Brand

Guidelines
 Welcome................................................................................................... 3
Our Mission.............................................................................................. 4
Our Values................................................................................................ 5
Who We Are.............................................................................................. 6

Messaging & Positioning........................................................................ 7

Voice, Style & Tones................................................................................ 8

Communication style..........................................................................................8
What we are, what we’re not.............................................................................9

Trademark.............................................................................................. 10

Our Logo................................................................................................. 11
Moodle Mortarboard....................................................................................... 12
Logo Icons......................................................................................................... 12
Incorrect use of the logo................................................................................. 13

Our Colours............................................................................................ 14

Our Typefaces........................................................................................ 15

Using Photography and Illustration................................................... 17

Photography..................................................................................................... 17
Iconography...................................................................................................... 18
Illustration......................................................................................................... 19

Partner Activities.................................................................................. 20
Incorrect use of partner logos........................................................................ 21
Co-branding...................................................................................................... 22

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 2

 Welcome
The Moodle brand is an increasingly important asset in
an increasingly competitive world. These guidelines are
for those responsible for managing and building the
Moodle brand.

These guidelines provide information about the overall

brand framework, basic elements and messaging. The
Moodle basic elements cover the brand mark, colour,
typography, imagery, supporting graphic devices and
composition. They describe how these elements come
together to create a look and feel that is uniquely Moodle.

The guidelines are an important tool in ensuring that the

Moodle brand is presented and expressed correctly and
consistently across applications.

Your help doing this is invaluable and will help build an

even stronger Moodle brand now and for the future.

DISCLAIMER: These guidelines are general in nature, and are not targeted to
any particular entity or person. This document DOES NOT create any licenses,
rights or permission to use any Moodle trademark, certification mark or service
mark to any person or entity. All license rights with Moodle are provided
by written contract by Moodle and the rights, if any, are controlled under a
separate written license agreement with Moodle. Please contact Moodle for
more information.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 3

 Our Mission
Moodle is a company that values education above all else, and
innovates with integrity, respect and openness to help improve
the world for future generations.

We create innovative software and services to support education

processes using open collaboration with our community of
educators, developers and researchers to help improve the
quality and efficiency of education globally.

Our mission tagline is:

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 4

 Our Values

Education Openness Respect Integrity Innovation

We understand that We strive to be open in We treat everyone We hold ourselves to We encourage a
education is the our goals, our tools, our with respect and the the highest ethical progressive culture of data
foundation of making the processes and our results, sensitivity, recognising standards, demonstrating driven experimentation
world a better place. encouraging everyone to the importance of their honesty and fairness in and research, where
communicate freely and contributions: team every action that we take. entrepreneurship and
We are always learning,
inclusively. We promote members, community, prudent risk taking are
improving how we learn,
accessibility and embrace customers, partners, encouraged, rewarded
and helping those around
international cultures suppliers and competitors. and incorporated.
us to learn and teach.
across all our products.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 5

 Who We Are
Our vision: to give the world the most effective
platform for learning.

Our big idea: we collaborate with each other, our

partners, our community to share knowledge to make
a positive impact on educators and on society.

Our principles: collaborative, consistent, flexible,

universal, purpose before profit

• We work together as a team, in the same direction

towards the same goals.
• We are willing to share ideas and knowledge.
• We care about what happens to each other and
out there in the world at large.
• Our knowledge is relevant to real life and benefits
society
• We contribute to society locally and globally.

Personality: Smart, Friendly, Enthusiastic, Passionate,

Caring and Sincere

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 6

 Messaging & Moodle’s scalable, cost-effective and flexible open-source solutions
support the education and training needs of many organisations

Positioning
around the world.

• Most widely used LMS - Moodle supports the education

and training needs of hundreds of millions of people in every
At Moodle we create software and services to support country on the world and has become the mainstream learning
any education processes by using open source management system used today.
collaboration practices with educators, developers • Flexible training & learning needs - Support for any
and researchers to improve the quality and efficiency pedagogy you prefer: from competency-based methods,
of education globally. to gamification, blended learning, flipped learning and
collaborative learning.

• Worldwide partner network - Our worldwide network of

certified Moodle Partners can provide technical support,
customisation, hosting and all Moodle-related services to help
you with your e-learning project.

• Strong, global community - Our open source project is

supported by a global community of educators, developers,
learners, administrators and people who love our learning
platform and are helping us to make it better every day.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 7

 Voice, Style
& Tones Type of
writing
Intended
readership
Tone Example

Press Public, external Direct and Moodle, the maker of the

Our tone of voice is the way in which we write release stakeholders, impartial world’s most-used learning
staff, media platform, announced their
and speak, what we say and how we say it.
next official conference,
Moodle’s voice is human - it’s familiar, friendly and MoodleMoot Australia 2018,
respectful. To the right are some examples of tone will be hosted in Brisbane,
that we use for various types of writing: Queensland.

