Brand Refresh

  • Logo refinements: Redrawing of the official logo, single-color logo and grayscale logos to enhance clarity and ensure consistency across variations and vectorized versions.

  • Office and department logos: Standardize logo and text lockup designs for all NSF offices, directorates and programs.

  • Custom iconography: Created an extensive custom-illustrated, brand-aligned icon library to meet broad communication and design flexibility needs.

  • Refreshed and expanded color palette: Streamlined NSF's primary color palette and added a secondary color palette to provide consistency and flexibility in design and brand application.

  • Streamlined brand typefaces: Discontinued use of a licensed font and provided guidance on new brand typefaces with large font families.

  • Comprehensive brand manual: Produced an extensive manual to provide brand application guidance to both internal and external users of the NSF, including processes for use permissions, waivers, 508 compliance, and more.

As the visual team lead for NSF, I was charged with auditing, expanding, and strengthening the NSF brand. We conducted surveys of internal and external communities, refined and expanded the NSF logo and visual identity, developed and implemented a brand policy, and produced comprehensive brand resources and education materials.

Policy Goals

  • Solidify existing guidance: Translate existing guidelines for brand use into an official agency policy.

  • Communicate brand application requirements: Clarify and expand logo use expectations for internal and external communicators and provide detailed information for specific stakeholder audiences.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams: Engage with colleagues in the Office of the Director, Awards Management, and Research offices to ensure policy guidance was streamlined, consistent, and appropriate.

  • Add flexibility for evolving brand needs and priorities: Develop solidified policy language with reference to separate application guidelines through the NSF Brand Standards Manual as a living document that is updated as appropriate to add resources, clarification, and updated standards.

  • Strengthen brand application, integrity, and recognition: Using official agency policy to enhance alignment with NSF brand standards and improve use and consistency of the NSF brand in communications.

Outreach Efforts

  • Training and presentations: Conducted seminars, information sessions, recorded webinars, office hours and tailored small group training session.

  • Fact sheets and guides: Produced targeted guides including policy fact sheets, FAQs, brand application quick start quides, branded merchandise guides, and more.

  • Templates: Developed a broad range of templates for use by internal and external communicators, including letterhead, business cards, presentation slides, fact sheets, and digital graphics.

  • NSF Brand Identity Portal: Created a one-stop-shop for brand assets and resources that can be accessed by internal and external users.

  • Surveys: Conducted surveys with internal and external communities to gauge understanding, use and perceptions of the NSF brand and guidelines.

  • Continued development: Produced reports evaluating successes, challenges and future opportunities for the brand initiative.

Initiative Impacts

  • Established positive relationships with NSF award recipients who seek continuing guidance and input from NSF Brand Management.

  • Enhanced collaboration with cross-functional communicators across the agency.

  • The NSF Brand Outreach Showcase on January 10, 2024, provided an interactive experience with staff that showcased how a cohesive brand presence strengthens the integrity of agency.

  • NSF Brand Management's presence at the 2024 NSF Research Infrastructure Workshop encouraged in-person conversations with partners regarding challenges, paths forward and how to mitigate sensitivities/safety concerns in research communities while acknowledging NSF.

  • Established a strong working relationship with the NSF Office of General Counsel to consult on legal and endorsement concerns regarding use of the NSF logo by partners and others.

  • Increased NSF recognition in the naming conventions of NSF research facilities, institutes, and centers, including the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, two new NSF AI Institutes, and the NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NSF-Simons NITMB).