Cornell Law School Visual Style Guide

Style
GUIDE

Introduction
Our visual style is a key part
of the power we have to effectively
communicate who we are.
Elements of our visual style: our logo, colors, typefaces,
graphics, photographs and they way in which they are used,
become the face we show the world. Utilizing these elements
in a high quality way (both from an aesthetic and production
standpoint) reinforces to the viewer our standards and
professionalism. Presenting them in a consistent way builds
our personality and recognizability.
Our goal is to present an appealing style that both describes
and distinguishes us—that represents Cornell Law School’s
traditional roots and its contemporary, forward-thinking
edge as well.
This style guide outline the basic visual building blocks we
use—our visual elements—and also show examples of how
these elements come together in our communications.
Cornell Law School style guide | our visual elements | 2
CONTENTS
our visual elements
Our Signature 3-4
Our Font Palette 5
Our Color Palette 6
Our Secondary Graphics 7
Our Photography Style 8
Our Illustration Style 9
how we put it together
Gallery of Examples 10-17

Our Signature
OUR INSPIRATION
OUR OFFICIAL SIGNATURE
Our official signature combines the
Cornell University insignia and type with
the law school’s tagline.
The signature must always be used as
shown. Do not make any alterations.
Andrew D. White, Founder of Cornell Law School in 1887 said:
Cornell Law School style guide | our visual elements | 3
“Our aim should be to keep its instruction strong,
its standards, high, and so to send out a fair
number of well-trained, large-minded, morallybased
lawyers in the best sense.”

Our Signature
SIGNATURE COLORS
The only colors acceptable for the
signature are:
n black with PMS 187 red
only in the breakdown shown
n all PMS 187 red
n all black
n all white
SIMPLE VERSION
If the signature will be used at a small size, or will be printed in a technique
that might result in filling-in (such as silkscreen or foil stamping) use the
official “simple” version, where the detail has been simplified in the insignia.
The simple signature may be used in all the colors listed above.
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Our Font Palette
MAIN FONTS
The Palatino and Fruitger typeface families (above) offer classic forms
beyond trend, an appealing contrast when paired together, and a high
degree of usefulness with multiple weights and styles.
ACCENT FONTS
Cornell Law School style guide | our visual elements | 5
AaAa
Palatino Small Caps Palatino Bold
Frutiger 45 Light
Frutiger 75 Black
Palatino Light
Palatino Bold Italic
Frutiger 46 Light Italic Frutiger 76 Black Italic
Palatino Light Italic
Palatino Black
Frutiger 55 Roman Frutiger 95 Ultra Black
Palatino Roman
Palatino Black Italic
Frutiger 56 Roman Italic
Palatino Roman Italic
Frutiger 65 Bold
Palatino Medium
Frutiger 66 Bold Italic
Palatino Medium Italic
Celestia and Voluta (right) can be used occasionally and sparingly to offer
antiqued texture or stylistic emphasis.
AaAa
Celestia Voluta

Our Color Palette
MAIN COLORS
A useful palette of neutral and brighter
hues designed to work well with Cornell
red and each other. Use consistently by
specifying their inks or ink builds through
the Pantone system.
COLORS CLOSE IN RANGE
These colors may also be adjusted for needed contrast by
proportionally lightening or darkening CMYK or RGB values, or by
using colors occurring on the same Pantone sheet, which results
in more options that maintain the basic hue and saturation.
PMS 187
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PMS 7528
PMS 7503
PMS 7531
PMS 158
PMS 458
PMS 7458
PMS 5473
PMS 159
PMS 384
PMS 542
PMS 5473
PMS 188
PMS 582
PMS 7455
PMS 462

Our Secondary Graphics
PEACE TOWER
A contemporary rendering of the
law school’s tower can be used as
main art or a small graphic accent
on many communications. The
tower is a symbol of solidity and
tradition, but also aspiration. The
graphic can distinguish our school
from others on campus and evoke
nostalgia to alumni.
STRIPES
Stripe patterns made from our
color palette evoke an Ivy League
feel and add vibrancy to communications
whether used in a small
strip or larger panel.
LAURELS
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We have created these secondary graphics to be another design tool, easily and economically used to help distinguish and style communications
and build our visual personality.
Another graphic used by the law
school is a contemporary rendering
of the classic symbol of higher
learning and achievement: laurels.
Our laurels can be made into a
tonal pattern as shown in the
border above, as whimsical sprigs
of upward growth or classic text
ornament.
STONEWORK
A contemporary pattern inspired
by the distinctive stonework on
our buildings can be used as
background or accent graphics.

