cumbria county council...brand identity manual cumbria county council 3 it’s important that the...

Visualbrand and communications guidelines

Cumbria County Council

Brand Identity Manual Cumbria County Council

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Section 1 - Brand basics


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It’s important that the public recognise where the county council is working on their behalf. Our brand identity helps us to achieve this.

“ Corporate identity is an assembly of visual cues – physical and behavioural by which an audience can recognise the company and distinguish it from others and which can be used to represent or symbolise the company”

Dr Russell Abratt

Professor of Marketing


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Contents

Section 1 – Brand basics

01 Introduction ...........................................................06

02 The corporate logo ........................................07

03 Colour palette ......................................................11

04 Typeface/font ........................................................12

05 The strapline, use of web ......................15 address, speech bubble and photographic style

Section 2 – Applying the brand

06 Corporate stationery ...................................26 • Letterhead • Compliment slips • Business cards • Email signature • ID badges • PowerPoint presentation slides

07 Website ........................................................................30

08 Promotional material ..................................32 • Corporate campaigns

09 Corporate signage ..........................................33 • External signage • Internal signage and

front-of-house design • Non-corporate signage

10 Interior design .....................................................42 • Colour themes • Entrance design • Reception design • Work areas • Meeting areas • Breakout areas • Resource areas • Toilets

11 Corporate clothing ........................................54 • Position of logo • Colours

12 Vehicle livery ........................................................55

13 Working in partnership .............................56 • Promotional material

14 Alternative formats .......................................57

Section 3 – Communication protocols and guidance

15 Writing style guidelines ..........................60 • Typefaces • Uses of capital letters • Acronyms and initials • Web addresses • Use of ‘&’ (ampersands)

16 Use of images ......................................................65

17 Media protocol ....................................................69

18 Social media ..........................................................79

19 Appendix one........................................................89

20 Appendix two ......................................................90

Check


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01 Introduction

Our brand is made up of:

• The set of values and behaviours we stand for

• Shaped by our actions• Recognised through

visual and verbal styleOur brand is made up of a wide range of elements – everything from how we answer the phone to how we deal with complaints.

Everything we do and say has a direct effect on the brand and reputation of the council – which is why it’s essential that we get all these elements correct.

Our identity, which is key to our brand, is made up of eleven key elements:

• Logo• Colour• Typeface• Strapline• The words ‘Cumbria County Council’• cumbria.gov.uk• Speech bubble• White space• Photographic style• Icons• Round cornered box

The application of these is essential in order to create a consistent look and feel for our organisation.

This manual is intended to provide staff and suppliers with clear guidelines on the use of the council’s visual corporate identity.

They must be followed at all times.

Exceptions can only be approved by the council’s Communications Team.

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Colo

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Whi

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Web

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CCC

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Spee

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tyle

Roun

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VideosWebsiteIntranet

FacebookTwitter

You Tube

LetterheadsCompliment slips

Business cards

PostersFlyers

1/3 A4 leafletsReports

Internal newslettersExternal newsletters

Key ringsClothingVehicles

PensID cards

Pull up bannersPin badges

SignageTemporary signage

PowerPoint

Stationery

Digital

Printed material

Miscellaneous

Not usedOptional elementsMandatory elements

IntroductionCC

C wo

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Stra

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7The corporate logo

The logo is our primary means of identification.Cumbria County Council’s logo is very important to the authority, it is our primary means of identification. Its consistent use helps the public understand the services that we provide on their behalf as well as maintaining a positive and professional image.

It will always be used together with the words Cumbria County Council positioned opposite (see examples on page 18).

The logo should always be produced in our corporate colour, where this is not possible it should be reproduced in black.

It must not be reversed out unless approved by the Communications Team.

The logo must not be reproduced smaller than 20mm wide. 30mm is recommended for A5 and 1/3 A4 publications. 40mm wide is recommended for A4 size publications.

02 The corporate logo

Example: The standard logo in black

Example: Standard logo in the corporate blue with white text on dark background

Example: The standard logo in the corporate blue

Example: The standard logo in its recommended sizes

Minimum recommended size

Recommended size for A5 and 1/3 A4 documents

Recommended size for A4 documents

20mm

30mm

40mm



The clear zone

A clear zone (white space) must be maintained around the logo. This is based on the size of the capital C of the logo and stops elements near the logo, such as text or photographs, interfering with its legibility and prominence.

For example, the logo below would require a clear zone around the logo the same width as the capital C, as shown below.

What to avoid

A - Do not produce the logo in any other colours than our corporate blue or black

B - Do not put the logo in a box or add a border

C - Do not recreate the logo using other typefaces/fonts

D - Do not squeeze or stretch the logo

E - Do not add extra words

F - Do not reproduce the logo on patterned or complex backgrounds – this includes sections of photographs

G - Do not use old versions of the logo

Example: The required clear zone of the main logo

A

B

C

D G

E

F

PARK RANGERS

County Council


C C

CC


9The corporate logo

The full header This comprises two brand elements, the ‘logo’ and the words ‘Cumbria County Council’.

These are positioned together in a similar relationship to each other at the top of the page and separated from the rest of the page by a dividing rule. The size, spacing and propor-tions of the elements to each other within the header block always remain the same, but: the space between the words ‘Cumbria County Council’ and the ‘logo’ may be increased or decreased to fit different document widths.

However, the words ‘Cumbria County Council’ and the ‘logo’ should never be moved closer together than the width of the outer margin.

The examples to the right show a banner display and a point of sale display. The banner can accomodate the full header, whereas the point of sale display is too narrow so only the Cumbria County Council logo has been used, in a central configuration.

Similarly, to the left is a business card sized design. Again, only the logo has been used.

If an element needs to be dropped, then the ‘logo’ should take priority.

Cumbria,our area

our future.

Serving the people of Cumbria

The government is taking a big bite out of ourbudget as part of its efforts to

balance the nation’s books.

As a result Cumbria County Council needs to

find savings. This is your

chance to haveyour say.

Read the leaflet and post your

comments

cumbria.gov.uk/ourfuture



Passport

A correctly sized and positioned header block can be foundon any of the InDesign templates.

notOK

Header Including: logo, CCC words, dividing rule.


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The full footer This also comprises two brand elements, the words ‘Serving the people of Cumbria’ and the ‘web

address’. These are popsitioned together in a similar relationship to each other at the bottom of the page and separated from the rest of the page by a dividing rule. The size, spacing and propor-tions of the elements to each other within the footer block always remain the same, but: the space between the words ‘Serving the people of Cumbria’ and the ‘web address’ may be increased or decreased to fit different document widths.

However, the words ‘Serving the people of Cumbria’ and the ‘web address’ should never be moved closer together than the width of the outer margin.

Cumbria,our area

our future.


The government is taking a big bite out of ourbudget as part of its efforts to

balance the nation’s books.

As a result Cumbria County Council needs to

find savings. This is your

chance to haveyour say.

Read the leaflet and post your

comments

cumbria.gov.uk/ourfuture

Serving the people of Cumbria cumbria.gov.uk

Serving the people of Cumbria cumbria.gov.uk/


Modified footer If space is limited its time to re-organise the elements. To the far right, the footer has been modified to take account of the reduced space

available, with the web address being taken out of the footer to become part of the main layout.

If an element needs to be dropped, then the ‘web address’ should take priority. Additional address information can be added to the web address as shown below. The

leading should be set solid.

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voluntarycarscheme

A correctly sized and positioned footer block can be foundon any of the InDesign templates.

Footer Including: strapline, web address, dividing rule.


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03 Colour paletteCumbria County Council has a corporate brand colour, which is shown here. When you use this colour, in any media (print or digital), you should always use one of the appropriate formulas or references given below.If you require references for paint or vinyl please contact the Communications Team on 01228 221732.

The primary brand colour is blue, shown to the right. The overwhelming appearance of the brand should be blue against white. All work must feature this as the primary colour.

Secondary colours can be introduced to add accents of colour to help bring a layout to life. Any additional colours should be chosen from the secondary palette shown to the right.

It is important that the primary colour is dominant and use of the secondary colours remains secondary. At the first view of a county council product, whether it’s the reception area of a building or the front cover of a document, the corporate colour must be dominant. If secondary colours must be used at this point they should make up no more than 5% of the first impression.

Beyond the ‘front door’, use of secondary colours can be increased where it helps to get the message across. These colours will, in the main, be introduced through icons and speech bubbles, although other core brand elements may also use these colours. For instance a series of related flyers, or a document showing similar information for different district areas, may need some way of differentiating one from another. Secondary colours used at this point should make up no more than 25% of the first impression.

Corporate Blue:

Pantone reference: 7468 This is a ‘spot’ colour, a special solid ink. When printing regular full colour documents, a CMYK reference is required:

For print: C90 M5 Y5 K30 C = Cyan, M = Magenta, Y = Yellow, K = Black

On-screen: R0 G130 B170 R = Red, G = Green, B = Blue

Pantone 7468C

Pantone 7468CC90 M5 Y5 K30

C0 M0 Y0 K100 C = Cyan, M = Magenta, Y = Yellow, K = Black

R0 G0 B0 R = Red, G = Green, B = Blue

Black:For print: C0 M0 Y0 K100 C = Cyan, M = Magenta, Y = Yellow, K = Black

On-screen: R0 G0 B0 R = Red, G = Green, B = Blue

Pantone 193c10 m100 y60 k10

Pantone 211m70

Pantone 301c100 m50 k40

Pantone 348c88 y100 k20

Pantone 2425c40 m100 k35

Pantone 233c12 m100

Pantone 306c70

Pantone 382c38 y100

Pantone 7408m30 y100

Pantone 152m65 y100

Secondary palette:

Colour Palette


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04 Typeface/font

The agreed typeface/font for all Cumbria County Council communication is Arial. This typeface/font has been chosen for its clarity and legibility. No other typeface should be used.

Arial ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Arial is the only font that can be used for the body copy in letters, emails and reports etc.

Arial Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Arial Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Arial Bold Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Arial Black ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Arial Bold, Arial Italic, Arial Bold Italic and Arial Black should only be used for:

• headlines • sub headlines • highlighting text such as quotes

Ideally 12pt should be used, it is the preferred size to meet accessibility guidelines.

Typeface/font


13Typeface/font

04 Typeface/font

Character spacing should not be left as metrics but set to optical with negative tracking applied to tighten its appearance. Italics should be avoided.

Arial Regular weight tracking -15

Arial Bold weight tracking -30

Arial Black weight tracking -50

Arial Narrow weight no tracking

Arial Narrow bold weight tracked -15

Telephone numbers 01228 606060 web addresses www. and email addresses @gov.uk should be picked out in Arial Black.

Captions appear in Arial Narrow Bold and use a round cornered triangular directional arrow if needed.

Text in narrow columns can be set in Arial Narrow or Arial Narrow Bold. This will help the text fit, and from a design perspective, offers a slight visual contrast to the main copy.

On posters, flyers, display panels and covers type should largely appear in the primary blue colour. This isn’t scientific and a good degree of common ‘visual’ sense should be used. But keep in mind that the overall, fundamental appearance of the brand is blue on white. Take a look at the examples at the end of this guide.

Find out more!

Coffee morning courses Brush up on maths Keep fit with zumba

Dropin for a cuppa!

Bullet pointed listMain bullet points in text documents and display items should be presented as the example below where the bullet point is the height of the capital letter. The bullets may be tinted, white out, or in seconday palette colours if they are being used.

Coff Brus Kee

Bullets will need a small amount of negative baseline shift to align them properly. They should align with the height of the letters ‘O’ or ‘C’.

Second level

• should use a regular option/alt8 bullet point as shown here.


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Our benefits

We want our employees to get the most out of life. To strike the right work/life balance, we offer an excellent salary package, a great pension scheme and some excellent staff benefits.

Professional development We want you to reach your full potential. To help, we have a range of blended learning opportunities available to all employees, which will be relevant to your job.

Flexible working Our flexible working scheme allows you to manage your hours and plan your life more easily. NB: Not all posts are eligible for this scheme, see the job profile.

Annual leave Our annual leave allowance isn’t bad either. 25 days per year, rising to 30 after four years’ service.

Pensions The Scheme provides you with a secure future income, independent of share prices and stock market fluctuations. The council pays, on average, twice as much into your pension as you do and regular cost of living increases.

We’re listening We like to receive feedback and listen to our employees. Schemes like Meet Diane and informal Chief Exec staff roadshows enable you to share your thoughts openly with our Chief Executive, Diane Wood and the Corporate Directors.

