Blogs

TO: YWCA Leaders

FROM: YWCA USA Communications

DATE: September 1, 2016

SUBJECT: Important Communications Updates

Dear YWCA Leaders,

We have four more months before our December 31, 2016 goal for coming into full brand compliance. The YWCA USA team is so grateful for all of your hard work and your feedback as you work to implement the new materials. We have been working on this right alongside you and, with your help, have identified a few elements that need to be updated as well as a few new tools. We will update the YWCA Brand Center over the next few weeks, but you can download all of these new and updated materials from Sharefile now.

Persimmon color build: The color build listed in the brand book for Persimmon 172 C is outdated, and as a result, certain print and design materials are mismatched or printing in a lighter color than is appropriate. We have worked with a designer to update the color build as well as all of our brand collateral. All of these updated materials, including an updated brand book and brand elements quick guide, are available on Sharefile now. We will let you know when the Brand Center is fully up-to-date.

Complementary colors for charts and graphs: Persimmon will remain our primary color with cool gray, black, and white as the secondary colors. However, we recognize the need for complementary colors for charts and graphs only. Some local associations, as well as YWCA USA, have attempted to use a range of persimmon tones for charts and graphs, but we find that this weakens the boldness of our color. To help correct this, please use the new color palette available in the updated brand book. Also note, these complementary colors are only for charts and graphs to show data, not for other design purposes.

Small size alternative logo: Our brand guidelines dictate that our logo cannot appear under one inch (otherwise the tagline is unreadable), yet there are sometimes occasions when we need to include our logo on a small graphic (for example: social media avatars or small marketing materials like pens). Therefore, we are releasing a new logo for special use under one inch. This logo is only to be used for small designs and not as a general alternative. Consistent use of our logo is critical to brand recognition and our tagline is an important brand indicator for YWCA.

Social media cover options: To help reflect the diversity of the women you serve, we have included a few other branded cover images featuring a variety of headshots.
MS Word templates for business cards and envelopes: While all of the brand collateral is design-quality and developed using Adobe Creative Suite, we are now including MS Word templates for business cards and envelopes so that they can be easily updated in-office.

MS Word templates for business cards and envelopes: While all of the brand collateral is design-quality and developed using Adobe Creative Suite, we are now including MS Word templates for business cards and envelopes so that they can be easily updated in-office.

We’ve also received a lot of questions about using Adobe Creative Suite. We recognize that some of you have an older version of the program and are unable to open some of the brand materials. The best options are to either upgrade your Adobe programs or send these tasks out to a designer or printer if you’re not able to manage them in-house. However, if this is not a possibility for your YWCA, we will work with you on a case-by-case basis to get specific files reformatted. In addition, you may notice that we have released fewer files formats for graphics and logos. If there is a file format you need, but do not have, please contact communications@ywca.org.

In addition, we are excited to announce that we will release a series of tutorial videos tailored to our brand materials. Look for these tutorial videos in October!

Website Updates

We are pleased to share that in the coming months we will be selecting a new website platform. We recognize that our current platform, Sphere, is missing some of the modern features users expect from a web platform so we are taking the necessary steps of evaluating the market to find a solution that is robust, easy to use and affordable.

We want to select a web platform that best meets your YWCA’s needs. Therefore, your feedback is integral to determining the best solution for our network. Please complete this brief survey about your website needs by September 16, 2016.

In the meantime, YWCAs who are using the new homepage template can use these instructions to feature different headshots on rotation.

Reminder: Model Programs

Don’t forget to submit one of your best programs for consideration as a YWCA Model Program!

Sincerely,

YWCA USA Communications