Our Photography Style
The photography style we use is positive in
mood and straight-forward and natural in
style, such as shown in these examples (right).
We use stock photography for some projects,
such as a still life to illustrate a conceptual
meaning, or of scenery outside of Ithaca. But
we never use stock photography to represent
people at Cornell.
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Our Illustration Style
Classic, engraving-style illustrations are
also part of our style. We have commissioned
a small but growing collection
(right) of these iconic illustrations for use in
our communications when appropriate.
We also suppliment these with the use of
antique engravings (examples below) found
in stock art books or stock agencies.
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Gallery of Examples
HOW WE PUT IT TOGETHER
BN_Cornell_Schwab_BC.ai 3/7/08 11:37:18 AM
The following pages show actual Cornell Law School projects.
Notice how our visual elements (signature, fonts, colors and
graphic and photographic art) are used again and again across
our communications to create a consistent personality. And even
as they use the same basic elements, great variety is still possible
—for example to express distinction between events or to
illustrate a specific concept for an article.
BN_Cornell_Schwab_BC.ai 3/7/08 3:36:35 PM
Cornell Law School style guide | how we put it together | 10
www.lawschool.cornell.edu
Cornell Law School Directory 2006 ~ 2007

Gallery of Examples
On general items for the law school,
the Cornell red is prominent, with other
colors from the palette as accent.
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The cover (right) uses an accent
font in a the subtle tone-on-tone
treatment.
“Our aim should be to keep
its instruction strong,
its standards high, and so
to send out a fair number
W E I N V I T E Y O U T O B E C O M E
of well-trained, large-
A L A W Y E R I N T H E B E S T S E N S E
minded, morally based
lawyers in the best sense.”
~ A. D. White, Cornell University’s �rst President

Gallery of Examples
B E R G E R I N T E R N A T I O N A L S P E A K E R S E R I E S
www.lawschool.cornell.edu
” CHICKENS AND JONGWE COME
HOME TO ROOST: ZIMBABWE'S
CURRENT REALITIES AND THEIR
HISTORICAL ROOTS”
R E G I N A L D A U S T I N
Professor, University College London
Reginald Austin, a citizen of Zimbabwe, has practiced law there since
1959. Educated at the University of Capetown (B.A., LL.B.) and
University College London (LL.M.), he has taught at University College
London, the University of Zimbabwe (where he was the dean of the law
faculty from 1982--1992), and various visiting professorships. He has
held many consultancies with the UN, the ILO, UNESCO, and the World
Council of Churches, in the fields of democratic governance, and
peacekeeping/elections. He has been responsible for directing and
implementing elections in the Solomon Islands (2005-06), Afghanistan
(2003-04), South Africa (1994), Cambodia (1992-93) and Zimbabwe (1982-88).
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 4:15pm
Room 227
Working with our established visual elements makes creating frequently needed
basic communications fast and easy.
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Gallery of Examples
Even editorial design for Forum magazine makes use of our fonts, colors and graphics in its basic
structure, along with specific conceptual illustration and photography to illustrate articles.
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Gallery of Examples
Examples of our online communications expressing
the law school personality.
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Gallery of Examples
The two examples here show how
secondary graphics can be incorporated
into event-specific concepts: with the
laurels becoming multi-colored for
diversity and the stripes becoming part
of a medal for awards for public service.
The banners use type, color and
secondary graphics in combination
with subject-specific photography.
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Gallery of Examples
Cornell Law School style guide | how we put it together | 16
This notecard series, poster, magazine advertisement all use our illustration style of engravings, both those created
for us and from found sources.

Gallery of Examples
Here the visual elements are used in a similar way across a series
of program-specific brochures (above). Extra secondary graphics
were created for two of these programs (left and center) and used
in a similar way to the laurels (far right).
Using different colors from the palette for each postcard within a
direct-mail series (right) creates variety.
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