The Leukaemia Foundation has a flexible brand system that’s efficient to use and allows us to deliver a consistent experience for our stakeholders.
These guidelines cover eight system elements: story, voice, logo, colours, typography, photos, videos and graphics & illustrations.
When you’re using any of our trademarks, logos, designs and/or other brand features, you acknowledge your acceptance of the terms in these brand guidelines.
The Communications and Marketing Services team at the Leukaemia Foundation is accountable for this brand system. Everyone utilising it, including our people and stakeholders, is responsible for complying with the guidelines.
Content or communications that features any part of the Leukaemia Foundation’s brand system (excluding existing templates and corporate stationary) must be approved by our Communications and Marketing Services team.
Communications including, but not limited to, new websites, proposals, email templates, newsletters, social media content, booklets, brochures and other promotional materials, photographs and videos will need to be approved if they use any part of this brand system.
Please use [email protected].
We can’t wait to see you bring our brand to life!
When we show our personality and tone, we never want to come across as laid back; excitable or uncontrolled; abrupt or short; nor humdrum or lifeless.
Our written style guide means our brand remains consistent and trusted. We use this guide for all of our communications.
If you’re in doubt about any other grammatical standards, we recommend you refer to the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (6th ed.)
Use the Leukaemia Foundation in sentence case. Note the use of the word the.
Don’t use LF or the Foundation in external communications. We’re proud of our name and don’t want to confuse people.
After referring initially to the Leukaemia Foundation in written text, you can then use we or our to avoid repetition.
We try to avoid using the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia.
There are lots of types of blood cancers and related blood disorders. It can be confusing for people and we want to be accessible and inclusive, so, if you can, always aim to use blood cancer rather than a specific sub type.
If you do use a sub type, reference the fact it is a blood cancer e.g.
If you do mention blood cancer or a sub type, and you have the time and space, always briefly explain its main characteristic(s). Find them here or on our website.
Blood cancers and other related blood disorders should generally be written in sentence case:
If you mention a sub type at least twice in your communication, you can introduce an acronym in brackets the first time you use the sub type in full, and then use the acronym subsequently. But never use an acronym in isolation or in a headline – they can be confusing.
All our spelling follows Australian/British English, not American English. Here’s some other style tips:
Avoid |
Try this instead |
|---|---|
| Digits 1-9 | Write out numbers up to and including nine |
| Writing out numbers ten and over | Use digits 10 or over |
|
Mixing words and digits when two or more numbers appear together. The children were aged eight and 11 |
Use digits when two or more numbers appear together. The children were aged 8 and 11 |
|
Leaving four or more digit numbers without a comma. The event raised $4000 and then $10,000 |
Add a comma to four or more digit numbers. The event raised $4,000 and then $10,000 |
| Using per cent or percent | We always use % |
| Writing common measurements out in full |
Abbreviate common measurements He ran the 10km race and won by a margin of 30cm |
|
Abbreviating million or billion Together they raised $2m |
Write million and billion in full (space providing) Together they raised $2 million |
|
Complicating dates with prepositions, commas or rd, th, nd or st eg The event is on Monday 1st of December, 2020 |
Day Date (digit) Month (word) Year (digit) The event is on Monday 1 December 2020 |
| Patients (except if your communication is obviously clinical or research-based, or it features in a supplied quote) | We refer to this amazing community as people with blood cancer or people living with blood cancer |
| The acronym PLWBC in external communication | People living with blood cancer (sentence case) |
| Avoid using an ampersand (&) | Write out ‘and’ instead (unless you need to shorten a headline in a very tight space or you’re tweeting) |
| Life saving or lifesaving | Life-saving |
| Health care professional or health care system | Healthcare |
Our master brand mark is the main visual identifier for the Leukaemia Foundation. Its appearance on promotional communication implies endorsement by the Leukaemia Foundation.
These guidelines ensure our mark is always used in a consistent and accessible way. We’re proud our mark scores AAA using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), if it’s used properly.
We have four variations of our master brand mark. You need permission from the Brand and Marketing Department to use this mark. Request the mark here. Here are three guiding principles:
We also have logo lockups for our brilliant community supporters and partners to use. You don’t need to permission to use these; learn about them on the tab below. Find them here.
Make sure the first thing you do is fill out this quick form. The Communications and Marketing Services team will get back to you within two working days.
If we think using the brand mark is the right fit for your project, we will send you the files you need, record the use in our register.
Please make sure you make a new request every time you use the logo so we can keep our records up to date.
Below are some examples of our Stack and Landscape community logo lockups. You can download the file(s) you need here (employee access only).
To help meet demand, there are a variety of different versions and file types to choose from. Follow the advice of your designer when it comes to file types. But if you’re unsure which to use, we advise the following:
Our logo is clear, well balanced and confident, traits that closely align with our values and brand personality. It has been constructed to allow for excellent legibility at most sizes on any application. Dynamic space has been installed between the L and the F, which can be utilised during our design processes, including motion graphics.
