Typography
Consistent use of typography supports visual cohesion and leverages an emotional resonance with our brand. It’s a powerful way to help people get to know our unique style and increase the impact of our storytelling.
Brand typefaces
Typography is an important part of the college’s visual identity system. When used correctly and consistently, typography unifies the appearance of marketing communications. Below are the PCC brand-approved typographic families, which include a sans serif, slab serif and serif option. The college’s brand fonts were chosen because of their readability, which is key for all audiences.
Helvetica LT Pro (san serif)
We recommend using Helvetica LT Pro for all categories of content, including headlines, subheads, body copy text, pull quotes, footnotes, etc. Of the three brand typefaces, Helvetica is the most accessible font option for print and digital formats.
There are different versions of Helvetica available on various operating systems and applications. If you have access to Helvetica, Helvetica Neue or Helvetica LT Std, those fonts are acceptable and appropriate to use in lieu of Helvetica LT Pro. If you are not trained in graphic design, we suggest using only Helvetica and its provided weights.
The Helvetica font family has a large number of typeface variations. We recommend using the Light, Roman (Normal), Bold, Black and Oblique (Italic) versions in all instances. Please use the Compressed, Condensed and Narrow versions sparingly.
Find this font on Adobe Fonts.
Roboto Slab (slab serif)
We recommend using Roboto Slab sparingly. It can be used for headlines, subheads and pull quotes only. The slab serif style is difficult to read in paragraph form, so we do not recommend using Roboto Slab for large paragraphs of text.
Find this font on Adobe Fonts or Google Fonts.
Merriweather (serif)
We recommend Merriweather only be used for large paragraphs of text, most often in print, like in an annual report, news article, or recommendation letter.
Find this font on Adobe Fonts or Google Fonts.
Font formatting and size suggestions
Typography formatting is essential for readability and communication. The use of size, color and font choice helps differentiate between types of content and information. We recommend the following formatting in digital and print materials.
To copy and paste formatting treatments, and save default styles to your Google Docs account, check out our PCC brand quick formatting guide. (MyPCC login required.)
Headline, subhead, and body copy formatting examples
Brand typography dos and don’ts
far fa check circle Brand typography dos
- Do use our brand fonts dominantly in all forms of communications (web, print, email, video, etc.).
- Do use our slab and serif fonts sparingly.
- Do include plenty of clear space in your layout.
- Do use our brand fonts to maintain accessibility standards. The college’s brand fonts were chosen because of their readability, which is key for all audiences.
far fa times circle Brand typography don’ts
- Do not alter or make changes to PCC’s brand fonts.
- Do not make the slab and serif fonts prominent in your designs.
- Do not use font choice as the only indicator of importance or functionality. We don’t all see content the same way, so it’s key to call out important information by including additional visual cues, like size, weight, placement, or use of an image, symbol or glyph.
- Do not, under any circumstances, use brand fonts as the predominant identifier for an academic program, college initiative, department, campus, or center.
Typography and color palette accessibility
PCC is committed to accessibility. When creating marketing materials, it is important to design with accessibility in mind. Text and background colors should provide sufficient contrast to support readability for all audiences. It’s also important to avoid using color as the only way to differentiate information. For more information about formatting content that meets the college’s accessibility standards, please visit the Creating Accessible Content page.
Please use this chart to determine what PCC brand colors can be used together and what color combinations should be avoided. Download the Color Palette Accessibility Chart.
100% black text on a pure white background provides ample contrast, however some folks struggle to read content with too much contrast. For this reason PCC suggests the use of Rain Gray (HEX #59595) and Glacier White (HEX #FAFAFA). These softer alternatives continue to provide sufficient contrast, while also allowing folks with color sensitivities the ability to absorb information.
