We are Terriers, let’s thrive with the pack. This Visual Identity Toolkit (VIT) includes official typefaces, logos, department-specific logo treatments, lockups, color palette choices and their specifications. Utilizing our VIT will provide a consistent look and feel to our messaging, reinforcing the connection and importance of departments, athletics, and offices central to the College. When your materials look “officially Thomas”, everyone will know your affiliation.
The VIT honors Thomas’s highly individualistic nature with a wide array of typeface and color choices so we can feel creative, yet remain connected.
We’ll be posting a link to the Thomas College Brand Platform document soon. If you have any questions, please reach out to Marketing & Communications (internal use) or email [email protected] and [email protected] (external).
Our Colors
The Power of Color
Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.
Color can improve readership by 40%, learning from 55 to 78%, and comprehension by 73%.
Research has reinforced that 60% of the time people will decide if they are attracted or not to a message – based on color alone!
Brands and color are inextricably linked because color offers an instantaneous method for conveying meaning and message without words. Color is the visual component people remember most about a brand followed closely by shapes/symbols.
Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Usage
Do:
- Use only primary palette colors
- Use primary palette and secondary colors.
Don’t:
- Use only secondary colors
- Use tints of the primary colors
Our Voice & Tone
A Consistent, Unified Voice
Plenty of attention is given to web design, development and content management, but the content itself is often overlooked. It is important to maintain consistency as we communicate with our various audiences. A consistent message is critical because it presents the College as a focused institution with a clear vision of the future.
Thomas College must speak with a unified voice across all touchpoints including its publications, websites, e-newsletters to advertising. This voice is the embodiment the college’s unique personality and identity.
Your tone may vary as you communicate to different audiences via different media. Social media content might call for a more informal tone, for example, while information intended for a graduate student might allow for longer, more complex sentences.
If you were to imagine the college as a person, the tone would refer to the different moods and vocabularies that would shade their speech and interactions with different people throughout the day. Regardless of the situation, the same person would always be speaking. That consistency is our voice.
Thomas College’s voice is driven by its personality, an element of its overall brand identity.
- Adventurous and engaging: eager to pose and answer questions
- Open and affirming: welcoming people and perspectives from all walks of life
- Smart and purposeful: charting a way toward our goals and aspirations
- Transformational and authentic: driven by a genuine commitment to serve the public good
- Uses strong, vivid, purposeful language, including active verbs. Look for verbs tied to physical action, for example: lift, build, spearhead, capture, drive, hone. Look for verbs and adjectives that include some emotional connotation or evoke a strong mental image.
- Is clear and straightforward, without jargon or wordiness. The most concise method of stating something is often the most powerful. Instead of “we are accomplishing improvement outcomes,” use “we are improving.”
- Prefers active voice to passive. “We provide students,” instead of “students are provided with.”
- Avoids cliche and vagueness, instead of finding fresh language and metaphors. For example, the phrase “Our cutting-edge program is pushing the envelope and thinking outside the box,” is built on phrases that have been overused to the point where they are flat and meaningless. There are two ways to revive a cliche or an overused adjective
- Uses first- and second-person language (“we” and “you”) and contractions when appropriate
- Engages the audience in conversation, questioning, and cooperation. Feel comfortable asking your audience questions. And always welcome questions and feedback from them.
Our Logos
Thomas College Logo
The Thomas College logo is essential to our brand. It acts as the primary graphic identifier for Thomas and is the preferred logo for general use. The logo should always be a consistent component in our communications.
Usage
Primary Logo (as shown above) – Intended for use on white copy on darker backgrounds in order to maintain legibility.
We also have a White Logo available.
Requirements
The Thomas College logo should never be recreated or typeset. Only the official logo files should be used in communications.
Department Logos
Each department has a logo that follows the same style.
NOTE: CLICK on the image to get the larger version. If you right-click and "Save Image as..." on the logos below, you'll get the smaller image.
Seal
The newly redesigned Presidential Seal represents our history and founding as a college, beginning on Silver Street in Waterville, Maine. We feel that this new seal honors our roots as we progress into the future.
The Thomas College Presidential seal is reserved for our most formal applications and expressions of our identity including events such as commencement and communication from the president. This new historical representation has been updated to meet today’s standards for print and digital applications. Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] with any questions.
Our Typography & Resources
Typography
Inspired by and used in tandem with our voice and tone, our typography serves as a further extension of our brand.
The fonts on the left are included by default in Office 365 software, eliminating the need for additional downloads and installations. Please refer to page 13 of the VIT for additional information.
Resources |
Email Signatures
- Download Email Signature Word Document for Templates (Word Doc)
- Instructions available for:
Thomas College Signature Example |
Athletics Signature Example |
Request Business Cards
General Thomas College Business Cards:
Athletics Business Cards:
Business Card Order Form
Request a Name Tag
General Thomas College Name Tag:
Name Tag Order Form
Microsoft Teams Backgrounds
You can join class and meetings on Microsoft Teams with customized backgrounds of various Thomas College scenes. Click the images below to download them to your computer. Then, for a step-by-step guide on how to change your background and upload these images to Teams, click here.
Teams backgrounds are in the works! Stay tuned...