Puppy Raising Branding Guidelines
Thank you for your ongoing support of GDB. We love that our puppy raisers are helping us build our brand and we want to make sure we all work together to do that in the most consistent and compelling fashion possible.
Topics included on this page:
- Puppy Club Name Guidelines
- Written Style Guidelines
- Apparel and Materials for Media and Public-Facing Events
- Club Logos and Logo Usage
- Design Guidelines, including GDB brand colors and fonts
- Online Channels
Questions?
Contact Guide Dogs for the Blind’s Marketing Department at [email protected] for questions about the branding guidelines.
To keep consistency for all puppy clubs, the names of the clubs follow the same format. Example: Guide Dogs for the Blind – {City} Puppy Raisers. We ask that you follow these guidelines:
- Please always use the full name of the club in writing, online, or when speaking about your club (especially with media opportunities). Please do not shorten to exclude either element of the club name (Guide Dogs for the Blind or the city descriptor). Similarly, please do not shorten the club name to use the acronym GDB in place of the organization’s full name.
- Please use a dash in the name (not a comma, slash, space, or any other character or marker).
It is very important that puppy raising clubs distinguish themselves and their activities (especially fundraising), from that of Guide Dogs for the Blind. As such, we ask you to follow these guidelines:
- When referencing your puppy club, please always use the club’s complete name. Example: Guide Dogs for the Blind - {City} Puppy Raisers.
- When referencing our organization, please always use our complete name on the first mention: Guide Dogs for the Blind. The abbreviated GDB can be used in subsequent mentions. If you abbreviate, use GDB, not Guide Dogs.
- Please capitalize the organization’s name as follows: Guide Dogs for the Blind.
- If you are referring to our wonderful puppies and dogs use lowercase as this is the more general use of the word, not our proper name e.g., guide dogs in training, guide dogs are awesome, GDB guide dogs rock…
We ask that for any media appearances, or participation in any events that are open to the public, puppy raisers wear the puppy raising shirt that is provided to you from GDB, and puppies wear their puppy jacket (see "Puppy's Public "Uniform" in Public Access for more information).
In addition, please only have materials on hand that reflect the current branding as well. That includes signage, banners, pop-up tents, posters, flyers, handouts, etc.
Club Logos and Logo Usage
Club-specific logo example
Generic puppy raiser logo (singular)
Generic puppy raisers logo (plural)
- Each puppy club is provided with two versions of a club-specific logo, as well as two versions of a generic puppy raiser logo (plural and singular) that can be used for items/materials that are not club-specific. Three different digital file types are available for each version of the puppy raising logos: JPG, PNG, and AI. If you need additional sizes or formats, please message [email protected].
- JPG Files: Best all-around file type for most needs.
- PNG Files: For use when a transparent background is needed.
- AI Files: Adobe Illustrator vector file, typically used for commercial printing or production (such as banners, t-shirts, etc.). Note that unless you have the Adobe Illustrator software you will not be able to open these files, but they are generally the preferred file type to provide to graphic designers and commercial project vendors.
- Guide Dogs for the Blind’s corporate logo CANNOT BE USED BY PUPPY CLUBS FOR ANY PURPOSE, including but not limited to: apparel, marketing materials, or online channels (social media accounts, websites, etc.).
- Everything that puppy clubs produce needs to use the puppy raising logos (either your club-specific logo, or one of the generic puppy raising logos). This includes logos on apparel, hard goods (including promotional items or sales items), social media accounts, etc.
- When using the puppy club logos in your materials, we ask that you please adhere to the following:
- The elements of the puppy club logos MAY NOT BE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER, NOR CAN THOSE ELEMENTS BE USED ON THEIR OWN FOR ANY PURPOSE. The person/dog icon and all text must remain together as provided.
- Please do not rearrange or otherwise alter the elements of the logos.
- Please do not reproduce or recreate different versions of the logos, including hand-drawn versions.
- Puppy raising logos must be reproduced in either black or white. Exceptions must be approved by GDB’s Marketing Department
- For any/all club materials or merchandise, please keep ample white space around the puppy raising logo to maximize visual effectiveness. Puppy raising logos should be separate and distinct from other graphic elements in your design, if applicable.