Childcare vouchers We’ve introduced a more flexible way for employees to meet childcare costs. You can chose to take part of your salary as tax-free and NationalInsurance exempt childcare vouchers, which could save up to £1196 a year.

Cycle to work scheme We’re committed to greener transport solutions. Part of our policy is to encourage employees to cycle to work. Our scheme entitles you to significant discounts on the price of a new bike and safety equipment.

Eye tests We provide all display screen users with a free eye test on request. We have a corporate eye care scheme which includes the eye test and a pair of glasses if required for display screen use.

Well-being for life We want to improve the well-being of our employees both in and out of the workplace. Our Well-being for life initiative provides information, help and ideas to raise awareness of Your health, Your safety, Your money, Your mind and Your time.

www.cyclescheme.co.uk/c8ffbThe scheme is open for employees of

Cumbria County Council to apply online now

Applications must be made between

16th September - 17th November 2013

Cumbria County Council 17

Do you support or care for a family member or friend? If you do we need your views to help develop the Carers Support Service.

The county council currently delivers a number of carers support services directly and through other organisations. The current service is being reviewed by the county council with the aim of introducing a new service in October 2013. Views of carers are needed to help to inform this refocused service. The consultationAs part of a wider opinion process there is an online survey at opinionsuite.com/cumbria where you can share your views. If required this survey can be made available in different formats see contact details below. This consultation closes on 27 November 2012. ContactJulian Legate-mail [email protected] 01539 713072

Consultations

CarersSurvey

Past consultations: Proposals for changes to Cumbria’s Household Waste Recycling Centres(HWRC)

We Asked: To improve efficiency we proposed closing six HWRC sites. You said: There was considerable opposition to the closures.We did: Acting on the results of the consultation the decision was made not to proceed with the closures.

Type style As a general approach, try to

keep things compact and avoid unnecessary line spaces that tend to fragment the layout. Use font weights to help break up text.

Technical Information

Technical Information


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04 Typeface/font

Body text guidelines

To maintain legibility and ensure all our documentation and correspondence is easy to read, we have outlined our preferred styles when using paragraphs of body copy.

The font size and ‘leading’ (spacing between each line) are both measured in increments called ‘points’ and will vary according to the size of the document being produced.

We recommend the font size/leading ratio as follows:

A4 document:

12pt body copy on 14pt leading:

This is an example of 12 point text set onto 14 point leading.

Dis dolumquatem. Olut occupta sit eosamus doles et venis doles quiberest que ex esto blam voles min cum adi sinum audit arisciur.

A5 document:

9.5pt body copy on 12pt leading:

This is an example of 9.5 point text set onto 14 point leading. Dis dolumquatem. Olut occupta sit eosamus doles et venis doles quiberest que ex esto blam voles min cum adi sinum audit arisciur.

Paragraph styles

Try to keep text ‘range left/ragged right’ whenever possible. This paragraph is an example of that style.

Do not ‘justify’ body text or use hyphenations as this makes the text more difficult to read by altering the spacing between each word.

Omnime ma quas enimpos andit, idel-lab in repuda poresequis et qui odic tec-tum doloriam erferec uptur, eum eatatis nus-daep ererum voloraecti dolupta ssimus.

Labor alisimodit poressi nimusam sam estio-sa eperrovidest doluptatem diciist in et vel et et et ex enissite volorrore conem am is voluptati volumquo blacepe liquis dunt as dolo moluptatis aliasped ma voloria dolecest aditatquo volorepre corepere plis dus dolore veliquia venisse quiatur?

Typeface/font


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The council adopted a new strapline in 2011:Serving the people of Cumbria

This is part of our brand and must always appear in Arial.

The speech bubble

As part of the council’s brand, the use of a speech bubble is an integral part of the design.

The speech bubble is a ‘visual’ representation of a ‘listening’ council and a concise symbol of effective communication.

The outline of the bubble must appear in the same corporate colour (Pantone 7468) as used for the logo.

The inside of the bubble must be white.Text within the bubble must use the font Arial in the corporate colour (Pantone 7468).

The bubble (including the inside) may be used in other colours from the wider corporate colour

palette for the internal pages of publications.Text within the bubble must be written in plain English. When used on the front cover the text in the bubble must tell the reader what the publication is.

Cut out images can be used within the bubble and allowed to bleed out beyond the line.

An additional secondary, smaller bubble can be used using a solid colour (using colour from the wider corporate colour palette with white text in the corporate font.

The point size of the text used in the speech bubble will vary according to how much text is needed, but as a guideline we have outlined a few examples on this page.

Try to keep the text range left where possible, although centering the text is acceptable on occasion.

The bubble may also be reversed or inverted, to ensure the best possible fit within the document being created. Please see ‘The strapline, speech bubble and photographic style’ on page 15 for a range of examples.

05 The strapline, speech bubble and photographic style

The strapline, speech bubble and photographic style

The speech bubble is one of the fundamental elements of the brands visual character.

It has a fill colour and an outline colour. When filled with a colour the outline is always white. Alternatively if the outline is coloured then the fill is white.

Bearing in mind that the overwhelming appearance of the brand is blue against white, speech bubbles should have a primary blue outline and a white fill in the first instance. To complement this a primary blue fill with a white outline can be used to add a bit of visual contrast.

Additionally secondary palette colours can also be used to support the main primary blue speech bubble.

OK OK

notOK




OK

The fill and outlines should never be a combination of two colours.

The bubble may be flipped top to bottom or left to right but not rotated at an angle.

The pointed bottom left corner of the speech bubble should never be hidden behind other elements. This is the most descriptive part of the shape and without it all recognition of what it is, is lost.

notOK

Drop shadows beneath speech bubbles should not be used. The flat graphic style presents a crisper image with the white outline being described when overlapping a colour or picture area, but bleeding into the background where it sits over white.

Find out more!

Coffee morning courses Brush up on maths Keep fit with zumba

Dropin for a cuppa!

OKOK

notOK

OK


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The strapline, speech bubble and photographic style

Photographic style

As part of our new brand we have adopted a clean and specific style of photography. This helps all of our communication be instantly and easily recognised. The Communications Team have a vast image library of photographs in this style for you to use at no cost.

See the next page for examples of posters, leaflets and document covers where these guidelines have been used.

Cut-out images Cut-out images are one of

the key elements of the brands visual character, particularly of people.


Come along to the library and have a free consultation with the Book Doctor to find out what you could be reading next.

Are you stuck in a reading rut? Visit the libraries’ Book Doctor.




Boxed images As a primary approach picture boxes used to frame images should

be speech bubble shaped. The brand does not generally allow for images to be dropped into squared up frames, however, there are occasions when it would be impractical to use the speech bubble shape. In these cases a round cornered box can be used. The first page spread on the following sheet shows an example of this.



19The strapline, speech bubble and photographic style

Background / large images Another of the major elements of the brands visual character is a white background and

use of white space. This should be considered when placing large images. Either the image should be feathered off, as with the examples on the far right, or like the example below where, although a large background image has been used, there is still a significant area of white on the spread. Note the wider floating column of space of between the two articles: this helps to both separate the articles and introduce white space.

One occasion where it is fine to use squared up boxed images, albeit with round corners, is when placing small inset pics as here.





Further image use All four page spreads below feature a good helping of white

space. Large images should not bleed off all edges fully but should be contained within a round cornered box with only one or two edges bleeding off.

In the example below the cut-out image has been used as a kind of bookend, to separate two areas and break up the hard left edge of the otherwise squared up image to the right. Two thirds of the top panel is white, one third image - a balance that fits in with the brands general visual character.


21The strapline, speech bubble and photographic style


Icons

The graphic symbol within the speech bubble should be white. The colour of the bubble shape should be one of the brand colours with a white outline. Drop shadows should not be used. When creating new icons, keep the shape simple and adopt a ‘round cornered’ approach.

Take a look at the examples here.

Cumbria County Council 17

Do you support or care for a family member or friend? If you do we need your views to help develop the Carers Support Service.

The county council currently delivers a number of carers support services directly and through other organisations. The current service is being reviewed by the county council with the aim of introducing a new service in October 2013. Views of carers are needed to help to inform this refocused service. The consultationAs part of a wider opinion process there is an online survey at opinionsuite.com/cumbria where you can share your views. If required this survey can be made available in different formats see contact details below. This consultation closes on 27 November 2012. ContactJulian Legate-mail [email protected] 01539 713072

Consultations

CarersSurvey

Past consultations: Proposals for changes to Cumbria’s Household Waste Recycling Centres(HWRC)

We Asked: To improve efficiency we proposed closing six HWRC sites. You said: There was considerable opposition to the closures.We did: Acting on the results of the consultation the decision was made not to proceed with the closures.

Speech bubbles containing graphic symbols or icons are used to add accents of colour and an additional pictorial element with different character.

Register your interest online Visit our facebook page

Icons used for contact information, facebook, twitter etc, should be primary blue or white out of primary blue.

SearchI’m searching for...

Jobs Roads and Travel Libraries and Archives Waste and Recycling Your Cumbria Schools and Learning Business More

[email protected]

Text size A B C Text Reader Low Graphics

0303 333 1216Thinking about

Fostering?

Become part of Cumbria’sbiggest family!

Friends have asked if we’ve considered adopting, but we’re not doing this to help just two babies. We want to help hundereds.

Register your interest online Visit our facebook page

Thinking about Fostering?

Thinking about the process?

What support is available?

Visit cumbria.gov.uk/fostering


Who are the children?Last year we placed over 350 children with foster families. About 70 of the children placed were under 1 year old and almost 175 were under 5. Around 60 were aged between 14 and 15 years.

They will each have different needs and as a carer, you will provide a safe, healthy and caring environment in order to give these children the opportunity to live their life to the full.

Find out more

Saturday 28 September, 10:00am-2:00pmChildren’s Services, New Oxford Street, Workington, CA14 2LW.(Entrance to rear on Central Way opposite multi-storey car park).

Why foster with Cumbria County Council?We have years of experience working with Cumbrian foster carers and the support you receive will be excellent.

We’ll provide all the training you need before you’re approved to foster and provide ongoing support once you start fostering.

Financial supportAs a new carer you will receive a combined allowance plus fee of between £468 and £909 a month for each child you foster depending on their age. Experienced carers can receive up to £1276 per child per month.

If you’re on welfare benefits fostering does not affect the amount of benefit you receive.

0303 333 1216

cumbria.gov.uk/fostering

Drop-in




Round cornered box

Round cornered picture container.As described in the photo style pages, large photos should not bleed fully off all sides but be contained within a round cornered box. This box can fill the full page/spread area up to the margin or be contracted or expanded on any side to fit the size of the article or bleed off one edge - as shown in the eamples to the right.

Radius. On design work up to A4 a radius of 3mm should be used. For anything above A4 use a radius that is a good visual match.

Rule thickness. On design work up to A4 the weight of the the box rule should be 1pt or 2pt.

Boxed areas should be round cornered rather than square cornered. Rounded corners give a softer feel and have a sympathy with the shape of the speech bubble.


23


Some design work does not allow for anything to bleed off the page area at all, for instance printing onto envelopes. Other things are designed to be printed internally on a standard office printer which does not allow edge to edge printing. In these cases the round cornered box can be used to define the page margin - see ‘your South Lakeland’ envelope example to the far right.

Alternatively this can be used as a design feature in itself. The proportions of the header and footer still apply. In the thermometer example to the right, the dividing rules defining the bottom edge of the header and the top edge of the footer have been modified and combined to become a round cornered box.



A guide to council services in your area.

Better services

SouthLakelandyour

Inside...

Whats on

A-Z guide to services

Area Plans

Gear up for winter

with our guide to winterdriving.



Too hot or cold?

TOO HOT Risk of high fuel bills

COMFORTABLE For most people

A BIT COOLTurn up heating

TOO COLD Increased risk of illness

27

24

21

18

15

12

9

81

75

70

64

59

54

48

cumbria.gov.uk/carboncount


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Section 2 - Applying the brand


25


“ An image… is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service.”

Daniel Boorstin

Social Historian


26

The council’s stationery is the first contact of our brand image for many customers.Letterhead

The example on this page shows what information is included on letterheads. Letterhead templates are available online at intouch.ccc/communication-consultation/communication/templates/letterheads.asp.

Actual letterhead size is A4 (297mm x 210mm).

