ISB Brand Guidelines by International School of Brussels

Brand guidelines

The International School of Brussels 2024

Introduction

Welcome to The International School of Brussels (ISB) Brand Guidelines, a vital resource for maintaining consistency and alignment across all ISB communications. Our brand is more than just logos, colours, and fonts; it is a reflection of who we are and what we stand for. This guide is based on three key brand attributes that encapsulate the essence of ISB and drive our commitment to excellence:

1. Academic excellence

2. Inclusive community 3. Diverse learning experience

These pillars, which form the foundation of our brand, are guiding every aspect of our communications and interactions. This guide will help you understand and apply the elements of our brand consistently, by ensuring that every representation of ISB reflects our core values and vision.

We will provide regular updates and share ongoing tips for applying the new guidelines. We will also conduct various workshops so that you can ask questions and provide feedback.

We are excited to embark on this journey with all of you, as we continue to build and strengthen the ISB brand together.

Fanny Chan Director of Advancement

O1 Our school

O2 Our logo

O3 Typography

O4 Colour palette

O5 Graphic elements

O6 Applications

O7 ISB Athletics

O8 ISB Arts

O9 Contact

Who we are

Our official full name is The International School of Brussels (also known as ISB).

Our mission is to develop independent learners and international citizens in an environment where all students are included, challenged, and successful.

We are a private school for students from Preschool to Grade 12. Our international student community includes 1300+ students from 60+ different countries, making our campus a culturally rich space that facilitates learning from and with people from all over the world.

Brand house

What we’re about.

Personality This makes us ‘us’

Passionate (about teaching vocation)

The school of (your) life

Encouraging

Inspiring

Reward

How does this make our community feel

Function What this attribute does for our community

Redefines academic expectations Recognised / rewarded

Gives them confidence

Creates an inclusive campus community

Incites to test / fail / discover / develop oneself safely Stimulates them

Attribute A real, tangible aspect

A unique standard for educational staff (selection)

Open for every culture and individual

Diverse and personalised learning experience

1st Brand Attribute: The ISB academic standard

At ISB, we believe that academic excellence equals providing the right conditions and selecting the right staff to unlock and develop the unique talents of every student, regardless of their specific learning journey, personality, and study needs or ability. We make sure that our teachers, coaches, and support staff are rigorously selected to challenge students, in order to help them reach their full potential and develop the resilience that will help them flourish into well-rounded future adults, while providing a safe and inclusive learning environment for all.

We exist to help students find their personal greatness.

2nd Brand Attribute: Our inclusive campus community

With students from all over the globe, our school is not your average campus. Whatever our students’ origin, culture, or individual specificity, our school will provide an open and welcoming environment where they feel safe to be themselves and are encouraged to share and learn from each other.

We celebrate our differences.

3rd Brand Attribute: Diverse experiences to find your core

Only focusing on getting the highest grades does not make you discover your boundaries, your hidden talents, or your best self. A journey of self-discovery is being stimulated to explore, to try, to taste, to push and to get pushed, to fail, to fail again, to succeed, to go further and to discover step by step, and experience by experience, what makes you tick. This is why ISB provides a unique set of experiences for our students.

Through challenging students to go beyond their comfort zone with guidance, we unlock their full potential.

Our primary logo

The logo must always be used in this form, on a neutral or white background, and respect the defined rules.

CMYK 97/71/10/42

RGB 0/51/102

HEX #003366

Pantone 2955

CMYK 2/99/100/9

RGB 207/0/0

HEX #CF0000

Pantone 2035

Logo with grid and safe space. The area that surrounds the logo is known as “safe space”. This space eliminates the visual clutter that can compete with the integrity of the logo and its legibility. The minimum clear space is indicated by the cap height as highlighted with the letter “X”.

Primary logo for ISB

Our primary logo

The logo must always be used in this form, on a neutral or white background, and respect the defined rules.

Keep the logo above the minimum size of 24 px Logo used on dark background Brand guidelines Our logo

Keep the logo above the minimum size of 20 mm

Logo variations

Other versions of the logo are possible to accommodate design needs. These should only be used with approval from the Communications Office.

be too small).

Horizontal variation of the logo (to be used in situations where the square version would

Alternative variations of the ISB logo with only the initials.

Don’ts

Don’t rotate the logo

Don’t change the colours

Don’t stretch the logo

Don’t add or remove elements from the logo

Don’t add effects to the logo (e.g. drop shadow)

Don’t invert the colours

Brand extentions

Brand guidelines Our logo

Please note that access to these logos may be restricted.

Writing style

Spelling

For our written content, we use British English (e.g. personalisation, programme, organise, colour, centre, theatre) throughout all communications and publications. French spelling is used for some of our Campus locations (e.g. Château, Métairie).

Date and Time

The following date and time formats should be used in all communications and publications:

Date Format

Monday, 1 January 2024 or Mon, 1 Jan 2024

Time Format

24-hour format (no AM/PM)

Examples specific times

8:00, 13:30, 15:00, 17:15

Examples time ranges from 11:00 to 14:00, 16:00 - 19:00

Capitalisation

What should be capitalised?Examples

Campus Locations

Sections & Departments

Job Titles

Online Channels

ISB Events

ISB Items

ISB Publications

Other

e.g. Annex, Campus, Château, Métairie

e.g. High School, Finance Office

e.g. Director of Admissions & Advancement

e.g. Community Portal, PowerSchool

e.g. International Festival

e.g. Student Starter Kit

e.g. Annual Report

e.g. Grade, Gyms, Help Desk, ISB Community, Learning Conferences, In-Service Days

Our primary typeface

As our primary typeface we use Poppins.

