UW Medicine Brand Guidelines and Resources 101

When talking or writing about a large organization like UW Medicine, things can get a bit … confusing. Luckily, we have the tools you need for creating branded materials. UW Medicine Brand Guidelines and Resources is your go-to toolkit for all things language and style.

Packed with all the insider information you need to speak or write confidently about UW Medicine, this guide is available to everyone at UW Medicine and helps employees uphold our hard-earned reputation and unique place in the healthcare organization landscape.

How does this help support our mission?

Being consistent when it comes to our brand matters. Just as the color purple is inevitably associated with both the University of Washington and UW Medicine, there are other elements that are tied to UW Medicine and should be regularly used.

It’s important that both the public and our employees immediately recognize that all our UW Medicine locations, partners, events and collateral go together and collectively help support our mission: to improve the health of the public.

So how do we avoid causing confusion by using incorrect fonts, logos, clinic names and terminology? Well, that’s where the Brand Guidelines and Resources come into play.

Editorial and design standards

There is a lot of ground to cover when it comes to the Brand Guidelines and Resources and UW Medicine’s editorial and design standards.

From sharing correct names for clinics and campuses to providing color guidelines for printed materials to offering tips on punctuation and website bios, these guidelines aim to answer questions from across the board.

Here are some highlights:

What are the most common mistakes?

What are we officially called?
Correct: UW Medicine
Incorrect: University of Washington Medicine or UWM

How do we talk about certain entities?
Correct: Harborview Medical Center or Harborview on second reference
Incorrect: HMC
Correct: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center or Fred Hutch on second reference
Incorrect: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and/or Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Correct: UW School of Medicine (for Puget Sound region audiences) or University of Washington School of Medicine (for audiences outside of Puget Sound region) or the School on second reference
Incorrect: UWSOM

How should our tagline — A higher degree of healthcare — be used?
UW Medicine’s tagline is a unique, succinct expression of our brand promise. It is important that the tagline is correctly used to maintain a consistent message to the public.
Correct examples: In advertisements, direct mail, email campaigns and newsletters; on websites, landing pages and posters.
Incorrect examples: On permanent communications like signage, business cards or letterhead
(Sidenote: Please don’t make up your own taglines and add them to your email signature.)

Other things to avoid

When it comes to the medical world, UW Medicine is a unique organization. This is why we try to avoid using the same clichéd terms that every other medical organization uses to talk about themselves. Some examples of these cliches that we want to avoid, according to our guidelines?

• State-of-the-art
• Convenient care
• Cutting-edge
• Knowledgeable
• Innovative
• Comprehensive care
• Clinical excellence

What information from the guidelines is most surprising?

People are often surprised by the number of entities that we’re associated with. The clinically integrated parts of UW Medicine include:

• Harborview Medical Center
• University of Washington Medical Center (Montlake + Northwest campuses, collectively “UW Medical Center”)
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
• UW Medicine Primary Care
• UW Physicians
• Valley Medical Center
• Airlift Northwest
• University of Washington School of Medicine

UW Medicine also has numerous partnerships and affiliations, integrated networks and partially owned organizations that you can learn about here.

What else can you find in the Brand Guidelines and Resources?

The guide is packed full of other useful resources, including a glossary, a style guide for digital content and photography do’s and don’ts. Some other essential information you have access to:

Logos

Though using a UW Medicine logo may seem straightforward enough, the rules are specific about what kind of logo you can use and where. The familiar two-color UW Medicine logo is usually preferred for external brand communications, but other logo options include a black logo, white logo and stacked logo, and even a logo with a higher degree tagline lock-up.

Learn about how to use each kind of logo and the rules that need to be followed when you’re using them.

Wondering what the protocol is for outside persons/organizations using our logo or name? Check out UW’s Trademarks and Licensing policy, which helps define how our trademarks should be used generally, on campus and by non-university entities.

In addition, it’s also important to acknowledge the UW Medicine policies that limit the usage of our logo/name by outside persons/organizations to help mitigate the risk of endorsement by UW Medicine (real or perceived).

Templates

The tools and templates section offers guidance on creating everything from business cards to email signatures, fliers and posters, letterhead and Zoom backgrounds. The templates covered in this section are not only useful but help ensure consistency when it comes to printed materials, presentations and digital deliverables across the organization.

Get familiar with our brand identity

All of this is just a small glimpse of the info you can find in the Brand Guidelines and Resources — take a minute, scroll through and get familiar with our brand tools.

Still confused about how to use this guide or having difficulty finding something specific? Feel free to contact the Strategic Marketing & Communications (SMC) team with questions.