The council has a number of external awards and accreditations. Some of these must be included on all stationery.

Address details are optional on a pre-printed letterhead

Agreed external accreditation logos as at January 2014 – this will change over time

06 Corporate stationery

Example: The Cumbria County Council letterhead

The Courts • English Street • Carlisle • Cumbria • CA3 8NAT: 01228 227394 • F: 01228 607403 • E: [email protected]

Serving the people of Cumbriacumbria.gov.uk


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For printed copies of the letterhead, compliment slip or business cards please contact the Communications Team on 01228 221732.

Corporate stationery


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Cumbria County Council with compliments

The Courts • English Street • Carlisle • Cumbria • CA3 8NAT: 01228 227394 • F: 01228 607403 • E: [email protected]

cumbria.gov.uk

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Compliment slips

The example on this page shows what information is included on the compliment slips.

Actual compliment slip size is 210mm x 99mm.

Address details are optional on a pre-printed compliment slip.

Agreed external accreditation logos as at March 2010 – this will change over time.

Roy AntrobusCumbria Care - Residential home managerAdult and Local Services - Older People Condor Block • Kendal County Offices • Busher Walk • Kendal Cumbria • LA9 4RQT: 01539 713289 • M: 07966 111885E: [email protected]


cumbria.gov.uk


Better services

Business cards

The example on this page shows what information is included on the business cards.

Actual business card size is 85mm x 55mm.

Address details are personalised according to your position.

Example: The Cumbria County Council business card, front and reverse

Example: The Cumbria County Council compliment slip




28

Email signature

It is important that the county council promotes a consistent image to its service users, partners, stakeholders and colleagues.

To achieve this, it is critical that we adopt a consistent approach to correspondence - both in print and online - that meets the county council’s corporate identity standards. Email is one of the most commonly used forms of communication. The council has clear guidelines as to what your email signature should look like - see example on this page. The council also has an email policy which provides information and guidance on how to use it properly.

Your signature should look like this and appear on all emails you send and be a point size of 12pt in Arial. No additional fonts, emoticons or background images are to be used.

Name (Arial Bold 12 point)Job title | Team/departmentDirectorate name | Cumbria County CouncilAddress 1 | Address 2 | Address 3 | Postcode

t: telephone numberm: mobile numberf: fax numbercumbria.gov.uk (Arial Black 12 point)


Arial Regular12pt

Arial Regular12pt


29

Identity badges

All council employees are now expected to wear an identity badge so that they can be easily identified as a member of staff. Wearing an identity badge is not optional.

PowerPoint presentation slides

Below is an example of how your PowerPoint presentation must be laid out. A template is available on intouch to download at intouch.ccc/communications

You must not use any clipart or images you do not have copyright for.

Example: A PowerPoint presentation slide template

Example: Cumbria County Council identity badge


Title of your presentation

here


You can order an ID badge by contacting the Communications Team on 01228 221732




30

Cumbria County Council’s internet and Intouch intranet websites also adhere to our brand guidelines. The core templates are set by the Communications Team and rolled out to the rest of our website using a content management system. There are four core page layouts.

Level one - HomepageThe landing pages are administered by the Communications Team. The banner features the logo, corporate colour, strapline, bubble and icon. This banner remains consistent throughout the website.

Level two - Service areaThere are key service pages that are linked to from the top menu bar also administered by the Communications Team. These pages use an icon and text based box navigation layout. There are also right-sided noticeboard components and text only footer based components for additional navigational options.

07 Websites


31

Level three - Information pageThese pages are administered by trained individuals within the appropriate department. The layout includes a left-sided navigation menu and page content can be compressed into a collapsible menu component. All images, graphics and text should comply with current corporate branding guidelines.

Direct link/campaign pages

In certain circumstances and only following approval from the Communications Team a campaign page may be created. This look and feel is primarily used when promoting or selling a service to the public and is often used in conjunction with a shorter, easy to signpost web address such as cumbria.gov.uk/fostering. For approval please contact the Strategic Communications Advisor responsible for your directorate.

Contact the web team:[email protected] 226332

Creating content

If you wish to create and amend content on our website, you must first be trained to use our website content management system. This system is called Tridion.

A website content management system allows a large number of people to add and amend content on a website, whilst keeping the look and feel of the whole site consistent and in line with our corporate branding. Therefore, when using Tridion, you don’t need to worry about any of the site’s styling, but are free to concentrate purely on what you want to say.

To find out more about Tridion Training please contact Jane Cairns on 01228 226601 or email [email protected]

Need an easy to remember web address?

The default address for individual web pages can be quite long and difficult to promote to the public. If you need an easy to remember address for your web page email [email protected]

07 Websites


32

All design and print work must be sourced by the council’s Communications Team.

08 Promotional material

Top: Cumbria County Council USB stick Middle: Cumbria County Council ball point pen Bottom: Cumbria County Council coffee mug

Top: Cumbria County Council pin badge Bottom: Cumbria County Council mouse mat

Above: Cumbria County Council pop-up banner stand

Promotional material


33

These guidelines have been written to ensure that all Cumbria County Council signage adheres to our corporate identity. They also incorporate the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). Since October 2004, this act has required us to use appropriate letter sizes, spacing and formatting for all our signs to help those with visual impairment or learning difficulties read them more easily.

Approval for signage

Prior to installation there is a series of checks that need to take place to ensure that the sign meets corporate identity and has the appropriate permissions and is safe to install.

First contact the Communications Team who will advise on the design and layout of the sign. They can also ensure that all signage is ordered from our approved suppliers.

Once you have your design you will need to contact the council’s Strategic Investment and Property Unit on 01228 221339 to ensure that the necessary permissions are in place and that the appropriate checks have been undertaken e.g. the building you are signing could be listed or it may require an asbestos check.

Material for signage

Signage for the county council can be easily broken down into two types, external/customer facing and internal/staff facing, and both have specific requirements on the material that is used.

External/customer facing

These are to be manufactured in aluminium with screen printing graphics onto acrylic

powder coated 3mm aluminium tray panels with fully welded and dressed edges. All fixings will be hidden from view and the tray will have an internal frame which is secured with stainless steel fixings. Ladder signage is also manufactured in the same way but a foundation is required then the sign will be set into a course concrete foundation and the posts will have a minimum 150mm square base plate. We would use this type of signage for all external signage including all signage right up to and including receptions. Once signage goes beyond reception it is at this point we class this as internal signage and the material can change. Another example of external/customer facing signage would be libraries – all signage that our customer can see would be produced in aluminium with only internal/staff facing signage produced as below.

Internal/staff facing

Internal signage with no public access can be manufactured by applying vinyl lettering onto white 5mm thick foamex.

09 Corporate signage

Corporate signage


34

Building identification signs

Building identification signs tell a potential visitor that the building is occupied by Cumbria County Council. They should be mounted on the wall near the entrance to a building. These are often the first representation of Cumbria County Council that a visitor will encounter so it’s important that they are designed correctly. Building identification signs should follow our brand identity guidance.

If space allows the main site signage should comprise two signs: one primary sign that says ‘Welcome to Cumbria County Council’ with an additional secondary sign that lists the ‘Building name’ followed by ‘Opening times’. See examples on this page.

All times should be aligned to the right. All numbers should be emboldened ie telephone numbers and numbers in the time.

Where space is limited then one sign may be utilised that states ‘Welcome to’ followed by the ‘Building name’. See examples on opposite page.


Corporate signage

Welcome to Cumbria County Council

Opening hoursMonday – Thursday ......................................9.00 – 5.00pmFriday ..............................................................9.00 – 4.30pm

Telephone: 01228 606060

cumbria.gov.uk

Parkhouse BuildingOpening hoursMonday – Thursday ......................................8.45 – 5.15pmFriday .............................................................8.45 – 4.45pm

Telephone: 01228 606060

cumbria.gov.uk

The Courts

Building identification signage first preference comprising two signs


35


Corporate signage

Building identification signage secondary option when space limited and including opening timesBuilding identification signage secondary option when space limited


cumbria.gov.uk

Welcome to the Register Office


Welcome to the Lonsdale Building


cumbria.gov.uk

Welcome to Children’s ServicesKendal Area Office

Buildings - Single department occupancy

Opening hoursMonday – Thursday ......................................8.45 – 5.15pmFriday .............................................................8.45 – 4.45pm

Telephone: 01228 606060

cumbria.gov.uk


36


Above: Multiple department occupancy signRight: Directional ladder sign

Buildings - Multiple department occupancy


cumbria.gov.uk

Archive ServiceLegal ServicesChildren’s ServicesNeighbourhood Development


Reception

Archive Service

Children’s Services

Environment Unit

Register Office

Trading Standards

County Offices

E

cumbria.gov.uk


Reception

Archive Service


Environment Unit

Register Office

Trading Standards

County Offices

E

cumbria.gov.uk

Corporate signage

Health and Care Services

Building identification signs within a large site

When there are several buildings located within the grounds of large county council sites it is helpful to clarify to visitors that these buildings are part of Cumbria County Council by displaying the council logo and the appropriate name for that building.


37

Buildings - Directional exterior signs



ReceptionVisitor’s car park

cumbria.gov.uk


Equality and Diversity

cumbria.gov.uk


Equality and Diversity

cumbria.gov.uk


Reception All visitors please report to reception

cumbria.gov.uk

Directional exterior signs Directional exterior signs

For all your signage needs please contact the Communications Team on 01228 221728 who will be happy to assist you.


Corporate signage


38

Internal signage



Reception


Reception

Internal signage Internal directional signage

Highways Team


Policy and Performance Communications Team


Highways Team Environment Team

Corporate signage


39


Corporate signage

Signing projects whilst in construction

The county council invests a lot of money in developing and delivering a range of Property and Highways projects. It is important that all construction projects are properly signed not only when open, but also when under construction.

From cutting the first sod to laying the first brick we need to ensure that the residents of Cumbria are clear when we are investing in their area. The text will obviously need tailored to each project depending on the level of investment and the type of project.

The Communications Team can help develop the right message to help raise awareness about what we are delivering in a local community.

Example: Railings bannerExample: Sign mounted on posts


We’re investing over £1 million in your community to bring you a new children’s centre.

Opening Spring 2012.

cumbria.gov.uk


We’re investing in building you a new bypass road.

Opening Summer 2016.

cumbria.gov.uk




40


Example: Sign mounted on posts Example: County boundary signs mounted on posts

County Boundary Signage

As part of the councils rebranding guidance we have also now agreed to a corporate look and feel for County Boundary Signs.

The new signs are in-keeping with the councils new guidance as well as meeting highway specifications.

Corporate signage


41

“Design must reflect thepractical and aestheticin business but above allgood design must primarilyserve people.”

Thomas J. Watson Interior design brand guidelines


42

Primary colour palette

Secondary colour palette

For use in fabric, furnishings and feature walls.

The above Dulux Trade references are the closest match to the corporate Pantone colours from Dulux’s Trade range. Alternatively BS numbers are acceptable to match the pantone references.

10 Interior design

We want our buildings tobe modern, practical, fit forpurpose and stand the testof time. Good design willnot date and the followingagreed approach to thecounty council’s interiordesign will let our staff andcustomers know that theyhave ‘arrived’ at a councilbuilding regardless of where in the county they may be.

Pantone 193Dulux Trade 00YR 15/510

Pantone 211Dulux Trade 14RR 48/276

Pantone 301Dulux Trade 30BB 10/337

Pantone 348Dulux Trade 90GY 21/472



Pantone 306Dulux Trade 50BG 41/312

Pantone 382Dulux Trade 70YY 59/485




Black WhiteDulux Trade 90BB 83/011(Off-white)


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10 Interior design

Colour themes

Whilst the county council’s preferred colour isthe corporate blue (Pantone 7468) other colourscan be used to represent different areas within abuilding helping staff to navigate around counciloffices anywhere in the county.


Meeting Formal, informal, discuss


Breakout Informal, chat, relax


Resource Support, print, layout


Hot desk Drop in, individual, team

Work Welcome, team, individual


Black WhiteDulux Trade 90BB 83/011(Off-white)

“Colour does not add apleasant quality to design– it reinforces it.”Pierre Bonnard


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Entrance design

The design provides the existing entrance witha more dominant presence against the scaleof the building. The corporate colour externallyprovides both staff and visitors with a focal point,making it very apparent on arrival that it is aCumbria County Council building.

