In the natural world, atomic elements combine to create molecules. These then combine further to form complex organisms. The harmony of a digital ecosystem works in the same way.
A Design Language System (DLS) is a set of rules and guidelines that take advantage of reusable functional elements within a digital ecosystem. It is there to help you communicate a coherent and consistent vision for HB Reavis regardless of the market or the channel.
These guidelines are here to help you communicate a coherent and consistent vision for HB Reavis, whatever the market or channel. It will help our audiences to understand our brand, have confidence in us and want to interact with us.
We see ourselves as honest, positive, intelligent and empathetic. We subscribe to being visionary and innovative and seeking to be a game changer. We are diverse and balanced in our approach both internally and in the public domain
HB Reavis staff are hardworking and ambitious as well as outwardly observant and open-minded. We are community-driven, inclusive, open, approachable and responsive with an informal yet respectful manner of communication.
These are words to describe ourselves and how we behave in everything we do. You will see how these words are brought to life through the creative.
| Human | Enterpreneurial | Exciting | Passionate | Professional | Surprising |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Authentic | Advanced | Colorful | Assumptive | Competitive | Exceeding expectations |
| Co‑operative | Enterprising | Energised | Brave | Confident | Innovative |
| Friendly | Flexible | Enthusiastic | Confident | Experienced | Mould-breaking |
| Open minded | Intelligent | Flexible | Courageous | Expert | Remarkable |
| People orientated | Owner’s mindset | Fun | Dynamic | High standard | Trendsetter |
| People centric | People orientated | Playful | Extrovert | High quality | Unpredictable |
| Sensitive | Reactionary | Spontaneous | Powerful | Integrity | |
| Social | Risk takers | Stimulating | Strong | International | |
| Team player | Smart | Thrilling | Successful | ||
| Trustworthy | Thinking ahead |
Our copy tone is warm, deep and has a calm authority while preserving a youthful, familiar, and natural quality. We write in British English as standard and do so across the Commonwealth. We solely use a language's own characters (e.g. no accents in British English).
We also publish in European Union languages where the audience appreciates it and localise copy for individual markets wherever possible.
We have a smooth, precise, approachable and friendly voice. We phrase inspirationally, subtly and enthusiastically. We speak informally and use 'we' instead of 'HB Reavis' and 'we're' rather than 'we are'. We do however avoid the use of colloquialisms or overly familiar language.
Our language on the services and products we provide is credible and authentic. We use stories to better communicate our ideas and achievements while keeping our core principles and philosophy clearly in mind.
We are always HB Reavis. Never use initials (HBR, HB, HB R or HB_R). On occasion you may need to shorten the name, in this case Reavis is acceptable.
We do not use lowercase (hb reavis, hbr or hbreavis). The only exception is when using our logo type, which shows it as one, lower case word. We do not use uppercase (HB REAVIS) either.
Music helps us express who are and can be used in films, presentations and events. It’s important that any music used fits with our brand personality and values. Although there are no hard and fast rules, and no genres ruled out per se, the following qualities should be looked for when choosing a track.
Upbeat, Uplifting, Positive, Warm, Celebratory, Joyous, Inclusive
Here are some examples of music that fits our brand personality:
This is an official music list containing 150 tracks meeting our brand values in terms of sound. Feel free to pick any soundtrack you find appropriate for your video, presentation or any other promotion of HB Reavis.
Track listWords cannot always express how we feel. That is why we sometimes use sounds to typographically express how we feel. We call these sounds Emotions. They help us sound more human, informal and enthusiastic.
As a rule, if the emotion is more than 15 font sizes bigger than body copy, always use it entirely in lower case. Smaller differences in font sizes can start with a capital letter. If an emotion is the only word on a page, it must always be in lower case.
In terms of punctuation, feel free to use exclamation marks on less energetic words, e.g. ‘Ahoy!’, and remove them from more exuberant ones, like ‘Wow’.
These are few of our suggestions to get you started: