KCC branding guidelines - Kent County Council

KCC branding guidelines 

One council 

One brand 

This document provides brand guidelines for all KCC communication activity, 

including print, online and digital media.

Contents 

Part A 

The KCC brand 

Part B 

The KCC logo and our 

visual identity 

Part C 

Design, templates and 

standards 

Part D - Co-branding 

Part E - Appendix 

Why is branding important? 4 

KCC use of the brand 5 

Our values 6 

Our brand principles 6 

Who should use it? 7 

Who should not? 7 

Contact information 8 

Our logo 10 

Endorsements 13 

Our typefaces 14 

Colour palette 15 

Stationery 17 

Email signatures 18 

Addresses 18 

PowerPoint 19 

Co-branding 21 

Producing new brands 24 

2

The KCC Brand 

Part A

Why is branding important? 

4 


Our brand is everything we stand for. It is one of our most valuable assets, recognised and trusted countywide as a council that performs excellently. 

The Local Government Improvement and Development Agency suggest: 

“A strong brand for council services is essential to improve satisfaction, build relationships and trust with local people, and help people understand what 

the council tax pays for. And crucially, the formal expression of the brand should match customers’ actual experience of the council.” 

For the purposes of this document, when we refer to ‘brand’, we include: 

1 our values and beliefs - this should form the foundation of everything we do 

1 our corporate identity - the visualisation of our brand (our logo, colours, design, etc) 

Consistent use of our brand will help the public make a clear association between the money they pay in council tax and the many council services they receive 

in return. 

By following these guidelines we can develop a strong, consistent brand we can be proud of. If you are using external contractors or designers, it is your 

responsibility to make sure they have a copy of these guidelines and apply them correctly. 

Any infringement of these guidelines will be raised formally and addressed by Corporate Management Team.

KCC use of the brand 

All services provided by, or on behalf of, Kent County Council 

must use the KCC brand 

Consistent use of our identity will: 

1 unite us as one organisation 

1 strengthen our brand 

1 help the public make a clear association between the money they pay in 

council tax and the many council services they receive in return. 

In the past, we have been too quick to devalue the KCC brand by 

producing new identities for services, directorates, projects and 

partnerships. This weakens our brand and must be avoided. 

Some of the examples used throughout this guide exist as a result of our 

previous approach to branding and will continue. However, new logos will 

not be permitted unless there is an appropriate business case for their 

production - this must be approved by the communications team. 

See appendix 1 for information on creating new brands. 

5 

One council? 

The KCC brand

Our values 

Our organisational values are currently being developed by Human 

Resources. 

6 

Our brand principles 

Organisations that use the Kent County Council (KCC) brand must: 

1 share values in line with those of KCC (see opposite) 

1 not bring the council or its brand into disrepute 

1 be politically impartial in their communications at all times 

1 use KCC’s corporate identity only as set out in this guide 

1 maintain high quality standards of production 

1 have prior written consent (see page 8 for contact details) 

We will consider all requests which are consistent with our reputation and 

values, and contribute towards delivering the three ambitions set out in 

our medium-term plan, Bold Steps for Kent: 

1 To help the Kent economy grow 

1 To put the citizen in control 

1 To tackle disadvantage 


Who should use it? 

The general rule is: 

Use of the KCC brand is restricted to council services provided by, 

or on behalf of, Kent County Council 

Examples of this include libraries, care providers and road repair crews. 

However, there are some important exceptions. It is reasonable for the 

following to use the KCC logo: 

1 Organisations, projects or initiatives to which we have given funding, 

grants or resources (see page 21 co-branding and endorsements). 

1 Charities that KCC formally 1 supports. 

Organisations using the logo must agree to abide by the branding 

principles on page 4. 

Exception 

Schools are not required to use the KCC brand as they are self-managed 

institutions accountable to governing bodies. 

7 

Who should not? 


Organisations that are providing a service to KCC (for example, 

construction firms, design agencies, training houses) must not use the 

KCC logo, except where it is used on hoardings around developers’ sites, 

when it must only be used in accordance with these guidelines. 

Action will be taken against any organisations using the KCC logo 

inappropriately to gain an unfair competitive advantage. 

1 There are two types of charity categories: formal and informal support. Formal support includes those charities to which KCC provides direct financial support and partnerships agreed by 

Members (e.g. Kent Children’s Trust, Help Fund, AgeConcern and Home Start). Informal support is where no direct KCC funding or financial support is given (e.g. Macmillan Cancer Research, 

Comic Relief, and Remembrance Day).