Existing render wings painted to matchPantone 7468 primary Blue. Dulux Trade Weathershield Masonary paint in 50BG 18/350 or equivalent product.

Cumbria Council logo will improve the brand whilst making it noticeable from the carpark and surrounding area. Adhesive UV resistant vinyl applied to existing aluminium panels

Manifestation to match new branding. Refer to manifestation proposals.

10 Interior design


45


Graphic posters in display holder

Possible feature wall in secondary colour

10 Interior design

Reception design

Please note that all reception areas will be done on a be-spoke basis and must be signed off by the communications team and property team.

The basic principles will include; Introducing blocks of corporate primary and secondary colours in to the space to help bring about more of a corporate feel to the council’s identity. This may be applied using coloured fabrics on the soft furnishing, paint colours to the walls and introducing super sized graphic display and signage.The introduction of an additional floor finish can help to break up the large floor area and help to give the reception desk some importance. It is advised that where possible an entrance mat should be installed to remove dirt and moisture from shoes to prevent it being walked into the reception/ office areas. Where possible natural local finishes reflecting Cumbria may be used e.g. slate, wood etc.


WhiteDulux Trade 90BB 83/011(Off-white)


46

Entrance finishes options

Option 1 - High end receptionFixed/recessed entrance barrier mat where possible.Ref: Forbo, Nuway or equivalent with corporate logo

Option 2 - Enclosed reception Fixed on existing floor, entrance barrier matRef: Forbo Coral Brush or equivalent

Reception finishes options

Option 1 - High end receptionFinish: Slate or wood tbc by Comms and Property

Option 2 - Enclosed receptionFinish: Carpet Finish ABurmatex, Stripe,Ref: Classic Grey 19704 (laid quarter turn)

Option 3 - Open receptionFinish: Carpet Finish CBurmatex, Balance Greyscale (loop pile) Ref: 18501 Grey (laid quarter turn)

Laminate/solid surface

Joinery and furniture in Elm - romana cherry finish also acceptable

10 Interior design - Possible options for reception depending on space and design


47

Carpet B

Carpet D

Carpet D

Work

Meeting

Breakout

Carpet C

Carpet C

Pod for inform chat, discussion and meetings

Informal breakout space

Carpet B

10 Interior design

Existing door replaced with light timber effect laminate, or existing door painted in a light colour.

Feature colour to indicate use of room e.g. meeting room. Colour to typically be used on ‘inside walls’ rather than ‘outside walls’ within open plan office environment. However, depending on size and shape of building some use of colour on ‘outside walls’ may be appropriate but are subject to approval by communications.

Large posters in display holders or printed on to foamex and wall fixed

Super graphic image on back wall

Retro fit desk screens to help divide working space between staff and prevent visable desk clutter

Open up wall to create a larger openingand install new glazed screen

General wall colour in off-white

‘Doodle’ wall

Task chair

All striped carpet to be laid half drop, same direction as per this picture example.

CROWN AMERICAN WHITE OAK timber veneer can be used on doors and architraves as a ‘best match’ when ROMANO CHERRY is not available, or financially viable (e.g. in rented office accommodation).


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Carpet C

Typical office desk and chair finishes.

10 Interior design

Work

Circulation carpet: Carpet BBurmatex, Strands (textured loop pile)Dependant on size of building carpet will either be five stripe or ten stripe, laid half drop same direction.Five stripe Ref: 17407 Blue Ten stripeRef: 17307 BlueThis will be determined by Comms/Property

Main carpet: Carpet CBurmatex, Balance Greyscale (loop pile) carpetRef: 18501 Grey (laid quarter turn)

Typical desk finish - Elm Paint - General wall finishDulux Trade 90BB 83/011Off-white

Fabric F11 - Standard desk screen Camira, CaraRef: Mull EJ012

Fabric F10 - Seat and back padCamira, PheonixRef: Paseo YP019

Typical office chair finishes.

Fabric F12 - Hot desk screen Camira, PheonixCalypso YP106


49

Typical meeting pod for informal meetings.

Meeting

Meeting room carpet: Carpet D Burmatex, Strands (textured loop pile)Ref: 17405 Lime Five - laid random drop, same direction approximately 20% mixture of stripe carpet to be laid random.


Glazed door to meeting room.

Feature wall within cellular meeting roomPantone 382Dulux Trade 70YY 59/485

General wall finishDulux Trade 90BB 83/011(Off-white)

Fabric F10 - Meeting chairsCamira, PheonixRef: Paseo YP019

Typical carpet arrangement in meeting rooms.

10 Interior design


50

Burmatex, Balance Greyscale (loop pile) carpet - laid quarter turnRef: 18501 GreyLocation: General office floor finish

Typical furniture finish - Elm Pantone 152Dulux Trade 70YR 26/605

Breakout

Cafe style loose seating and tables.

10 Interior design


51

Fabric: F01 (Grey)Camira, Blazer, Silcoates, CUZ30

Fabric: F02 (Blue)Camira, Blazer, Knightsbridge, CUZ26

Fabric: F03 (Lime)Camira, Blazer, Ulster, CUZ1F

Fabric: F04 (Orange)Camira, Blazer, Goldsmith, CUZ39

Fabric: F05 (Red)Camira, Blazer, Wellington, CUZ13

Fabric: F06 (Pink)Camira, Blazer, Rockport,CUZ89

Basic fabric Feature fabrics - use to be agreed by Communications and Property teams

Fabric: F07Camira, Eton Stripe, College SZV01

Breakout and reception seating using secondary feature branding colours.

10 Interior design


52

Typical resource colouring and finishes.

Resource

Repro room carpet: Carpet E Burmatex, Strands (textured loop pile)Ref: 17401 Pink Five - laid random drop, same direction approximately 20% mixture of stripe carpet to be laid random


General wall finishDulux Trade 90BB 83/011(Off-white)

Typical resource pod to open plan office.

Vinyl, fabric or laminate finish to outer pod

Typical carpet arrangement in repro cellular room.

10 Interior design



53

3D of typical WC cubicle finishes

Toilets

Feature colour laminatePantone Ref: 7468

Elm laminate or equivalent e.g. Romano cherry - cubicle doors and vanity access panels

General white laminate - cubicle side panels and vanity carcass.

Vanity laminate or solid surface in black speckle

Vinyl - anti-slip floor

Visual of typical WC finishes Typical counter fixed washbasin with self closing tap

10 Interior design


54

All corporate clothing such as jackets, polo shirts and hi-vis tabards must have the county council’s logo applied to the left chest pocket area.

Example A - Construction/Highways Must have the county council’s logo applied to the centre back on the high-vis tabard.

Short-sleeved polo shirts also have the logo on the upper area of the sleeve on both arms.

Example B - Care workersMust have the county council’s logo applied to the left chest.

11 Corporate clothing

A B

The minimum size for the logo on any clothing is 60mm wide.


55Corporate clothing

The council logo and should appear prominently on the vehicle and should not be positioned where it will be interrupted by door handles etc.

Below are some examples of how this will be applied to different vehicles but if you are unsure please contact the Communications Team on 01228 221728.

12 Vehicle livery

Graphics on yellow highways vehicles should be black.


56 Vehicle livery

The only exception to the council’s branding guidance is where the organisation works in partnership with other organisations.The simple rule of thumb is that if the service is paid for by Cumbria County Council, then it will be branded within Cumbria County Council’s corporate identity guidelines. Where services are ‘contracted out’ the service will still be clearly branded as Cumbria County Council only.

Where there is a clearly established partnership for example a range of organisations working together to provide a service that they all fund financially or in-kind, then this will be treated as an exception to the council’s corporate identity guidelines and the service being provided can have its own brand identity.

Any exceptions must be approved by the communications team.

13 Working in partnership

Various branding exceptions.

Partnership examples

Cumbria Strategic Waste Partnership and the corporate brandLocal authorities in Cumbria have been working together to develop and manage effective waste and recycling services through a joint forum called the Cumbria Strategic Waste Partnership (CSWP).

The following exceptions to corporate branding have been agreed for Cumbria County Council’s waste service to support partnership activity and to enable the added value offered from national campaign work.

• Where the communication relates to a Cumbria County Council service such as Household

Waste Recycling Centre or a Mechanical Biological Treatment facility the corporate branding will be fully embraced.

• Where a behavioural change campaign is devised and developed on behalf of the CSWP and will be either funded (financially or in-kind delivery) by the partnership then the corporate

branding rules do not apply and where appropriate the communications material must carry the logos for all participating local authorities or organisations.

• Where a WRAP national campaign is delivered locally and is done so in isolation by Cumbria County Council the preference is to include the CCC header and footer panels as part of the artwork.


57Working in partnership

14 Alternative formats

The council is committed to making all of its publicity material and public information as easy to access as possible. This means that if requested we must do all that we can to supply information in a range of languages and format.

To ensure that we deliver against this commitment and that we comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) you must ensure that all printed information includes the following approved statement in a prominent position, usually on the back cover and translated in to a range of languages.

‘ To obtain a copy of this information in Braille, audio or large print ring the county council on 01228 606060 or visit our website on cumbria.gov.uk/equalities’

It may be appropriate for some information to be automatically provided in alternative formats depending on the audience and subject area.

Large print

There is no standard definition of large print – most people prefer their large print between 16pt and 22pt. If a large print version is requested, and you have the information electronically, check what size they would prefer and print off the information in the larger font size. The font used should always be Arial.

Easy read versions

Depending on your audience you may want to produce something in ‘easy read’ format. Easy read simply means making document more accessible by presenting them using easy words and certain pictures or symbols.

Youth Offending ServiceCumbria County Council Children’s Services contribution including in kind contribution in respect of the majority of the Senior Manager role that oversees the service is £0.63m.

Funding sources for the service (£000)Youth Justice Board 905Cumbria County Council 630Other partner agencies – funding in kind 415

The Youth Offending Service is a clearly established partnership and can have its own brand identity.


58

Section 3 - Communication protocols and guidance


59


“ Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.”

Charles Eames

American designer


60

15 Writing style guidelines

Cumbria County Council’s editorial house style exists to make our communications more effective and to promote clarity and uniformity. The argument for consistency is very simple. Variation that has no purpose is distracting. Keeping a consistent style encourages readers to concentrate on what is written.

The county council produces many documents. Some are clear, concise and to the point, but many are too long. By making everything we write clear, short and readable we can make our writing easier to understand and more persuasive.

General Rules

1. Plan before you start. Ask yourself Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Topic ...............What, precisely, is the topic?Audience ........Who do I want to read it?Tone ............... What tone of voice is right for that

audience?Purpose .......... Why? What do I want them to do

when they’ve read it?Message ......... What must I tell them to put them

in the picture?Relevance ...... Why should they want to read

this? What are the opportunities, benefits or dangers for them?

Information ..... What information do readers need before they can act?

2. Give your writing a clear and simple structure:

Title .................The subject.Introduction ....Purpose of the document.Argument ........ Message and relevance to the

reader.Conclusion ..... Clear recommendations, plus

whatever information readers need to have to follow your recommendations.

3. Keep it:

Simple ............ Short paragraphs, short sentences, short words.

Crisp ............... Active, not passive, verbs. Delete every redundant word (see example under passive verbs on page 43).

Brief ................ What the reader needs to know, nothing more.

Clear ............... An argument expressed in an easy to follow, logical order.

Focused ......... Stick to the point and use words appropriate for the reader.

Writing style guidelines


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A-Z editorial style guidelines

The writing style guidelines are an alphabetical list of style rules that all our public facing publications must comply to. Some of the rules are about good writing; some are about abbreviation and punctuation.

AbbreviationsAbbreviations should not be used unless there is no room to spell out the words in full:February not Feb.Tuesday not Tues.carbon dioxide not CO²postgraduate certificate not PgCert (apart from in course titles).

Acronyms and initials You know what CPA means, but readers may not. If you must use an acronym, then the phrase or title abbreviated to an acronym or initials must be spelt out in full the first time it is used. Thereafter, the abbreviation can be used: Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).

The exception is where the abbreviation is better known than what it stands for:BBC, HSBC, URL.

When addressing someone by their initials, for example in a letter, the initials of their first names should be:Mrs M Smith.Mr J D Jones.

Bullet pointsLists are excellent for splitting information up. All very long lists (more than five items) should be bulleted. Shorter lists containing very detailed points can also be bulleted for clarity. The last bullet point at the end of the list should include a full stop to indicate the end of the list.

There are two main types of list.

