Deafblind Australia – Style Guide – Blick Creative Landing

Deafblind Australia
Style Guide

Logo

This logo concept is a refresh of the current logo. This has been designed to enhance the accessibility, readability and recognisability of the current logo.
The typeface used is called Atkinson Hyperlegible, it has been developed by the Braille Institute to have greater legibility and readability for low vision readers (https://brailleinstitute.org/freefont). This works by focusing on distinguishing each letterform for character recognition.
The letters DBA in braille make up the icon. This introduces the main colours: Blue, Purple and Rose

Logo stack

New logo positioned with other logos in the deafblind community including Deafblind Information Australia, Able Australia and Senses W.A.

Colours

Primary colours: Blue (main) and Purple (highlight)

Secondary colours: Rose and Yellow

Meanings:

I have chosen these colours because of their accessibility, meaning, positivity and trustworthiness.

Accessibility:

These colours meet the accessibility contrast standards, they were tested using this site https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

WCAG 2.0 level AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

Blue with white contrast ratio is 9.8:1.
Purple with white contrast ratio is 7.11:1.
Yellow with black contrast ratio is 14.17:1.
The Rose colour is only used for large text and graphical elements as it falls just under the AA ratio for small text at 4.34:1.

Blue meanings:

Dark blue was chosen by the World Federation of the Deaf and Deaf associations around the World to represent Deafhood. That means an individual and collective journey to campaign against audism and a focus on the positivity of Deaf identities, including Sign Languages, Deaf Culture and Deaf History. (Information from Irish Deaf Society)
This colour also promotes trust and is used in the corporate world for this reason.

Purple/Rose meanings:

Here are some of the physical effects of pink on us:

Energize – The red influence on pink assures brighter shades of this colour give us energy.
Relaxing – On the white side, pink is a relaxing colour and is known for toning down aggressive behaviour, especially its pale tints.
Uplifting – Pink is a charming colour that brings happy and optimistic thoughts.
Comforting – Because pink is such an optimistic colour, it brings hope to those in need.

Yellow meanings:

Yellow is associated with warmth, sunshine, and positivity.
It’s a colour that promotes activity and interaction.

Colour codes:

Blue
Pantone P 99-8 C

Purple
Pantone P 81-8 C

Rose
Pantone P 59-8 C

Yellow
Pantone P 7-8 C

Typography

The typeface used is called Atkinson Hyperlegible, it has been developed by the Braille Institute to have greater legibility and readability for low vision readers (https://brailleinstitute.org/freefont). This works by focusing on distinguishing each letterform for character recognition.

Sans serif font
Comes in Bold and Regular
Developed to be accessible in terms of the shapes of the letterforms
Headings and subheadings use bold
Paragraphs use regular
Minimum font size on print documents is 12pt to meet the requirement for AA accessibility

Business card

For all print materials, there will be a diagonal cut from the bottom right of the document to provide a tactile way for vision impaired people to know that there is a QR code within 3.5 inches of the corner. This is known as Berman Corner.

Front has Deafblind Australia logo in top left
Where possible, the DBA logo icon should be embossed to create braille
Front bottom right corner has the QR code (this code leads to the team member’s profile on the DBA website)
Uses Berman corner on the bottom right for QR code
Back has name, position and phone number in accessible large text (14pt being the smallest)
Back has blue triangle element
Colours meet the contrast levels for AA accessibility standards, as measured by this website https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

Letterhead

Printed letterhead and business card:

Deafblind Australia logo in top left
Uses Berman corner on the bottom right for QR code (this code leads to the contact page on the Deafblind Australia website).
Minimum font size is 12pt to meet the requirement for AA accessibility
Colours meet the contrast levels for AA accessibility standards, as measured by this website https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
Where possible, the DBA logo icon should be embossed to create braille

Digital letterhead:

Deafblind Australia logo in top left
To be sent digitally or when additional space is needed
Shorter footer for additional writing space
Minimum font size is 12pt to meet the requirement for AA accessibility
Colours meet the contrast levels for AA accessibility standards, as measured by this website https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
No QR code
Triangle element in bottom right is a visual representation of Berman Corner

Posters

Two dark background examples with white text and white logo
Two light background examples with full colour logo
Deafblind Australia logo in top left
Where possible, the DBA logo icon should be embossed to create braille
Uses circle element from logo in the top right corner of front page
Inside this circle is a calendar and clock icon, which will change to symbolise the poster content
Has Berman Corner and QR code in the bottom right (QR code will link to the event or campaign page)
Design can be more flexible in terms of colours, as long as the main brand blue is used either in the footer or the background
Minimum font size is 12pt to meet the requirement for AA accessibility
Colours meet the contrast levels for AA accessibility standards, as measured by this website https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
Yellow and Rose secondary colours can create positivity (ie. yellow represents positivity and sunshine) and increase engagement
Triangles and images overlap to create a sense of 3D space and increase engagement
Download pdf of posters

6 page DL Brochure

Deafblind Australia logo in top left of front page
Uses circle element from logo in the top right corner of front page
Inside this circle is an information icon, which will change to symbolise the brochure content
The title of this brochure is “What is deafblindness?” in purple (main document headings use purple where appropriate, this colour meets AA standards for colour contrast for large text
Minimum font size is 12pt to meet the requirement for AA accessibility
Has Berman Corner and QR code in the bottom right (QR code will link to the associated website page eg. a page called “What is deafblindness?”)
Front page features image of mother and her deaf child smiling face to face
Triangle element is used in the primary highlight colour (purple) to bring some warmth and engagement, it is also used in the primary main colour (blue) to balance the purple and increase brand recognition
Text is dark in colour on a white background for high contrast for accessibility
Contact information is easy to read on the back, with icons in dark blue circles
To read this brochure, download the pdf here

EDM (Email Newsletter)

Header has a banner that says “Listen to this e-newsletter with text to speech or read it in your web browser.”
Deafblind Australia logo in top left
This website is built to WCAG AA accessibility standards, including minimum font size of 16px, high colour contrast and accessible links and images
First image will be a gif (animated video) of a person signing “Welcome” in AUSLAN, the brand blue colour will be the background
Please see the pdf to read the sample e-newsletter, click here to download the pdf

Website

This website is built to WCAG AA accessibility standards, including minimum font size of 16px, high colour contrast and accessible links and images.
Accessibility tools include font size increase and decrease, Listen button for text to speech, colour contrast changer
Deafblind Australia logo in top left
Font used is the web version of Atkinson Hyperlegible
Videos are used throughout the website as a way to display content visually using AUSLAN and Closed Captions, audibly and via text with transcripts
A range of deafblind, vision impaired, hearing impaired people from all ages and cultures are represented in images