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Brand Overview
We are a creative agency with an eco-conscience.
Helping raise awareness and encouraging change through our actions and with our clients.
We call ourselves a planet-conscious creative agency, but what does that actually mean?
Simply put, it means we care about our impact on the planet, our community and our people. We aim to work with others who are leading the way with Green Technology or ways to help reverse the damage that has been done to our planet.
We work as a collective. Supporting one another so that we can achieve more together. With a vision to build a positive legacy, leaving behind a better planet rather than a damaged one.
Our Approach
We use Planet Centric Design to overcome barriers to success, enabling you to grow, and communicate an honest message.
We have adopted the Planet Centric Design methodology in our approach – this means designing products and services that do not harm the planet, whilst keeping them feasible operationally, desirable for consumers, and viable financially.
- Clearly defining problems & research before acting
- Sourcing materials & software, for projects, in the most sustainable way we know
- Ensure that what we create can serve multiple purposes and be re-used
- Act in an honest & transparent way
How we help our clients
- Lower their scope 3 emissions
- Use fewer resources to achieve more
- Re-use assets for increased value
- Enter a network of sustainable brands
- Save time by working with sector experts
- Avoid budget waste on ‘guessed problems’
- Avoid the risk of ‘greenwashing’
- Stay ahead of sustainable marketing trends
- Gain competitive advantage & clarity of message
Personality
What we’re made of, and how we roll.
Our brand personality helps us cultivate a shared vision for our brand, so we can achieve consistency in everything we put into the world.
Purpose
We exist to inspire a positive impact.
We strive to solve problems in ways that benefit our environment. We’re mission-driven. Our work is underpinned by honesty, sustainability, and (fundamentally) creativity.
Our goal is to be a completely post-carbon company — using 100% renewable energy, carbon free servers, have zero waste offices and be the kind of company who plant more trees than they cut down to operate.
This will take time to achieve, but we are committed to our cause and by helping each other to put our environment first — We can make a difference.
Core Principles
Our work has purpose and makes us proud.
Our clients and projects should have potential to positively impact the world and make us proud. This doesn’t mean it’s always perfect at the start, but if we believe it can’t improve, we will not work with that client.
Everyone has a voice, and we decide our future.
We have open and honest conversations, free from judgement and ignorance. Everyone is encouraged to express their feelings, and we take decisions as a collective. There are no egos or special treatment, each teammate has earned their place, and has value.
We are focused and learn from mistakes.
We are deliberate in our choices and efforts, prioritising what’s important. We also know that to succeed, we will have to fail and learn. Ultimately, we work through mistakes as a team. Being kind to each other and encouraging professional growth.
Our company can help the planet.
Every decision we make should consider its impact on the environment. We won’t have all the answers and must continue improving, welcoming challenge along the way. We will also use our voice and learnings to inspire positive change in others.
Language
Always use the proper formatting to describe our agency.
Correct usage:
NOSY, NOSY Creative Agency.
Mis-typing our name is punishable by death! or passive-aggressive emails and judgy looks (whichever is worse).
Only reference ourselves as NOSY once, then use we/us.
No puns, jokes or cheesy humour. (Externally)
In titles use and or + not &.
Use full stops.
Use spellcheck or Grammarly.
Use standard case for your text.
Use Capitals for Names and Places.
Tone of Voice
We use conversational writing, it should feel like a one-to-one conversation between us and our audience.
We write like we talk.
In a world of pixels, fake news, and meaningless likes, we crave human connections. Real human connections. So, be yourself.
Brew a cup of your favourite ketchup drink. Offer your readers a slice of dust from the bare cupboard in the kitchen. Get personal, share stories, and ask questions.
Use simple words, not fancy ones or jargon. Engage with customers. Be genuine and human.
Pro Tips:
Keep it is simple and easy to read.
- Kill the passive voice. Rather than write You’re loved by me (passive), write: I love you (active). Rather than write Your email will be answered (passive), try: I’ll answer your email within 24 hours.
- Hack long sentences in two; and stop worrying about starting your sentences with And, Because, or But. Because it keeps your sentences short, clear, and easy to read.
- Throw difficult words in the bin and throw a party for simple words.
- Read it out loud and amend to fit.
Play with different conversational tones.
- Use contractions like they’ll, he’s, and we’re, because these sound more informal.
- Address readers in the second person by using the word “you”—good conversationalists talk less about themselves and more about their listeners. So, check how often you’ve used the words I, we, me, and us. Now, count how often you’ve used the word “you”.
