WE ARE DC

STYLE GUIDE

Government of the District of Columbia

MURIEL BOWSER, MAYOR

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
Purpose 1
Goal 1
BRAND IDENTITY
Visual Branding
2
OVERVIEW
We Are Washington DC Logo
3
Government of the District of Columbia Logo
4
Logo Specifications

5
Violations 7
Government Branding 8
Paid Advertisements 8
Design Psychology 9
COLOR
Official Palette 10
Violations 10
TYPOGRAPHY
Official Typeface 11
Accent Fonts 11
Special Fonts 13
Best Practices 13
Typographic Hierachy 14
Violations 15

INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE

The purpose of this styleguide is to establish design guidelines

for Visual Information Specialists and/or Graphic Designers as
they use their creativity to design graphics that will ensure the
audience will readily & easily recognize visual, messaging from
the Government of the District of Columbia.

GOAL

The goal of this styleguide is to make certain the Government

of the District of Columbia communicates unified messaging
through consistent branding.

Page - 1 -

IDENTITY
BRAND IDENTITY
In todays society, it is imperative to establish a brand identity
to ensure an organization is recognized by its public. The
importance of a brand identity is to provide a standard for how
an organization is identified by design, color, and other visual
elements by its audience.

VISUAL BRAND
Our visual personality is comprised of three distinct characteristics, which reinforce the mood of our brand visually and serve as
guideposts to everything we create
visually and present to the public.

THREE VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS

SLEEK
BOLD
PROFESSIONAL
Page - 2 -

WE ARE WASHINGTON DC
OVERVIEW
WE ARE WASHINGTON DC
The We Are Washington DC logo is the official symbol of the
Executive Office of the Mayor pursuant to Mayors Order
2015-078 dated February 10, 2015.

Page - 3 -

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA LOGO STARS & BARS

OVERVIEW
STARS & BARS
The Stars and Bars was adopted on October 15, 1938, by
Congress as the official design for the District of Columbia.

Page - 4 -

LOGO SPECIFICATIONS
COLOR VARIATIONS

We Are Washington DC and Stars & Bars logos must be represented on all official government designs both digital and print.
Both logos shall only be presented in red, black, or white.
WE ARE WASHINGTON DC

BLACK

WHITE

RED

WHITE

RED

STARS & BARS

BLACK

Page - 5 -

SPECIFICATIONS
OFFICIAL

The official logo is a red graphic on a white background. Every

effort should be made to use the default version of the logo,
however there will be occasions when one of the approved
variants may be used as prescribed.

BREATHING ROOM

The logo needs space to breathe. For standard applications,

allow 1/8 of clear space per 1 of horizontal logo space. (1 8 =
0.125) So if you are printing a logo 2 1/2 wide, the required clear
space would be 2.5 8 = 0.3125 or 5/16.
By default this clear space should be white (even on colored
backgrounds), in the approved color variations this 1/8 spacing
should be filled with the designated color.
OFFICIAL RED
HEX: #bf0000
CMYK: 17, 100, 100, 9
RGB: 191, 0, 0

SCALE RECOMMENDATIONS

The logo should never appear smaller the

1 x 1.35 in print form. The logo should never
appear smaller the 100px x 135px in web
form.

Page - 6 -

VIOLATIONS

Do not use the

Offical Blue for the
main graphic.

Do not change the

color of the text/
symbols.

Page - 7 -

Do not change the

color of the main
graphic.

Do not rotate the logo.

Do not add drop

shadows or other effects.

Do not stetch or
shrink the logo
disproportianately.

Do not use
unapproved colors
for the background.

Do not use patterns

for the background.

GOVERNMENT BRANDING
BRANDING

The We Are Washington DC and Stars & Bars logos have

been designed to establish the official branding logo for the
Government of the District of Columbia.
The logos will be provided for your convenience.

The branding logo shall be represented on all official government

designs both digital and print. The positioning order of logos
is as followed at the bottom of the graphic design: the hosting
agency logo first and far left followed by supporting agencys
logos centered with the government branding logo last to the far
right.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

The government branding logo shall be included on all paid

advertisements in print, video, and digital.
Page - 8 -

DESIGN PSYCHOLOGY
HOW TO CREATE A DC GOVERNMENT
PROMOTIONAL GRAPHIC DESIGN
1. Know your audience
2. Create a simple yet aesthetically pleasing concept
Graphics should display a clear subject matter
3. Clearly State:
Title/Name of the event
Hosting Agency
Subject
When
Where
Contact Information (website)
Pertinent Information/ Must be known
> Requirements, Qualications, and Timeframes
4. Branding

DPR Aquatics Hiring Fair

Title/Name
of the event

Over 150 Summer Lifeguard Positions!

Saturday, May 2, 2015 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Subject

Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

1100 Michigan Ave., NE, Washington, D.C.

Must Be At Least 16 Years Of Age Free Training

Lifeguard $11.50 per hour
You must appear in person to qualify for FREE training.

For more information on Lifeguard positions,

visit: http://summer.dpr.dc.gov.

