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Brand Guidelines

Our brand allows us to communicate with one voice, to articulate our core strengths, who we are, what we do, and why we do it. It creates consistency in tone of voice, visual identity, and personality. It starts with our core brand statement, and translates into our logo, color, typefaces, brand tone and voice, and photo and video selection.

Brand Statement

Our brand statement is a distillation of everything that Lesley stands for. It articulates our role and ascribes significance and importance to the Lesley experience and the impact it will have on every member of our community.

It happens in the world capital of bold thinking and big ideas: Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s where individuals, innovators, teachers, counselors, and artists come together to do something. To contribute something. To create something. And to make something that’s only possible right here at Lesley University. It’s what enables us to raise our voices and make ourselves heard. Gives us the ability to push ideas further and take action. So we listen with purpose. Pay close attention. Expand thinking. And invent something smarter, better, and more interesting. And when it all comes together, something amazing happens.

Lesley University.

Brand Tone and Voice

Lesley enlisted Ologie to help evolve the school’s university-wide positioning. During this rebranding initiative, Ologie developed and clarified the university’s master brand messaging strategy, building on Lesley’s strengths and differentiators to stand out in the market.

  • Brand Personality

    How audiences should think and feel about Lesley

    These six personality traits drive the voice for brand communications:

    Rational

    • Collaborative
      Supportive and actively committed to shared learning

    • Forward thinking
      Visionary and pioneering, setting the pace

    • Practical
      Focused on the real-world application

    Emotional

    • Challenging convention
      Taking an original approach

    • Creative
      Innovative and passionate

    • Dynamic
      Adaptable and nimble

  • Brand Tone

    How our writing style reflects Lesley’s brand personality

    Depending on our message and our audience, our brand tone is:

    • Proud
      Without being boastful

    • Bold
      Without being brazen

    • Momentous
      Without being solemn

    • Clever 
      Without being jokey

    • Defiant
      Without being belligerent

    • Spirited 
      Without being hyperactive

    • Emotional
      Without being sappy

  • Tips for Writing on Brand

    Make it relatable

    • We write like we speak, aligned with our brand personality

    • This may occasionally mean breaking a grammar rule or two

    • Contractions and sentence fragments can add personality to communications

    Make it powerful

    • Use bold, direct statements to capture attention

    • And keep it short, getting to the point as quickly as possible

    Make it personal

    • Engage your reader in a direct, human way

    • Use first person plural and second person pronouns (“we”/”us” and “you” where appropriate)

    Make it clear

    • Make only the point you’re trying to make

    • Focus on what’s important

    • Every communication won’t contain every detail

    Make it worthwhile

    • Give your reader a reason to care

    • Lead with audience-specific benefits (what they get)

    • Back it up with our brand attributes (what we offer)

    Make it readable

    • Vary the cadence of communications

    • Mix short sentences with longer ones to avoid falling into a repetitive rut

    • Check for rhythm and flow by reading passages aloud

    • Assess your readability levels using online tools

  • Brand Writing Checklist

    For a full list of our style rules, see the Lesley University Editorial Style Guide (PDF).  Here are some highlights to get you started:

    Yes

    • Active voice

    • Strong verbs

    • Simple, conversational language

    • Contractions

    • Sentence fragments (where appropriate)

    • Oxford comma

    No

    • Passive voice

    • Insider jargon

    • Overly complex sentence structure

    • Two spaces between sentences

    • Exclamation points

Editorial Style Guide

Consider this your guidebook for writing and communicating with precision about Lesley University, its departments, faculty, staff, students, and events. The Editorial Style Guide promotes consistency across schools and departments, and answers common questions about academic titles, grammar rules, and problematic words specific to Lesley.

For comprehensive information on capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviation, you may refer to the Associated Press Style Guide, the university’s standard reference. For grammar, spelling, and usage notes, see The American Heritage Dictionary. The marketing department will update the guide as issues of usage and style evolve.

Download Editorial Style Guide (PDF)

Visual Brand Guide

The visual implementation of the Lesley brand includes fonts, colors, use of our logo, photo selection, and visual design standards. University Marketing supports all departments in their design needs. We've included some basic guidelines here for how the brand comes to life through visuals. Please contact the marketing department with any questions and if you need any support.

  • Fonts

    The university has two primary fonts: Stag and Stag Sans. The marketing department maintains licensing for our use of those fonts. If you have questions or would like to use one of those fonts, please contact University Marketing.

    An alternate sans serif font, Source Sans Pro, is free and available for download by anyone. Please visit the Google Font page for download and instructions for use.

  • Colors

    The university brand is defined by two color palettes, one for use when developing brochures, flyers, promotional items, presentations, PDF documents, etc. The other more limited palette is for use on the university website. 

    Download Print Brand Color Guide (PDF).

    Download Website Color Guide (PDF).

  • Logo guidelines and downloads

    The university logo should be used on all official documents. Only the original electronic files should be used. Never right click on a logo image and download, the quality will not be sufficient for use. For details, see our logo guidelines and downloads.

Website Photography

The photography featured on the website must meet a level of quality that is determined by University Marketing. We maintain a large database of photography featuring programs, schools, student life, campus, Boston and Cambridge, and students, faculty, and alumni working in the field. Personal photography is rarely used on the site, and permission for its use must be obtained through University Marketing.

  • Faculty Headshots

    Each faculty member is encouraged to contact marketing to schedule a time for a professional headshot to be taken by our university photographer for inclusion on your bio page on lesley.edu. Please use our photo/video request form to schedule.

    In the event that you are not available for a headshot to be taken, you may submit your own. Guidelines for acceptable photo submissions:

    • Photo should be taken from the shoulders up, with a plain, preferably white background
    • Photo should be taken in a well-lit environment
    • Photo should be in full color, not black and white, and no creative “Instagram” filters applied.
    • Photo should be of you individually; you should not be able to see that anyone else has been cropped out
    • Photo should be at least 470 pixels and cannot be blurry or pixelated.
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