Welcome to the Marksmen GC brand guidelines. These guidelines will instruct you on how to use our brand identity to make all brand communications look and sound their best.
A brand is much more than the way things look. Our brand is evident in everything we say, write and do. Every word, picture, symbol, and sound we use reflects on the entire company. We therefore have a responsibility to speak with one voice and exemplify one true brand across every form of communication. This handbook represents a complete and detailed explanation of who Marksmen General Contractors is, what we do, and how we present our mission and message.
Brand isn’t just a marketing term. Brand is our identity, our reputation. Our brand is what our employees, clients, subs, and outside observers think and feel when they hear the name “Marksmen General Contractors.”
The Marksmen General Contractors Brand applies to our internal workings and culture, our recruitment and selection of staff, our interaction with potential and existing clients, subcontractors in the field, and our external communications and marketing. We need every communication of Marksmen General Contractors to clearly, consistently, and coherently communicate our message.
Beyond all of these guidelines, however; our brand is a spiritual component, that lives within our people. The sum total of our brand is reflected in Proverbs 22:1—“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” When people think of Marksmen General Contractors, our desire is that they see a company full of purpose, integrity, passion, and great people, building great things.
Our mission is to be your solution. As a commercial general contractor servicing the greater San Antonio area we offer our wisdom, talent, and reliable local relationships to solve your construction needs.
Our vision is to honor God through the quality of products we build with a heart of service to our clients. We strive to create a family culture with a focus on service to our clients and community.
Plan with Precision, Communicate with Clarity, Execute with Excellence
Planning starts with clearly defining goals and outlining how to achieve them. Communication is identifying key players and keeping everyone in the loop with open lines of communication. Only once planning and communicating have been accomplished do we begin executing on our goals.
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We want everyone at Marksmen General Contractors to be able to share our story. This elevator pitch will help you quickly describe who we are and why Marksmen General Contractors is different.
Marksmen General Contractors is a culture based, core values centered company that builds with exceptional quality. We calm the chaos of construction projects while providing clients more clarity and greater insight. We do this through our core process of planning with precision, communicating with clarity, and executing with excellence.
The copy for Marksmen General Contractors should capture the overarching brand in both tone and message in as many places as possible. The tone is bold but not boastful, communicating a need to forge forward, looking for better ways and solutions. In addition to conveying necessary information, the copy should make readers feel excited about what Marksmen General Contractors is capable of, and inspire our core values. While we are bold in our language, we should also provide a calming re-assurance, as if saying, “We got this” throughout. As part of our personality, our communications always need to avoid terms that our audience may not be familiar with. Therefore, no acronyms should be used in any of our communications that are intended for an external audience. This includes even familiar acronyms like delivery methods.
Tone words are words that personify the company. All of our communications should use the following tone words as a guide when developing ideas or writing copy. These tone words are a guide, not a checklist. You don’t have to use them verbatim.
Construction is a dirty job and “General Contractor” is sometimes used as a dirty word. That is not us. We face these realities with honest, open communication. We are genuine and sincere.
In the midst of a chaotic world we do not waiver. We remain Focused on Excellence. The allure of the easy way or easy money will not divert us from our mission.
We say what we mean and we do what we say. We value accurate information and full transparency. We hold ourselves accountable and share the full truth.
We do our work with excellence and professionalism. We are a solid and reputable organization but we disdain stuffiness and pretension. We take our calling seriously and, at the same time, promote a fun and lighthearted environment.
The goal of this handbook is to build a unified brand with consistent messaging that communicates a comprehensive picture of who we are. A cohesive brand builds an emotional connection and pride amongst employees. It helps audiences understand the breadth and depth of our organization. And it delivers messages faster, creating an image that strengthens the overall brand by providing a seamless, compelling experience across all communication channels.
Why standardize and work with Marketing & Business Development to implement brand strategy?
In written communication, the full name, Marksmen General Contractors, should be spelled out when the company is first mentioned or cited. Thereafter, references can cite “Marksmen GC.” “MGC” may be used when space is at a premium but otherwise it is not preferred.
