The Tidningskungen
Brand Manual

Colors

Our brands have quite a liberal approach of using colors. With a few exceptions, most colors are allowed. However green is reserved for call-to-action elements and should not be used for anything else.

Call to action

Our CTA elements are green and white. To make these elements stand out, green is only allowed in those kinds of elements. Examples include buttons, checkmarks or other kinds of list bullets. Always strive to keep the amount of CTA elements down to what is needed for the primary aim of each layout.

Signature colors

Our signature colors are blue and red. These are the colors we use when we want to enforce the brand. Such examples could be a partnership banner, our website or an external campaign.

 

Do’s and don’ts

• Do strive for contrast when you combine colors. It is important to make the offers and messages stand out.
• Do choose bright and cheerful colors whenever possible.
• Do use the signature colors when branding is important.

• Don’t use green for anything else than a CTA element.

Example combinations

We allow all kinds of colors and combinations as long as the directions above are applied. If you feel uncertain, the combinations below can be used or seen as an inspiration.

Photos

In an attempt to make our photos appear more consistent, we have separated them into three image classes depending on their use. All image classes might be used together in a single composition, as well as they might be used on their own.

Motives

Motives are the centerpiece of a layout, besides the actual offer or message. They should always be photographed in natural light with a rather soft lighting.

We strive to have hands or other body parts visible in the motives whenever possible, to add a sense of humanity. To avoid attaching a specific persona, we never include faces or full body photos.

Backgrounds

The backgrounds are what sets the tone of the composition and can have a wide range of appearances. It is important to keep it simple without too many disturbing details, and with good contrast to the main motive and message.

Photos of free gifts

The images of the free gifts are something we lack control over since they come from a lot of different sources. To keep some consistency we want the images to be isolated on either transparent or white background. If there is no such image, we try to edit it ourselves. If you really need to use an image of a free gift with a background, consider using it as a motive image instead.

Image effects

We got two custom effects that you can use for the photos. They draw inspiration from our magazine roots. The halftone effect is achieved with an image overlay, while the channel split can be produced with a photoshop script. Use them on compositions of background and a motive images. The filters should never be used on the free gift images.

Do’s and don’ts

• Do use photos with natural light, especially for motive images.
• Do isolate the premium images to a transparent or white background.

• Don’t use images with lots of details and contrast as backgrounds.
• Don’t use the special filters and effects on premium images.

Graphic elements

Besides colors and typography, our graphic elements help to give the brand its expression. Using them right is important for keeping a consistent look and feel.

Headline streamers

The purpose of the headline streamer is to draw attention to the main headline. It can be used in various ways and color settings depending on its context and the content of the headline.

Splashes

Our splashes are simple – a colored circle with the message in TK Sans Narrow Bold. When the message is long, TK Sans Narrow Bold should be contrasted with TK Sans Narrow at a smaller scale. See a few examples below.

Arrows

We got a set of arrows for our calls to action. These can of course be rotated and flipped as needed, but should always be resized proportionally. Use them in any color you want.

Drop shadows

It is usually a good idea to put a drop shadow behind the headline streamer and the splashes. The shadow should have a soft appearance. A starting point could be 3px offset, 10px blur and 50% opacity, though you will of course need to tweak the values yourself to best fit your layout.

TK Dingbats

In addition to the fonts in the Typography section, we got a specially designed dingbat font, TK Dingbat, which contains all the general icons and symbols. Check out this font and try to use its content before adding any custom symbols.

Achieving contrast in the layouts

The core of the Tidningskungen brand has always been great offers. We want to emphasize this in our design language. Our way of doing so is by using contrasting elements. Try to achieve contrast between the elements in more than one way. We do not just combine a rectangular shape with a circle, we also want the rectangle and circle to have contrasting colors as well.

Other examples of contrast might include the color of the foreground and background or to use the handwritten TK Mano Negra in combination with the more strict TK Sans.

Do’s and don’ts

• Do use a headline streamer for the primary headline.
• Do try to put figures rather than long text in the splashes.
• Do use the same font size on all text in the headline streamer.
• Do use the standard symbols and icons in TK Dingbats.

• Don’t put long text in a headline streamer.
• Don’t skew or squeeze the arrow elements.

Checklist

• Does the logotype have enough clearspace?

  It is important to give the logo enough room. See the logotype section for more information.

• Is the logotype placed in the bottom center or lower right section of the layout?

  The logotype should follow our consistent placement directions. See the logotype section for more information.

• Do you use green in any non-CTA elements?

  Green is a reserved color and should only be used in call-to-action elements. See the colors section for more information.

• Do you use the symbols in the TK Dingbats font?

  Checkboxes, icons and other common symbols are collected in a dingbat font. See the graphic elements section for more information.

• Do the text include hyphenations?

  Hyphenation should be avoided due to their legibility issues. See the language section for more information.