ebay marketplace brand guidelines

eBay Voice + DesignGuidelines 2008

eBay Brand Guidelines 2008 / © 2008 eBay, Inc. / All rights reserved / Not for unapproved external distribution Page 01 of 28

eBay Brand Guidelines Table of Contents

01 / Brand Basics

Brand Overview 04What’s New 05Top 5 eBay Brand Tips 06

03 / Design Basics

Color Palette 16 Typeface 19Logo 21Product Photography 23People Photography 25Grid 27

02 / Voice Basics

Who’s Talking 08A Voice Snapshot 09Voice Attributes 10How to Talk the Talk 1 1Applying the Voice 12 Voice Levels 13When It’s Working 14

eBay Brand Guidelines 2008 / © 2008 eBay, Inc. / All rights reserved / Not for unapproved external distribution

eBay Brand Guidelines

Page 02 of 28

01 / Brand Basics



01 / Brand Basics

Brand Basics /

What’s a brand, anyway? It’s how we reflect the essential promise of our company to the world. To build a strong brand we have to keep it consistent, which means communicating with one recognizable look and language across all customer experiences. Read on and get to know our brand guidelines.

p.s.: For eBay brand principles in even more exhilarating detail, you can visit the Brand Exchange on iWeb. Just type BCX into your browser. See you there.



Brand Overview /

eBay is unlike any retailer out there: a vast global marketplace with virtually infinite selection and unique deals for shoppers of all stripes. The eBay brand is a reflection of this dynamic, people-powered environment. With all that excitement going on, our core brand seeks to bring a fun yet organized feel to eBay communications and to create a consistent voice, look and feel that sets us apart.

01 / Brand Basics



01 / Brand Basics

What’s New:

Here’s a snapshot of what defines eBay today. Consider these the key elements that guide all expressions of the eBay brand.

DOs:

A human, conversational approach to communications across all our customer touch-points helps welcome and engage our users

A streamlined, grown-up look and feel makes us a credible destination for a whole world of shoppers.

A focus on dynamic selection and value helps our customers find great deals on the stuff they love.

Our commitment to improved safety builds the trust of our users and makes eBay a place people want to come back to time and again.

DON’Ts:

An emphasis on the emotional elements of winning. Because eBay isn’t a gamble.

A focus on personal connections and social networking. It’s about the finds, not the buying process.

An overly quirky voice that undermines trust for our users.

Graffiti or carton-style hand-drawn illustrations in our design.



01 / Brand Basics

Top 5 eBay Brand Tips /

01 / Our voice is human and conversational at all times02 / Our personality is that of a helpful, smart pal you can trust03 / Our look is bold and primary, but not comical or kitschy04 / We use grid to bring a clean, organized look to our design language05 / Our style of photography is candid and realistic, never corporate or canned



02 / Voice Basics



02 / Voice Basics

Who’s Talking?

The eBay voice is a reflection of the best members of the eBay community: smart, helpful, good eggs invested in smooth transactions. Our voice is built around the persona of a helpful ally who can guide you through all the aspects of the eBay experience, from finding exactly what you want to resolving any problems you might encounter along the way. Think of the personality behind the eBay voice as a smart pal you can trust. We call this voice the Wingman for short.

Its main feature is a warm, conversational, and (when appropriate) playful tone modeled on real people talking to each other. This means no market-speak, no aggressive imperatives, no awkward puns. Instead, the eBay voice is all about everyday human communication.



A Voice Snapshot /

What we don’t sound like: canned, corporate-speaky, tech platform-y, sales-y

What we do sound like: conversational, familiar, a smart pal you can trust

02 / Voice Basics



02 / Voice Basics

Voice Attributes /

As you apply the eBay voice across communications, it’s useful to remember the key attributes of our guiding persona, the wingman or smart pal you can trust.

DOs:

A friendly, conversational style of speaking that sounds human at all times

Asking questions instead of giving orders

Speaking like a familiar guide

Using contractions like in everyday language

Calm, casual delivery, with playfulness when appropriate.

DON’Ts:

Aggressive promotional language

Business jargon or robotic market-speak

Shouting and exclamation points

Cutesy puns



02 / Voice Basics

How to Talk the Talk /

01 / Use a first-person voice based on the persona of a helpful wingman—someone who gives it to you straight.

02 / Ask questions instead of shouting imperatives. They’re helpful ways of guiding behavior.