• You can have a continuous sentence with several listed points picked out at the beginning, middle or end.

• Or you can have a list of separate points with an introductory statement (like this list).

In the list above, each of the points is fairly long (in fact they are both complete sentences) so they each start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

For the same type of list with short points, it is better to set it out like this:

Kevin needed to take• a penknife. • some string. • a pad of paper. • a pen.

With a list that is part of a continuous sentence, put semi-colons (;) after each point and start each with a lower case letter:

If you can prove that:• you were somewhere else at the time; • you were not related to Mary; and • you are over 21;then you should be all right.



62


As you can see, the next to last point has ‘and’ after the semi-colon. If you only had to prove one of the three points instead of all of them, this word would be ‘or’.

Bulleted lists may or may not be indented but decide on one style and stick to it throughout the document or publication.

Capital lettersOnly use capitals when you are sure they are needed. For example, when writing the name of a person, place or organisation. Overuse of capitals in your sentences can make your writing difficult to read.

Department/unit titles and job titles are all upper case. As are proper nouns, official titles (books, films, course titles and so on):BA History. Students study history in relation to...

When referring to Cumbria County Council as the council or county council, refer to it in lower case.

With job titles, use initial capitals for a specific (unique) positions:Communications Manager.

But if referring to a manager or several managers, use lower case.

Never use all capital letters - readers perceive this as SHOUTING.

CaptionsCaptions are a phrase, sentence, or short paragraph describing the contents of an illustration such as photos or charts. Photo captions are usually placed directly below, or to the side of the pictures they describe. Use captions to pull in the reader.

There should be no full stop at the end of a caption, even when it constitutes a sentence or sentences.

CCCNever use the acronym CCC in place of Cumbria County Council in any external communication as it can be confusing for those outside the organisation. If a short form is needed (after writing Cumbria County Council in full) use the council.

CouncillorAlways write ‘councillor’ before the name. Do not abbreviate to cllr or coun. Do not write Councillor with a capital unless starting a sentence.

DatesUse 25 July, not July 25 or 25th July.

If years are used in tables, the format is 2000-01 not 2000/1.

Write from 2000 to 2004. Do not write from 2000-04.

EmailWhen referring to email, it should always appear as before, in lowercase with no space or hyphen:email, not Email, E mail or e-mail.



63


Flowery wordsAvoid using six words when one will do. Or using a long word when a short one will do eg:Use Help not assist.Use try not endeavour.Use now not present.Use to not in order to.

Headings and titlesReport titles, headlines and sub-headings. Use an initial capital for the first word only. Never use all capital letters:

How to get a job. notHow To Get A Job.or HOW TO GET A JOB.

Proper nouns Use initial capitals except for small words (in, at, of, the, etc):The Mill on the Floss. The Department of Communities and Local Government.

ItalicsUse for publication titles within body copy, foreign words and sparingly for emphasis or clarity.

Can also be used to emphasise the first usage of a new term which is used elsewhere in the document.

JargonAvoid jargon and business-speak, or your writing may end up meaningless, particularly to an international audience.

NumbersZero to nine are written as words and 10 onwards in figures, except when:• a sentence begins with a number (or reword

the sentence to avoid the problem).• the numbers have technical significance or

need to stand out for quick comprehension (such as tables, statistics, money, times, ratios, academic grades, etc).

• in a range of two or more related numbers at least one is higher than nine:

The accommodation sleeps 8-12 people.

When writing sums with four figures and above, commas should be used:1,000.

Where a number from one to nine is part of a phrase or title that you didn’t create, stick with the convention:Key Stage 2.

TimesUse am and pm, not the 24-hour clock. Use full stops, not colons, as separators.Examples:9.30am not 09:30.11.30pm not 23:30.12 noon.

(Note there is no space between the number and the abbreviation. This avoids confusion with the word am.)

The only exception to this is where it is convention to use the 24 hour clock for certain internal publications/reports/documents (ie. the fire service or the council’s flexi form)



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ParagraphsHave one blank line in between paragraphs, not two.

Passive verbsTry to avoid passive verbs. Instead use active verbs. Use Kieran will present his research at the conference rather than research will be presented by Kieran at the conference.

The riot was stopped by the police (passive).The police stopped the riot (active).

Per centUse per cent in text:20 per cent.

Avoid % except in tables.

Per cent is two words, percentage remains one word.

Points of the compassIn abbreviations use capitals, unspaced and without full stops (NE, NNE, SW) except for single letters when full stops are required (N.).

Regional names:The North, the North West.Adjectives: He travelled north-west, south-east.

Ranges (numerical)Choose between children aged 12-16 or children aged from 12 to 16, not children aged from 12-16.

Web addressesWhen writing web addresses, omit the http://www., unless the address contains no www, then write in full:

cumbria.gov.ukitv.comchannel4.com


If you have any queries please contact the Communications Team on 01228 221728 who will be happy to assist you.


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16 Use of images

Before you use any photographic image it is vital that you make sure you have the right consent to do so. The Communications Team have a wide range of stock images with the correct permissions already in place so whatever your project contact the Communications Team first who’ll be able to advise you on the right images for the job.

Sometimes you may be involved with a project or an event where you take pictures that you want to use in publicity or marketing material. If this is the case it is essential that you get the consent of anyone who appears in the photograph, or video. This guidance applies to anyone of any age, but you need to be particularly careful when dealing with children. You MUST get consent from the parent, guardian or carer of any child or young person up to the age of 18, this is known as parental consent.

Once you have your chosen image and completed consent form you need to send a copy of them both to the Communications Team. This is to ensure that there is a central depository of all consent forms and a single corporate image library of all approved photographs. This reduces the risk to the county council and ensures that all images used are of suitable style and quality.

If you’re organising or attending an event where there may be the opportunity to take photos then take along some copies of the council’s approved consent form which are available to download on Intouch.

How long does consent last for?We recommend that images are not used if it is over 2 years since consent was obtained. Further consent can be obtained after this time if it is an image that the council is still keen to use.

If the images are for a specific project, you can state this on the form and agree with the people involved that the council will not use the photographs for any other projects or initiatives other than the one stated.

Can I use existing photographs?Only photos that have up to date completed consent forms should be used.

Can I commission an external photographer?The Communications Team have a list of approved photographers that the county council uses and are familiar with our style, standards and protocols.

Any photographer working on behalf of the council should comply with the requirements set out in the Data Protection Act 1998 and use the council’s approved consent forms.

Are there special rules for putting photographs on the web?If you are putting photographs of any individual or child on cumbria.gov.uk you still need to follow this guidance and have a signed consent form.

Can I use photographs from an agency?If you get photographs from an agency, you should ask the agency to guarantee that permission has been granted. You should also tell the agency how you will be using the

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photographs because there are different charges for different situations. Ultimately, however, it is your responsibility to ensure that the agency got permission from the people in the photographs, so you might want to get this in writing from the agency.

What else should I think about?If you are commissioning photographs to be taken, consider where and how they will be used and what the cost implications are. For example, if it is a photograph which will be going on a small section of the website, do you need to spend money commissioning a photographer or purchasing an image? Or, if you are taking pictures of an official opening or occasion, and the photos may be used for years to come, should a professional photographer instead be commissioned?

Photographic captionsIt is important to be especially sensitive about the juxtaposition of photographs and text because of possible implications. For example, when an article talks about dementia or other ill-health problems. You may wish to include a caption stating “image posed by models”, or include some other caption to make it clear the person

appearing in the photograph is not the person referred to in the accompanying text.

What about equalities issues?Remember to include images of people from different ethnic backgrounds in your communications whenever possible and to use positive images of disabled people. This will ensure that your photographs are inclusive of the whole community and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

What if my event is attended by the press?From time to time, you may invite the press to take photographs or film footage of a visiting dignitary or other high profile event. These images may appear in local or national newspapers, or on televised news programmes. You are responsible for making sure staff and customers know why images are being taken, where and how they will be published, and to obtain any required consent.

Remember that when a press image has been captured the data controller for that image is the media organisation concerned and not the council. Therefore any objections will need to be made to that organisation and not to the council.

What about copyright?You will also need to be aware of copyright implications with any photographs that you may use from elsewhere. Guidance on copyright issues and ensuring that you do not break the rules is also available.

Images are covered by copyright laws. You should not use images taken from websites or other publications on any council material (including presentations) without the necessary permissions from the owner of the image or content. When we purchase stock images part of the cost includes the permission to use it for the purpose we set out.

What about multimedia?Before any adults or young people up to the age of 18 can appear in a council film, you must get the correct permission, ie parental consent for those under 18. You can do this in the same way as for photographs, using the relevant consent form. Similarly, you must get the permission of anyone in the film, even if they are part of a crowd, if they are easily recognisable.

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16 Use of images

What about Webcams?The regulations for using webcams are similar to those for CCTV (closed-circuit television). This means that the area in which you are using the webcam must be well signposted and people must know that the webcam is there before they enter that area. In effect, this means you are getting their consent. However, as with photographs, you must tell the person:

• why the webcam is there• what you will use the images for, and• who might want to look at the pictures.

FinallyAs already stated, to avoid any problems in the future, get a signed consent form before taking and using any images. For further information and advice contact the council’s Communications Team.

Important additional guidance Images that include children or young peopleAs we have stated the use of images that contain children or young people need careful handling. For example if two parents disagree

over consent for their child to appear in a photograph or in a film recording, then you have to treat it as if consent has not been given. Likewise, if the parents give their consent but the child does not, then consent cannot be regarded as given.

You need a person’s clear consent (or parental consent for those under 18) when they are clearly recognisable in an image.

If a person is absolutely unrecognisable e.g. if they have their back to the camera, or they appear out of focus in the foreground of a photograph while the camera zooms in on an object in the background then the image can be used without a signed consent form.

You should be especially sensitive in the case of children with special educational needs. You should also exercise caution when dealing with children in care. Consent from the carer as well as the child or young person may be appropriate. When taking photographs of older people in care homes, you need to satisfy yourself that the person to be photographed has the capacity to make that decision. If not, who can decide on

their behalf? You should discuss your intentions with the care home and the person so they understand how the images will be used and the context in which they will be used.

You must also exercise extreme caution at all times to ensure that only images of children in suitable dress are used, to reduce the risk of the images being used inappropriately. For example, avoid using full-length photographs of children in swimming costumes; instead taking the shot from the shoulders up. The Institute of Sport and Management (ISRM) issued stringent guidelines on photographing sports events in January 2003 and these can be found on the ISRM website.

If you need to get consent for children, you should give a copy of the consent form to the parent as soon as possible. If possible well in advance of when an event takes place or at the least go equipped with consent forms on the day of the event or activity. Remember without this signed consent form you MUST NOT use any image where the child/young person is identifiable.

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Images that use staff on the internet or intranetCumbria County Council often uses images and videos of staff for internal campaigns and sometimes to promote services and activities on the internet. Again permission forms must be used.

However photographs taken for security reasons using a digital camera, to enable access to buildings for example, is a legitimate business purpose for taking a persons image and does not require the individual to sign a permission form and therefore it should not be used for this or any other purpose unless they have given their consent.

Using images of staff on the web requires ‘explicit consent.’ Individuals must be made aware of the risk to security when images are transmitted on the world wide web to countries without adequate levels of protection for processing personal data, outside the European Economic Area. The best evidence of explicit consent for publication on the web is a signature on our approved consent form.

This guidance follows the standards set in the code of practice `The use of personal data in employee/employer relationships’ published by the Information Commissioner’s Office, featuring the eight principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Again we recommend that you limit the use of staff photographs to two years so that they do not become out of date.

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17 Media protocol

Communication between the council and the public is vital for access to services and for local democracy. Cumbria County Council is committed to improving its reputation and to promoting a positive image of its services, employees and councillors.

Guidance for Cumbria County Council employees on media

We recognise that key to improving the council’s reputation is media management and as such this is a key area of work for the council’s Communications Team. The team work closely with the media both reactively and proactively on a daily basis at a local, regional and national level and, because we recognise the importance of effective media management, we have produced this protocol which sets out:

• the role of councillors and employees in media relations;

• the professional support offered by the Communications Team;

• the legal framework for publicity;• information on how media relations is managed

within the council; and• contact details for further help and support.

This protocol is designed to help the council to work more effectively with the media and to achieve the council’s objective of providing an efficient and timely response to media enquiries.

The overall aim is to positively raise the profile of the authority and increase understanding of its work, and its impact, at a local, regional and national level.

