengths to avoid using it, but for AYR it is a really useful secondary font for when we re doing things like Word files, Powerpoint presentations, s or other documents that need to be opened on any computer and look right. Arial is actually a very clean and neutral font and because everyone has it on their computer we know we can rely on it for consistency in certain situations. It shouldn t be used for any printed artwork or promotional design work, but please do use it for all your Microsoft Office documents. Just think is the person I m sending this to going to have bought Gibson and installed it on their computer? If not, use Arial Arial Regular Arial Bold

15 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 15 OUR TYPOGRAPHY 3.3 Tertiary Typeface Pluto Bold You might recognise this one? That s right, it s the same font that was used to create the AYR logo! It s not a font that will be used often, in fact, it should be used quite sparingly. But occasionally a designer might want to use Pluto Bold for a headline or title (see the titles of this document for example) where using Gibson Bold doesn t seem to do the job. Direct them to the following website to purchase it (just the Bold one, not the other weights!) Pluto Bold

16 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 16 OUR TYPOGRAPHY 3.4 Fonts to Avoid Times New Roman Fonts have feelings too! Well maybe they don t actually feel things themselves, but they do make us have particular feelings when we see them. The AYR brand is quite specific so using the wrong fonts in our communications would give the wrong impression. For example, Comic Sans is childish and unprofessional, Papyrus is old fashioned and difficult to read and Times New Roman is a bit too formal. Be careful which fonts you decide to use when communicating the AYR brand please avoid devaluing it by using these fonts! Papyrus Comic Sans

Stunning mountain vistas, Dartmoor views, sunny fields and sandy beaches. Whatever captures your imagination and gives a great, open feeling.

maximum 1/4 of the page is ground (showing enough detail to see what it is), that should be great.

17 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 17 OUR PHOTOGRAPHY 4.1 Photographic Style When it comes to brand photography, we like lots of sky and a bit of ground just like our logo. Stunning mountain vistas, Dartmoor views, sunny fields and sandy beaches. Whatever captures your imagination and gives a great, open feeling. As long as the majority of the photo is sky (which might mean carefully retouching extra sky at the top or cropping an image cleverly) and maximum 1/4 of the page is ground (showing enough detail to see what it is), that should be great. As the brand develops, other photography will be used, probably including people photos. At this stage care should be taken to avoid clichéd and cheesy posed portraits, instead using natural and positive images that retain the core brand values of trust, professionalism and freedom.

18 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 18 OUR GRAPHICS 5.1 Graphic Style You ve seen how the typography, colour and imagery can work for you. What about graphics? All designers will probably have a different creative angle from which to approach the AYR brand so to avoid stifling that we don t have too many more rules about what can t be done. Something that can be used to great effect though is the use of the green logo bar. We ve used it for underlining headlines and key words, forming bullet points and creating customised icons. Why not think about other ways to continue this? Can the bar be used underneath photographs, as a device for containing captions, or in some other exciting ways? Remember the gap between the bar and the base of the text on page 5? Do carry that through if you re using the bar in this way. Detail of a banner using the bar to underline key words Icons from the AYR business cards As long as the design remains clean, simple and stylish, keeping in mind the professional and consistent image we have developed, please do be creative!

19 AYR Brand Guidelines _ v1 October 2012 _ 19 So that just about wraps things up here. How the AYR brand develops can t be completely predicted but the guidelines within this document should help to steer it in a good direction from the start. Hopefully, as well as the specific, practical advice you ve received, the way the guide has been written helps you to get a feel of the tone of voice or AYR. If you need to write, do keep a familiar, friendly tone (within professional limits, of course!) make sure you explain yourself in a way that is understandable but not patronising. The AYR brand goes beyond the design of the logo. The quality of your service, how the business conducts itself, the way you treat your customers and the way you communicate visually and verbally all go towards establishing a positive brand experience for those you come into contact with. The intention is that the logo and other design elements help to support and reinforce your brand values now and, once established, will come to represent freedom, success, trust and dependability when seen independently. These brand guidelines were produced by Owen Jones Design. If you have any queries, please contact owen@owenjonesdesign.com

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