Social post Staff, partners, Warm, friendly, Meet Moodle HQ in Brisbane!

community, engaging, Will you join us at MoodleMoot
potential users conversational Australia to improve your skills,
and meet the community and learn
informative. from experts?

Blog Post Staff, partners, Informative, Moodle HQ will be at ALTC

Newsletter community, helpful, to meet members from the
potential users conversational, Education community face-to-
educational face and share ideas about how
our open software solutions can
help educators and organisations
achieve their goals.

Case Staff, partners, Engaging, The school district is part of a

studies community, inspiring, growing, vibrant area that traces
potential users emotive its history back to the 1800s
when the first school in Dearborn
was nothing more than a simple,
one-room log cabin.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 8

 Communication style
Our communications are engaging and interesting,
reflecting our open and intelligent personality.
What we are, what we’re not
1. Use active voice
The table below provides an overview of our
We write in active voice. In active voice the sentence’s
values and themes. When you are producing
subject is clearly the actor. For example, Moodle won
Moodle communications material, use this
first place’ is active while ‘first place was won by Moodle’
table to guide your messaging.
is passive. Using personal pronouns such as ‘you’ and
‘we’ will help you write in active voice.

2. Inject descriptive language What we are What we’re not

Using descriptive adjectives and verbs is a simple
technique for injecting richer meaning and greater Collaboration for social Individual contribution
energy into your writing. gain for personal gain

3. Be positive Positive Sombre or negative

Always write about what things are rather than what
Engaging Generic
they are not. To help, try avoiding statements that start
with ‘don’t’ or ‘not’ and the words ‘just’ and ‘only’. Friendly Aggressive

4. Write for each audience Fun Silly

The meaning of our communications should always be
accessible by our audience. As your audience changes, Educational Patronising
so should your writing. Keep your words direct and to
the point; cut down on any excess and avoid artificially Socially and morally Profit going to a few
lofty language. If you want to emphasise a particular driven individuals
point, try a shorter sentence.

5. Be consistent
Being consistent helps build a strong brand, and helps
build strong trust too.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 9

 Trademark Allowed uses of “Moodle” Restricted uses of “Moodle”

• Referring to the software or the • The name of your software

The word “Moodle” is trademarked in many Moodle project. (including Mobile apps)
countries around the world to protect the • Describing your own Moodle • Your company name
reputation and integrity of the brand. implementation (including
• Your domain name
within corporate settings).
“Moodle Partner” is a certification mark owned • Advertising-related keywords
by Moodle. The use of this logo is restricted to • Describing a Moodle-based
(such as Adsense)
certified Moodle Partners only. community hub.
• To describe services around
• Describing some software
Moodle (such as hosting,
you’ve made that integrates
training, support, consulting,
with Moodle (e.g. a Moodle
course creation services,
integration feature on
theme development,
another system).
customisation, installation,
integration and certification).
This applies even if you do
not charge for the services.
Note that usually only Moodle
Partners have this permission.

When using our brand materials, please include the statement

“Moodle and the Moodle logo are trademarks of Moodle Pty Ltd.”

Our Trademark Policy is available on moodle.com/trademarks.

If you encounter the misuse of the Moodle trademark, please report

this to Moodle at support@moodle.com.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 10

 Our Logo
Moodle is represented as the word mark and
the mortarboard, representing completing
education with this graduation cap. Logo with stapline
- Always ensure the text is readable

Primary logo - use this when possible

Single colour dark grey #282828

- Use this option when placed on a busy background

Exclusion zone
The ‘exclusion zone’ refers to the area around the logo which
must remain free from other copy to ensure that the logo is
not obscured. As the diagram indicates, the ‘exclusion zone’ is
equal to that of the one half of the height of the logo.

Reversed white version

- Use this option when placed on a coloured background

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 11

 Moodle Mortarboard Logo Icons

The mortarboard (graduation hat or graduation The following variations of the logo can be used
cap) has always been part of our logo, and it depending on the application.
represents successful education which is one of
our values. We understand that education is the
foundation of making the world a better place.

Primary icon used on white background

Primary icon used on orange background

Alignment

Left alignment - Align your copy and other

objects to the left edge of the M.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 12

 Incorrect use of the logo A. B.

To maintain the integrity of the brand the logo

must not be used in the following ways:
oodle
A. Do not reproduce the logo in solid
unauthorised colours C. D.

