County Identity Standards

identity standards

The County's identity standards help you, the public, instantly identify County government. These standards help build a strong connection between who we are and what we do for the community. All County representatives and staff are directed to follow the guidelines in the County's Identity Standards Manual, which is a tool that demonstrates how to use the County's logo, Board seal, color palette, and font. 

Third parties or outside agencies may not use the County or logo unless usage rights are granted by authorized County personnel. The County Clerk-Recorder is responsible for granting permission to use the seal, while the Administrative Office is responsible for granting permission to use the logo. To use either mark, please contact the appropriate department to obtain permission. 

3 Things to Know About the County's Identity Standards

  1. It's not just a new logo. The County developed new rules standardizing how departments represent the County, a new logo, an updated seal, a brand standards manual, and stationery templates (letterhead, etc.) for all County departments. The development of all this included research, developing standards and rules, design of several logo options, surveys, and focus groups. All of this cost about $23,000 in outside professional services. To put that in perspective, other counties have spent upwards of $30,000 or even six figures to develop new standards. 
  2. The development of standards was a public process. This was not done in a vacuum. The project went before the Board of Supervisors for public review in 2015 and 2016 and the new standards were approved unanimously by the Board in December 2016. Prior to approval, the County also held focus groups (which consisted of employees and members of the public) to get opinions on the look and feel. The County made sure to include stakeholders in the process.
  3. These new standards will actually eliminate future design costs. Before these standards were adopted in 2016, there were no rules limiting logo development, which resulted in more than a dozen different logos representing County government. Now, the new rules will prevent departments from spending County funds on logo development. Instead, they can focus on spending their time and resources on providing important public services. To further reduce costs, departments have been instructed to only replace old printed materials with the new materials featuring the new logo or seal as they run out. We don’t want them to throw out anything they have already paid for. 

Reference

County Identity Standards Manual
County Mission Vision Values Poster
County Starts New Year with New Look

FAQs