NGC Brand Guide

How We Look

NGC's brand identity represents the values, traditions, services, ideas and personality of our organization. It's designed to increase recognition and establish our presence and perceptions among our Members, Board Members, Visitors, Guests and Stakeholders.

Our brand identity is graphically represented via our logo Badge, our Logotype, color palette, typography, supporting graphics, design style and image / photography style. Our goal is to keep our presentation at a level of consistent high quality across different visual media platforms both digital and print.

We want to manage how the NGC brand is represented across all visual media, and in various situations. The guidelines we've created will help to demonstrate and explain how to correctly use our materials to ensure consistent presentation and to maintain the integrity of our NGC brand.

Logo

The NGC logo has transitioned and evolved over time. It has included several different organization names as the legal entity was re-shaped over the years.

Our primary logo element is our round Badge, also known as our "Seal". This includes our legal name, and our hallmark Columbine flower image. The Badge logo is available in color and black and white. Our logo appears the same on light or dark backgrounds, with the exception being the appearance of the white outer stroke to outline against a dark background. The white outer stroke is included in the digital files, making it simple to deploy the logo in various conditions.

Our secondary logo identity element is our Logotype: our "name" spelled out in upper / lower case type as "National Garden Clubs". Our Logotype should always be presented in our brand primary color (NGC Logo Teal Blue), or white if reverse application is needed. The NGC Logotype font is Bree Serif from Google Fonts.

Color

Typography

Our typography style appeals to a broad market and we strive to be clear and crisp both online and in print.

The NGC font face used throughout the website is Open Sans from Google Fonts. Headlines are produced using Open Sans or Bree Serif which is also from Google Fonts. We prefer to use Open Sans for documents when possible, or if working on a Windows PC without custom fonts you can use Calibri, Verdana or Tahoma. These are native Microsoft system fonts. It often helps to use the same font face throughout an entire document to create a uniform, professional look. Section markers and headlines can be set off by using a larger font size, upper case, semi-bold or bold weight.

White space, line spacing, letter spacing, kerning and leading should be designed to support a classic, traditional look with current fresh digital style. Use of type to deliver the NGC message should follow traditional editorial and style guidelines. A high quality end-user experience is always the first objective. We want our text to be informative, easily understood and easy to read across all platforms of print and digital devices.

Style Guide

As a first consideration, please always maintain the integrity of our logo Badge and Logotype. Do not modify or alter. Do not add embellishments, shadows, emboss or other graphic effects. Do not display at an angle or rotated. Do not display on busy or cluttered backgrounds that detract from the appearance of our logo elements.

The overall design style for National Garden Clubs is elegant and traditional with a fresh digital feel. We are green, and very focused on the beauty and aesthetics of natural environment, surroundings and settings, plants, biology and animals. Our designs are clean, simple and straightforward with plenty of white space always.

We have included files below for your convenience in various formats for screen and print, including logo Badges and Executive Portraits. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact:

Bill Trapp, Executive Director / Headquarters (314) 776-7574, extension 212.

Editorial Policy

Content published on the website of National Garden Clubs, Inc. (hereafter NGC), www.gardenclub.org, is for the fostering and support of the National Garden Club’s mission, values and projects, and is meant to be a communication tool to further the organization’s educational, community and outreach goals in the US and abroad.

All content submitted for publishing on the website is to be first submitted to the NGC Webmaster for content review and approval.

Editorial decisions to publish, or not to publish, content are made at the discretion of the NGC Webmaster and and/or the NGC Executive Committee based upon factors including, but not limited to, relevance to the mission, purpose and interest of the NGC community, subject priority and timeliness, caliber of content and other available submitted materials. The NGC web operations team, including the NGC Webmaster, reserves the right to exercise its editorial judgement and reject any content at any time for any reason.

None of the content published by the NGC website is influenced by advertisers, politicians, private or industry sponsors. Partnerships supported by the NGC are fully disclosed on the website where appropriate.

The NGC web team will rewrite, if necessary, all titles and subtitles as well as perform content revisions, to conform to the accepted style guide.

Images, whether photographs or other art, submitted that are not of the proper size, quality or resolution will not be considered.

Submitted content involving minor children must be accompanied by a signed release from their parent or guardian to be published.

Submitted content referencing businesses or other organizations must have proper permissions and releases in place before publishing.

All content submitted to NGC for publication on its web properties becomes the sole property of National Garden Clubs, Inc. As such, NGC does not credit photographers for images submitted, nor are they compensated for their use.

Intellectual Property

Logo Resources

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