Philosophy
Written Identity
Tell Me Busan connects English-speaking foreigners to local businesses in Busan, by providing a media resource that promotes these businesses through video content.
Tell Me Busan is run by the people we seek to serve (expats living in Busan) and thus has a unique perspective on the experience of living in South Korea. A common struggle for expats living in South Korea is finding shops, services, etc. that cater to English-speaking foreigners. Tell Me Busan seeks to bridge this gap by connecting foreigners in the city with the local businesses that appeal to, or make an effort to accommodate, English-speaking foreigners.
Short term, Tell Me Busan seeks to be firmly established as the go-to resource for foreigners living in Busan. Long term, Tell Me Busan seeks to have established ourselves nationwide as the go-to resource for foreigners living in South Korea, including (but not limited to) Seoul, Daegu, and Jeju.
Mission Statement
Tell Me Busan seeks to improve public perception of foreigners in Busan (and South Korea) and to make the lives of those living here that little bit easier, and a lot more fulfilling.
Our real passion is to draw the attention of English-speaking foreigners to the diversity of reputable restaurants, bars, fitness centers, and other useful services in the city by telling their stories through engaging video content. We want our resource to be the invitation for connection between foreigners and the businesses of Busan.
The impact of foreigners in the city is not always perceived as positive or helpful. Thus, Tell Me Busan seeks to promote a positive image of Expats in Korea, to be seen in a positive light as useful, proud of their city, willing to promote and collaborate, and actively contributing to the local economy - particularly in light of the impact Covid-19 has had on small to medium-sized businesses.
Longer term, Tell Me Busan intends to seek government funding, and therefore establish ourselves as a national resource for foreigners in South Korea.
Objectives
Improve public perception of foreigners in Busan.
Make the lives of foreigners living in Korea that little bit easier.
Establish Tell Me Busan as the go-to resource for foreigners living in Busan.
Connect people, businesses and services in Busan.
Typography
Typefaces
Rockwell is our primary heading font, selected to complement the lettering used in our logo. Helvetica Neue is used for all body and subheading text, and Modular Houseplant is used for any footnotes or type otherwise smaller than 14pt.
Typefaces
Alignment
Type is always aligned flush left (also known as ragged right). Aligning type in this way provides the eye with visual references by varying line length.
Tracking
Helvetica Neue is at its most legible when its spaced comfortably. We don't alter spacing from the default value of 0.
This is comfortable.
Tracking
This is uncomfortable.
Tracked too tight
This is too comfy.
Tracked too wide
Tell Me Busan connects foreigners to English-speaking businesses in Busan, by providing a media resource that promotes local businesses through video content.
Flush Left
Tell Me Busan connects foreigners to English-speaking businesses in Busan, by providing a media resource that promotes local businesses through video content.
Justified
Tell Me Busan connects foreigners to English-speaking businesses in Busan, by providing a media resource that promotes local businesses through video content.
Centred
Leading
To calculate leading, multiple the font size by 1.3 and round up or down to the nearest number. This is applicable to all font families used within our brand.
Leading = 120%
This is Helvetica Neue at 16px. When you multiply 16 x 1.3, you get 20.8, so we round to the nearest number: 21
This is Helvetica Neue at 16px. Here, the leading is also 16px. This is too tight, and difficult to read.
Leading = 100%
This is Helvetica Neue at 16px. Here, the leading is 1.7x the font size. This is too wide, and make for poor legibility.
Centred
Emphases/Hierarchy
A good general rule to follow, when combining fonts, is to only change one thing at a time. For example, if you're changing the size of a piece of text, don't also change the font.
This is an example of typography with the correct use of hierarchy. Only change one aspect of the message at a time.
This is an example of typography with poorly used hierarchy (also known as belts and braces).
Case
We use title case for headings and subheadings, and all other content in sentence case.
We use sentence case because it's easy to read, and we maintain it across collateral to maintain our brand's integrity.
WE DO NOT USE ALL CAPS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. ALL CAPS MAKES US READ LIKE WE'RE SHOUTING AT PEOPLE.
Line Length
Generally, lines should be 7-14 words in length.
Within this container, these lines are too long, and there's no padding on the right side of the container. This causes reading fatigue, and makes it more difficult to track one's place within the message.
Best Practices
Sizing - Desktop
On Desktop, both body and subheadings are size 16px, while headings are 28px. If the size of one changes, the size of the others changes to maintain this ratio (body/subheading 1:1.75 heading).
