LTC Brand Guide

About The LTC

Core Values

The LTC recognizes the importance of creating systems and behaving consistently around these characteristics:

Shared Mission. LTC’s success is a shared responsibility. Team members care intrinsically and intensely about the LTC’s success.

Authentic and Trustworthy. Tolerance facilitates trust among LTC team members. An open-minded search for the best ideas builds a culture of open discussion that allows LTC team members to seek what is best for the group while freely admitting mistakes. In the field, LTC team members are known for their honesty, authenticity, and transparency.

Meaningful Communication. Regular dialogue between one another creates a shared understanding of our purpose. LTC staff are concise and articulate in speech and writing; listen well and seek to understand before reacting; and provide constructive, timely feedback.

Propensity Toward Action. An internal drive as self-starters encourages LTC team members to find meaningful activity and challenge assumptions – all while working to find better approaches to existing solutions.

Curious and Courageous. Rapid learning and eager curiosity lead LTC staff to seek alternative perspectives, take intelligent risks, and be open to failure within the learning process in search of the truth.

Diverse. Diversity of background, culture, belief, and thought allows LTC team members to foster an expansive view toward their colleagues and the people they serve.

Intuitive Judgment. Comfort with autonomy allows LTC team members to focus on impactful and substantive tasks. Strategic thinking, despite ambiguity, provides clarity on what they are, and are not, trying to do. Data is used to inform decisions and assess performance wherever possible.

Lasting Impact. Tremendous amounts of meaningful work and consistently strong performance allow colleagues to rely upon each other to make their programs and services better.

LTC Logos

Never attempt to recreate our logo. Always use official versions provided by the LTC Marketing team.

Wordmark

Symbol

Our Colors

Brand colors should be used wherever possible in presentations, handouts, email headers, and other organization-related collateral.
Color helps to keep a cohesive look throughout provided materials.

Primary blue and yellow should be used with tints and/or secondary colors over a neutral, LTC dark blue or white background online and in print.

Secondary colors should be used sparingly or in conjunction with the LTC primary colors.
LTC Dark blue and blue black should not be used on top of one another. But blue-black may be used in place of black over white or light neutrals.

See scale of use chart on the page to the right.

*WCAG 2.0 level AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

Check your ratio at:
color.adobe.com/create/color-contrast-analyzer

Our Fonts

Raleway

The LTC recognizes the importance of creating systems and behaving consistently around these characteristics:
Use Raleway only in headlines, when in design software be mindful of the ligatures and change them as needed to the
highest legibility. Raleway is a variable Google font. The full family is available to download for free on Google fonts.

Public Sans

Use Public Sans for body copy when available. Use sans-serif defaults in cases where another font may have to
take over. The full family is available to download for free on Google fonts.

Merriweather

Use Merriweather for headlines on documents meant to have a more formal tone. We chose this font-face to compliment Raleway.

Why were our fonts chosen?

The Raleway font was chosen for its humanist soft curves and high legibility with variations in its letters it comes across
as a more playful font. While we are technology people, we are also educating people and this approach allows for a
less corporate look, making us feel more approachable.

Public sans was chosen because of its letter variation even among letters that traditionally can look similar, its humanist
feel, high legibility, and ease of access.

What are variable fonts?

A variable font is a font file that is able to store a continuous range of design variants. An entire typeface can be stored
in such a file, with an infinite number of fonts available to be sampled.

HOW TO USE OUR FONTS

 

HEADLINES
Headlines may include color when used with a high contrast to the background. Headlines should not exceed two lines of text without breaking it up with a subheading. Headline text should not exceed 80pts or be less than 16pts, except for H5/H6.

H1 RALEWAY (900 BLACK USE LTC YELLOW OR WHITE)

H2 RALEWAY (700 BOLD USE LTC BLUE WHITE ON DARK)

H3 RALEWAY (500 SEMI-BOLD USE LTC DARK BLUE, WHITE ON DARK)

H4 RALEWAY (500 SEMI- BOLD USE LTC GREEN)

H5 Public Sans (500 Semi-Bold, use dark gray or black, white on dark)
H6 Public Sans (700 Bold, smaller than paragraph, use dark gray or black, white on dark)

BODY TEXT

Body Text should be no smaller than 10pt font and no larger than 14pts. In body copy use bold in dark blue for emphasis. Keep text left aligned where possible and do not use hyphenation or justify text. Use blue- black or dark gray for body copy.

Paragraph Public Sans (Use dark gray or black, white on dark)
Block-quote (700 Bold use LTC Dark Blue with LTC Yellow 3-5pt rule on left, white text on dark)

Logos No No’s

 

Do not replace the logo’s primary color with off-brand colors.
Use LTC Blue or LTC Yellow for logo color.

