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Communications and Marketing

Public Relations - News/Events - Publications - Photo Services - Web and Graphics - Marketing

Read These First

Graphic Identity Reference Guide (PDF)

Printing & Graphic Services for downloadable university print logos

Recommendations for online usage of logos and graphics

Logos and graphics for use online are different than those for use in print. Making online graphics look good mostly involves "anti-aliasing," which is how Web people describe making the edges of graphics appear smooth against a background. There are several different ways of achieving this goal.

For example, some people prefer to create a graphic with the background color as part of the graphic. This is fine when you have a complex background (fades, textures, patterns), but when the background is a solid color it is generally better to use a transparent background, "matte" the graphic for the background and then create the actual background separately. Matting creates a "halo" around the graphic that helps it blend seamlessly with a given background.

All of these files have transparent backgrounds, so you will need to create the background separately. The preferred way to do this is via CSS. If you are not familiar with CSS and your job requires you to maintain a Boise State Web site, sign up for a university web workshop without delay.

Please observe the following guidelines:

  1. The logos available below are for online use only. They must not be used for print. If you require logos for print use, you can obtain them from Printing & Graphic Services.
  2. You must follow the general logo usage guidelines available on the Printing and Graphic Services Web site.
  3. You can't resize these logos (of course you can, but they'll look bad and reflect poorly on your work).
  4. If you need a specific logo at a specific size (or on a specific background) send a request to jeremyspeer@boisestate.edu or call ext. 6-1597 and we can create what you need.

Lastly, you may ask, "if the background is transparent, why is it called 'white on blue,' etc.?" The logos are named based on the background color on which they are intended to be placed. Remember the above mention about "matting?" Here is an example of how not to use a graphic with a transparent background:

Bad Matting Example

The above graphic was intended to be placed on an orange background.

Here is the same logo on the intended background.

Better Example


 

Example LogoIf you would like a horizontal white logo on blue (like the example at left), you should right-click here (mac users who do not yet have a "mighty mouse" can control-click) and save the linked file to your desktop (or wherever) and then incorporate it into your page. Why can't you just take the example graphic and be done? Well, you can, but consider for a moment how the graphic will be used. Will the graphic be at the top of a blue column? Will that blue column be created by a graphic (tiled along the y-coordinate), or will it be created by a style that instructs the browser to render the background as blue (#0b1966 to be exact)? How will you be sure there is no seam where the logo and the background meet? It's better to have a seamless background and then place a logo with a transparent background on top of that "lower" background. This concept is the same for all the files listed below.

Horzontal Blue on White Horizontal blue logo on white.

vertical white on blueVertical white logo on blue.

Vertical Blue on WhiteVertical blue logo on white.