03 / Avoid robotic market-speak. Aim for a peer-based, active voice that guides and inspires through honest, conversational talk.

04 / Use contractions. It’s usually what we do in everyday speech.

05 / Don’t use exclamation points. They convey fake enthusiasm and make us look unprofessional.



Applying the Voice /

The eBay voice can be broken out into three levels that cover the range of typical interactions with our users. In each case the smart pal persona is speaking, so the voice remains consistent. The tone simply shifts according to the context. Think of it as a person modulating their tone to suit the situation—a party versus a business meeting, for example.

02 / Voice Basics


eBay Brand Guidelines 02 / Voice Basics

01 / Inspirational (To Inspire or Invite)

eBay speaks directly to people like a familiar pal. This is a key way of humanizing our brand: by speaking conversationally in an open, accessible manner. Instead of market-speak, we sound like regular humans do. In inspirational contexts we can even be playful like you would be with someone you know well. Examples include high-level communications such as onsite merchandising, direct mail, catalogs and promotional advertising.

DO: Check out this deal. DON’T: Just for you!

DO: Got cool stuff you don’t want anymore? Give it a home on eBay.DON’T: Be green, make some green!

DO: Plenty of great finds left.DON’T: Don’t just shop. Win!

03 / Technical (To Enforce or Reassure)

There’s a lot of technical information we often have to convey, for example in all kinds of trust and safety communications. Even so, remember that the Wingman is still speaking and that there’s always a human on the other end of the communication. Preface or bracket technical info with the helpful wingman voice. It’ll soften things that are otherwise dry and robotic.

DO: Here come the legal bits: All contestants of the eBay Seller Sweepstakes are subject to the laws of their home state.

DON’T: The following conditions apply: All contestants of the eBay Seller Sweepstakes are subject to the laws of their home state.

DO: We’ve cancelled the following listings to protect your account and the eBay site.Unfortunately, we can’t automatically re-list the items for you.

DON’T:We have cancelled the following listings to maintain the integrity of your account and the eBay site. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to automatically re-list the items for you.

02 / Informational (To Guide or Inform)

The brand speaks like a helpful wingman guiding users through the eBay experience. Again, we stay conversational and avoid robotic directions and aggressive market-speak. Examples include site instructions, calls to action, buttons, way-finding cues, promotional information, trust and safety communications.

DO: Nice job, Jane. You won the auction. Don’t forget to pay your seller.

DON’T: Your transaction is complete. Please pay NOW!

DO: Heads up, everybody. Amounts shown in italics are foreign currency listings with approximate conversions. Be sure to do the math.

DON’T: Amounts shown in italicized text are for items listed in currency other than U.S. dollars and are approximate conversions.

DO: New to eBay? Create an account. It’s free.

DON’T: If you are not currently an eBay member, register now!



02 / Voice Basics

How to Tell When it’s Working /

A good test when creating eBay communications is to ask if you would say it in real everyday speech. If not, it’s probably not in the eBay voice. When in doubt, speak like a great eBay user. You can draw inspiration from the millions on site any time.



03 / Design Basics



Color Palette /

We focus on the four core colors we’ve used since the very beginning. Bright, vivid, super-saturated, and bold, they’re a great tool for conveying excitement and playfulness. Plus, they look great with photography and really catch your eye in any medium.

We’ve also added a secondary set of colors that play well with our core colors. As you’ll see on the next page, the primary colors should be given significantly greater prominence than the secondary colors. Since our primary colors are one of our strongest signalers of brand, they should be given 3x the real estate of our secondary (or accent) colors.

03 / Design Basics



03 / Design Basics

Some rules of thumb:

01 / Lead with the primaries. To keep things simple and focused, stick to the primary colors first, then mix in secondary colors for emphasis. Aim for a 75% to 25% ratio of primary to secondary colors in most creative executions. Bottom line: while all of our colors ‘feel’ eBay, our primary colors are our strongest calling card.

02 / Keep it simple. Avoid using more than two of the primary colors at once and use complementary colors for emphasis only where it makes sense. Our red and our yellow look great together. So do our blue and green. But blue, green and red together can be overwhelming.

03 / Be bold. Our colors are so strong and so rich, they cry out to be used in big, fat swathes. Experiment with heavy blocks of solid color—especially next to full-color photography or as a way to highlight illustration.

