Official Websites

• https://chesshomeless.org

Brand Guidelines

2016

Brand Summary

Mission

• To stand out as a charity and make an impact, providing a familiar and consistent experience that reinforces our values to our target audience [^1].

Core Values

• credibility
• understanding
• quality
• consistency
• impact
• vibrancy
• energy
• modernity
• distinctiveness
• care
• hard work
• support

Target Audience

• Individuals affected by homelessness and those interested in supporting homelessness awareness and charity initiatives [^2].

Personality Traits

• purposeful
• credible
• understanding
• friendly
• refined
• sophisticated
• vibrant
• energetic
• modern
• distinctive

Visual Identity Overview

• The brand uses a minimalist, modern visual style with a focus on clarity and simplicity. Key elements include a distinctive logo featuring a stylized human figure and archway, a vibrant lime green color palette, and the Open Sans typeface in three weights. Imagery is purposeful and consistent, with exclusion zones and minimum sizes specified for logo usage. The overall look is clean, bold, and easily recognizable, emphasizing support and awareness for homelessness [^3].

Categories

Brand Voice

• Our tone of voice and design should always be purposeful whilst bringing credibility and understanding. Keep the number of elements (colours, fonts) to a minimum whilst realising that every element used is there for a reason.

Brand Imagery

• 
• ![Person Opening Door Scene - The image should depict a simplified, stylized figure of a person, characterized by a circular head, a rectangular torso, and limbs represented by straight lines. The figure should be positioned centrally within the image, extending one arm outward towards an open door or window. The background should include an arch or rounded top shape suggesting an architectural element like an entrance or doorway. The overall color scheme should involve muted or dark tones, with the figure and architectural features in a slightly contrasting shade to stand out. The scene should evoke the impression of someone in the act of opening or about to open a door or window, with the environment suggesting an indoor or sheltered setting.
• ![Homeless Shelter Sign - The image features a rectangular black background with white elements. On the left side, there is a vertical white rectangle containing the vertically oriented text ‘ICHSS Homeless’ in bold, sans-serif font, aligned to the bottom of the rectangle. To the right of this text, occupying most of the image, there is a large, stylized white archway that resembles a door or entrance. Inside the archway, centered, is a simple, minimalistic white silhouette of a human figure facing forward with its right arm extended horizontally, holding an elongated object that extends from the figure’s hand to the right edge of the arch, possibly representing a door handle or a support. The overall composition emphasizes stark contrast, with the black background and white elements creating a striking visual focus on the text and the human figure within the arch.
• ![Homelessness Awareness Poster - The image features a bright lime green background with a prominent white silhouette of a person standing inside a stylized, open archway or doorway. The figure is positioned slightly to the right within this arch, with an arm extended, holding or interacting with the door or wall. To the left of the archway, vertically along the left edge of the image, is the phrase ‘ACHES Homeless’ written in bold, uppercase, white letters. The overall design is simple and bold, with high contrast between the white elements and the lime green background, emphasizing the message about homelessness and possibly an organization or campaign related to homeless individuals.

Color Palette

• Corporate colours in all templates and promotional literature are not to be changed.
• Colour tints are acceptable from the corporate pallete but should not be used below a thirty per cent tint to allow text to be legible from them.
• DO NOT change the colours in any way
• Pantone 390C with CMYK C27 M10 Y100 K3, and RGB R181 G189 B0
• Pantone 3035C, CMYK C100 M30 Y19 K76, and RGB R0 G52 B81
• Pantone 158C, CMYK C0 M62 Y95 K0, and RGB R232 G119 B34

Typography

• OPEN SANS is a typeface that is familiar and friendly, but refined and sophisticated when used well. The Semi bold weight of OPEN SANS should be used primarily for headlines, and the light weight for body copy. The regular weight can be used when contrast of type weight is desirable.
• Refrain from too many type sizes and instead allow the three weights available to draw emphasis, give fiexibility and impact.
• OPEN SANS LIGHT
• Abcdefghijklinopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 I !;?&%()

