Visual Identity and Logo

Color Palette

We use color to convey our brand. Crimson — synonymous with the Harvard brand — conveys both strength and tradition. Crimson should be the dominant color for materials, with the primary color palette providing accents. These rich colors can have white text printed or displayed over them and meet accessibility standards.

The secondary colors work on two levels. First, they clarify different types of information like categories and sections. Second, they represent the depth and breadth of our offerings.

All use of color should meet accessibility standards.

Reversing

The reversed logo may be placed over any HGSE brand or primary color.

Sizing and Spacing

Tagline Wordmark

The tagline wordmark is an addition to the HGSE identity. Guidelines for the primary use of the tagline are shown here. “Learn to change the world” has a double meaning. Verbally, pausing after “Learn” allows the listener to understand that our primary goal is education and that we invite our students to, first and foremost, undertake the serious business of learning about education. The rest of the tagline, “to change the world,” can and should be understood in two ways. With a verbal pause, the speaker suggests that the act of learning is the first step to changing to the world. The secondary meaning is that here at Harvard, students will graduate, prepared to actually change the world.

Use the wordmark in conjunction with highly visual canvases such as banners, interior pages, and website call-outs.

Wordmark Usage

The wordmark must never be shown without the HGSE logo;
however, the two should not be tightly paired. When placed
over an image, the stack should be reversed into a solid color. 

In the case of vertical banners, the primary lock-up would not be legible from a distance. In such cases, aim for a loose pairing to avoid the suggestion of a relationship. When you are using the wordmark with the logo, please contact Communications and Marketing for more guidelines. 

Logos for Affiliated Groups

In developing marks that represent sub-brands and HGSE-related entities, lead with the school’s brand marks and use complementary type treatments that support — rather than overshadow — the primary logos. The tagline should not be visualized with the affiliated group marks.

The space around the logo and school name should be equal to (or greater than) four of the Harvard ”H’s.”

Enlarged Affiliate Name

For designs in which the affiliate name needs more prominence, such as on the heading of a web site or email template, an enlarged size of the affiliate name can be used. This font should be no greater than 4x the height of the letter H in the HGSE logo.

Placement of HGSE Logo

When paired with an affiliate logo, the HGSE logo should always be placed on the outside edge of the page for prominence.

If the design spans across the entire page, such as in this email banner than the HGSE logo can be placed on either side.

If there are two affiliate logos, the HGSE logo should appear in the middle, with the affiliate logos on either side. If there are more than two affiliate logos, then only the HGSE logo should appear, and text stating the affilations should be used in place of those logos.

Sub-Brands

Sub-brands share many brand attributes of HGSE, however they have a subset of audiences and benefits. HGSE sub-brands are developed to establish identities for long-term initiatives within the HGSE community.

These sub-brands must always appear with the HGSE logo, either immediately next to each other, as outlined in the visual identity section of these guidelines or used on the same page on HGSE-generated websites and materials. 

Last updated February 2024 

Swag

Swag or Merchandise that uses the HGSE logo needs to be approved by the Marcom office as well as the Harvard Trademark Program.

Logos can be resized but the structure cannot be altered in any way. Colors used should follow branding guidelines as closely as possible.

Visit Vendors & Swag to learn more about the process for ordering swag.

Typography: Print

Adobe Garamond

Designers have used the Garamond typeface and its variations as a standard for four centuries because of their elegance, warmth, readability, and legibility. Drawn in 1989 by Robert Slimbach, Adobe Garamond is a careful, modern interpretation influenced by specimens of Garamond’s original type.

Roboto

Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesks distort their letterforms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn’t compromise, allowing letters to be settled into their natural width. This makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types. 

Typography: Web

Crimson Text

Crimson Text is a font family in the tradition of beautiful old-style typefaces. It’s a Garamond-inspired typeface redefined to deliver clarity and pixel perfection on any digital screen.

Open Sans

Open Sans was designed with an upright stress, open forms, and a neutral, yet friendly appearance. It is optimal for print, web, and mobile interfaces, and has excellent legibility characteristics in its letterforms.

Archivo Narrow

Archivo Narrow is a grotesque sans serif typeface family originally designed for highlights and headlines. This family is reminiscent of late nineteenth-century American typefaces. The technical and aesthetic characteristics of the font support high-performance typography.

Digital typography is no longer limited to the short list of system fonts that come pre-installed on every computer. Instead, designers have access to a variety of services that facilitate sophisticated type treatments. HGSE has elected to use Google Fonts in order to achieve excellent performance, typographic flexibility, and consistency with fonts used in printed materials.

Typography: Working Together

We selected these families carefully for their clarity, formality, and flexibility. By smartly combining these families, all designers may take a typesetting approach that’s worthy of the Harvard brand’s rich history of combining proven approaches with the best new educational ideas.

The mixing of font families within one document should be kept to a minimum and should follow the specifications outlined in this document. Text can be printed in any of the brand colors in the primary palette. Text should never be printed in the secondary color palette.

The mixing of font weights should also be kept to a minimum and systematically done to create emphasis and scannability.

Typography: Selection

Take care not to overly mix type selections.

Consider the level of formality when selecting a typeface. Generally speaking, sans serif fonts (Franklin Gothic, Open Sans, Archivo Narrow) are less formal than serif fonts (Adobe Garamond and Crimson Text).

The use of two distinct typefaces is preferred. Please follow the pairings set out in this section.

Student Organizations

As of June 1, 2024, officially recognized HGSE student organizations will be provided with a template to use for their logo/name treatment.   

• HGSE student organizations are not permitted to use the HGSE shield paired with or as part of their logo. 

• Any HGSE student organization already using the HGSE shield in their logo will be permitted to continue to do so through the remainder of AY23-24. 
• Any new logo creation for an HGSE student organization will need to follow the template outlined below.  

Organizations may create their own logo paired with the below HGSE wordmark, or create a stand-alone logo, without the use of the HGSE shield.

If the student organization includes "HGSE" in its official name, they may include that in their logo; if they do not have "HGSE" in their official name, the use of the school name will be reserved for the wordmark. 

Please contact the Marcom office or the OSA team for access to the template to create a Recognized HGSE Student Organizations logo. Learn more about HGSE Student Organizations and their policies.  

Last updated February 2024