Do not stretch, tilt, or skew the logo.
Be sure to use proportional scaling when sizing up a logo.

Do not use an image behind the logo.
Ensure the logo has proper clearance from all other images or icons.

Do not juxtapose or combine logos in an unapproved manner.
Do not try to create new logo combinations without prior approval.
Use the main logo for most situations.

Do not repeat logo animations on a screen or presentation.
Use the approved logo animation provided by marketing, one intro and one corner animation.

Do not use the dark logo on dark backgrounds or the light logo on light background.
Keep a high contrast ratio.

Do not use an image background in the logo.
There is no approved combination where a pattern or background is acceptable within the LTC symbol.

Be sure you cannot see the pixels of the logo image.
Use the image at the proper size for the file. The logo should appear have crisp edges.

Writing

Tone

Enthusiastic, Empathetic, Authoritative, and Authentic.
The LTC uses its voice each time we engage our audience in writing.
In doing so, more than just information is conveyed. With a consistent tone, we persistently remind our audience that the LTC is there and ready to support them as they strive to enhance student learning and grow their professional career.

The LTC’s voice can differ slightly based upon the situation and format. White papers, handouts, web pages should maintain formal, concise, and authoritative voice.
In contrast, blogs and social media posts can be more enthusiastic and empathetic.

Focus

The LTC places educators’ goals, ambitions, passions, and fears at the center of the stories we tell, we invite them to participate through recognition and understanding. The LTC is right there at
their side, acting as the guide the hero needs to obtain new skills and win the day.

Through our empathy and experience, we offer our educators a plan that solves their problems and removes barriers.

Style

LTC writing should strive to be consistent, clear, and concise without sacrificing authenticity. Readers should understand what we mean the first time. To make that happen, always remember:

Make it simple. Make it clear. Write with purpose.

Don’t overuse descriptors. Write with an active voice. For grammatical consistency, the LTC follows the AP style guide. Use Grammarly when creating new content to ensure proper grammar.

Acronyms

Acronyms may be used in situations where they are clearly understood based on context. This includes acronyms that are common knowledge or widely used within the audience’s field.

“This week, Chris will review a new resource that can make achieving SOPPA compliance easy.”

When in doubt, it is best to write out the full acronym before referring to it in its abbreviated form.

“Last week, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced new guidance on computer science learning. ISBE will provide districts with resources to support these new guidelines by the start of the new school year.”

The LTC also maintains a list of relevant acronyms, including those for state and national associations, programs, vendors, and other education terms. Refer to the LTC Education Acronym Guide for details.

Contractions

Do not use contractions in formal, written documents, including resources, grant applications, and white papers.
When writing in a conversational tone is suitable, common contractions may be used. Conversational tone may be used in emails, event descriptions, and social media.

Always avoid substandard spellings of common words (“gonna” for “going to”).

Names

Always use a person’s first and last time the first time it appears in writing. After the initial mention, the last name alone will suffice. Do not use courtesy titles (Mr., Mrs., etc.). Ensure any professional designations or official titles are used (Dr., Gov., etc.) on all mentions.

This week, Dr. Sydney McElroy is hosting a webinar to discuss the role of health and safety measures in K-12 schools. Dr. McElroy is a family care physician from West Virginia with over a decade of experience supporting undeserved communities in her region.

Terminology

Be consistent when referring to common terminology for products and services across all written materials. All product names should be capitalized in accordance with their respective brand guidelines.

Numerals

In writing, numbers less than 10 should be written in full. Numbers greater than 10 may be written using numerals.

Graphics & Templates

 

Graphics, Photography and Illustrations

 

Choose photos with happy teachers and students using technology (example technology: tablet or laptop; drones, robotics, stem, 3D printing, programming). When looking for stock photography, be sure to include diverse photos.

For situations that are administrator or conference focused, use imagery of happy collaborating teachers (well dressed individuals).

When a graphic illustration is desired, choose illustrations with soft rounded edges. Avoid faceless heads and oversized limbs.

Abstract Concepts/ Themes

 

Throughout the LTC’s print and digital marketing materials, we utilize several sets of related imagery to create consistent recognition tied to a specific LTC service or event.Whenever possible, these types of imagery should be used when creating new public-facing assets on behalf of the LTC.

For all large LTC events, particularly those with a defined logo and color scheme, existing branding related to those events should take priority over imagery imperatives. For funding use coins, dollar signs. For cybersecurity use shield, key, lock. For connectivity use Wifi signal bars, Wifi beacon.