• OPEN SANS REGULAR

• OPEN SANS SEMIBOLD

Logo Usage

• The logo is the most visible element of our identity. It is a guarantee of quality in all that we do and as such should be treated with care. The logo has been created to portray the great work that CHESS undertakes and the hard work our fantastic staff deliver day in, day out.
• Whilst the logo is flexible its clarity is always maintained to achieve optimum definition. The white out version within the green box should always be used in the first instance, however a green reverse out version is also availalbe.
• Please observe the exclusion zone around the CHESS Homeless logo to optimise and reinforce its visual impact. No other elements except the corporate tagline can be present in the clear space as specified below.
• Exclusion zone requirements apply to text, graphics, photos or any other elements. The exclusion zone should be considered the minimum when positioning the logo close to the edge of a page or trim area.
• The zone relates to the negative space that uses the width the width of the man shape -as shown to the right. Wherever possible allow more space.
• The minimum size for the logo is based on the green border measuring no less than 24mm (70 pixels) high. This then regulates the minimum type size that the tagline appears at.
• In order to preserve the integrity of the brand, it is imperative that you avoid changing or distorting the CHESS logo. Below are some examples of logo misuse.
• DO NOT stretch or distort the logo in anyway
• DO NOT attempt to re-create the logo
• DO NOT put the logo in a box or any other shape
• DO NOT put the logo onto a complicated background
• DO NOT change the colours in any way
• DO NOT lighten the logo

Tone And Messaging

• This document is a guide to the brand communication style for CHESS. It explains what our brand stands for and how the creative elements fit together in our communications.
• The guide should be followed when commissioning, designing or delivering any kind of communications.
• A strong brand is one of the most valuable assets an organisation owns. To make it truly powerful it needs to be applied consistently. Everyone has a part to play in doing this and bringing our brand to life.
• These guidelines are to help you represent our brand so that our audience is provided with a familiar and consistent experience.
• It’s more than just a logo, it is a statement about who we are, how we work as an organisation and what our charity stands for.
• As a charity we want to stand out from the crowd and, most of all, make an impact. We want everyone to notice us. A consistent brand strategy reinforces the way in which our charity is perceived and aids in establishing our values to our target audience.
• Our tone of voice and design should always be purposeful whilst bringing credibility and understanding. Keep the number of elements (colours, fonts) to a minimum whilst realising that every element used is there for a reason.

Brand Values

• It’s more than just a logo, it is a statement about who we are, how we work as an organisation and what our charity stands for.
• As a charity we want to stand out from the crowd and, most of all, make an impact. We want everyone to notice us. A consistent brand strategy reinforces the way in which our charity is perceived and aids in establishing our values to our target audience.

Visual Style

• Keep the number of elements (colours, fonts) to a minimum whilst realising that every element used is there for a reason.
• Whilst the logo is flexible its clarity is always maintained to achieve optimum definition. The white out version within the green box should always be used in the first instance, however a green reverse out version is also availalbe.
• Our corporate colours convey a sense of vibrancy and energy whilst being contrasting enough to be modern and distinctive.
• Corporate colours in all templates and promotional literature are not to be changed.
• Colour tints are acceptable from the corporate pallete but should not be used below a thirty per cent tint to allow text to be legible from them.
• Please observe the exclusion zone around the CHESS Homeless logo to optimise and reinforce its visual impact. No other elements except the corporate tagline can be present in the clear space as specified below.
• Exclusion zone requirements apply to text, graphics, photos or any other elements. The exclusion zone should be considered the minimum when positioning the logo close to the edge of a page or trim area.
• The zone relates to the negative space that uses the width the width of the man shape -as shown to the right. Wherever possible allow more space.
• The minimum size for the logo is based on the green border measuring no less than 24mm (70 pixels) high. This then regulates the minimum type size that the tagline appears at.
• In order to preserve the integrity of the brand, it is imperative that you avoid changing or distorting the CHESS logo. Below are some examples of logo misuse.
• DO NOT stretch or distort the logo in anyway
• DO NOT attempt to re-create the logo
• DO NOT put the logo in a box or any other shape
• DO NOT put the logo onto a complicated background
• DO NOT change the colours in any way
• DO NOT lighten the logo
• OPEN SANS is a typeface that is familiar and friendly, but refined and sophisticated when used well. The Semi bold weight of OPEN SANS should be used primarily for headlines, and the light weight for body copy. The regular weight can be used when contrast of type weight is desirable.
• Refrain from too many type sizes and instead allow the three weights available to draw emphasis, give fiexibility and impact.