- Engage readers with questions.
Examples:
Google employs a complex algorithm to analyze and index information so that it’s universally attainable and advantageous.
Our company mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Based on our recent survey, 75% of marketers find SEOPressor to be a useful SEO WordPress plugin. Which means, only 1 in 4 person doesn’t think SEOPressor to be helping their SEO efforts.
Statistically, 75% of marketers love using SEOPressor.
He commenced learning to utilise that difficult machine, subsequently, his proficiencies ameliorate.
He started learning to use that difficult machine, then, his skills improved.
Our company’s mission is to provide everyone in the world with healthy and nutritional fruit based breakfast that contains low-fat and low-sugar.
Our company’s mission is to bring the sweet tang of blueberries and the comforting warmth of a bowl of oatmeal to kitchen tables throughout the entire world.
Matt made Aaron a beautiful handmade card and gave it to him for his birthday as Matt tries to win his heart because he is in love with him.
Matt is in love with Aaron. He made him a beautiful handmade card for his birthday. Matt is trying to win his heart.
How to tell which keywords my website is ranking on search engines?
How to tell which keywords my website is ranking for?
Logo + Usage
Every time you stretch a logo, a designer dies…
Of course, they don’t actually die. It’s much worse than that – you will make them rather miffed! And if you have ever met a rather miffed designer, I tell you this, you would not be laughing right now sunshine.
Main logo
NOSY Wordmark.
Symbol
Usage
Spacing.
Ensure that the logo has enough white space around it when placing.
The examples here use the O to demonstrate some breathing room.
What version to use when.
Dark Green: On light backgrounds.
Light Green: On dark backgrounds.
Dark: On light colours that are not our brand palette.
White: On dark colours that are not our brand palette.
Placement.
Our wordmark should never be the dominant feature of a design, it should be tastefully placed in either the top left or bottom left of the canvas.
If a full screen logo is required then please allow plenty of space around it.
The symbol on the other hand can be used as a feature in the design (more on this in the Visuals section).
Colour
Colour sets us apart and helps to
invoke emotion.
The colours we’ve chosen for our brand are a key factor in differentiation and brand recognition.
Main Palette
#008066
RGB: 0 / 128 / 102
CMYK: 50 / 0 / 10 / 50
#24B090
RGB: 51 / 51 / 51
CMYK: 0 / 0 / 0 / 80
#000309
RGB: 0 / 3 / 9
CMYK: 91 / 78 / 60 / 94
#121212
RGB: 18 / 18 / 18
CMYK: 79 / 70 / 61 / 88
#ffffff
RGB: 255 / 255 / 255
CMYK: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
NOSY Green and Accent Green are to be used sparingly – NOSY Green on light backgrounds, Accent Green on dark backgrounds.
Aim for the background colour to be 75% text 20% and accent 5%
Primarily our brand operates in dark mode, but this must be alternated occasionally to keep things visually interesting (ie. 1/5 slides should be in light mode).
Additional Shades
#f1f1f1
RGB: 51 / 51 / 51
CMYK: 0 / 0 / 0 / 80
#333333
RGB: 51 / 51 / 51
CMYK: 0 / 0 / 0 / 80
#959595
RGB: 149 / 149 / 149
CMYK: 42 / 33 / 33 / 12
The additional monotone colours should not be dominant and are more of a reference to background graphics and images (see Visuals section).
The light grey 959595 should be used on large bodies of text.
Contrast
Orange is only to be used to highlight a negative, difference in the information or a cross (with green as the tick).
#F66C13
RGB: 246 / 108 / 19
CMYK: 0 / 70 / 94 / 0
ONLY IN AN EMERGENCY!
Typography
I would make a font joke, but I’m just not bold enough.
We believe typography should strike a balance between legibility and interest.
Main Font
BW Modelica
Bold:
A wizard's job is to vex chumps quickly in fog.
Medium:
A wizard's job is to vex chumps quickly in fog.
Alt Letters
BW Modelica SS02
afgjlty
Google Font Alternative
Inter
Bold:
A wizard's job is to vex chumps quickly in fog.
Regular
A wizard's job is to vex chumps quickly in fog.
Titles
When on my own, I go in the middle.
Note: This is the only time text is used centre aligned.
When there’s text or images, I’m left aligned.
Hierarchy
I’m a large title, in bold, and I’m exceptional.