Videos

Videos are one of the best ways to provide long-lasting experiences to our educators, IT professionals, and administrators. A video can be paused, shared, and re-watched; therefore, our videos should act as a valuable resource that itself is an improvement over our live virtual events.

Captions or Transcript

In accordance with web accessibility best practices, captions and transcripts should be included in all LTC videos.
This can be accomplished once a video is uploaded to YouTube, which provides an auto-captioning tool.
However, transcripts and captions produced through this tool should always be checked for accuracy prior to posting them.

Intro & Outro

Each uploaded video should have an introductory card that shows the event name, persons speaking in the video, the date the video content originally aired (as needed), and the LTC logo.

If you have a major event, a logo animation containing both the event logo (if available) and the LTC may be appropriate at both the beginning and end of the video.

Call To Action

The end of each video should have relevant calls to action.
If the video will be uploaded to YouTube, an ending splash screen with links to recommended videos is an excellent way to deepen user engagement and increase the chance that they will see our videos in their on-platform suggestions in future.
If you expect the video to be shared offline, then a static splash screen with information about our social media, website, or upcoming events should be used.

Co-branding With Vendor Partners

Co-Brading Quick Tips

• Do not create a patterns with partner logos
• Do not set the logo on a tilt
• Do not add effects
• Ensure partner logos are clear set to the right side
• Give proper spacing between logos

Review official partner brand guides for more information.

Presentations

For presentation slides, emphasize the partnership. Align the two logos and give equal presence and visual weight to
each identity to signify partnership.

Videos

If a video needs to be co-branded, be sure there is a time separation between the LTC animation and the partner intro or animation.
Logos should not appear side by side unless directed by the partner brand guide. Allow equal time for each
opening.

Presentations

Presentations should always start and end with LTC branding (exceptions exist with co-branded Google presentations,
see partnership brand guide for details). If presentations are getting recorded, ensure that the screen is shared at full
width during recording and that every slide has the LTC dot in the bottom corner.

Flyers

Flyers should incorporate the LTC logo and approved colors. It should provide details about the event or topic involved and a plan for the reader to act on the topic.

Events.

If the flyer is for an event, be sure to include the LTC website link for the event, use shortened urls when the url is long. Include the event location, what the event will entail and what they attendee should expect to walk away from the event with.

Resources.

When generating a resource, start with a clear description of the resource including any legislation or important considerations near the beginning.

If the resource is more than 5 pages, include a table of contents. Resources should ALWAYS have an LTC logo and follow the brand guide for the overall look.

Resources include check-lists, step by step plans and legislative briefs.

Case Studies.

When you have a glowing testimonial ask them about the possibility of creating a case study. They are all potential case study candidates. The LTC can generate stories about those who have been positively impacted by the LTC work. Everyone loves a good story, so tell it.

White Papers.

White papers are data heavy resource documents that should be plain in design, but follow our brand book for fonts and minimal use of colors.
They must include the LTC logo, version number, page number, data charts, and sources page. Think of these as essays with minimal use of photography.
Use columns and left alignment on body text. No centred items. Include a table of contents if the document exceeds four pages.

Charts & Data Presentation.

When presenting data, use graphics that describe the data visually in a concise way. For example a bubble chart for information that has variation in percentage and time or location.
Help the readers by providing data in charts that visual describe the data shown. A data point in a bubble stating 24 million does not truly describe the vastness of that number, therefore a comparison with any smaller data points based on bubble size to emphasise how much larger that number is could be a good way to visually describe it.
Provide context when possible, remember that data can be shown to be good, bad, or neutral when shown in context. If you know that 30% adoption this year is 150% increase over last years adoption that is fantastic, and should be shown in context. Show the number that shows the true value of the number. Humans do not easily understand vague concepts like % year over year without the story behind the number showing.

Events

LTC teams provide over 800 professional learning events a year to around 24,000 participants, including whole counties, district, school, and school-level teams. Knowledgeable LTC staff, presenters and facilitators with extensive.

Common Types of Professional Learning Experiences:

Workshop (In-Person and Virtual)
Networking Events
(In-Person and Virtual)
Sessions at State Conferences
Summits and Conferences
Webinars
Online Courses

Microcredentials
Year-Long Professional Learning Series
Capacity Building Programs
Informational Presentations (Board Meetings, Parent
Nights, etc.)
Customized Professional Learning Experiences
Administrator Academies

Event and Services Logos:

Major Events.

Events that fit into the Major category may be provided a
logo by the LTC marketing department.
Request an event logo prior to the due date of any
marketing material for the event. The process of creating a
new logo will require internal approvals.