Our logo is the face and signature of our brand. It unites us as a single identity and connects our audience to our brand as the face of any form of communication. The more consistent a logo is, the more likely it will be remembered. A logo should be present on all external communications for the company. Depending on the medium, message, and audience, it is important to choose the right logo.
Consistency establishes trust. It is vital that Marksmen General Contractors logos be used in a consistent manner. While our logo comes in several configurations and color combinations, one of the two primary logos should appear at least once on all external communication
Always use an approved file for placement—do not try to create it yourself or save the logo from another document.
The Standard Logo should appear on the cover page, on the first page of letterhead, and occasionally on the back cover of printed materials. For all other instances, the horizontal or symbol should be used.
Plan with Precision, Communicate with Clarity, Execute with Excellence
When using any Marksmen General Contractors Logo, be sure to scale all marks proportionally, and use the electronic logo files as provided on the previous page. Note the incorrect cases below:
To ensure the legibility, logos must not be reduced beyond the following defined minimum size:
No graphic element other than backgrounds should be placed inside the exclusion zone around the logo (as indicated by the grid). The purpose of the exclusion zone is to protect the integrity of the logo, keeping it free from the confusion other elements might cause.
All logo files include the standard exclusion zone. The exclusion zone should not be cropped out.
The exclusion zone is approximately equal to the height of the “M” in Marksmen all the way around the logo.
The Marksmen General Contractors Tagline is a supportive piece designed to accompany documents at the beginning, end, or both. The Tagline should never be used on every page of a document.
Depending on available space, the tagline can appear in the single line or stacked versions.
Lastly, the tagline is used on social media cover images.
Besides the consistent use of logos, another unifying visual component is consistent use of color. The Marksmen General Contractors color palette was created to complement our signature color, MGC Red.
The company has four official colors, Red, Gray, Black, and White. These colors in combination have become a recognizable identifier for the company.
Use them as the dominant color palette for all internal and external communications of the company. Our brand colors are strong and single-minded. Intentionally narrow, we want to build strong brand association with our colors. Because our color palette is limited, it is important to make use of contrast between the red, black, and white.
The hex code for our MGC Red is #DC1E28. The RGB values are (220, 30, 40) which means it is comprised of 220% red, 30% green and 40% blue. The CMYK color code used in printers is C:8 M:100 Y:97 K:1.
MGC Black has a hex code of #222222 and is the equivalent of the 800 in the grayscale below. The RGB values are (34, 34, 34) which means it is comprised of 34% red, 34% green and 34% blue. The CMYK color code used in printers is C:72 M:65 Y:64 K:75. MGC Gray has a hex code of #6D6D6D, an RGB value of (109, 109, 109), a CMYK color code of C:58 Y:49 M:49 K:16, and is equivalent to the shade 600 on the grayscale below. MGC White has a hex code of #FFFFFF, an RGB value of (255, 255, 255), and a CMYK color code of C:0 Y:0 M:0 K:0.
The graphic below shows the approximate proportional use of our primary colors. This is only a guide, there will be applications where we choose more red for greater impact, or more white for printing.
Our typefaces are every bit as distinctive as our logo when used consistently. Using typography effectively creates easily identifiable messaging that is clear from distraction.
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Proxima Nova
The primary typeface for Marksmen General Contractors is the Proxima Nova family. This font is modern, versatile, and easily legible.
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Rift Bold
Our heading font is Rift Bold. This is a sturdy font that stands out against long bodies of copy. It’s narrow styling and tall height call attention to it.
The font’s we use for large scale display headlines.
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Rift Bold
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Rift Bold italic
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Proxima nova bold
all caps
The font’s we use for subheadings, body text, and otherwise long-reads of text.
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proxima nova bold
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proxima nova Medium
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proxima nova Regular
The structure below is designed to outline the style for documents including proposals, reports, memos, agendas, booklets, etc. PowerPoints and Spreadsheets will follow a similar but unique style hierarchy. When in doubt, stick with Rift Bold (no smaller than 18pt) for headlines and Proxima Nova for body text.
