Brand Identity System
A telecommunications company in the midst of a seismic shift needs a brand identity system that not only reflects the changing nature of the industry but represents how we’re going to rise up and meet these challenges head on. Our brand reflects our commitments to customers, each other, and a personality we’ve too often been afraid to show.
Jason Mastroianni
Lacey Meehan
Dolan Kutzman
Bret Ludlow
Ruben Cespedes
John Dodds
Jason Worley
Mark Masenheimer
John Del Viscio
Alicia Hughart
Nicole Wininger
John Marzen
Lisa Roberts
Kathy Sterling
Ryan Snoke
Joe Lorah
Ben Fink
Bryan Kershner
Lisa Lesher
Cassandra Kistler
Erika Ahner
Jeff Crandall
Craig Vakiener
Our system is made up of nine elements.
Our logo is versatile and recognizable from logomark to logotype ensuring a strong presence at any size and any placement offering various options for our communities to identify with.
A horizontal logo featuring both the logomark and logotype is the preferred implementation. It should be used whenever possible with enough clear space for visual legibility and readability.
Our logo is flexible, offering several layouts to ensure a strong presence at any size.
Logomark
Stacked
Logotype
Our typeface is Avenir Next, a modern sans serif with many font weights. With ridge-like angles, composition, and clean edges, this typeface maintains excellent readability on all digital and physical layouts.
When Avenir Next is not available we recommend using either one of these fonts as backups.
Clear communication is a key element of the Blue Ridge brand, so it should be thoughtful and easy to read. This includes not only copy itself, but the visual layout of typography. Our ridge composition should be used to create a strong hierarchy of importance.
The main message should be the most visually dominant element in a layout.
Use large headlines sparingly to ensure the most important copy doesn’t compete with secondary copy. Be creative with large headlines.
Body copy should be consistent and legible in all Blue Ridge communication.
Avenir Next Regular or Avenir Next Medium are the best weights for paragraphs.
Make sure line height is breathable to ensure easy reading. A general rule of thumb to determine line height is by multiplying the font size by 1.618, also known as the golden ratio. For paragraphs with an 18px font size, the line height should be between 29 and 30 pixels. Line width should be kept to around 45-60 characters per line.
Body copy or descriptions that are at least a few sentences long should be used with regular body copy size and spacing. This paragraph is an example of copy that works well with the largest headline format.
For copy with a short headline and only one line of supporting copy, the increased subhead size should be used. This prevents the copy from looking top heavy by balancing the header and description.
Some copy works best with centered alignment. These tend to be section headers with descriptions long enough to balance out the headline. Using a subhead font size works well in this situation.
Our color system utilizes a wide spectrum of colors to represent the diversity of our brand and connects our customers to the colorful world. Each color was carefully selected based on a combination of hue, saturation, and brightness to create a wide yet harmonious theme.
Inspired by the sky and ocean, we used hue and saturation values strategically to establish
a primary palette that represents the richness of Blue Ridge.
Navy blue is timeless, professional and serves as a base. The lighter and darker ends of the spectrum provide a strong contrast to one another that helps bring attention to the most important elements. Overall, the introduction of additional blues creates a more flexible primary color palette and diversifies
how the brand can be represented visually.
Mist Blue
#F2FCFF
RGB: 242.252.225
CMYK: 4.1.1.0
PMS: 656 C
Diamond Blue
#B2ECFF
RGB: 178.236.255
CMYK: 29.0.1.0
PMS: 635 C
Sky Blue
#66D9FF
RGB: 102.217.255
CMYK: 49.0.0.0
PMS: 0821 C
Blue Ridge Blue
#00A7E1
RGB: 0.167.225
CMYK: 90.12.1.0
PMS: 2995 C
HomeFi Blue
#007AE1
RGB: 0.122.225
CMYK: 80.50.0.0
PMS: 285 C
Electric Blue
#0048D9
RGB: 0.72.217
CMYK: 79.61.0.0
PMS: 2728 C
Navy Blue
#002F8C
RGB: 0.47.140
CMYK: 100.91.14.4
PMS: 287 C
Royal Blue
#002266
RGB: 0.34.102
CMYK: 100.93.29.25
PMS: 280 C
Midnight Blue
#001133
RGB: 0.17.51
CMYK: 97.87.47.62
PMS: 296 C
In order to create a full spectrum of colors with a consistent appearance, we took each color and reduced the saturation by 40-50% to create a softer, more visually appealing shade and kept them at 100% brightness to maintain vibrance.
Our secondary colors are meant to compliment the primary palette and further diversify visual design possibilities within the brand.
Gradients are an important visual element for our brand, because they represent the connection between people and our products. From the light emanating from devices to the literal illumination of pixels on a screen, our gradients reflect the very nature of this technology.
Our gradients should be an ever changing range of three to four branded colors. Using a mesh grid allows the flexibility to blend colors and create a unique image for backgrounds, buttons, functional animations to identify with Blue Ridge. Here are 3 examples:
Our composition system uses the structure of mountains to influence layout in every area of our brand. Like the golden ratio used to determine the most visually pleasing layout, our composition uses the visual weight and placement of elements to guide the eye to key areas of an image.