Contact information 

Getting our branding right is important, so we are always happy to help. If you have any questions, please contact the communications team. 

Mike Harris 

Kent County Council 

County Hall 

Sessions House 

Maidstone 

Kent 

ME14 1XQ 

Call: 01622 696059 

Email: branding@kent.gov.uk 

8 


The KCC logo and our 

visual identity 

Part B

Our logo 

There is only one Kent County Council, and there is only one Kent 

County Council logo. The original artwork for the logo must always be 

used and applied in accordance with the guidelines. The artwork is 

available from the communications team (see page 8 for contact details). 

The logo consists of: 

1 the background block of red or black 

1 the horse 

1 the words Kent County Council 

1 the line. 

For websites, only the red version should be used. 

The black and white version of the logo should 

only be used where colour printing is not available. 

Logo colour 

In partnership publications only, where colour choice excludes Pantone 

185, and where black would be inappropriate (e.g. where a column of 

sponsors’ logos are all reversed out of blue), it is acceptable for the KCC 

logo to be reversed out of any dark colour (as long as it is clearly visible, 

and no other image or text encroaches). 

10 

The KCC logo and our visual identity 

Outside of this guide and unless directed by the communications team, the 

logo should not be: 

1 recreated from scratch 

1 distorted 

1 stretched 

1 dismantled 

1 added to 

1 tampered with. 

The horse, words and line are always reversed-out of the coloured block 

(white on black or red). Under no circumstances are they to be presented 

in any colour other than white.

Exclusion zone 

The logo stands alone. There should be no encroachment from text or 

other images, except where specified on page 13. 

An exclusion zone or ‘clear space’ should be maintained around the logo 

to make it stand out and improve its impact. 

A4 or bigger 

A5 or smaller 

(and online) 

5mm 

10mm 

5mm 

5mm 

10mm 

10mm 

10mm 

5mm 

11 

Logo size 

To make sure the logo is 

always legible, it should be 

20mm in height or bigger 

at all times. 

Minimum sizes for the 

KCC logo in different 

sized publications are 

shown opposite. 


A6/A5 1 /3A4 

20mm 

A4 

25mm 

A3 

35mm 

A2 

45 

mm

Positioning 

The logo should appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the page, 

wherever possible. This may not be possible on all occasions. For example, 

on websites and display stands. In these situations, please contact the 

communications team (see page 8). 

12 


Publication title

Endorsements 

There will also be times when KCC is asked to endorse campaigns, 

projects or organisations. It is important the relationship between KCC 

and the organisation using the logo is clear. 

For this reason, we have produced a set of endorsement logos which must 

be used. 

Funded by… for all projects or initiatives paid for 

in full by KCC 

Co-funded by… for all projects or initiatives with equal financial 

contribution from all partners 

Supported by… where KCC has provided resources (e.g. staff time) 

or partial funding to projects or initiatives 

Sponsored by… for all projects or initiatives given financial support 

from KCC, but not organised by KCC, in return for 

in kind support (e.g. advertising) 

In partnership with… where KCC has entered into a partnership 

agreement for projects or initiatives where KCC is 

not the lead organisation, but has contributed either 

finances or resources 

Approved provider… for organisations who are contractually obliged to 

provide services to members of the public on behalf 

of KCC 

13 

Funded by Co-funded by 

Supported by Sponsored by 

In partnership with 


Approved provider

Our typefaces 

All KCC communications - publications, letters, websites - must use one of two agreed typefaces: Arial and GillSans. 

The fonts must be used at size 12 or larger. 

Arial 

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 

Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 


abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 


abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Arial should be used for all online materials and general 

communication activity such as letter writing and email. 

14 

GillSans 



ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 





GillSans is our preferred font for printed publications. Arial may 

also be used.

Colour palette 


We have our own unique colour palette. Consistent use of this colour palette helps make our identity easily recognisable. No other colours should be used 

unless agreed by the communications team. 

