Queen’s University owns a number of protected trademarks including logos, lockups, wordmarks, graphics (i.e. Queen's University flags), and trademarked words (i.e. Queen's, Queen's University, Tricolour, Gaels, Golden Gaels, ARC) regardless of the font in which they are typeset.
Please refer to the following guidelines when requesting the use of a Queen's University trademarked graphic or word. All uses of Queen's trademarks in logos or graphics, and on merchandise, signage, and external applications must be approved by the University Relations Brand Team through the Trademark Use Approval Form.
1) Usage of the official Queen’s logo and wordmarks must follow the guidelines prescribed in the Visual Identity Guide. (PDF 10.2 MB)
2) Trademarks cannot be distorted. A distortion is considered to be anything other than the trademarks as registered.
3) Substitutions of elements of a trademark are not permitted.
4) The trademarks must be clear and distinct, presented in ample open space, separated from distracting elements and not dominated by other design elements.
5) The trademarks must not be used as a design element nor may they be overprinted or combined with other designs.
6) The trademarks should not be placed at an angle nor enclosed in a shape.
7) The trademarks must not be printed on a visually conflicting background, nor should they span two or more adjacent colour areas.
8) Trademark artwork may be reduced or enlarged as long as elements of the trademarks are clear and distinct.
9) Word marks, Queen’s, Queen’s University, Tricolour, Gaels, Golden Gaels, and ARC, among others, are trademarks regardless of font and must appear in a solid colour.
10) Proportional changes and photo distortion of the trademarks are not permitted.
11) The trademarks must be reproduced with care: coarse screening, inferior mechanical reproduction, substandard processing or use of a mediocre original may result in loss of detail.
12) The trademarked words must be typeset in a font that is a simple sans serif, serif, or athletic-style typeface. Display, decorative, script, and some italic fonts (serif) will not be permitted.
13) For the trademarked word “Queen’s”, the Q in the chosen typeface must be of a standard shape, with a clear angled tail extending from the bottom right of the round. Overly stylized Q’s will not be permitted. Long Q tails that extend far beyond the letter shape and that emulate the swash Q in the Queen’s wordmark will not be permitted. Q shapes that closely emulate the Athletic Q are also not allowed.
14) For the trademarked word “Queen’s” in all caps, the top of the apostrophe should be aligned with the top of the uppercase letters. When “Queen’s” is in sentence case, the position of the apostrophe should dropped so that the middle of the apostrophe aligns with the top of the lowercase letters. The space on either side of the apostrophe should be reduced to be slightly less than the space between the other letters to ensure that the word holds together visually as a unit.
15) It is not permitted to extract any portion of the trademarked logos or wordmarks and use them alone or in another design. This includes the shield, crown, other shield elements, the swash Q, and the wordmark. It is permitted to use a crown as a graphic if it is not confusingly similar to the crown from the Queen’s logo.