Our typefaces

The ICSA typefaces Frutiger and Plantin Italics are an essential part of our brand’s visual identity.

Frutiger has been designed to easily distinguish letters from each other and is modern, clean cut and easy to read. Plantin Italic is a legible and characterful typeface, perfectly suited to bring out the traditional characteristics of the Institute. Their combination creates a distinctive and legible type style, suited to the needs of ICSA.

Please note: These typefaces are commercial fonts and should be used for all professional design work. For Word files and Powerpoint presentations, Frutiger can be substituted with Arial, and Plantin Italic with Georgia Italic.

Typface variants

Use Plantin Italic (Georgia Italic) for titles, headlines, stand-firsts and pull-outs.

You can use the primary colours and vary the size – for added visual interest and emphasis – where copy has a natural break or there is a main heading and subheading.

Pay attention to the hierarchy of information on a page. Keep the headline prominent, usually in a larger size. You should be able to look at a page and know immediately which information to read first.

Avoid:

• Using the other Plantin (Georgia) shades
• Mixing colours in headlines
• Using for body copy
• Using only Plantin Italic (Georgia Italic) in one application

Use Frutiger Light (Arial) for body copy, for paragraph headlines and highlighted body copy.

Occasionally, use Frutiger Roman (Arial) in for notes, box-outs or captions.

Avoid:

• Using Frutiger (Arial) for stand-firsts and pull-out copy

Text colour

As a rule stick with the blues and grey within the primary colour palette for all text, making ICSA primary dark blue your first choice.

If you’re working with a secondary or tertiary colours, use them carefully in addition to the primary colours. Do not use more than one tertiary colour and never more than four colours in total within a document.

For print technical reasons, body text might be displayed in black rather than ICSA primary dark blue.

Text alignment

Always left-align copy and do never justify text. This aids legibility and creates more visually appealing documents.

Text size and emphasis within copy

Too many sizes and typeface shades will affect the flow of a document and hinder legibility. As a general rule, use one size each for headings, introductory paragraphs, body copy, and any large pull-out or highlight quotes.

Emphasising certain words within a section of text can highlight important information. A bolder version of the typeface or a different colour than the rest of the body copy can help to emphasise certain words or sections. Use this technique sparingly in order to retain the difference between highlighted sections and normal body copy.

Font size

It’s better to use just three and certainly no more than four font sizes in a document. But it’s about common sense, so there may be exceptions to this rule, particularly in longer documents.

Too many sizes will affect the flow of a document and hinder legibility. As a general rule, use one size each for headings, introductory paragraphs, body copy, and any large pull-out or highlighted quote.

Font choice

Plantin Italic (Georgia Italic) adds a touch of gravitas and prestige to our identity. Use it for key insights, brand messages and membership benefit statements in the form of titles, headlines, stand-firsts and pull-outs. It’s ideal for marketing-led communications and commentary on the governance industry.

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