Glossary

Brand — The immediate image, emotion or message people experience when they think of a company or product. In this case, the company or product is UW Medicine.

Brand Equity — The value a consumer places on the brand. If it is trusted, the brand has positive equity. If it is not credible, the brand has negative equity. Brand equity is more than intrinsic value placed on the product or service — it encompasses everything that a consumer thinks, feels and knows about the brand.

Brand Identity — The way a brand is actually perceived by its customers and constituencies.

Bug — A mark, as an asterisk, that indicates a particular item, level, etc. Programs could have a bug that represents that particular program. The brand and entities have logos, and the bug does not supercede the logo. The bug will always be secondary to the logo.

CMYK — Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow, Key (black). Used in offset and some digital printing, these four inks are mixed to reproduce colors that are printed on paper or other surfaces.

Coated and Uncoated — Paper stock used for printing. Coated paper has a hard finish that allows the ink to sit on top, producing more vivid colors. Uncoated paper absorbs more ink and is softer to the touch, producing a warmer, more natural look.

eps — Encapsulated Post Script. Graphic file format best used for offset printing. Can be vector- (line) or pixel- (dots) based. Usually created in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

gif — Graphics Interchange Format. An 8-bit-per-pixel bitmap image format for simple images. An older file format created for web use, it’s limited to 256 colors and has largely been replaced by jpg and png. Use this format for Internet Explorer 6 and earlier.

Graphic Identity — A family of marks, typefaces and colors used in a consistent fashion by a company or organization to identify itself and build brand recognition among its constituencies.

Logo (or Mark) — A logo is a graphical element that, often locked with a logo lock-up, forms an immediate visual recognition of an organization’s brand.

Logo Lock-up — A standardized graphic representation of the name of a company, institution or product name used for purposes of identification and branding.

PMS — Pantone Matching System. A standardized color reproduction system used by graphic designers and printers. Each color has a number, such as PMS 273, and a formula for reproducing that color in ink. These colors can be Spot, an ink specifically mixed to this color, or Process, which means the color is mixed on the printing press using four or more ink fountains.

png — Portable Network Graphics. The png format is a popular alternative to gif, using better compression and not limited to 256 colors. Not suitable for professional photos. Transparent backgrounds will remain transparent, instead of appearing white in your document or presentation.

RGB — Red, Green, Blue. Additive colors used by electronic displays, such as televisions and computers, to reproduce colors. Color can vary from screen to screen unless all monitors are uniformly calibrated.

Serif — In typography, a smaller line used to finish off a main stroke of a letter, as at the top of W. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface. A typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without.” For body copy, serif fonts are generally considered more readable in print, while sans-serif is considered more legible on computer screens.

Signature — Any combination of a logo or mark and logotype or logo lock-up, which serves as an official identity element.

Staging — The placement of graphic and typographic elements within a defined space.

Type Field — The space and relationship of typographical elements in a confined area.

Type Treatment — The selection and disposition of existing type choices for specific communication needs.