The principle of dominance uses contrast and relative visual size to establish levels of importance between objects. Two identical objects cannot create a sense of dominance.
The principle of proportion focuses on the relationship between two or more elements. A harmonious relationship happens when the height, width, and depth of an element works well compared to another.
Strategic use of angles is another way to reflect a mountainous layout and create compelling compositions. This can be done by having the most important element point to the secondary focal point.
Our photography represents a deeper connection with our customers by showing moments that feel real. Candid shots of people truly engaged is the foundation of all photography. Focus on human connection with products complementing those interactions.
Whether capturing custom photography or selecting from a stock site, all photos used for our brand should follow these basic guidelines.
Honest moments with friends and family of all ages should be used to develop a connection and trust with the audience while conducting image selections. Images that appear too staged or rehearsed should be avoided.
Real life is not still. Interaction with products and services Blue Ridge provides should feel real. Photography really feels like it comes to life if people believe in the authenticity of the movement captured.
Settings should feel natural and tell a story about the people who live there. Blue Ridge employees are real people serving a real community, so photos should capture some of the messiness of life.
Products should always be the most up-to-date versions and featured primarily in their real-life environments to represent how we actually connect to these products. Products featured over solid backgrounds should always have a light source with shadows to create and environment of depth.
Our illustration style reflects, reinforces, and augments the brand personality: Approachable, Caring, Practical, and Fun. Expressive and emotive illustrations allow customers to connect with the brand in a fun and engaging way. These illustrations exist to tell stories, thoughtfully convey ideas, and enrich the brand's visual language in a way words or photography cannot convey alone.
Character illustrations are the main visual representation of the brand's core values and personality. Expressive characters convey emotion and allow customers to identify with them on a deeper level.
Scene illustrations combine multiple components to create a relatable environment that enhances any brand message. They can be a figurative or literal representation of a product, service, or idea. Usually, they are metaphorical in nature, to explain something complex and provide more information than copy alone can.
Spot illustrations are usually very literal and portray inanimate objects or simple actions. Usually consisting of a single object, they can stand on their own to compliment a message.
Our icons are standard with personality. Reflecting off characteristics of our logomark, we angle icons inward by 5º. This helps to unify all the icons and make them uniquely ours. Fully connected lines within each icon bring the idea of a deeper connection to the smallest details of our visual assets.
Design should be simple enough to be recognizable at large sizes down to <32px.
Our basic guidelines for all icons can be expanded upon to create more visually complex icons that have enough weight to stand on their own. Backgrounds, branded colors, and strategic combinations are ways to build on the basic icon structure.
Our motion system strengthens and emphasizes the brand identity within the digital spaces. Motion is intuitive, familiar and has the ability to connect with audiences on a more emotional level than static visuals. The brand personality can manifest itself through motion and greatly influence how we are perceived by the world.
A basic foundation of core motion principles helps establish a consistent and cohesive visual language that unifies the brand process across all channels. Whether enhancing user experience, communicating a message, or telling stories, these fundamental principles will guide and influence how Blue Ridge is perceived in the digital space.
Motion is meaningful, calculated, and relevant. It provides clarity and focus around a message or action.
Motion is playful and amusing, when appropriate. Movement should visually communicate the brand personality and style.
Motion is cognizant of it’s surroundings and adapts it’s intensity depending on circumstances and intent.
Blue Ridge's brand voice is how we express our personality to the world. Our tone has a few universal guiding principles but is context specific and should change depending on the situation.
In other words, our voice is not going to change much, if ever, but our tone should change often.
Approachable but not unconcerned. Conversational but not long-winded.
Caring but not overbearing. Fun but not childish.
We're friendly and easy to talk to. Whether you strike up a conversation with us or we show you something, we'll make sure it's easy to understand and connect to.
We like to be informal. We certainly believe in what we're doing, but it's not formal and shouldn't feel like it is. Interacting with us won't feel artificial, it'll feel like a conversation with someone relatable.
We have a genuine interest in you and your communities. We'll always be honest and consider your perspective.
We're not afraid of being irreverent. We like to bring joy to the things we do and provide you. We're laser focused on delivering good experience throughout every aspect of Blue Ridge, but don't take ourselves too seriously.
Our tone will change based on context and someone’s state of mind. But there’s a few, core principles guiding our tone no matter what.
Caring is a core aspect of our voice and positivity is a universal characteristic of our tone. Whether we're entertaining or helping solve a problem, we’re going to stay positive.
We're fun and we like humor, but if it doesn’t feel natural, we’ll play it straight. Humor is great, but forced humor is the worst.
It's important our personality comes through our voice, but if those traits would ever get in the way of clarity — we'll always go with clarity.
More than anything, transformation requires a commitment to each other and to a shared vision. This brand is the output of our teams connecting with each other and creating a representation of who we are and who we want to be, through visuals and voice. It's up to us to carry it forward and make sure the interactions inside and outside these walls reflect everything we collectively believe in.
This is the new Blue Ridge.
Carry it swiftly. Carry it deliberately.
