Brand applications

Be inspired by how our brand principles come to life in a range of materials including: advertising, brochures, posters, video and more.

Video

For the latest Video B-Roll and Branding Template visit our templates page

Logo and tagline placement

SFU logos and our tagline are used slightly differently in video. Ideally, our logo should appear at the end of a video, but can also appear at the beginning if necessary. We discourage the SFU logos remaining on screen for the full duration of the video.

In video, the logo can appear on footage, the SFU light red, or black background. Whenever possible, the logo should animate into the frame from the left side. Typically, it should be positioned in the centre of the frame, unless it is seen with additional supers.

Our tagline should only appear at the end of a video, a beat after the SFU logo appears. When using the masterbrand logo, the tagline can either appear centred beneath it, or on a second frame aligned to the bottom of the logo from the previous frame. When using formal or informal institutional or extension logos, the tagline must appear on a second frame.

The tagline should not use any dramatic animation techniques. A subtle and quick slide-to-reveal or simple dissolve is sufficient.

Masterbrand logo positioned with tagline

SFU informal institutional logo positioned with tagline on a subsequent frame

Footage colouration and movement

Similar to our photography style, SFU video footage should either be in black and white or colour. Black and white is best used for videos with high-level brand messages intended for external audiences. Colour should be used for videos with more specific content that requires colour to help tell the story.

All footage should have a photojournalistic style. It should feel candid and authentic and include dynamic compositions shot from interesting angles. To achieve this, it is important to shoot people who are engaged in real activities. Using hand-held movement rather than sliders while shooting will help to achieve this style.

Black and white footage should have deep and rich blacks, without losing too much tonal variation. Colour footage should feel simple and clean, without too much visual noise or contrasting colours. The colouration should feel neutral and have a subtly cool temperature.

We discourage combining black and white with colour footage in a single video.

Black and white

Colour

Typography and colour

Our typography guidelines also apply to video. Below are some considerations for setting type in video. Our colour palette also applies to video. On occasion, the SFU reds can become a little overwhelming when used as a full background, so black or white can be used as alternative background colours instead.

Titles

Our title bar treatment can be used in video to contain headlines set in Countach Bold in all-caps. Headlines should not touch the edge of the frame, as they do in print, to accommodate video’s recommended safety area—but the bars themselves can. The headlines should be no longer than two lines. The title bars should not extend longer than 2/3 of the screen width. Title bars can animate into frame horizontally, one by one, to give a sense of dynamism.

Lower thirds

Lower thirds should be set using DIN Pro Condensed Black in all-caps and DIN Pro in title-case. A horizontal white box that touches the right or left side of the frame can be introduced to contain the text if there are legibility concerns. The box should not extend longer than half of the screen width. Use one style consistently within a single video.

Small copy and subtitles

Any smaller copy, like subtitles, should use DIN Pro instead of DIN Serif for better legibility on-screen. DIN Serif can be used for medium-sized supers. Whenever possible, subtitles should be set in white. A subtle, dark outer glow can be applied to subtitles when set over complex footage.

Example: recruitment video

This video storyboard example includes notes that detail the animation of supers.

Countach Bold all-caps supers animate from day number to day number in white over black and white footage.

Title bars animate in quickly from the right and left sides to reveal the super in the centre.

The super rests for a second before the bars continue to animate off screen in the same direction they came from.

A red block animates in from the left side to reveal the SFU masterbrand logo in the centre of the frame.

The SFU masterbrand logo disappears and is replaced by the tagline graphic which stays on screen until the video finishes.

Watch the recruitment video on YouTube >

SFU Communicators Toolkit