In Use
Sizing - Mobile
On Mobile, both body and subheadings are size 14px, while headings are 23px. If the size of one changes, the size of the others changes to maintain this ratio (body/subheading 1:1.65 heading).
Alignment
The first line of text is always aligned to the adjacent image.
Colour
Colour codes
Colour standards depend very much on how they will be produced but, in general:
- For screen printing and interiors/exteriors refer to the Pantone codes (second row)
- For printing on paper refer to the CMYK codes
- For anything digital refer to sRGB codes
- For web refer to HEX codes
Standard White
sRGB 255 255 255
CMYK 0 0 0 0
HEX ffffff
Near Black
sRGB 13 13 13
CMYK 82 72 62 91
HEX 0d0d0d
Green-Blue
2227 U
sRGB 118 188 202
CMYK 61 2 21 0
HEX 59c7cc
Matte Black
sRGB 2 2 3
CMYK 91 79 62 97
HEX 020203
Mid Grey
419 U
sRGB 91 91 92
CMYK 59 49 47 39
HEX 5b5b5c
Dove Grey
406 U
sRGB 191 189 189
CMYK 28 22 22 3
HEX bfbdbd
Standard White
sRGB 255 255 255
CMYK 0 0 0 0
HEX ffffff
Near Black
sRGB 13 13 13
CMYK 82 72 62 91
HEX 0d0d0d
Green-Blue
2227 U
sRGB 118 188 202
CMYK 61 2 21 0
HEX 59c7cc
Matte Black
sRGB 2 2 3
CMYK 91 79 62 97
HEX 020203
Mid Grey
419 U
sRGB 91 91 92
CMYK 59 49 47 39
HEX 5b5b5c
Dove Grey
406 U
sRGB 191 189 189
CMYK 28 22 22 3
HEX bfbdbd
Standard White
sRGB 255 255 255
CMYK 0 0 0 0
HEX ffffff
Near Black
sRGB 13 13 13
CMYK 82 72 62 91
HEX 0d0d0d
Green-Blue
2227 U
sRGB 118 188 202
CMYK 61 2 21 0
HEX 59c7cc
Matte Black
sRGB 2 2 3
CMYK 91 79 62 97
HEX 020203
Mid Grey
419 U
sRGB 91 91 92
CMYK 59 49 47 39
HEX 5b5b5c
Dove Grey
406 U
sRGB 191 189 189
CMYK 28 22 22 3
HEX bfbdbd
Maintaining our trademarks' integrity
Professionalism is communicated through continued excellence. The examples on this page are just a few things to avoid in order to maintain the integrity of our visual identity.
Do not edit, stretch or use the logo in any way other than that which is outlined in this document.
Logo Best (Worst) Practices
Do not change the font within the logo
Do not change the colours within the logo
Do not crop the logo
Do no stretch the logo
Do not use low-res images, or otherwise blur the logo
Do not present the logo on a low-contrast background
Margins
When placing a logo within the collaborative logo file, be sure to size it no larger than the first inner turrets.
Collaborative Materials
Connection
The logos tesselate like foam play mats. Always refer to this image when deciding how to tesselate this asset.
Collaborative Brand Icon
Sizing
To tesselate, we ONLY use the medium-sized logo, and only the asset below. The spacing between the turrets is different on this collaborative logo to how it is on our brand icons.
Brand Colours
Collaborative logo colours always come directly from the brand associated with the tile.
AI File
As it's impossible to keep a record of all our collaborative logos on file, one generic template exists to be adapted to each new brand added to our file.
PNGs and SVGs of the brand's collaborative logo are kept on file.
Specifications
Heading
Do not change the spacing between the characters in our logo. The logo is custom lettered, but based on the Rockwell type family. The 'safe area' around the logo is the same as the spacing between the T and the Brand Icon.
Horizontal Logo - spacing
Do not change the spacing between the characters in our logo. The logo is custom lettered, but based on the Rockwell type family. The 'safe area' around the logo is the same as the spacing between the words.
Grid System
The scaleable system is built on a grid. The black lines are the same width across the three, but the number of 'turrets' is different across each logo.
Alternate Grid System
When using the Collaborative Logo, the grid system changes. This allows the pieces of this system to tesselate perfectly, without any gaps or overlap.