Poppins has strong geometric characteristics that match the geometric shapes we use as our graphic language (see pg. 31).

Poppins is a Google font, which is accessible for everyone to install, and can also be used online as a webfont for the ISB website.

Poppins has a total of 18 styles, but we limit to working with the styles shown here.

The International School of Brussels

Poppins Extra light

Poppins Regular

Poppins Semi Bold

Poppins Extra bold

Typeface hierarchy

As our primary typeface we use Poppins.

Here is an example of the hierarchy.

For headlines, Poppins Semi Bold & Extra Bold can both be used.

Brand guidelines Typography

Poppins Semi Bold or Extra Bold

This is your primary headline

Poppins Semi Bold

This is your subheadline

Poppins Regular

This is your body copy. Here you can play with different weights to either enhance a line using Poppins Semi Bold

Poppins Extra light

Poppins Regular

Or to separate certain sections from each other, Quibusdandem as cus alignam num sit autatur re, corepe adictor epudios reptiant ipsam fugitat.

The rest of the paragraph can continuously be set in Poppins Regular. Ed mintiuntem. Sunti que od mil iuscil int pre sequidel magnatur ad quam, coriam solupta tionemperro officiende vid eum am quiatiam,

Typeface hierarchy

As our main typeface we use Poppins.

Here is an example of the hierarchy used in poster applications.

Poppins Extra light

Poppins Regular

Poppins Semi Bold

Poppins Extra bold

Longer headline set in Poppins Semi Bold ISB name set in Poppins Semi Bold

Grow, build & discover.

experiment,

The International School of Brussels

Shorter title set in Poppins Extra Bold and in CAPS

Body copy set in Poppins Regular

Our secondary typeface

As our secondary typeface we use KBPlanetEarth.

To be used exclusively for content related to the Lower School (ECC and ES).

Aa

The International School of Brussels

Our system font

Default fonts for emails and documents. These are set up in ISB templates.

The International School of Brussels

Arial Regular

Arial Bold

Our primary colours palette

The palette contains a range of colours that uplift the brand and enhance the brand elements and story.

For each stage, the primary colours are defined within this colour spectrum. Yellow is the colour that links everything together, as this is the positive and energetic colour.

For official documents the primary colours are red and blue.

Early Childhood Centre

The International School of Brussels

For each stage, the primary colours are defined within the colour palette. For the ECC, playful and creative colours are key to focusing in on exploration and imagination.

Helping little learners Think through big ideas

Elementary School

For each stage, the primary colours are defined within the colour palette. For the ES, the focus shifts to independent learning, abundance of energy, and readiness to seize each opportunity.

The International School of Brussels

Opening doors to new possibilities

Middle School

For each stage, the primary colours are defined within the colour palette. In the MS, it’s all about growth, experience, trial and error, testing, and sometimes failing into new discoveries.

The International School of Brussels

Choice & ownership

At a time of growing independence

High School

For each stage, the primary colours are defined within the colour palette. For the HS, these colours express that the students are in the driver’s seat, on their individual journey to success.

Our graphic shapes

We use the base (square) of our logo that symbolises the safe and inclusive learning environment we provide for our students.

Within the boundaries of the square shape, we develop new shapes that represent the journey of self-discovery, exploration, and learning.

ISB primary logo

The shape of the square portrays a safe and inclusive learning environment.

A safe and inclusive learning environment

Within that shape we develop new shapes that derive from within that same environment.

Grid shapes

Our set of shapes is created using a 6-column grid.

If at any time new shapes need to be created, please reach out to the Communications Office.

A 6-column grid to determine the balance of each shape and provide a guide so that each shape is consistent with each other.

Primary shape library

At ISB, we believe that providing a safe and inclusive learning environment will result in helping students find their personal greatness.

To translate this into a visual language we created a set of shapes linked to keywords that represent the journey of self-discovery:

These shapes are set as the core shapes to use in ISB communcation assets. The colours used in this presentation are allowed to be adjusted. Explore

Brand guidelines Graphic elements

Shape variations library

In addition to our primary shapes, we created extra shapes to be used alongside the core shapes.

O6 Applications

International school of brussels

The International School of Brussels

The International School of Brussels Brand guidelines

Athletics colour palette

For ISB Athletics we use 2 colours. ISB Strong red will be the dominant colour combined with ISB blue.

Strong red ISB blue

CMYK 97/71/10/42 RGB 0/51/102 HEX #003366

CMYK 2/99/100/9 RGB 255/61/55 HEX #ff3d37

ISB Athletics: Raiders logo

The wolf is a highly intelligent creature who is always loyal to the pack. In Spring 2024, the wolf was elected by our student community to represent the highly competitive and team-devoted spirit of the ISB Raiders.

The Raiders logo must always be used with the shield and wordmark. The standalone wolf cannot be used in marketing or promotional materials.

Type treatments

Here you can see how to use the Poppins font to give it a more athletic and sporty character.

GAMEDAY RAIDERS HOME OF THE

Poppins Extra Bold Italics placed in outline

Combined with Poppins Extra Bold Italics without outline and -90 tracking

Poppins Extra Bold Italics

O8 ISB Arts

ISB Arts

Performing Arts and Visual Arts are a vital part of life at ISB. Our Arts Department has its own logo that includes theatre spotlights, an artist paint palette, and musical notes to highlight our diverse arts offering at ISB. The typeface was chosen to reflect the dual nature of the arts—both classic and contemporary—emphasising the power of the arts to connect people.

The logo and typeface were both created in 2017, initially designed by the Grade 10 Graphic Design class and later refined by a professional designer.