Grays Harbor College Brand
This page is intended for students, members of the public, and external vendors. GHC employees should refer to the Marketing section of the College’s intranet for the appropriate internal process.
Why is Branding Important?
Cohesive branding for organizations helps to build trust and loyalty by creating a recognizable identity. GHC’s branding helps to differentiate the College, supports marketing efforts, and provides a foundation for growth. The GHC brand identity is a complex set of logos, colors, text elements, mascot, and messages that set us apart from other institutions.
Community support upholding GHC’s brand identity strengthens our brand and presence within the community.
Branding Use Guidelines
Any third party use of the GHC logos or brand identity must have written approval from the director of marketing. Examples of usage would be branded shirts, hats, mugs, stickers, websites, social media pages, print materials, etc.
The following uses are not permitted:
- Any use of the name or logo as a component of an organization's own logo, trademark, or other branding elements.
- Any use of the name or logo for the promotion or advertising of products, services and other activities intended to solicit business for an entity other than Grays Harbor College.
Brand identity includes the College’s name, taglines, all variations of the GHC logo, all variations of the GHC Athletics logos, Charlie Choker’s likeness or images, and the GHC seal.
One of the requirements to receive approval to use any of GHC’s brand identity elements is to follow the GHC brand guidelines, Upon approval to use GHC branding, high quality logo files and brand guidelines including appropriate logo use, colors, and fonts will be provided.
To obtain approval, report unauthorized use of GHC branding, or to ask any questions, please email publicrelations@ghc.edu.
GHC Logo
Logo use is permitted in three colors only – white, black, and GHC’s preferred blue.
There are three allowable versions of the GHC logo – preferred version, vertical, and horizontal.
To ensure the logo is clear and visible, there must be enough space for the capital G of the logo to fit around all sides of the logo.
Minimum size of logo must be 1 inch wide.
Do not distort or edit the GHC logo. If resizing, the logo must remain scaled appropriately.
If the GHC logo is used for online or print materials, the Grays Harbor College non-discrimination statement is legally required to be included. The short form of the statement is acceptable and can be found at www.ghc.edu/non-discrimination.
Once you have received written authorization for logo use, you will be sent high resolution logo files in your requested color(s).
GHC Athletics Logo
The official GHC Athletics logo is an image of Charlie Choker holding a log with ‘CHOKERS’ underneath in a blue banner. The preferred version of the logo has ‘Grays Harbor College’ under the banner.
The text under the blue banner MAY be customized by adding the name of a sport, group, or club. NO other customizations to this logo are permitted.
An alternate athletics logo option is the GH logo, which may be used in lieu of Charlie Choker. This is blue ‘GH’ with a grey border. It may not be altered in any way.
Do not distort the logos. If resizing, the logo must remain scaled appropriately.
Once you have received written authorization for logo use, you will be sent high resolution logo files.
Colors
It is important to use GHC colors if using our brand identity. Logo use is permitted in black, white, or GHC preferred blue only.
TIP: When it is an option for printing, select CMYK values rather than Pantone or RGB, these values tend to print nicer.
A full list of GHC color codes can be sent upon request, once the design has been approved.
Fonts
Lato is GHC’s preferred font for branding and should be used whenever possible. Calibri, Helvetica, and Arial are alternative fonts that may be used instead of Lato.
College Seal
Use of the GHC seal is restricted. You will find it on diplomas and other formal and official documents. It is not available via our website for general use. If you feel your use fits within these parameters, contact the Office of Public Relations at 360-538-4005 or publicrelations@ghc.edu for a digital copy of the art.
Other Guidelines
For any questions regarding the use of college name, taglines, mascot use, or any other elements of GHC’s brand identity not covered, please email publicrelations@ghc.edu.
Process for Approval
To obtain written approval for logo or brand identity use, please email publicrelations@ghc.edu with a brief description of your project and someone will get back to you with next steps. Once your project is approved, we will send you high resolution logo files for project use if requested.
Links
Administrative Procedure 905.01