Our team has developed guidelines that shape our reputation and showcase our boldness and originality with impactful logos, a unified color scheme, and aspirational graphics.

Table of Contents

• Color
• Typography
• Graphics
• Photography
• Video

Color

The selection of our primary color palette showcases our bold nature. Our secondary and tertiary colors incorporate a range of warm, deep complimentary hues while providing a creative yet prominent palette. Red (PMS 186) is still our main color (Go Coogs!) and should be present in our designs.

Typography

Our fonts are a visual extension that expresses our bold, direct but aspirational tone. League Gothic, Milo and Crimson are our three mainstays that provide a strong, refined, yet academic style representative of the University and strengthen of our brand with consistent use.

Use all three typefaces to create emphasis and hierarchy within your communications.

Headline

League Gothic is the headline font in Houston’s brand and should be used for big typographic moments.

• League Gothic Regular

League Gothic font family is an open source font and can be downloaded in the download zone.

Secondary

Milo is the typeface suitable for subheads, pull quotes, and title pages or instances where legibility must be immediate, such as billboards. Milo also serves as the primary typeface for web usage.

• Milo Extralight
• Milo Extralight Italic
• Milo Regular
• Milo Italic
• Milo Bold
• Milo Bold Italic
• Milo Black
• Milo Black Italic

Body Copy

Crimson is the primary supporting typeface for the Houston brand. It is suitable for use in body copy and subheads.

• Crimson Regular
• Crimson Italic
• Crimson Semibold
• Crimson Semibold Italic
• Crimson Bold
• Crimson Bold Italic

Limited Use

Alex Brush is a limited use display font in Houston’s brand. It is an option to be used sparingly on materials created for formal events. Some usage examples for this font include black tie events, VIP greetings and holiday cards. This font should not be used with a shadow behind it or in all caps. It should not be used for significant blocks of text. We still encourage the primary use of Milo, League Gothic and Crimson on materials.

• Alex Brush Regular

Alex Brush font is a free font and can be downloaded in the download zone.

Equivalent Fonts for Limited MS Office Use

If you are unable to install League Gothic, Milo or Crimson on a temporary or off-campus computer*, you can use the following Microsoft Office equivalent fonts:

*Important: Only use these fonts when you have no other options (e.g. a presentation that is off-campus or shared MS Word document). Do not use on printed pieces.

Graphics

Graphics are a key part of our identity.

Icons

Our single-colored icons reveal direct yet high-spirited elements that support our story and build on creativity.

The idea behind the icons is to keep them simplistic and direct in order to make bold visual statements that support the copy. Designed as flat and in a single-color, icons should not be used for decorative purposes and are used as support in larger illustrations or secondary visuals.

Please Note: Icons are not logos and should not be used as such to identify a department, college, program or University business unit.

Photo Illustration Style

Our photo illustration style utilizes current elements of the brand and introduces new and interesting methods to create effective communications. This style accommodates a wide range of design skills, allowing for simple layouts to more complex layered designs. Below are the various elements that make up the illustration style. Transparency effect should not be applied to the UH logos.

Layered graphics and text

Continue to use strong photos that align with UH brand photography but make sure that the photo has a layout or composition that allows for layering of graphics and text.

Brand typography

Brand typography usage to create interesting text treatments.

Shapes, lines and icons

Use geometric shapes and lines, in addition to icons.

Heavy use of transparency

Duotones, text and shapes

Instructions on creating duotones and monotones in Adobe InDesign can be found at Resources for Designers.

Smart placement and layering of graphics and text

Photography

Portraits

Houston’s brand of photography strives for an in-the-moment feeling. We use images captured from unexpected angles or vantage points to create a candid feel. Portraits especially should show the confidence and focus of the subject without feeling staged. The lighting should give the photographs an overall warmth, and help them drive the aspirational tone.

Action/Group shots

Using more candid shots is what makes the brand’s photography feel approachable. It has a tonal warmth while still showing a confidence in the subjects. The lighting and lens flares demonstrate the brand’s aspirational ideals.

Campus/Object shots

Unexpected angles are employed in the campus shots as well. This type of photography should be more staged and laid out with intention unlike the photographs with human subjects.

Duotone and Monotone Photo Technique

This photo technique is an option that uses the colors from the brand palette in combination with black and white photos to create colorful graphic images. Please note: the images that are used with this technique still need to remain in the brand style.

Instructions on creating duotones and monotones in Adobe InDesign can be found at Resources for Designers.

Photography Don’ts

It’s helpful to see the great shots, but it’s also important to know what to avoid when capturing photography. Here are some photography don’ts.

× Dated Technology × Inauthentic

× Forced Diversity / Too Staged × Too Staged / Photo Aware Ruins Candidness

Video

Videos should follow the same general guidelines outlined for photography. Striving for candid shots, capturing insightful moments, and finding unexpected angles help create videos that have a sense of warmth to help UH tell its stories genuinely and honestly.