Please note, during periods of elections, there are special election media protocols which need to be adhered to over and above the protocols detailed here. Flowcharts of these summaries are attached at Appendices 1 and 2.

What support does the Communications Team offer?

The Communications Team works to ensure the council is providing timely, consistent messages and delivering a good quality service between the council and the media.

Effective media handling is characterised by:

• A planned and consistent approach. • Carefully weighed responses taking account of

the likely impact and outcome of coverage.

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• Integrated communications which ensure that those who need to be briefed in advance of media coverage are communicated with in a timely and appropriate way.

• The avoidance of ‘spin’.• Openness and honesty.• Continual focus on building confidence in

the council.• Continual awareness of the need for residents

to be clear about what the council will actually do or what it has actually done - with less emphasis on speculation.

• Clarity about the messages, the audiences and the likely outcomes.

All council media contact covering media releases and statements, media enquiries, media photocalls and publicity events, and media briefings must be handled by the council’s Communications Team, who will ensure that these protocols are adhered to.

All council media releases/statements/written quotes will be logged and issued by the Communications Team. This forms an important part of the council’s overall approach to effective media management and monitoring.

Individual members of the Communications Team are dedicated to specific service areas to support directorates. Each local committee also has a dedicated communications adviser to offer support. However, all communications advisors are trained to offer general support on any communications issues so that support can be given to directorates during times of holidays/absence for individual members of the team.

The team uses media monitoring software to ensure information is shared, to avoid duplication, to speed up the process of media relations and to monitor the team’s performance.

The Communications Team also deliver or arrange media training, in addition to many other services (see contact details at the end of this document).

Who speaks on behalf of Cumbria County Council to the media?

Councillors Councillors develop their own direct relationships with journalists and the council recognises that

any councillor may talk to a journalist at any time. However, it is important to distinguish between a councillor voicing their own opinions and one who is formally representing the county council on an issue. The media normally require just one formal ‘voice’ of the council on an issue and this protocol advises on how the selection of that lead spokesperson is made.

Acting as spokesperson relates not only to verbal quotes/briefings/interviews with the media, but also in media releases. In some areas of council business, such as legal and planning issues, employment cases, detailed technical and operational matters and electoral issues, comments from councillors may not be appropriate and a relevant senior officer should be the lead spokesperson. In all cases, comments formally representing the county council must be non-political.

As a general guide: • The council leader is the main spokesperson

for Cumbria County Council on cross-cutting policies, overarching strategic issues and issues at a national level. The council leader may also speak on any council-related service/

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issue, particularly if other Lead Members are not available.

• The deputy leader can agree with the council leader to deputise as spokesperson for cross-cutting policies, overarching strategic issues and issues at a national level when appropriate or necessary. The deputy leader also acts as lead spokesperson for relevant service areas under their Cabinet portfolio.

• Cabinet members are spokespeople for the council on the respective service areas under their Cabinet portfolio.

• The chair (or in their absence deputy chair) of a council committee (including scrutiny, local committees, Development Control and Regulation and Audit and Assurance) can speak on behalf of the council on issues within the work remit of their committee.

• The chairman of the county council is the spokesperson on matters of a ceremonial nature. This is a non-political post and as such is often the figurehead and key speaker at formal openings, events and functions

(see how to…. Organise an event)• Other councillors of any party may speak on

behalf of the council on developments and news in their wards, but this should be done with the agreement of the relevant Cabinet member for that service area when formally representing the county council on the matter.

Note:

Any statements and quotes given to the media quoting a councillor must be cleared by the appropriate lead member. A senior officer, normally a director or assistant director, will have seen and approved the release/statement/quote beforehand but final approval must be given by the lead member, which will be done in conjunction with the leadership support officer.

OfficersThe Communications Team handles many factual enquiries, such as progress on roadworks, school closures and requests for information that is often already in the public domain. To be able to achieve this significant

part of the team’s work, they liaise with officers to gather the information to relate back to the media. In this capacity, members of the Communications Team have approval to act as spokespeople for the county council.

On more specialist or technical matters it may also be appropriate for other council officers, including corporate directors and assistant directors, to represent the council in the media. In conjunction with the communications team, agreed council officers can act as:

a) A formal spokesperson for the organisation with the agreement of the leader, deputy leader, Cabinet member or relevant lead member

b) Media ‘briefers’ for the council, giving professional advice and information to the media as background information on an issue with the agreement of the council leader, deputy leader, Cabinet member or relevant lead member.

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All officers who are contacted directly by the media about a county council matter without agreement of the Communications Team, must always redirect the call back to the Communications Team (contact details can be found at the end of this document).

Council officers acting in their capacity as union officials may speak on behalf of their union rather than the county council, and therefore the county council’s media protocols do not apply in these circumstances.

As a general rule, in order to protect yourself and the council, you should only be speaking to the media on county council matters with advance notice, preparation and most importantly, permission from the Communications Team.

Employees may face disciplinary action if they: • communicate with the media on county council

matters without the prior approval of the Communications Team;

• publicise confidential information gained in the course of their work;

• undermine the council by adverse or negative comments;

• take personal issues concerning their employment, or that of others, to the media – these should be raised with your line manager or above; or

• bring the council into disrepute by publicly voicing the extremity of their views;

Employees should be aware that in today’s era of social networking, the boundaries between publicising information or comments through the media and through social networking websites such as Facebook or Twitter have become blurred. An inappropriate comment on a publicly accessible website made by someone in their capacity as a council officer can be just as damaging as a comment to a journalist and would be subject to the same disciplinary procedures as above [see ‘Use of Social Media’ protocol].

Employees should also be aware of the strict rules on impartiality and publicity that apply to their work as officers. Practically, this means that in their work they are not allowed to enter into any form of communication that supports or promotes, or may be interpreted as supporting or promoting, the political views of any councillor or

group of councillors. For posts, which are politically restricted, this means that in their private capacities they must not enter into any communication that could be criticised in this way.

These requirements are especially important during an election. More information on this can be found in ‘The Legal Framework’ section of this protocol.

ElectionsDuring elections, the council’s media protocols will be superseded by election protocols, where the law restricts the type of publicity that councils can undertake and who can be quoted in statements and publicity issued by the council, as well as who can be involved in publicity during this period.

For County and General elections this will apply across all of the council’s work for the designated period following publication of the notice of election which is usually six weeks before the election. For county by-elections, the election protocol will apply to the particular geographic

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area. County councillors also standing as district or parish councillors will be restricted prior to those elections.

During this period, as a general rule:• Councillors will not be quoted in any publicity

nor feature or take part in any material promoting the work of the council.

• Where quotations are needed these will be attributed to the most appropriate senior officer

• Councillors and officers will be informed in advance of the restrictions imposed by election protocols.

• Councillors, typically the council leader or lead Cabinet member, may only be quoted when responding to specific operational or emergency situations during restricted periods and this must first be agreed with the chief executive and/or head of legal services.

Any service area unsure of what activity can take place during the election protocol period should contact the Communications Team for further guidance.

Emergency plansIn the event of an emergency plan being invoked, to respond to a ‘major incident or event’, crisis communications protocols agreed with local resilience partner organisations are activated. These protocols supersede the council’s own media protocols for the period of the emergency.

Communications officers are included in the emergency planning call out arrangements and are trained to manage crisis communications in the event of a major incident being called. The Communications Team will ensure that relevant portfolio holders and councillors informed of any emergency situations and offer advice on media management.

It is important that following any contact from media organisations during an emergency incident, elected members liaise with the Communications Team prior to communicating. This is to ensure that the best opportunity is made to communicate key messages to the public to assist them in responding to, or recovering from, the emergency.

Media on siteFrom time to time, the media (including photographers) may decide to go ‘on site’ to a council facility/building/property. This again should always be with the prior approval of the Communications Team because the reason for them being ‘on site’ can be positive or negative for the council. If the Communications Team receive a request that the media intend to go ‘on site’ they will contact the relevant officers at the premises involved and they will also let the relevant senior officer and Cabinet member know, if of a significant nature.

If the reason for the ‘on site’ visit is to promote the council in a positive light, it may be that a member of the Communications Team does not have to be in attendance. If, however, the reason is to show the council in a negative light, a member of the Communications Team will, as staffing allows, be on hand at the premises, wherever possible.

If you as an employee are aware that a member of the media is going to be or is ‘on site’, you must notify the Communications Team immediately.

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SchoolsPractical advice and support is also offered to schools, particularly in times of difficulty or success. This can be in the form of general media guidance including, where appropriate, writing and checking media releases, fielding media calls, providing advice to teaching staff and helping to write statements. Members of the communications team are also available to go to individual schools in times of crisis to help manage the media face to face. On a day to day basis, schools are predominantly self sufficient and the Communications Team tends to support individual schools in times of crisis.

When we do work with schools, it is agreed:• Any media release issued will be published by

Cumbria County Council’s Communications Team.

• The relevant Cabinet member will be kept fully informed of any major news issues (also see media briefing and alerts).

• The relevant director and assistant directors will be kept fully informed of any major news issues (also see media briefing and alerts).

• All schools must operate within the legal framework covered in this protocol.

Handling the media

Media releasesAll council media releases are always distributed via the Communications Team. On average around 600 media releases are issued each year and it is important to ensure the accuracy and quality of each release. To help achieve this, the following steps should be followed:

• A council officer or member requiring a media release or any proactive communications activity should contact the Communications Team as early as possible. The Communications Team manage and maintain a plan of forthcoming communications activity. Even a rough idea of a project and date should be conveyed to the team as soon as it’s clear a media release will be needed.

• Those being quoted in a media release will work with the Communications Team to facilitate any subsequent interview requests that may follow, or identify with the communications team an alternative person to undertake the interview.

• The release will always include a Communications Team contact that must be available to speak to the media to give more information if required.

• If a photo is circulated with the media release, this needs to be a good quality image. The Communications Team will advise what type of photo will interest the media and what quality is required to get published. The team also have a pool of photographers that are CRB checked and they will book a photographer if they deem it is necessary depending on the event – however there is no central budget for photographers and these need to be paid for by the directorate seeking publicity. Where a communications advisor is in attendance they will also be on hand to take photos.

• Media releases will be emailed to appropriate media distribution lists (plus internal recipients, including all councillors) and copies will be posted onto the council’s website upon issue.

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Joint media releases with partnersIf we are issuing or participating in a joint media release with our partners we will ensure the following:

• The council’s role or contribution is identified appropriately and the release includes quotes from named councillors or officers. Partner quotes will also be included.

• The lead organisation will issue the press release.

• Where appropriate, the council’s logo is included with any others on the media release paper or email (as most media releases are issued this way).

• The draft text of the media release is still to be approved by the relevant cabinet member, director and/or assistant director. Partner organisations must also give their individual approval.

• The method, manner and timing of distribution are agreed in advance with the partner.

StatementsGenerally statements are issued to communicate the council’s position on a specific issue. They should therefore be short and to the point. The approval process for statements is the same as media releases. As a general rule, think of a media release as information that the Communications Team proactively sends to all the media to gain as much media coverage as possible and think of statements as a reactive response to an issue specific to one media outlet.

Broadcast interviews All interview requests should come through the Communications Team. If a council officer or lead member is contacted directly by the media requesting a broadcast interview, they should refer the journalist to the Communications Team and they will make the necessary arrangements. This is so that details of interviews can be recorded on the council’s media monitoring system and the most appropriate interviewee is selected to represent the council, if it is appropriate to do an interview.

The Communications Team will provide necessary briefing documents if required by the interviewee.

Media enquiries All media enquiries must be directed to the Communications Team.

It is important that every effort is made to respond to media enquiries as quickly as possible to meet their deadlines. Requests for information should be given priority and, where legally and practically appropriate, the information provided as quickly as possible.

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Media briefing and alerts Where possible, the Communications Team will alert relevant lead members and senior officers to significant emerging media issues. This may involve the circulation of confidential information intended to inform colleagues of the facts and whether the media have lodged a request for an interview.

A media alert can vary in approach, from a general email for day to day enquiries that the Communications Team want to let the relevant people know about, to direct telephone calls for more pressing enquiries and during out of hours periods.

The circulation list for these alerts will be dependent on the topic, however as a guide it should include: • The leader.• The deputy leader.• Relevant Cabinet member.• Chief executive. • Relevant director and assistant director.• Any other officers directly involved.• Senior communications manager.