04 / Avoid overlap colors. The colors from the overlap of the letters in the logo are fine in the context of the logo and the boundless thread but avoid them on their own.

05 / Use the boundless thread sparingly. To add a simple graphical element that quickly says ‘eBay’, use the horizontal (platform) version of the boundless thread (as seen on the global header of the eBay site. It should never be used twice in any layout and it should, wherever possible, be oriented to bleed horizontally.

See the next page for more detail about how to use the boundless thread.

Primary YellowPantone 130 C

C: 0 M: 27 Y: 100 K: 0R: 255 G: 204 B: 0FF CC 00

Primary BluePantone 286 C

C: 100 M: 60 Y: 0 K: 6R: 0 G: 0 B: 15300 00 99

Primary RedPantone 185 C

C: 0 M: 91 Y: 76 K: 0R: 255 G: 0 B: 0FF 00 00

Secondary PinkProcess Magenta C

C: 0 M: 100 Y: 0 K: 0R: 255 G: 51 B: 153FF 33 99

Secondary OrangePantone Orange 21 C

C: 0 M: 53 Y: 100 K: 0R: 255 G: 153 B: 0FF 99 00

Secondary BlueProcess Cyan C

C: 100 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 0R: 51 G: 204 B: 25533 CC FF

Secondary GreenPantone 381 C

C: 20 M: 0 Y: 91 K: 0R: 204 G: 255 B: 51CC FF 33

Primary GreenPantone 376 C

C: 56 M: 0 Y: 100 K: 0R: 153 G: 204 B: 099 CC 00

75%

25%

75%

25%

75%

25%

75%

25%



03 / Design Basics

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Using the Boundless Thread:

01 / Don’t overuse it: The Thread should not be used on every layout. Because it’s a simple signifier of brand (and a nice way of suggesting plenitude), it’s best used in situations that require a simple design solution. It’s also good for layouts with a large amount of necessary text or when the composition of a photograph is complex.

02 / Keep it thin: Again, the Thread should never cover a large portion of any layout. On average, roughly 4% of the shorter side of your layout is a good rule of thumb. Think accent, not motif.

03 / Keep it boundless: Wherever possible, the Thread should bleed. It never ends or starts in the middle of a layout, and it always extends for at least the whole length of any layout.

04 / Don’t mess with it: The Thread should never be used as an illustration or as an illustrative element that adorns objects or people.

And remember, you can always refer back to how the thread is used in the global header on our site for a quick reminder of the principles at work here.

DO: Keep it thin.

DON’T: Start in the middle.

DON’T: Overuse it.

DON’T: Use it as illustration.



Typeface /

Our primary typeface is Omnes. Not only does it have a range of weights (18 total), but each weight has a slightly different personality. On the thinner end, it’s elegant and precise ( just the thing for subheads and bullet points) and on the thicker end, it’s friendly and playful (perfect for attention-grabbing headlines). The regular weights are well-balanced without being stuffy.

Our secondary typeface is Helvetica Neue. Use it in offline print when there is extensive body copy content. Arial is the non-print equivalent of Helvetica, so it’s our default font for HTML. Use it online to keep our typeface looking consistent across print and online media.

DO: Use the italic weights for both subheads and headlines.

DON’T: Use the ultra thin weights—Hairline, Hairline Italic, and Black and Black Italic—at all. All four are off-limits as they’re generally tough on the eye, especially small.

Lastly, here’s an added type-geek bonus. Omnes means ‘Everybody’ or ‘Mankind’ in Latin—so choosing the face in your type menu is a little reminder of our drive to humanize the brand. Cool, huh?

03 / Design Basics



03 / Design Basics

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Some rules of the road:

01 / Be bold. One of the great things about Omnes is the myriad weights it comes in. Omnes Bold Italic is amazing for headlines and almost anything, really. Use it when you really want to get someone’s attention.

02 / Balance your type weights. Keeping a hierarchy of type sizes and weights is going to be increasingly important as we continue to evolve the brand. Go big and Bold with headlines, slightly smaller or Semibold with subheads, smaller still and Medium to Regular with body copy, and save Extra Light or Thin for captions or quotes.

03 / Use italics for emphasis. Nothing says: ‘Hey, look over here’ like a headline in Omnes Semibold Italic. It’s emphatic and fun. Choose something else for body copy but it’s perfect for short blocks of type meant to convey information quickly and ardently.