Big Paragraph: the same as standard paragraph but a bit bigger, used for leading paragraphs and short blocks of text. (Proxima Nova Regular, 14pt)
Paragraph: the standard, everyday, everywhere paragraph use. Ga. Itas porrum quat untiorrumet peroritat. Ceatquodis ne volupta eperovid quiati doluptur mos etur aligentur sinte nisqui cullanima pori conet, et vel. (Proxima Nova Regular, 11pt)
Block quotes for occasions when you need to call out something important in a long body of text.
Ah, that’s better.
Reserve capitals for short, sharp, attention-grabbing headlines. And never, I repeat, never, use Rift for long bodies of text.
We are single-minded with our use of color regarding typography. Using only pure black (different from MGC black, it’s all about printing) and pure white with occasional splashes of MGC Red. We never use MGC Red on black backgrounds at a font size less than 18pt and even then, only use red sparingly.
Creative use of space and color for type can add interest and increase legibility. However, we must be careful because the legibility of our brand colors can be diminished when use incorrectly. Text should always be printed using the best possible contrast.
As we can see from the boxes, Black & White provides the greatest contrast, clarity, and legibility. Red & White still offer suitable legibility but only at about 1/4 of the clarity of black and white. Finally, Red & Black has a contrast ratio that is suitable for large text and graphic elements but should be used sparingly.
Remember, we take a single minded approach using predominately pure black and pure white text with MGC Red text used as a highlight, not a primary color on the page.
The MGC Light & Dark Gray’s should be considered supplemental colors and used only when red, black, and white have been exhausted. The use of either gray in text should be limited to covers or for use in captions.
We do not use any of the following color combinations of text and background.
Furthermore, we do not use MGC Red text on tints of any color, nor do we use white text on any tints of MGC Red.
Email is one exception to using the company fonts (Proxima Nova & Rift). The reason we use Arial in our email signatures is because the appearance of text in email is dependent upon the recipients installed fonts. As Arial is a system font on most devices, the use of Arial in our email signatures is an acceptable alternative to the company fonts and guarantees a uniform appearance on the recipient’s devices.
For the same reasons, we use the system default, Calibri, for the body of emails.
To install the font hierarchy and brand colors on the Microsoft Office Suite you will need to complete the following steps.
If you do not already have Proxima Nova and Rift Bold installed, you need to do so now. Follow the link below to download both fonts then follow the steps to install both fonts.
After downloading and extracting the files navigate to the Proxima Nova folder, select all of the fonts and right mouse click and choose “install.” Repeat this step for Rift. Next, download the Letterhead template below.
Open the MGC Letterhead document.
Select the Design tab, twirl down the “Color” box and select “Customize Colors”. Rename the colors “Marksmen GC” and select save.
Do the same for Fonts, then select “Set as Default”. You are all set! Word will always to default to this scheme but you will have select the color and font scheme for each new spreadsheet.
On all clothing options, including this non-exhaustive list: button-downs, fishing shirts, polos, t-shirts, and hats; we limit our logo to the following four choices. The Marksmen Logo is a strong, recognizable image. However, the relative complexity of the logo necessitates a simpler approach when embroidering or screen printing. As such, the gray is dropped from the logo completely, and the M is filled in on options that include red. This ensures that legibility is maintained.
When embroidering our logo, we can refer to the textile logo lockups using the number 1—4, as identified to the right.
When embroidering our logo, we can refer to the textile logo lockups using the number 1—4, as identified to the right.
The Marksmen Logo is a strong, recognizable image. We strive to protect that strength as best we can. Therefore, as much as possible our logo should only appear on solid color clothing where it has the strongest brand image. However, we realize that clothing patterns are too often unavoidable. We want to ensure the strongest possible appearance of our logo on patterned clothing. This means only the solid white or solid black logo should be used and the pattern should only contain dark or light colors, not a combination of dark and light.