Media monitoringThe Communications Team produce a daily summary of media coverage concerning the county council and email this to council officers or members who request to be on the distribution list. The daily summary gives an overview of what the story is, where it has been published, its source, whether it is positive or negative, and the action taken by the Communications Team. The media monitoring service also provides a weekly overview of all coverage in media and social media, including a summary of the proportion of positive, neutral, and negative coverage.

Media training All those who speak formally on behalf of the council should receive some form of media training.

The overall aim of the programme is to further enhance the council’s image externally and to ensure that the people speaking on behalf of the council feel confident and understand the media and to make the most of opportunities as these arise.

Joint responsibility In order for the Communications Team to work effectively, they rely largely on gathering information from elected councillors and council officers at all levels.

The Communications Team receives many calls on a daily basis from journalists on many subjects. They work to the journalist’s deadline, which can range from a few days notice to having to get back to them within minutes. It can be a very high pressured environment to work in.

If any officer or councillor is contacted by the Communications Team about a media enquiry, it is expected that officers and councillors give this request a high priority status, or direct them to someone else who is better placed to help. Councillors and officers at all levels must allow themselves to be called out of meetings to help the Communications Team meet the deadline of the media.

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Having a “no comment” or “the council refused to comment” in the media promotes a negative image of the council and undermines the council’s aim to be open, transparent and honest.

Failing to gather information by the deadline required can lead to no comment situations. This is largely avoidable, so please help us avoid this by allowing yourselves to be called out of meetings to deal with the situation.

Out of hours contact The communications office is open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday for all media enquiries, advice and information. For urgent media enquiries and support outside of these hours please use the out of hours numbers at the end of this document.

The legal framework There are laws covering communications. The main one for local government media communications is the Local Government Act 1988 and Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity (amended in March 2011). A number of other codes of practice and legislation also apply to council communications, including:

• The law relating to defamation. • Copyright legislation. • Code of Practice on Access to Government

Information. • Race relations legislation. • Disability Discrimination Act.• Local government legislation conveying rights.

of access to meetings and information.• Press Complaints Commission Code of

Practice. • Freedom of Information Act. • Data Protection Act.

The Local Government Act and Code of Practice on Local Authority Publicity are the most important, especially in relation to election periods.

The Code makes the following main points: • Do not undertake publicity of candidates and

other politicians involved directly in an election.• Avoid, wherever possible, publicity that deals

with locally controversial issues. But where this cannot be avoided, for example because the public needs to be informed of some essential change in vital services delivery, the issue must be presented simply, fairly and impartially.

• Avoid publicity that reports views, proposals or recommendations in such a way that identifies them with individual councillors or groups of councillors.

• Respond to events and legitimate service enquiries provided that the answers given are factual and not party political.

• Comment in an emergency where there is a genuine need for a councillor level response to an important event outside the council’s control.

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• Publicity must not be given in a way which appears to favour or support a particular individual, trader, business or sponsor unless others in the same “field” have been given an equal opportunity of taking part or sponsoring the situation or activity giving rise to the publicity, (for example, sponsored tourism or activity leaflets).

• A local authority shall not publish (or assist others to publish) material that, in the whole or part, appears to be designed to affect public support of a political party.

The Code is clear that individual councillors should only receive publicity support if it is: • Relevant to their position and responsibilities

within the council.• Does not personalise the issues or promote

personal image making.• Is not portrayed as party political.• Does not attack the policies or opinions of

other parties, groups or individuals.

Key aspects are: • Councillors will not discuss with or disclose

confidential or exempt information to the media.

• Councillors will not use the media to criticise officers, make personal attacks on them or undermine respect for them.

• All party political news releases issued by any councillor should state clearly that the release has been issued by the political group or councillor and not on behalf of Cumbria County Council. Council officers should not be quoted in party political media releases issued independent of the council by individual councillors or political parties.

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Media training courses can be either tailored to individual service areas or be more general. For more information, please contact the Communications Team.

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18 Social media

Collaborating and communicating with our stakeholders online is an effective method for delivering high impact, dynamic, carefully targeted and cost effective communications.

Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures or videos in virtual communities and networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or Instagram. These networks depend on mobile and web-based technologies and have introduced great changes in the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate with each other.

We recognise that if well managed and maintained, engaging online is an great way to reach out to new and existing audiences and gather useful feedback about Cumbria County Council.

As a modern and responsive council we should be ready and able to speak and listen to people through the channels they prefer and this includes social media.

We have produced these guidelines to help you understand:• The role of councillors, employees and

volunteers• The support available from the

Communications Team• Advice about setting up a social media account

• Contact details for further help

The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure that:• Ensure the council makes most effective use of

these tools to improve communication• The council is not exposed to legal and

governance risks;• The reputation of the council is not adversely

affected;• Councillors, employees and volunteers are able

to understand when and how it is appropriate to communicate online in an official capacity.

How can social media be used effectively Effective use of online social media enables: • two-way communication, capturing of the

audience’s thoughts, opinions and suggestions.• better relationship building with residents than

is possible through simple information giving.• engagement with our audiences on their terms,

via their channels and at the time of their choosing.

• participation in conversations which are already happening online with regards to our services, where appropriate.

• cost and time efficient communications • communication with audiences who may not

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choose to communicate with us through other channels.

• use of multimedia communications such as video, images, podcasts etc.

• communication en masse or individually, and/or reach specific communities of interest.

When considering using online media we must not:• Engage online simply because we can:

interaction online should add value to our communications and act within the wider objectives for communications on a given issue or service area.

• Neglect to manage and maintain an online site or account, this does us more harm than not setting one up at all.

• Use social media as a replacement for using other methods of communication – it must be part of the wider communications mix. If not, we risk alienating those who choose not to communicate with us in this way.

• Publish without thinking. Information published online is public and can be communicated widely in an instant, so we must be mindful of what we publish online.

Remember: by engaging online we are inviting

interaction and comment whether we explicitly request it or not. We must therefore be prepared to moderate and respond to comments where necessary.

What support does the Communications Team offer?

The Communications Team works to ensure that the council provides timely, consistent messages no matter what the method. The team can provide advice, support and training to help you set up and maintain your social media accounts as well as when and where to use social media. The following is a useful checklist when assessing whether to use social media or not.

Who speaks on behalf of Cumbria County Council online?

CouncillorsToday many councillors already use social media in their own personal and political capacity. However like with media, it is important to distinguish between a councillor voicing their own opinions and one who is formally representing the county council on an issue.

Elected members should consider the following principles before putting information or comment online:• If you wouldn’t say it at a public meeting or in

the press – then don’t say it online. • Honesty is key and you should endeavor to

inform and entertain. Do this and you will see the results. Constituents will engage with councillors and the council differently and councillors will be able to reach a wider range of residents, reaching further into their wards and leading to better outcomes.

• Keep your personal and professional online profiles separate: create a professional profile for either yourself, your team or the project when posting in an official capacity.

• Please note that during election period, councillors under purdah should not use council-led social media channels.

• Be aware of issues around safeguarding children.

Setting up a social media profile is quick and straightforward but you should first contact the Communications Team who will be able to advise you on the best way forward.

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They will give you advice on how to create the right online presence for you.

Hints and tips

Consider keeping private and personal profiles completely separate, particularly if you work with vulnerable groups, such as young people.

Where appropriate, use a disclaimer and make it clear your opinions are your own and do not reflect the views of Cumbria County Council.

Review your privacy settings regularly and consider protecting your updates if you have a personal profile.

OfficersThese guidelines explain how Cumbria County Council employees and volunteers must behave online and covers three key scenarios:

Scenario 1: Where council employees use an existing Cumbria County Council social media channel with the aim of informing or consulting service users or the general public.

Scenario 2: Where county council employees intend to create an online presence (such as a Facebook profile or Twitter account) in an official capacity with the aim of informing or consulting with service users or the general public.

Scenario 3: Where county council employees and volunteers act online in a purely personal capacity.

Scenario 1: Using an existing council social media channel.The council maintains a number of social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. In some cases – for smaller projects or one-off communications it will be preferable to use one of these accounts rather than setting up an account from scratch. Particularly as these established accounts already have a substantial number of followers. Contact the Communications Team who can advise on the best approach.

Scenario 2: Creating an online presence in an official capacity with the aim of informing or consulting with service users or the general public

Before you set up a new account…

Consider the alternatives – The county council has a corporate Twitter account, facebook page, YouTube channel and Flickr account. Have you considered these routes for publicising your work?

Is the account fit for purpose? Don’t use social media for the sake of it. Do you know your audience? Do you now what you want to say to them? Are you sure they use the channels you’re planning to use?

Think about evaluation – Are you clear about what you want to achieve and who you are trying to reach? How will you evaluate the account’s success?

Can you look after it? – In some respects social media is no different from any other customer contact. However, its users expect

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quick and full responses to their queries. Do you have the resources to respond quickly online?

To see if you really need to create a new social media account, complete out quick questionnaire in Appendix 3.

IMPORTANT: Creating a site or account

New profiles and groups must be approved for publication by the Communications Team following submission of a completed Online Engagement Brief (see template – Appendix 4). This must show that there is a clear need for an online site or account and that there are the resources to maintain and respond to feedback. It is not permitted to create a profile without permission from the Communications Team.

Once you have permission to proceed a member of the Communications Team will provide the training and support you will need to create and maintain your account.

Branding and corporate identity – Are you representing the county council in line with

our branding guidelines (See Appendix 5 for Facebook and twitter templates / styles)

Safety – Are you moderating an online space for a group of people who could be considered vulnerable? Have you taken the relevant steps to make sure they’re not put at risk?

Continuity – Who administers the account? Do other people have access to it if the administrator is ill, on holiday, or leaves the authority? If the page has been set up to support a campaign, what happens when the campaign ends? How long will you leave it live for and who will be responsible for taking it down?

Moderating the account In involving yourself in online engagement you must commit to carefully moderating the site in order to protect the council’s reputation and to respond to comments where necessary.

Employees must abide by the following points in moderating the site or account:• If you are inviting public comment it is

important that people are aware of how their comments will be used and when and how they will receive feedback.

• Decide in advance when and how you will respond to comments or posts. For example, will you respond to each comment or only direct questions. Where the need to reply is clear, respond as promptly as possible even if that is to state that a full response will take time to compile.

• Remember, whilst we want residents to know their comments are being heard, it may not be necessary to respond to every post. In many cases there might be more value in stimulating conversation and being aware of the nature and tone of discussion.

• If you receive comments as part of a project or consultation, consider how you will record comments so that they can inform the consultation process.

• If you receive comments or questions not applicable to your project, raise these with the appropriate council department so that they can be dealt with and inform the resident that this has been done.

• Ensure that you review any user-added content such as videos or images before approving publication (see more in the safeguarding children and legalities sections, below).

• It is the duty of the member(s) of staff responsible for the profile to ensure the

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regular moderation of the site and the removal of any spam, offensive or discriminatory comments immediately. Different sites have their own tools for moderating offensive and discriminatory comments so familiarise yourself with these first. Many sites enable you to ban users who are persistent offenders. (See Appendix 6 for answering people on social media)

Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults Particular care should be taken if you are attempting to use online engagement to reach children or vulnerable adults.

The Cumbria Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) has developed specific guidance on this issue.

Full guidance is currently being reviewed and will be available online via InTouch shortly. • Staff should not allow themselves to enter into

online contact with children they work with, parents or their families. Friend requests from parents or children and young people under the age of 18 (past or present) in this context should be politely declined by explaining

that it is against council protocol, which is designed to protect staff from abuse and misunderstandings.

• Staff should not create web pages, groups or contact lists concerning professional activities unless they have express written permission from a senior manager to do so.

• There must be absolutely no private online contact between staff and any children and young people with whom they have a work-related relationship. This includes the storing of images of children under the age of 18.

• Staff are strongly advised to be careful about what they say online in contact with other young people such as relatives or family friends. This caution should apply to images or video material.

• You must provide the Communications Team with administrative access to your account and keep them informed of any username or password changes.

Note on brandingWhen creating any online account as described above you must ensure that you follow the council’s standard corporate identity guidance. See Appendix 5.

Next stepsOnce you have considered how you will address all of the above points, and if you feel it is still appropriate to proceed with your plans for online engagement, please complete the Online Engagement Brief, see Appendix 4.

Once completed, please contact the appropriate strategic communications advisor for your directorate for further discussion and approval.

