Babson Brand Glossary

Brand

At its core, our brand is a promise to our customers. This promise incorporates more than just tangible products and services. It also includes the feelings that customers get when they use our products and services. Think about your favorite brand and what that brand promises to you.

Brand Identity

Babson’s brand identity is made up of several components; visual aesthetics, wordmarks and lockups, tone, etc., and is developed with a focus on who we want to appeal to, as well as the core message we want to communicate to that audience.

Brand Message

Our services and products offered have a specific value proposition, and this is termed as our brand messaging. We use these messages to inform existing and prospective customers on what makes us different from our competitors, as well as what our brand stands for.

Co-Branding

Co-branding is the marketing relationship existing between different brands or services. With co-branding, you can partner with the brands offering goods and services that greatly complement the most active elements of our products.

Collateral

These are all the materials we create for marketing, and they may comprise of email templates, web pages, presentation decks, information sheets, brochures, business cards, case studies, email signatures, and so much more.

Wordmark

Our wordmark is a custom design of our name. It includes the exact typeface, color, letter spacing, and arrangement of words, in this case, Babson College. The whole design is wrapped up in the typography, the nuanced handling of the letters without additional symbols or graphics.

The benefit of a wordmark is that it features the full name of our organization so it cultivates clear brand recognition.

Lockup

Wordmarks and typesets can operate separately but they can also appear “locked together” as a lockup. A lock-up is the exact arrangement of individual pieces locked in their relative positions. Babson’s lockups are made from a main logo and a department or business unit name.

Logo

A logo is one of the many components that represent a brand. Logos are symbols designed to be easily recognized, and they may be created with images, text or the combination of both. Logos are shorthand clues that encompass the values and entire nature of a company; thus, they must be readily memorable.

Typeface and Fonts

These terms are closely related, so the confusion is easy to understand. A font is a set of letters, numbers, and symbols that shares certain design characteristics. A typeface is an entire collection of related fonts, or a ''font family.'' For example, Arial is a well-known typeface. A font is a particular set of glyphs within a typeface. So, 12 point Arial is a font, and 10 point Arial is a separate font. The same goes for different weights – a 14 point Arial Bold is a different font than a 14 pt Arial Italic. They are different fonts, but the same typeface.

Typesetting

Typesetting is the art and science of arranging unaltered text in an attractive and legible manner. As an example, Babson has created typesets for our Centers and Institutes. (Show example of center typesets)

Typography

Typography is how we apply artistic elements and principles to create a visually pleasing composition with text as part of the design.