1 identity guidelines Version 1.1 — 08.01.18 Identity guidelines are always a work-in-progress. table of contents Brand Strategy 06 Our Vision 07 Our Mission 08 Brand Values 09 Positioning 10 Audience Segments 14 Messaging Visual Style 16 Color 19 Typography 22 Our Identity 23 Logo Anatomy 25 Primary Logo 29 Secondary Logo 33 Tertiary Logo 37 Seal Logo 40 Legacy Lockups 45 Co-branding 46 The Hybrid Model 54 Logo Don’ts 57 Wayfinding & Signage 60 Brand Extensions 65 Visual Options Digital Applications 72 Digital Co-branding 77 Social Media letter from the Secretary For more than 171 years, the name “Smithsonian” has embodied American excellence in museum collections, scholarship, education, and historic, artistic, and scientific exploration. During that time, the breadth and depth of our work has steadily expanded. We have become an increasingly international institution, and our museums, research centers, and educational divisions have forged their own strong identities. Understandably, many people outside the Institution are not aware of all we are and everything we do. If we are to maximize our reach and impact, all of us must not only work more closely with each other, we must also more effectively convey to those outside the Smithsonian the full scope of our institutional activities. Our new Strategic Plan, with its overarching goal of “One Smithsonian,” underscores that necessity. With our important work in a wide variety of disciplines, the Smithsonian is truly “everything under the sun.” Nothing better represents that than our iconic sunburst logo. The Smithsonian seal, since its 1966 unveiling, has been an apt symbol of our mission, “the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” a tenet of the Enlightenment era embraced by our benefactor, the English scientist James Smithson. This symbol was fully embraced by the late Ivan Chermayeff, the renowned graphic designer who developed our comprehensive logo system in the late 1990s. Like the Institution writ large, our brand must keep up with the times and adapt to new forms of communication that were not prevalent decades before. Our organizations use the sunburst in a variety of ways, on many digital and analog platforms, and our team worked to make the logo easier to read and adaptable enough to be incorporated into the individual brands of museums and other Smithsonian organizations. Guided by our “One Smithsonian” motto, the branding committee also solicited feedback from people across the Institution. These guidelines reflect your input, and I am confident they will help each organization amplify its message and reach. A more streamlined, unified brand will be mutually beneficial: individual parts of the Smithsonian will reinforce the association with the trusted Smithsonian name, and your dynamic, creative work will elevate the prestige of the entire Institution in...
