Use this guide when you’re creating printed material for Which? so that every product looks and feels like it belongs to the same brand.
It’s high level only. It shows you how to use key brand elements such as our logo and our colour palette, in order to make what you produce visually consistent. If you need product-specific branding or help with finding images, illustrations or graphics, please speak to the Design and Production team.
The Which? logo is a distinctive and powerful part of the our identity. It’s not just a font – we’ve developed it as a unique mark. Please don’t create new or different versions of the logo, or distort it in any way.
Please use the master artwork every time you reproduce the logo in any format.
For colour printing
Single colour black
The logo must not be printed just red or a tint of red or black, or any other colour.
When to use a keyline
If the logo is ever positioned on a document or web page that is the same colour (red or black) as the logo, a white keyline is used to make it stand out from the background and prevent the logo box disappearing.
Our logo should always be clear. There shouldn’t be any text overlaying it, or touching the outer box. Our logo shouldn’t be printed less than 16mm wide – if it’s smaller than this, it’s hard to recognise, and even harder to read. The minimum size is 125 pixels wide. You can get large and small file sizes in different formats from the Design and Production and Digital and UX teams.
As we grow and develop, we’re creating new products and brands all the time. To keep things consistent, we make sub-brand logos using the same template every time. We use the Which? logo followed by the name of the sub-brand in Stag sans semi-bold. This is in black or white, depending on the colour of the background.
For flexibility, there are two versions of the logo with a product or service name – landscape or portrait.
To make what you’re producing consistent, please use the master artworks for these logos, rather than trying to recreate them. If a new service or product needs a logo, always ask the Which? in-house design team to create it for you.
We launched our Best Buy endorsement scheme in 2007. It’s a great way to publicly recognise excellent products and services, and motivate companies to keep giving consumers more. On top of that, it helps consumers make confident choices.
To many companies, a Which? endorsement is a badge of honour. Recipients can use the relevant endorsement icon in their advertising material. We’ve got a range of endorsement icons now – they’re shown below.
Please work with External Affairs and the Design team when using the icons.
Please don’t use any other icons.
Our primary brand typeface is Stag Sans. Please use this in all corporate communications and product branding.
Light
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Book
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Medium
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Semi Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Black
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Light Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Book Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Medium Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Semi Bold Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Bold Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Black Italic
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
We use our secondary typefaces in our magazines. As well as Stag Sans, we use Stag, Proxima Nova and Minion Pro. These fonts are designed to be easy to read, and flexible to use. They also come in a range of weights, which means they’re great for differentiating headings and text elements on and between pages.
Our primary colours are red, white and black. We’ve shown how to recreate the exact colours below.
Illustration, photography and other images can be in full colour, but our primary corporate colour should always be one of the three brand colours.
We support these colours with our secondary brand colour palette whenever we need to.
Individual print products also use their own specific tertiary colour palettes, which are constantly reviewed and improved. For details of these product-specific print colour palettes, please contact the Design and Production team.
The Which? logo and red colour are the most recognisable assets of the brand. Red is a distinguishing colour that connects all products and communications with our brand.
Use red where it feels natural and appropriate – it should never look contrived. If you’re using the logo, think about the overall level of red rather than the individual elements.
Where appropriate, you can also use red as a full bleed background to give impact.
Imagery plays a vital role within our visual identity. Images can either be photography, illustration or information graphics. We use imagery to add value, by innovatively expressing an idea or communicating a message.
Think about how the image adds value, making sure it isn’t just decorative. Use imagery to make a statement, to prove or support the information and show that Which? understands the issue. The imagery should be eye-catching and thoroughly ground the design layouts and where possible should reflect one or all of the Which? brand personality traits: human, engaging, intelligent and courageous.
Featuring people in their real life settings or going about everyday activities can make our stories more relevant and accessible. It can help people relate to the image and connect with the human story.
Surprise our audience with clever use of imagery. Look for different angles, crops, lighting or points of focus that will show the subject in a way that people are less familiar with - this helps us engage with our audience.
Think carefully about the link between the image and the content of the text - make it make sense. Treat the audience as an equal in intelligence and avoid tired clichés and dumbing down.
Create a sense of drama to help tell the story. Take an unusual or even courageous point of view. Look for clever and unique angles, lighting or visual metaphors to add interest. Don’t be too literal with image choices and don’t go for the obvious.
We’re trying to achieve the same things with photography in the digital world as we are in print. Having said that, we should be more restrained with the use of stock photography.
Using people in an image is the most obvious way to communicate our human personality trait. But you don’t always have to show the whole image. A close-in crop of feet, hands or eyes can sometime be more intimate or interesting.
Showing real people rather than models in a natural, believable way helps us to come across as honest. So, when choosing an image that helps to come across in a human way, make sure the people you feature are not over-styled or forced in their pose. Where possible make the person or setting credibly aspirational for the audience.
If briefing in a bespoke photo shoot please liaise directly with Picture Desk to discuss details and budgets.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr – thanks to social media, people are conspicuously sharing stories and imagery about themselves every day.
Getty Images are heavily engaged with the public through Flickr and actively ask people to contribute images for a client on their behalf. This builds up a bank of emotive photography that people can identify with, no matter what the subject matter is. This keeps imagery fresh and counters the feeling sometimes generated by standard ‘stock imagery’. Because Which? is a not-for-profit organisation, we can use Creative Commons imagery, providing we credit the originator (see Creative Commons Guidelines at creativecommons.org/).
Consider sourcing images this way when you want to add variety and depth, or bring out our human and engaging side. It’s also a good way to find great images when we can’t commission a bespoke shoot or illustration, because of limited time or budget.
Illustrations are often able to communicate a message that photographs can’t – because the subject is difficult to portray or the idea’s too conceptual. Our illustrations should be clean, crisp and graphic. They should show one key issue or an idea that has immediacy and is obviously relevant to the story. Keep illustration simple and unambiguous with a clear focal point - please look at some of the examples we have commissioned or created in-house.
Infographics help us demonstrate both our knowledge of the subject and the depth of our research. Information must be presented in a fresh and engaging manner but must also be clear and purposeful.
Make complex information clear and easy to navigate. Represent things in a logical way - for instance, in chronological or size order. Think about clever and interesting ways to present information using shapes, graphics or illustrations. Add dimension and depth but be careful not to overcomplicate or make it difficult for the audience to interpret.
These guidelines are for use across Which? print products. If you need anything else, please contact:
Head of Design & Production
020 7770 7166
benn.linfield@which.co.uk