Northeastern University has licensed hosted typography from webfonts.fonts.com for use on all sites within the northeastern.edu domain. This means the brand-standard typefaces of Helvetica Neue and ITC New Baskerville may now be implemented with almost 100 percent browser and device compatibility. Implementation of these fonts requires the publishing of a small piece of code into site headers. Please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications Web department for more information.

Guidelines for Usage

• Headers should be differentiated from text copy.
• Other typographic elements should be used to maintain a successful visual hierarchy. Different areas of the page shouldn’t compete visually with each other. For instance, called-out or feature text can vary in color, size, or background color from generic body copy. Use light text on a dark background more sparingly than dark text on white background.
• Text in the body copy should not be underlined unless it is a link style.
• Link color should be consistent and sufficiently differentiated from text copy color.
• Avoid using imagery, Flash, or other media to display typographic elements.

San-Serif Typography

The great majority of text on Northeastern websites should be presented in a sans-serif font from the Helvetica Neue family. We recommend using Helvetica Neue 77 Condensed Bold for the following selectors:

#menu ul.dropdown li a, nav ul.dropdown li a, nav ul.usernav a span, hi through h6, h1 a through h6a

Helvetica Neue 55 Roman is recommended for the following selectors:

#intro p, p, and the default catch-alls *, html (font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; color: #333)

Helvetica Neue 57 Condensed is used for the selector:

#intro p.condensed (ie, homepage intros only)

Fonts can be further styled via local style sheets to adapt size, color, etc., to a given site design. However, we request that the above guidelines be followed as closely as possible and ask that any other implementations of these fonts be reviewed by the Office of Marketing and Communications before deployment.

Serif Typography

The university serif font, ITC New Baskerville, may be used for news sites and online newsletters and magazines. Please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications Web department for more information.

Notes

• Web fonts should never be used to manually assemble the Northeastern logotype. Please use the appropriate version of the graphic identity found in the Downloads section of this site.
• Should the end user not be able to implement the fonts from fonts.com, site typography should default to a standard system font such as Arial or Verdana.
• If you would prefer to use your own sans-serif font on your website, please consult with the Office of Marketing and Communications Web department.