B. Do not change the typeface of the logo

C. Do not rearrange parts or create compositions Moodle

that are not authorised

D. Do not add drop shadows or gradients E. F.

E. Do not place the logo on backgrounds that are
busy and make it unreadable

F. Do not place a box around the logo when

placed on backgrounds

G. Do not squash or stretch

H. Do not rotate G. H.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 13

 Our Colours Secondary Colours

The secondary colours are introduced to enhance the visual

brand world. They provide a natural palette to completely the
The Moodle orange is one of the recognisable assets
bold orange and charcoal of the primary colours.
in the Moodle visual identity. Orange is vibrant and
energetic - and the Moodle brand is representative of
a dynamic and bold community, driven forward by a
Light Blue Light Green
vibrant team. In our brand communication, orange must
#7ac2d6 #9cbd50
be represented to reinforce the Moodle difference. RGB -122 194 214 RGB - 156 189 80
CMYK - 50 7 12 0 CMYK - 44 9 88 0
PANTONE 630 C PANTONE 367 C
Primary Colours

Moodle Orange Blue Green

#f98012 #239cae #2ca14f

RGB - 249 128 18 RGB - 35 156 174 RGB - 44 161 79
CMYK - 0 61 100 0 CMYK - 77 20 28 1 CMYK - 80 11 94 1
PANTONE 158 C PANTONE 7689 C PANTONE 7739 C

Moodle Charcoal
#686566 Dark Blue Dark Green
RGB - 104 101 102 #005a75 #316d5e
CMYK - 49 43 41 33 RGB - 0 90 117 RGB - 49 109 94
PANTONE Cool Gray 10 C CMYK - 100 41 28 33 CMYK - 74 26 57 34
PANTONE 7470 C PANTONE 555 C

Headline Extra Dark

#282828
RGB - 40 40 40
CMYK - 71 64 64 68
PANTONE 426 C

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 14

 Our Typefaces OpenSans Font Family

The primary typeface is OpenSans and is optimised Regular (body copy)

for print, web and mobile interfaces. Modern, clean, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
open and legible in style, its characteristics help
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
create the visual style for our future proof brand.
1234567890

SemiBold (subheadings)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890

Bold (headings)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890

ExtraBold (main headings)

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 15

 Using Photography
and Illustration
Photography

People and the use of technology play a key role in

our photography style.

People images should be bright with a natural

quality to them using a diverse mix of individuals.

For technology images, please try and photoshop

either an orange background with the ‘m’ or use an
actual device screen of Moodle.

Photos with a subtle hue of orange also work well.

When the logo is being used with the photo it is

important to ensure that it is never obstructed
or unreadable. It should be placed within a clean
space with a high contrast.

Photography examples

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 16

 Iconography

Icons should be used with text or as a visual

representation of features. The style and colour
may vary depending on application, however it
should always be an outline and never solid. Mobile friendly Support Access

The thickness of the outline should be the same

weight all around and the size should always be
easy to read.

The icon should predominantly be used inside

a circle, however can be used without when
necessary (e.g. the website).
Celebrations Travel Snacks
The icons should only ever use one colour
(Moodle orange).

Social icons

Contact icons

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 17

 Illustration Simple outlines

Complementary illustrations can follow in the

style of the iconography as being outlines, or
as solid graphics depending on the application.

They can use shades of the primary,

secondary/complementary brand colours.

Flat graphics

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 18

 Graphic elements Rounded boxes Circles

Supporting graphic elements have a curve

or rounded edge to create a personable and
approachable brand.
This should subtly be seen as part of the graphical
elements on a page, where there would otherwise
be straight edges.

Detailed graphics

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 19

 Primary Partner logo - Landscape - use this when possible in wide spaces

Partner Activities
Our Partners operate as an extension of
Moodle HQ and provide local services and
support which are distinctive to each region.

Primary Partner logo - Stacked - use this when possible in narrow spaces Exclusion zone
The ‘exclusion zone’ refers to the area around the logo which must remain free from
other copy to ensure that the logo is not obscured. As the diagram indicates, the
‘exclusion zone’ is equal to that of the one half of the height of the logo.

Exclusion zone
The ‘exclusion zone’
refers to the area
around the logo which
must remain free
from other copy to
ensure that the logo is
not obscured. As the
diagram indicates, the
‘exclusion zone’ is equal
Reversed white version stacked
to that of the one half of
the height of the logo.
- Use this option when placed on a dark background

Reversed white version landscape

- Use this option when placed on a dark background

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 20

 Incorrect use of the logo A. B.

To maintain the integrity of the brand the partner

logo must not be used in the following ways: oodlePartner
A. Do not reproduce the logo in solid
unauthorised colours C. D.

B. Do not change the typeface of the logo

C. Do not rearrange parts or create compositions partner

that are not authorised

D. Do not add drop shadows or gradients E. F.

E. Do not place the logo on backgrounds that are
busy and make it unreadable

F. Do not place a box around the logo when

placed on backgrounds

G. Do not squash or stretch

H. Do not rotate G. H.

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 21

 Co-branding

When our MoodlePartner logo is placed

with a partners logo the following
options must be used.

When co-branding with wide logo use the landscape Partner logo to the right

When co-branding with wide logo use the portrait Partner logo to the right

Moodle Brand Guidelines | page 22

Moodle Brand Guidelines | Version November 2018