South Bend Design & Branding Updates
Updating City branding guidelines and making it easier for City staff to use them
As the Design Specialist for the City’s Department of Innovation &Technology, I lead many projects that make city communications and products more usable, accessible and beautiful for our residents. In 2023, I gave the City’s Design Guide a big update.
For the sake of collaboration and transparency, I’m going to share more about this project and my process in this blog post. Read on to learn more!
Local government peers, if you have any questions about this project or want to learn more, please email businessanalytics@southbendin.gov
The Plan
I started scoping this project in more detail with these two goals in mind. These goals and activities were informed by the needs of my colleagues across City teams.
⭐ Goal #1: Update design materials to be more relevant for current use
- Action #1 — Update the heading font to a more accessible font because the current font is in all caps and difficult to read
- Action #2 — Add supporting colors to the primary brand colors because the previous guide does not have consistent supporting colors
- Action #3 — Develop additional templates because some current use cases are not covered by available templates
⭐ Goal #2: Make it easier for all City staff to find design materials
- Action #1 — Upload all materials to citywide SharePoint site because a citywide repository of branding/design assets doesn’t exist
- Action #2 — Push colors, fonts, and templates to City staff’s Microsoft environments because it can be slower to access external documents for this information
- Action #3 — Send citywide email with link to the new folder of materials because City staff don’t regularly visit the SharePoint site
- Action #4 — Hold meetings with all City staff to introduce updated materials because staff may still have questions
Iterating — Developing drafts. Getting feedback. Making updates. Repeat!
Developing Drafts
I decided to start with updating the 2018 City branding guidelines because updating the guidelines would meet 2 of the 3 major updates I planned for. I developed the new guidelines in Figma. Then I started developing various templates (the last primary update), some editable in PowerPoint, for things like business cards and logo lockups.
Here’s how I ensured my design decisions aligned with ⭐ Goal #1: Update design materials to be more relevant for current use.
Action #1 — Update the heading font to a more accessible font
The 2018 branding guidelines direct Baskerville URW in all caps as a heading font. The main City website, Southbendin.gov, uses a different heading font — Saira Extra Condensed.
Using all capital letters can be more difficult to read. Numerous sources corroborate this, including the federal government’s design system for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (learn more on the CMS Design System website).
I chose Merriweather because it’s suggested as a heading font by the federal U.S. Web Design System (USWDS). It’s also designed for on-screen reading and text-dense design. Learn more about typography on the USWDS website.
Action #2 — Add supporting colors to the primary brand colors
Most of the City branding guidelines I researched online outlined supporting colors for their primary colors. For example, see the City of Boston’s branding guidelines on their website. Outlining specific supporting colors to use reduces decision fatigue and improves City branding consistency when supporting colors are needed.
I tested a couple ways to select supporting colors (mostly online generators and Figma community plugins). However, because the City mostly uses Microsoft products, I also wanted to make City colors and fonts accessible to everyone in their Microsoft environment.
Because I prioritized accessing colors in the Microsoft environment, I decided to select supporting colors based on the color palette generated by Microsoft.
Action #3 — Develop additional templates
I developed or updated templates based on what was available from the previous branding guidelines push. My final list of templates included:
- Microsoft Word files — Letterheads, Memos
- Microsoft PowerPoint files — City seal lockups, Business cards, Reports
- SVG/Image files — City flag, City seal
- Microsoft templates — Link to duplicatable Microsoft Forms, colors and fonts .xml files, .thmx theme file, .potx PowerPoint presentation theme, .json PowerBI theme
You’ll notice most of these templates are in Microsoft because I wanted these materials to be accessible to all City staff, regardless of if they’re a designer or not.
Across a variety of roles, staff are often asked to develop internal- or public-facing materials, whether it’s a poster or a memo. Microsoft programs will often be the easiest and most accessible tool to start in.
Getting feedback
As I’m developing these materials, I’m getting feedback in a variety of ways. For example, a coworker in the Department of Innovation & Technology mentioned having difficulty with using the PowerPoint template because it wasn’t directly installed in their Microsoft environment. I also asked for feedback from City website content editors in our Teams group.
This is what I learned from City staff:
- City staff, especially new staff, don’t know that design materials exist until a coworker sends them the direct files or direct them to an internal, team-based folder.
- Some programs we use, such as Microsoft Forms, don’t have standard templates, even though various programs has increased over the years.
- Organizational design governance isn’t centralized from one team, leading to inconsistent use of the branding guidelines.
Making updates
I started developing additional templates from this feedback, including forms in Microsoft Forms and business cards. There wasn’t a lot of feedback on the content of the templates or guides themselves.
These observations were also extremely helpful in developing a plan to encourage people to use these materials. I determined that the primary challenges to implementing the 2018 branding guidelines were probably lack of awareness and lack of centralized design governance.
Implementing — Providing guidance and resources rather than strict policy
Rather than enacting strict policy, I chose a more flexible approach to encourage City staff to use the updated materials. I developed these primary actions to meet ⭐ Goal #2: Make it easier for all City staff to find design materials:
Making materials accessible
I had access to all past materials from 2018 in an internal team-based folder, but other staff did not.
Action #1 — Upload all materials to citywide SharePoint site
Uploading the new materials to a citywide SharePoint site meant we wouldn’t have to worry about permissions and access for staff to access materials.
We could also start directing staff to the folder when we get questions.
Action #2 — Push colors, fonts, and templates to City staff’s Microsoft environments
We also wanted the Microsoft-centric materials to be available directly in programs teams use daily (Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.).
I worked with a coworker on the IT Services team to learn how to do this. The coworker was able to deploy the themes and templates through a Microsoft Group Policy Object (GPO). Learn more about Microsoft GPOs in Microsoft’s documentation.
Communicating materials
The next step after setting up City staff’s access to materials was communication.
Action #3 — Send citywide email with link to the new folder of materials
Citywide communications primarily occur through email, so I sent an email to a Microsoft distribution list that contains all City staff emails.
I received around 5 direct responses. 4 people signed up for the demo meeting via the Teams registration link.
Action #4 — Hold meetings with all City staff to introduce updated materials
During the meetings, staff provided additional suggestions for materials, like standard Outlook email signatures that contain the updated City seal. Staff response has mostly been positive!
Retrospective — Highs and lows
Highs
After this project, I have a better understanding of the different types of design needs across the City. These needs are now documented for everyone to access too.
Lows
City staff are still using the older materials after I communicated a link to the new materials.
The next challenge to tackle will be nudging City staff to use the updated materials. The Department of Innovation & Technology staff could help ease this transition by providing the link to updated materials to City staff every time I&T staff see older materials used.