Clearspace around the logo is, at a minimum, equal to the height of the L in our logo.
Clear space exceptions
To make sure it gets the recognition it deserves our logo can only be shown in Primary Blue (on lighter backgrounds) or Reverse Light (darker backgrounds).
If you’re printing in grayscale, our logo is also available in black. We try to avoid using a black logo.
When placed on our primary colour palette, our logo should always be Primary, unless it’s placed on Dark, when it should be Reverse.
Our logo is designed to scale to smaller sizes on screen and print. Here are the minimum and recommended sizes for digital and print.
*Please note that the images below are not to scale
Digital Applications
Print Applications
Our logo can never be printed smaller than 20mm wide (constrained proportions)
Here are the recommended sizings for common page layouts.
The logo placement depends on the type of communication and use.
General communication that includes text, the logo should be aligned bottom right.
Digital communications, including websites, as well as functional applications, the logo should be top aligned.
Tall and narrow signage allows us to rotate our logo onto a vertical plane.
When our logo is used with others all clear space rules must be followed. The separating line should be the height of our logo.
We always try to be inclusive and accessible and, because of our long name and limited space, our social icons feature a submark featuring only the L and the F from our logo.
Social app icons are individually designed based on platform specifications.
Don’t type out Leukaemia Foundation in other fonts or weights
Don’t type out Leukaemia Foundation in other fonts or weights
Don’t stretch or manipulate our logo in any way
Do not set our logo in a colour that isn’t Blue or Light.
Don’t pair our logo with symbols or marks that may be confused as logos
The logo is only to be used over images where there are no other options available and where the image has a clear, uncluttered space available to ensure it can be seen clearly.
Use the primary logo over lighter images.
Use the reverse logo over darker images.
Do not use the logo over busy images.
Our colours take advantage of our existing strong association with blue. They reflect our values and passion for life in a modern and caring way.
Our colours help us to add vibrancy and energy to our communications.
Make sure to use our colours in the way we’ve outlined below.
When we’re in control of the print process we use CMYK codes.
Our colours are only ever used at 100% opacity, except for our cell in motion graphic device. We’re a bold organisation so we only rarely use tints.
RGB
0 20 137
HEX
001489
PMS
Pantone Reflex Blue c
CMYK
100 87 0 20
RGB
255 255 255
HEX
FFFFFF
CMYK
0 0 0 0
RGB
12 35 64
HEX
0C2340
PMS
Pantone 289 c
CMYK
100 66 0 76
RGB
0 194 152
HEX
00C298
PMS
Pantone 3395
CMYK
72 0 55 0
RGB
0153 122 219
HEX
997ADB
PMS
Pantone 928c
CMYK
54 51 0 0
RGB
116 209 234
HEX
74D1EA
PMS
Pantone 0821c
CMYK
47 0 7 0
We take two approaches to using colour:
Accent
We use lots of Light with some Blue, and sometimes also a little of Care, Sky or Bold, across corporate communications. We use the Accent approach most often.
Bold
We use lots of Blue, Care, Sky or Bold when we want to add energy to our communications or make a big statement. We use lots of Dark when we want to show confidence and leadership. We use the Bold approach less often.
We only ever use two or three of our colours in a single composition. This rule doesn’t always have to include text colour (if you have text) because we always use the accessibility matrix below to decide which text colour to use.
One colour must always be Blue. It’s friendly with all our other colours, but isn’t best friends with Dark.
A little Blue goes a long way so we most often don’t use too much of it.
We can use any colour in the primary palette. One colour must be Blue.
We use these proportions: 30% Blue and 70% other colour.
We can use any colour in the primary palette. One colour must be Blue; and one colour must be Light or Dark, depending on our audience and the tone we want to strike.
We use these proportions: 30% Blue, 60% Light or Dark and 10% other colour
Our typography is easy to use by us and easy to read by our stakeholders.
Gilroy Bold and Proxima Nova typefaces are both key elements of our brand system.
We use Arial typefaces internally.
These are the only fonts we use within the Gilroy and Proxima Nova families:
Gilroy Bold
Proxima Nova Regular
Proxima Nova Bold
Proxima Nova Light
Proxima Nova Condensed Regular
It’s important to use the following combinations and hierarchy to maintain consistency and clarity.
Our subhead must be 40-50% of the headline point size
Our body copy must be 20-30% of the headline point size
If there is no headline or subhead, body copy must be no smaller than 11pt (online and offline).
