Introduction

Even today, with much more of our communication being done by email, stationery such as letterheads, memos and faxes, have a big part to play in establishing and maintaining a coherent and high quality visual identity.

It will often be the case that one of these items of stationery is the first thing that someone receives from the University, so we need to be sure that it makes the right impact.

It may also be that one person receives more than one document, possibly many more and over a period of time, so that the consistency of the identity and the way we use it is important.

As is the case with stationery, our brochures and other printed material play a vital role.

If we take our prospectus as an example, the content and the pictures are there to help potential students make a decision about coming to Oxford, but the use of our visual identity will also help to create the right first impression of the University and what we stand for.

This is why we work so hard to create an identity that communicates our values, and why we believe it is so important that we use this consistently.

To do this effectively we need to ensure that all the elements that make up our identity are used together, in the ways described in this toolkit. It is equally important that this is done for every document and item of communications material we produce.

If we don't, the impact will be diminished and we may even create a poor impression. There are very many places where different University publications sit alongside each other on the same shelf. The impact is much more powerful if they all use the same identity, in the same way, so that they look like a family of literature which clearly comes from one source – The University of Oxford.