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Scenario 3:County council employees and volunteers acting online in a personal capacity

Posting information or views about the council online in a personal capacity cannot be isolated from your working life. It is essential that employees are aware that in their private internet use they have a responsibility not to bring the county council into disrepute.

The following guidelines are applicable to personal internet use by employees of Cumbria County Council and volunteers.

• You must ensure that your online activities do not interfere with your job, your colleagues or commitments to service users.

• If you are not using the sites/tools to support you directly in your employed position you should always access the sites/tools in your personal time.

• If you publish information about your work or a county council service you are associated with in an unofficial capacity, you must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of Cumbria County Council.

Use a disclaimer such as: “The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of Cumbria County Council”.• If you identify yourself as a council employee in

your personal social media account, website or blog, ensure that related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues, residents and service users.

• Do not use your online profile or blog to attack or abuse colleagues or service users or reveal information regarding the council which is not already in the public domain. Remember that if you break the law online (for example by posting something defamatory or breaching data protection), you will be personally responsible.

• You must not allow online activities to damage working relationships between members of staff and partner organisations.

• Staff may wish to ask friends to check before photographs are posted which may cause them embarrassment. Staff posting their own images should bear in mind the fact that any image can easily be downloaded and manipulated and they should choose which images they share accordingly.

• Think about the images you post online. Would you show them to your line manager,

a member of the public or the media? It is also recommended that staff do not post images that could be used to identify their homes or families.

• Assume everything you post is public.

This protocol acts in parallel with the council’s Information Systems Acceptable Use Policy and it is important that staff are familiar with the wider internet use guidance which this document gives.

Engaging in conversations on third party platforms

You should not participate in or respond to third party platforms, such as newspaper discussion forums, in an official capacity. If you see something you think should be addressed, please contact the Communications Team. Likewise, if you are contacted by the media about comments about or attributed to the council on a third party platform, contact the Communications Team before giving a comment.

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Legal framework

All council representatives should bear in mind that information they share through social networking applications, even if they are on private spaces, are subject to copyright, data protection, the Freedom of Information Act, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and other legislation. They must also operate in line with the council’s Equality and Diversity Guidance.

Related documentation

This code of conduct refers to and should be read in conjunction with the following documents:• Equality and Diversity Policy.• Internet Acceptable Use Policy.• Disciplinary Procedure.• Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults.• Cumbria Local Safeguarding Children Board:

Online Communication Code of Conduct for Staff Working with Children.

Disciplinary procedures

Any breach of the guidelines set out above could result in the publishing rights of the responsible council representative being suspended.

The Communications Team reserves the right to close any applications or remove content published by council representatives which may adversely affect the reputation of the council or put it at risk of legal action. An employee who makes a defamatory statement may also be legally liable for any damage to the reputation of the organisation or individual concerned.

Any communications or content published which damages the county council’s, an employee’s or any third party’s reputation may amount to misconduct or gross misconduct to which the County Council’s Employee Code of Conduct applies.

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If you have any queries please contact the Communications Team on 01228 221728 who will be happy to assist you.


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19 Appendix one Communications TeamMedia protocol flowchart – media releases

Suggestion for media release from council officer or lead member.

Information for media release provided to Communications Team

Communications officer adds details and date of media release to communications planner. If its about a non-routine issue.

Communications officer prepares a media release.

Media release is checked by relevant council officer – director, assistant director, senior manager etc.

Cabinet member approves for release in conjunction with relevant leadership support officer.

Third party approval if required (eg partnership releases).

Communications Team issues media release to external/internal contacts (and publish on county council website).

Communications Team organise response to any follow-up media enquiries or broadcast interview request.

Officers/lead members help ensure deadlines are met.

Opportunity for media coverage identified by member of Communications Team.


87Appendix one

20 Appendix two Communications TeamMedia protocol flowchart – media enquiries

Journalist makes an enquiry requiring a council response (if enquiry not directly to communications team then it should be

diverted to them immediately).

Communications Team assess whether enquiry is operational or if it requires lead member response.

Communications officer discusses with director/assistant director/senior officer and advises on response and deadline.

Communications Team keep journalist informed on progress of response, particularly if there’s a risk of not hitting deadline.

Operational / general enquiry

Communications Team draft a response and get approval from director/assistant director and, if appropriate, copy in relevant

lead member.

Significant policy issue

Draft response/statement sent to relevant lead member. Deadline explained and lead member then amends or

approves response.

Response/statement issued to media. Copies to partner organisations as required.

Where a media enquiry involves a partner organisation, the Communications Team will co-ordinate a joint response.


88 Appendix two

21 Appendix threeSo you think you need to be on social media?

Social media accounts require time and dedication to make them effective forms of communication and engagement. To help you understand your communications need, answer the below questions.

1. Have you identified and researched your target audience?A YesB NoC Unsure

2. Do you know what you want to say to your audience?A YesB NoC Unsure

3. Are you confident you can generate enough content to post/tweet at least twice a day?A YesB NoC Unsure

4. Are you able to monitor your account at least twice a day, seven days a week?A YesB NoC Unsure

5. Are you looking for a two way dialogue with your audience rather than giving them information?A YesB NoC Unsure

6. Would your account be a permanent channel of communication? (Rather than a temporary account for an event of promotion)A YesB NoC Unsure

7. Will this complement or replace an existing channel of communication i.e. Newspaper ad, letter or leaflet?A YesB NoC Unsure

8. Will it deliver an improvement in service provision or savings?A YesB NoC Unsure

Mostly A’sIt appears that a dedicated social media account page is appropriate. Complete and submit an Online Engagement Brief (see template – Appendix 4) and contact the Communications Team.

They will arrange a session where the account will be set up, engagement guidelines will be discussed, branding advice and training will be provided.

Mostly B’sSocial media through dedicated accounts may not be the appropriate channel for you to pursue at this time. However you are able to share content via the council’s existing Facebook and Twitter account.

Mostly C’sYou may need to conduct more research or contact your Strategic Communications Advisor for advice before proceeding.


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22 Appendix four

Online Engagement Brief templateProject or programme nameDirectorateService areaDesignated project leadDirectorate Strategic Communications AdvisorObjectives• Why is there a need for engaging online?• What do you hope will be the results of your online engagement?• Is this a permanent channel of communication or a temporary channel for an event or promotion?• Will is deliver an improvement in service or a saving?NotesYour objectives should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timelyAudience• Who is your audience? • How large is your audience? • Are you seeking to engage with your audience?• Does your group interact online and if so which sites do they use?Notes• Your audience may be a group based on their age, sex, location or behaviour, service user group, or a combination of these• Is another organisation or group already effectively communicating online with the same audience? If so it may be more appropriate to work in partnership than to start from scratch


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Maintenance• Who will be responsible for moderating and maintaining the site?• Do you have the capacity to check and moderate the site on a regularly?• Can you generate enough content to post/tweet at least twice a day?NotesAn unmaintained account is worse than none at all. It will be the responsibility of the named lead to ensure that online activity is regularly maintained, moderated, and supports the positive reputation of Cumbria County Council.

RisksConsider any potential risks and how you will mitigate against them. i.e, What will you do if an individual or group ‘hijack’ a campaign.NotesThis might include safeguarding children or putting in place suitable security measures such as strong passwords

Return your completed brief to the Communications Team.


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23 Appendix five

Cumbria County CouncilGovenment Organisation

Servingthe people of

Cumbria

Taking careof your loved

ones.

0845 6023786 Rural Wheels service

Top level:Cumbria County Council

Profile pic: CCC logo, rule and words

‘Serving the people of Cumbria’.Never changes.

Title / name: Words ‘Cumbria County Council’

in one line with ‘Government Organisation’ beneath.

Cover image: Image to show service delivery

‘in action’ or illustrating a current campaign / event etc.

Brand speech bubble: Locked in this position and used

to highlight a key campaign message or priority.

Like / share / ??? buttons: Defined by FB.

Caption box: Used to highlight contact

information relevant to main cover image or add caption.

Branding Facebook and Twitter accounts.


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Fostering and adoption Cumbria County CouncilGovenment organisation

Thinking about fostering and

adoption?

0303 333 1216: fostering01539 713312: adoption

Sub level: department, directorate, library, campaign etc

Profile pic: Should always be a ccc corporate graphic speech bubble icon, and not reapeat any words from the

text title to the right.

Title / name: Name of service area, department,

library etc, to appear before the words ‘Cumbria County Council’ to ensure that people know that this

is a county council service.

Cover image: Image to show service delivery ‘in action’ or illustrating a current

campaign / event etc.

Brand speech bubble: CCC logo to appear at this level and fixed in this position. Speech

bubble used to highlight a key campaign message or priority.




Fostering and adoption Cumbria County CouncilGovenment organisation

Thinking about fostering and

adoption?

0303 333 1216: fostering01539 713312: adoption

Sub level: department, directorate, library, campaign etc

Profile pic: Should always be a ccc corporate graphic speech bubble icon, and not reapeat any words from the

text title to the right.

Title / name: Name of service area, department,

library etc, to appear before the words ‘Cumbria County Council’ to ensure that people know that this

is a county council service.

Cover image: Image to show service delivery

‘in action’ or illustrating a current campaign / event etc.

Brand speech bubble: CCC logo to appear at this level

and fixed in this position. Speech bubble used to highlight a key campaign message or priority.





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Liked

Timeline | About | Photos | Videos | More

Following Share

176px

16px

667px

64pxCumbria County Councilcumbriacountycouncil.com

Cumbria County Council25 minutes ago

Cover Photo

Like • Comment • Share

Reccomended upload size: 1200 x 1200

1,000 Likes

APPS

About Cumbria County Council

Invite your friends to like this page

www.cumbriacountycouncil.co.uk

App #1 Name

App #2 Name

App #3Name

Friends who like this page

Shared image504 max widthheight varies

narrow images may have some gray space

APP IMAGE111x74

Cumbria County Council Shared a link25 minutes ago

Twitter Header Size@tw_header_size

Like • Comment • Share

Reccomended upload size: 1200 x 628

PHOTOS

Shared Link484 x252

PHOTO THUMBNAIL

105 x 105

999Tweets

999Following

999Followers

73px

80px

220px

520px

260px

220px


94

24 Appendix six

Always

Optional

For example

Remember

Complainte.g. “That receptionist was rude”

Attacke.g. “Your organisation is corrupt/wrong”

Querye.g. “How was your budget for last year

spent?”

Complimente.g. “Wow, the work you’ve done has

changed my mum’s life - thanks!”

Say sorry, even if it’s just to say sorrythat they are not happy.Say you want to help.

Ask them to DM/inbox details: take it offline if possible – their contact details shouldn’t be bandied about publiclyand it helps if the details can be expanded upon without social media character restrictions in an email or phone call.

Aim to answer everything. In most cases, you can say a minimum of “Thanks for your comments which have been passed on to the relevant department.”

Understand. It can be frustrating ifyou think you’re dealing with an

organisation that isn’t fair.

Publish a web page/blogwith a full explanation.

If one person thought it, many othersmight too & will be interested in the

answer

“We understand your point but we havetight budgets & unfortunately have had

to make tough decisions. An explanationfrom our CEO can be found here: www.

verysorry.co.uk/sorry”

“Sorry you weren’t happy with theservice. We want everyone to be happy &

will do our best to resolve probs.Pls DM your details & we’ll deal with it

straight away”

Give a timeframe for when it’ll beanswered. Stick to it.

Otherwise they may feel ignored.

Publicly post the answer. It’s your chanceto tell everyone why your organisation

behaves as it does.

“I’m not sure, will check with colleaguesand be back to you by the end of the

day.”

If you can answer in one post, do it:“Hi, we spent £xxx on the xxx projectwhich is already having an amazing

impact”

Or link to the web: “We spent £xxx on thisproject and loads more information on

how we work is here: localpaper.com/coolstuff”

Most attacks are not ‘trolling’. People have a right to criticise and ignoring them is notalways a wise strategy. It’s OK to request someone doesn’t swear, but you

should still deal with the issue they have raised - even if it’s unwelcome or awkward.Don’t get offended - there will always be an different points of view.

It’s OK to say you don’t know the answer and you’re taking time to find out more.

Say thank you – when someone makesthe effort to compliment

you they deserve a ‘thanks’.

Ask if you can use their statementin promotional material.

“Thank you, glad she’s happy! Can wequote you in our news story? Not a prob

if you’d rather keep it between us :-)”

Answering people on social media :a quick guide


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