04 / Stick to our typeface. Used in tandem with our color palette and our style of photography, Omnes is the perfect proxy for the Wingman. It’s calm but friendly. Think of it as the thread that ties everything together and you’ll keep our look consistent.

As a secondary typeface for HTML and large amounts of print body copy, use Arial/Helvetica

This is Omnes ThinABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Thin ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Extra LightABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Extra Light ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes LightABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;. This is Omnes Light ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes RegularABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Regular ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes MediumABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Medium ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes SemiboldABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Semibold ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes BoldABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Omnes Bold ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

For Offline body copy:This is Helvetica Neue RegularABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Helvetica Neue ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Helvetica Neue BoldABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

This is Helvetica Neue Bold ItalicABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890!@#$%^&*()?/:;.

Here is body copy set in Omnes Regular. It looks pretty great and it’s totally legible, even at small sizes. For instance, this is 8 point type—pretty much the smallest you’d want to go with body type.

Here’s how a body copy subhead could look when set in Omnes Medium.

Or you could always get bolder too, setting subheads in Omnes Semibold.

- And here’s how a bullet point could look- The bullet is Omnes Semibold Italic- And the copy is in Omnes Regular Italic.

See how the bullets feel both a bit more playful and more urgent than your usual bullet points? Just a little added bonus.

Notice what we did just there? Popped a little bit of Omnes Bold into regular body copy. Consider that an easy way to add a

bit of oomph to the big ideas you want to draw attention to here and there.

Bottom line: There are a wealth of options available to you when typesetting in Omnes. Choose both your point size and weight wisely.

Helvetica Neue: Here is body copy set in Helvetica Neue. Use it in offline print when ther is extensive body copy content. Use Arial/Helv for HTML

This Is an Excellent Headline Set in Omnes Semibold ItalicAnd this is its perfect subhead counterpart in Omnes Regular Italic

This is Omnes HairlineThis is Omnes HairlineItalic

This is Omnes BlackThis is Omnes Black Italic



Logo /

Our logo is the single strongest signifier of eBay’s festive DIY spirit. Bold and colorful, it reflects the playful familiarity of the brand.

03 / Design Basics



Here are some things to consider:

01 / Clearspace. Give the logo some space to breathe. As a rule, the logo should always have a buffer around it to make sure it gets along with the stuff around it. Our rule of thumb: half the height of the ‘y’ in eBay all the way around.

02 / Color. Wherever possible, do your best to ensure that the logo lives on a white background. For obvious reasons, our logo doesn’t work when it’s positioned on solid fields of any of our primary colors—place the logo on a red background, for instance, and watch the ‘e’ disappear entirely. In those cases, be sure to use the eBay logo with the white “glow” around the edges, to separate it from the background.

03 / Scale. Give the logo appropriate heft in proportion to other visual elements in a layout. Not only is it a good way to create consistency (by ensuring that the logo is applied in a similar fashion across print and interactive communications), it’s a great way to simplify the design process. We gauge the scale of the logo based on the height of the ‘Y’ in the logo and have broken down some simple guidelines around scale below:

US Letter 48 ptPostcard 32 ptCD Cover 32 ptBanner Ad 468x60 30 pxBanner Ad 120x600 34 pxBanner Ad 150x200 24 pxWeb Page Top Nav 54 pxEmail Header 600 wide 30 px

03 / Design Basics

Minimum Clear Space / Try to maintain a buffer around the logo that is half the height of the ‘Y’ on all sides.

01 / Clearspace

Measuring ‘Y’ Space / ‘Y’ space is the height of the letter Y in the eBay logo, and therefore it is proportional to the height of the logo.

01 / Clearspace cont.

‘Y’ Space



Product Photography /

The eBay style of photography should be candid, realistic and minimally staged. We aim to show product in the context of its environment. The inspiration for our product photography is the warm, documentary approach our best users bring to their own items every day. To that end, we should avoid super-stylized, overly art-directed compositions that lack candidness and authenticity.

03 / Design Basics



03 / Design Basics

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Things to look for:

01 / Flat focal plane. Avoid shallow depth of field, especially if it’s too noticeable or too pronounced. Instead, think of the kind of point-and-shoot photography that real people shoot for the site all the time. We’re trying to showcase actual stuff in actual environments in a not-too-stylized fashion.