We always aim for the highest accessibility score possible when using text on on our primary colours, based on WCAG 2.0 Guidelines. We apply these digital guidelines for our work offline, too, so we look more consistent:
AAA = best and first choice
AA = great
AA Large = ok but only for text over 18pt
Fail = don’t ever use this combination
Photography is a crucial part of the Leukaemia Foundation brand. It is used to help tell stories as well as convey the brand’s tone of voice.
Our clean and natural style of photography brings the reader into the story by using raw and unfiltered subjects in natural environments.
We have photography available for Leukaemia Foundation staff to use in our Resource Library here (SharePoint login required). Contact the Brand and Communications team if you would like share any of our photography with third parties.
Images of blood cancer under a microscope are available for your use here.
When people are the main subject of a photo, make sure they’re helping tell the story.
The composition of the image is at the discretion of the photographer and depends on the final output, audience and message.
It is important to ensure images appear to have natural light and colour.
Sometimes images will be supplied by a third party, resulting in photography that doesn’t adhere to the proposed guidelines.
When this is the case, use basic colour correction and retouching to get the image looking as natural and clean as you can, correcting any images that are too warm, cool, light, dark etc.
If the image contains any old Leukaemia Foundation branding, make sure to update it to the new branding through retouching.
Please use your best judgement and skill to ensure the images are represented as accurately as possible.
Don’t correct user generated content (UGC) because we want that to stay as authentic as possible to the original content creator.
The footage should be clean and use natural or natural-looking light. The footage should not be harsh or over exposed.
Colours should be soft and muted, but still natural in tone.
When you need to name people in your video the cell-in-motion graphic device should be used for the lower third. This should sit in the bottom left or right of the screen as per the example below.
The name should feature in Gilroy Bold and subhead should be in Proxima Nova Regular.
Files for our staff can be found in the Resource Library on SharePoint (staff login required).
The end frame should feature a centred Leukaemia Foundation logo, using Blue or Reverse version, depending on the background.
There are two end-frame options available for use. Files for staff can be found in the resource library on SharePoint.
Only the latest high res logo, provided by the Strategic Communications team, should be used. Logo usage needs to follow all the guidelines in the logo section of the brand guidelines.
Type in videos should follow all guidelines set out in the typography section of the brand guidelines.
We are an accessible and inclusive organisation so all videos must have closed captions (CC). This can be done natively on YouTube.
The genre of background music should fit the video mood, content and style. It should not distract from the video content. Background music should always be instrumental.
Aspect ratio is important for the viewing experience because the more a video fills the screen, the more immersive an experience it provides. The ratio should be determined by the primary channel of distribution.
For example:
Please check social media sites for most up to date specifications.
Video produced for the Leukaemia Foundation should be recorded at a minimum of and exported at 1080p HD quality.
Our cell-in-motion graphic device is an important part of our brand system.
Email [email protected] if you wish to use cell-in-motion graphics in your communications. The team have the files you need!
The cell-in-motion graphic can only be presented in one our six primary colours. Refer to the Colour chapter for more on this.
To create the cell, three different layers are placed over the top of each other. The two cell walls are both at 40% opacity whereas the inner cell is 100% opacity.
A comprehensive suite of illustrations and icons are available for use by all Leukaemia Foundation staff in our Resource Library (staff login required).
Most of our illustrations have been grouped around the three pillars of our strategy: access to information, treatment and supportive care. Click on the tiles below to go there (staff login required).
If our staff Resource Library is missing what you need and you’re instead working on creating new illustrations for Leukaemia Foundation communications, please use the following design rules. All new Leukaemia Foundation illustrations need to be approved by the Brand and Communications team using [email protected].
Illustrations are constructed using simple, organic hand-drawn shapes and lines.
Where possible, use objects that relate to the Leukaemia Foundation and the blood cancer community as a reference, and utilise the organic circle shapes that exist with the ‘cell’
We are passionate, energetic and animated about what we do.
Where appropriate add flourishes to illustrate this.
The colour palette is based on the existing brand system and utilises the five core colours. To create greater flexibility, tints and shades of each core colour can be used in illustrations. Always use 100% solid colours. No opacities.
When using colour in illustration for subbrands, you may introduce new colours as accents using 70% brand colours and 30% other.
The Leukaemia Foundation cares about all Australians living with blood cancer and recognises the diversity in our communities.
We are inclusive of all nationalities and race and so we reflect this in a series of skin tones.
People living with blood cancer have specific characteristics which can help to illustrate their presence. We try to reflect those characteristics, where appropriate, in our illustrations, often using photography as our starting point.
Due to the disease and treatment, people living with blood cancer can often be pale in appearance and can have a port-a-cath in place, visible by the fabric ribbon tied around the neck. For children, a nasogastric tube, which is used to carry food and medicine to the stomach through the nose, may also be visible.
Some people lose their hair during treatment and choose to wear turbans, scarfs and beanies.
When illustrating people we do not use facial features eg eyes, mouth etc.