- For apparel, we highly suggest using two imprint areas to ensure that the club logo remains clear and distinct from any other graphic elements.
Design Guidelines
We want puppy clubs to be able to express their own personalities in their materials. We do have a few guidelines to keep in mind:
- Please use your best judgment about product branding. Items should be both relevant and appropriate to represent Guide Dogs for the Blind.
- If you are using photos to produce items, make sure you are using high-resolution images that feature breeds we are currently working with – Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and crosses. Please also be certain that the pups depicted in photos are wearing the most current puppy coats and other approved gear/equipment.
- If you are using graphics or illustrations, we’d prefer that you use realistic artwork – line drawings are ok, but no stick figures. As with photos, images need to accurately include/depict current GDB breeds – Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and crosses.
- When creating new puppy club materials (especially clothing or items intended for sale), please share your designs with us for approval before they get produced. We are excited to see what you come up with. Please send your designs to the GDB Marketing Department at [email protected].
- A puppy raising logo should appear on all puppy raising merchandise or materials in at least one location.
GDB Brand Colors
Puppy clubs are welcome to incorporate GDB's brand color palette into their club’s materials.
For apparel, clubs ARE NOT limited to this color palette – you can choose any color in the rainbow for your club shirts, or any apparel/sales items.
The brand color codes are as follows:
Raspberry
Pantone 206 U
CMYK 0 100 52 13
RGB 210 14 78
HEX #d20e4e
Orange
Pantone 144 U
CMYK 0 62 100 0
RGB 245 126 32
HEX #f57e20
Yellow
Pantone 7549 U
CMYK 0 35 99 0
RGB 252 175 26
HEX #fcaf1a
Blue
Pantone 312 U
CMYK 100 0 8 0
RGB 0 173 224
HEX #00ade0
Green*
Pantone 354 U
CMYK 100 0 92 0
RGB 0 166 90
HEX #00a65a
Black
HEX #000000
White
HEX #FFFFFF
*Please note that the green color in the palette is what we use most in relation to puppy raising, and you are welcome to do the same.
GDB Brand Fonts
The following are the fonts used in GDB’s corporate brand that puppy clubs are welcome to incorporate in their club materials.
- Main font: Gotham. Note that Gotham is not a font that is widely available, and any materials that you design using the font will likely not display correctly when shared digitally, depending on file type and how/where it is shared (examples include Powerpoint or Word files). Using a secondary, widely available font (listed below) is acceptable and encouraged to avoid improper font display.
- Secondary font: Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica (widely available on most computer operating systems).
Online Channels
Email Addresses
It is our recommendation that puppy clubs create new email addresses that reflect their club names, and we suggest that you use gmail as a free, easy way to create an account. We ask that all new club email addresses use the following naming convention: gdb{city}[email protected]
Websites
Puppy raisers and puppy raising clubs should not develop or maintain independent websites. Please focus any online efforts on Facebook instead.
Social Media
Social Media provides a place where the puppy club branding and representation of GDB’s overall brand and mission can be cohesive and unified. Maintaining puppy raising club accounts also assists with overall awareness of our mission, volunteer recruitment, and online search engine optimization for GDB.
In order to keep club profiles consistent, please use the following naming convention for social media channels:
- Name- "GDB {City} Puppy Raisers"
- Profile Photo- Please use the GDB Puppy Raiser logo against the green background as your profile image.
- About - Guide Dogs for the Blind – [Insert your club City, State] Puppy Raisers are proud to raise guide dog puppies for the largest guide dog school in North America.
- Website - guidedogs.com
- Name - “@GDB{City}PuppyRaisers”
- Profile Photo - Please use the GDB Puppy Raiser logo against the green background as your profile image.
- Bio - please add the following, customizing the location: Volunteer puppy raising club for @gdb_official located in {City, STATE}."
- Website URL – guidedogs.com.
Other Platforms
If you’re interested in creating a Puppy Raising Club account on other social media channels, we encourage you to reach out to the Marketing team to discuss any additional standards or guidelines for profiles.
Guide Dogs for the Blind Puppy Raising Guidebook, all rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use Guidelines to utilize the contents within.