You just have to make sure that whatever you are typing is short, and to the point otherwise, it is pointless using me as I’ll just take up all the room and annoy the hell out of everyone.
I’m also a title, but a bit smaller and in medium weight.
I’m a medium subheading, this should be a short paragraph or tweet and I need a bit of padding to the right (20%).
I am a paragraph, when using me please add some padding to the right – maybe 35%.
When there is lots of text in a paragraph on a dark background please please use #959595 – it takes the strain off of the eyes.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam eu tortor accumsan eros molestie tincidunt. Aliquam quis mauris mollis, vulputate risus a, faucibus purus. Pellentesque imperdiet congue diam, vitae efficitur libero pulvinar ut. Duis ut aliquet dolor. Suspendisse facilisis ultricies quam non porta. Aenean in tincidunt enim, ac eleifend leo. Phasellus facilisis sapien non ullamcorper lobortis. Sed ac vulputate mauris, ac gravida tortor. Etiam sem nisi, faucibus ut est vitae, sollicitudin vulputate ante. Sed dictum, massa blandit lacinia condimentum, odio massa tristique nisi, eu faucibus diam urna sit amet lectus. Phasellus mattis varius ante eu tristique. Nulla vitae dapibus ligula, vel iaculis lectus.
Quisque a metus diam. Aliquam auctor neque vitae cursus euismod. Phasellus dapibus, ante ut malesuada aliquet, magna nunc accumsan nibh, tempus pretium nunc nisl vel eros. Aenean nec sem sed quam convallis dignissim vitae at nunc. Cras faucibus laoreet eros a vehicula. Pellentesque tristique mollis dolor imperdiet tincidunt. Duis eu nisi nisl. Phasellus vitae arcu et risus placerat mollis nec non lorem. Nullam at nulla facilisis, pharetra lorem ut, tempor orci. Nullam sagittis purus lectus, vel aliquam lacus fringilla facilisis. Cras elementum semper mattis. Praesent vel dapibus arcu, eu imperdiet justo. Cras felis lacus, bibendum sit amet molestie nec, faucibus a libero. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam faucibus risus lorem, vitae facilisis neque tempus vel.
Good Examples:
Adding Emphasis
In smaller blocks of text we just use a standard underline like this.
Adding MORE Emphasis
This works particularly well on a faster pace output – like a video. It just highlights a key message so when combined along the whole out put it gives a strong message to people who might not really be paying attention.
Call to action
This is the only time we add colour to our text, the CTA should be human and green.
In smaller blocks of text we just use a standard underline like this.
Large Text
Things to remember
The only time we use all-caps is on our name; NOSY.
The only time we use caps is on the first letter of a sentence, names and places; This week Matt visited ABC in Portsmouth, they had a swell time together.
Type hierarchy must be consistent on all touch points.
The only time to have your text green is when you want somebody to do something.
Visual Style
Stay on-brand.
Not going to go into great detail here, just gonna showcase some on-brand content.
Layout
Motion
This is a good representation of our brand in motion.
Using images
Icons / Infographics
Iconography is something we are still defining. So for now please keep anything created to a style of outlined objects, and take extra care to ensure the lines are equal in weight.
Things to remember
Consistency is key, but don’t be afraid to experiment with the ingredients.
We dont use the word NOSY on graphics – we have a logo for that.
If something isn’t looking right or working as it should, don’t publish it.
Ask.
Common errors
There are some examples below of what to avoid in the future,so that all efforts can be on-brand.
Issue:
Green lettering should only be used on a CTA.
Solution:
Use white text, if the emphasis is needed use the green block to underline the words required.
Issue:
The spacing of the words is unbalanced. Also, motion is too fast
Solution:
Review issues like this and potentially remove/reassess if it cannot be achieved
Issue:
The stroke is too thick, the word NOSY is not needed, and the grey symbol in the background is not needed.
Solution:
Match the stroke with the other items in the brand guide and remove the word NOSY and thesymbol in the background
Issue:
The text in the background is in ALL CAPS, the stroke is too thick, the spacing uneven and repeats the same word.
Solution:
Remove background text.
Only use these large text layouts to display various words – for example, a word association exercise or to show various offerings.
Issue:
We don’t use the word NOSY on graphics, also the green lettering should only be used on a CTA.
Solution:
Reword as Food waste challenge, in white (there is no CTA or need for emphasis here). Then introduce our brand’s full logo above the text.