Contact
Information

Host Agency
Mayors Branding

Page - 9 -

Concept includes:
Graphics
Pictures
Fonts
Color Scheme

When & Where

Pertinent
Information

OFFICIAL PALETTE
The following are the official colors and variants.
MAIN COLOR

ACCENT COLOR

OFFICIAL RED

OFFICIAL BLUE

HEX: #bf0000
CMYK: 17, 100, 100, 9
RGB: 191, 0, 0

90%
80%
70%

HEX: #012c3b
CMYK: 96, 71, 53, 56
RGB: 1, 44, 59

90%
80%
70%

60%

60%

50%

50%

40%

40%

VIOLATIONS
SIMILAR REDS AND BLUES

The official colors should always be used. While many colors can
be used in conjunction with the official colors, the use of similar
colors should be avoided.
Page - 10 -

OFFICIAL TYPEFACE
The official Executive Office font face is Neutra Text. These
fonts shall be used when creating official executive graphic designs. There are four variations of the font used:

Neutra Text Light

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Neutra Text Book

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Neutra Text Demi

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Neutra Text Bold

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Page - 11 -

ACCENT FONTS
Complimentary fonts are typefaces that can be used in
conjunction with Neutra Text when creating official executive
graphic designs. In these cases, these fonts shall be used sparingly and with lower priority than Neutra Text. These fonts can serve
as the body font for documents and as accent fonts for flyers and
other graphics.

Century Gothic

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Helvetica Neue

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Adobe Jensen Pro

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Times New Roman

1234567890!@#$%^&*()
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Page - 12 -

SPECIAL FONTS

In some instances, special fonts will be

needed. These fonts should be used
sparingly and only to the highest text in the
hierarchy.

Aa

BEST PRACTICES
BODY COPY
Neutra Text Book /Standard Sentence Case /Font Size: 14pt /
Leading: 17pt/Left Justified with no breaks
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Phasellus cursus, tortor eget tempor bibendum, tortor elit
lobortis ante, sed blandit urna turpis sed nulla. Quisque ut nibh
eget urna auctor pharetra vel cursus diam. Morbi ut placerat
augue. Donec placera.

HEADINGS

Neutra Text Demi & Bold / ALL CAPS / Font Size: 18pt

SAMPLE HEADING DEMI

SAMPLE HEADING BOLD

Page - 13 -

TYPOGRAPHIC HIERACHY

The different weights Neutra and accent fonts should be used

to stress the most important information. The information that is
most important should receive the heaviest weight, less relevant
information should receive lower text weight.

COMMUNITY MEETING
Sunday, March 1st 2015
COMMUNITY
MEETING

COMMUNITY
MEETING

Sunday, March 1st 2015

Sunday, March 1st 2015

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus cursus, tortor eget tempor
bibendum, tortor elit lobortis ante,
sed blandit urna turpis sed nulla.
Quisque ut nibh eget urna auctor
pharetra vel cursus diam. Morbi ut
placerat augue.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

consectetur adipiscing elit.
Phasellus cursus, tortor eget
tempor bibendum, tortor elit
lobortis ante, sed blandit urna
turpis sed nulla. Quisque ut nibh
eget urna auctor pharetra vel
cursus diam. Morbi ut placerat
augue.

COMMUNITY MEETING
Sunday, March 1st 2015
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus
cursus, tortor eget tempor bibendum, tortor elit lobortis ante, sed
blandit urna turpis sed nulla. Quisque ut nibh eget urna auctor.

Page - 14 -

VIOLATIONS
MIXED FONT, CASE, WEIGHT, SIZE

Any single phrase or block of text should use one font, case,
weight, and size consistently.
WE ARE DC

WE are DC

WE ARE DC

WE ARE DC

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Phasellus cursus, tortor eget tempor bibendum, tortor elit

lobortis ante, sed blandit urna turpis sed nulla. Quisque ut nibh
eget urna auctor pharetra vel cursus diam. Morbi ut placerat
augue. Donec placerat eget nibh ac suscipit. Nam vitae turpis ac
dui volutpat facilisis sed eu nisl. Nulla augue tortor, pharetra ut
tempor quis, hendrerit sed lectus. Proin aliquet accumsan orci
quis efficitur. Quisque ut tempus.

NEUTRA ITALICS

Neutra italics should never be used, in any weight. If emphasis is

needed within body copy this should be achieved with a heavier
weight.
WE ARE DC

Page - 15 -

WE ARE DC

WE ARE DC

WE ARE DC

NO

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Phasellus cursus, tortor eget tempor bibendum, tortor
elit lobortis ante, sed blandit urna turpis sed nulla.

YES

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Phasellus cursus, tortor eget tempor bibendum, tortor
elit lobortis ante, sed blandit urna turpis sed nulla.

CONCLUSION
This guide and its processes should enable you to produce
more detail and higher quality visual designs that consistently
carries the District Governments messaging. Our branding
identity helps the public recognize a DC government program,
event, and initiative. Remember, our goal is to use visual art to
effectively convey our message to the public.

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