02 / Objects in context. Overall, we aim to show product in the context of its environment. But there will be instances where it makes sense—in design or technology circumstances—to show product on solid color or white backgrounds. This is fine. Whenever possible, aim for a style of photography that is candid, realistic and minimally staged.

03 / Simple composition. Avoid overly sophisticated crops or super-dynamic compositions. Keep it basic and clear instead. Everything here should be easy on the eye and simple but not plain. Injecting a little va-va-voom through bold, saturated color is A-OK.

04 / Minimal kitsch factor. Steer clear of visual puns or super-ironic, super-retro images. Our brand is smart and playful, not a junk shop that’s comical to look at.

Flat Focal Plane

Super-Ironic

Simple

In Context

In Context

Selective Focus

Minimally Staged

Staged

White Background

Basic

Solid Background

Super-Kitschy



03 / Design Basics

People Photography /

Just like our photography of products shot in context, images of people in our visual language should be candid, imperfect and realistic. Ideally, every photograph of a person we use should signal the fact that there’s another person on the other side of the camera capturing a moment. Avoid stock clichés such as models giving you the thumbs up while talking on cell phones or pretending to type on laptops. Instead, aim for real people photographed amidst the day-to-day stuff of their life.



Here are some pointers:

01 / Use stock sparingly. Wherever possible, steer clear of staged stock photography of people in marketing communications. Instead, use images of actual eBay users shot with their stuff. The idea is to humanize this aspect of our brand by keeping people photography looking candid and natural. When appropriate, call out the actual user to make it clear that these are real people with real stories to tell about the stuff that they love.

02 / Keep it real. If you have to use stock, try to show people doing realistic things in their element. Avoid white seamless backgrounds, staged events, props and clichéd poses like chins on elbows. Instead, strive to represent folks doing believable things in the moment. We want to keep our photography composition simple and free of stereotypes.

03 / Stay candid. Embrace shots that feel a bit point-and-shoot, flashbulbs and all. They look urgent, imperfect and genuine. Think about how real folks shoot real stuff on the site and how they’d likely snap pics of their pals. Nothing says ‘candid snapshot’ like the kind of flash burst that your average stock photo shooter would clone out in Photoshop.

04 / Avoid retouching. eBay is all about being genuine and nothing says ‘too good to be true’ than an overly doctored photo. Stay away from images that have been obviously airbrushed, color-corrected, doctored, or otherwise tweaked in Photoshop. Again, think snapshot and you’re in good shape.

06 / Avoid computer shots. Sure, it’s tempting to show people on eBay on their computers, but there’s nothing as staged as looking at someone looking at a monitor. It’s generic, boring and impossible to own. Avoid these kinds of shots at all cost.

03 / Design Basics

eBay User

Simple

Forced

Candid

Staged

Warm

Generic

Snapshot

Imperfect

Computer Shot

In the Moment

eBay Seller



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Grid /

A key component to our design system is using grid as a stabilizing visual element. It works best with images—especially contextualized product photography—and looks great next to solid fields of color or full-bleed hero shots. Much in the same way that the style of photography riffs on the way real people photograph their stuff on the site, image grids tie back to the way that product is displayed on the site.

How do you do it? Start by setting a standard clearspace dimension for the top, bottom, left, and right edges of your page (on a standard A4, .25” will do nicely). Then, divide the horizontal space left over by the number of images you want to showcase horizontally. Do the same vertically. Then subtract a set number for the space in between images (.0625” or .125” work swell). And voila, you’ve got your set image size.

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When it’s working:

01 / It’s organized. The more stuff you put on a page, the tougher it is to keep things organized and looking good. That’s where grid comes in. It’s a nice way of giving things clear structure and keeping them in tidy order. Also, with appropriate and equal clearspace, images stay nicely buffered and easy on the eye.

02 / It’s harmonious. Ideally, every image grid should be assembled with an eye toward visual harmony. Pairing cooler (bluer) and warmer (redder) images, and wider shots with close-ups is a nice way to create both visual interest and a deeper sense of balance.

03 / It’s a mirror to the site. Much in the same way that our style of photography parallels how things are photographed by users on the site, our use of grid in offline communications is a nice tie-back to how it’s used online currently. Not only is it a great way to suggest selection and breadth of offering, it’s a great way to create greater consistency in the print and interactive worlds.

ebay marketplace brand guidelines

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