All KCC communications - publications, letters, websites - must use the following colour palette: 

KCC Red - Pantone 185 C 

C - 0 

M - 100 

Y - 100 

K - 0 

White 

Black 

15 

KCC Grey - Pantone Cool Grey 9 C 

C - 0 

M - 0 

Y - 0 

K - 50 

KCC Grey - Pantone 422 C 

C - 0 

M - 0 

Y - 0 

K - 30

Part C 

Design, Templates and Standards

Stationery 

Standard corporate stationery should be ordered by contacting County 

Print on 01622 605368. Under no circumstances should other corporate 

materials be produced, or other stationery be used. Corporate stationery 

should not be amended in any way. 

Letterheads 

17 

Compliment 

slips 

Business cards 

Merchandise 

Design templates and standards 

For all merchandise – lanyards, clothing, mouse mats – that will use the 

KCC logo, please contact the communications team (see page 8 for 

contact details).

Email signatures 

The purpose of your email signature is to provide clear contact 

information. The easiest way to make this information clear across the 

council is to make it consistent. 

Signature layout example 

Name 

Job title 

Team or department 


Internal: XXXX XXXX 

External: 01XXX XXXXXX 

Mobile: 07XXX XXXXXX 

www.kent.gov.uk/yourwebpage 

This example is clear, concise and easy to read. It should be used as a basis 

for all KCC email signatures. 

Guidelines 

Here are some guidelines for setting up your email signature. 

Use: black, size 12, Arial font 

Avoid: italics, varied colours, artwork and pictures 

18 

Addresses 

When communicating with the public and partners, it is important we are 

consistent. For that reason, please use the KCC standard address layout. 

Name 

Job title 

Team or department 


Address 

Telephone 

Email 

Web address 

Design templates and standards

PowerPoint 

We have created a template that you should use when producing your 

PowerPoint presentations to make sure we are using the brand 

consistently and professionally. This is available on KNet. 

19 

Design templates and standards

Co-branding 

Part D


KCC often works in partnership with other organisations. In these 

instances, KCC and our partners must be credited fairly and appropriately. 

Our approach to partnerships can be categorised in two ways: partnership 

organisations and partnership working. 

Partnership organisations 

This is where KCC comes together with partners to create an 

‘organisation’ or entity. For example, Gateway. 

In this situation, it is reasonable that this new organisation may require a 

unique brand, but it is not always essential. This must be approved by 

KCC’s communications team (see page 8). 

21 

Partnership working 


KCC also works with partners on projects or initiatives. For example, 

district councils producing the council tax leaflets. In this situation, the 

KCC logo should be used along with the logos of participating partners 2 . 

The relationship between partners should be clearly defined by the 

branding. Below are three approaches to partnership working and how 

branding should be applied. 

KCC lead: KCC brand guidelines should be followed, while 

including partner logos appropriately (see below) 

Joint partnership: a single design should be agreed (accounting for 

accessibility) while including all partner logos equally 

Third party lead: lead organisation’s branding should be used, while 

including the KCC logo 

Other logo Other logo 

2 No more than 5 logos should be used on a front cover. If there are many supporting organisations, these should be included as a list elsewhere, preferably the back or inside front cover.

For guidance on when you should use the KCC logo in partnership situations, see the Partnership branding flow chart below. 

Partnership flow chart 

22 

Co-branding

Appendix 

Part E

Producing new brands 

We are one council. Therefore, the creation of new brands for services, 

teams, projects, campaigns and initiatives is not permitted, unless a business 

case is presented to, and agreed by, the communications team. See page 21 

for partnership exceptions. 

Campaigns, projects and initiatives 

These must follow KCC’s brand guidelines unless otherwise directed or 

agreed by the communications team. 

Team/service branding 

Teams/services are only permitted to create and use their own brand if it 

is essential to remain externally competitive in a commercial market and 

where generating income is a key strategic objective. 

However, these brands must not be used internally. 

For example, Adult Education, Commercial Services and A Kentish 

Ceremony are all examples of KCC services that are competing in a 

commercially-driven external environment where competitive edge can be 

gained through the development of a strong, unique brand. 

24 

While these services are permitted to use a unique brand, this must be 

accompanied by the KCC logo. This must be applied as set out in our 

partnership guidelines on page 21. 

All other services (such as those below) must use only the KCC identity 

as set out in this guide. 

Teams, services and internal groups (such as those below) are not 

permitted to create new, or use existing, logos for internal use. 

Appendix

25 

KCC branding guidelines 

This document is available in alternative formats and can be explained in a range of languages. 

For details please call 01622 694044.

KCC branding guidelines - Kent County Council

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