Serial Events

Events fitting into the serial category may be provided
a lock-up upon request for use in marketing the event. Use
visual hierarchy to highlight a the most important words in
the text and balance it with good spacing. Brand colors may
be incorporated to add additional interest.

Minor Events

Events fitting into the minor category should use plain
text only for event titles following the fonts portion of the
style-guide. Hierarchy may be used to emphasize the main
related words of the event.

Services

Services may be provided a logo by LTC marketing.
Logos for services should not be created or used
without prior approval and should follow brand
guidelines for LTC color size and position.

Event Titles & descriptions

Best Practices Event Titles (Non-Serial).

A memorable, unique, and informative title allows potential attendees to quickly understand the titled event’s primary
subject matter and audience at a glance while encouraging them to seek out more information or register. Use Trigger
words, keywords, level, and audience to inform potential attendees at a glance better. Use the algorithm to generate
compelling, searchable event titles quickly.

Algorithm For Event Titles & Headlines:

Trigger word + Keyword(s) + Level + Audience
For example, take “Get up to date on Media Literacy for the classroom.”
Apply the algorithm, and you get:
“Proven Methods for Teaching Media Literacy to Grades 6-12.”
Or another example, take “CS for beginners.”
Apply the algorithm, and you get:
“Simple Ways to Teach Block Coding to K-5 using Code.org”
Trigger words: Trigger words and phrases cause a listener to feel strong emotions from previous experiences.
Examples include Proven, Simple, Empower, Overcome, Boost, Energize, Delightful, Easy, Unparalleled, Comfortable,
and Evidence-Based. Choose the trigger words that demonstrate the unique value of your content.
Keywords: Information retrieval word, a keyword, captures the topic’s essence and helps make the title searchable
online.Keywords often include the main topic of the event (SEL, computer science, or Google Drive, for example) or a
unique modifier that differentiates it from other similar events.

Best Practices Event Titles (Serial).

If an essential piece of information can be input into its own field, it should not be in the title including dates and locations. Due to the repeating nature of serial events, titles should be consistent without creating redundancy.

Titles should include full-length searchable keywords. Avoid short-hand in public-facing event titles (Cert, Tech,
etc.). Reduce redundancy and clarify titles to be consistent. Ensure the name adequately describes who the event
is for.

Algorithm for Event Titles:

Series Event Title (used across all in the series) + Topic (when topics change per date) + number or level + ROE#
For example:
“Google Educator Certification Level 1 ROE#”
“Technology Director Networking Meeting ROE#”
“Library Networking Monthly ROE#”
“Google Coach 8 Month Cohort”
“Hey Google, what’s new? ROE#”

Event Descriptions:

Event descriptions help to convince prospective attendees that the event is worth attending.
Here are a few tips for writing effective event descriptions that both entice and inform prospective attendees:
• Keep descriptions informative and concise
• Answer questions potential participants might ask before committing to attend
• Arrange your descriptions to provide a logical flow of information that is easy to scan
• Avoid filler words in the main idea to ensure the main idea in the description is short and skimmable.

All event descriptions should include the following details:

Main idea or topic: If your event focuses on hardware or software, the description should include a brief description of that technology. As a rule of thumb, if someone is new to education and reads a description, they should understand what the technology does and who benefits from its use. Serial events may reuse relevant description elements.

Audience: Who is the event for? Be sure the description calls out to those who should attend in a compelling and clear way.

Audience:Material or Skills: Include any materials or skills needed to meet event’s learning goals successfully, include any applications they should install prior to attending, if applicable.

Audience:Takeaways or Learning Goals: What will participants “walk away” with, or what will they be able to do after attending?

Highlights: List any skills taught, resources shared, topics covered, individuals taking part.

Social Media

When To Share a Post Made By LTC Marketing,
If tagged in a post by an LTC account, you may share that post into your feeds. If you are not tagged in a post but feel your followers would be interested in the post’s content, you are encouraged to share it. This helps spread the word about LTC events to a wider audience. If the LTC creates a post about one of our events or services, please share that version of the post rather than creating your own. This creates more consistent messaging about our events and services while also making it possible to accurately track the success of a given social media campaign.

If you notice that the LTC (including our services and events) has been mentioned, but the LTC has
not been tagged, please let the LTC know by tagging us in a reply. This includes pictures and videos
of our team members working in the field. However, if the post content is generally negative,
please contact the Marketing team.

When to Create a Post
Events that have been tagged for marketing will be promoted via the LTC’s various social media channels based on an existing schedule. If you’d like to have marketing promote one of your events or you have questions about when your event will be promoted on social media, contact the LTC marketing team. The branding guidelines should be adhered to for social media posts made on behalf of the LTC.

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