Video brand guidelines

Aspect ratio varies depending on where the video will be hosted. Standard aspect ratios are:  

16x9 (landscape): YouTube, websites, most social media platforms 

1x1 (square): Most social media platforms 

9x16 (vertical): Vertical social media platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts 

All videos should be in MP4 format.

Resolution should be as high as possible for the platform you are posting to.

All frame rates should be at 24 FPS.

Imperial's corporate typeface is Meta and is the preferred font to be used on all video content.  

Where it is not possible to use Meta, you can use Arial instead. Other fonts should only be used in specific applications where the use of Arial is not possible or appropriate.  

Meta is now available through Adobe Fonts, so users with an Adobe Creative Cloud licence can access Meta through Adobe Fonts without the need to purchase a Meta licence.  

If you need to purchase a separate Meta licence, please email the Style Guide team: style.guide@imperial.ac.uk  

Read more about fonts in Imperial’s Brand and Style Guide.

Please use the approved fonts referenced above for all titles, intertitles and lower-thirds. 

Coloured backgrounds are permitted provided they are approved colours from the brand palette. 

All titling should adhere to the title safe area and ensure that any onscreen graphics or name titles are not obscured.

Every video should end with the official Imperial animated logo outro.

You can download the outro from the Asset Library.

You don’t need to apply the animated logo to the start of the video – these are valuable seconds for getting viewers to commit to watching, and it’s better to get straight into the story.  

If there’s a specific piece of b-roll footage you need for your video, it’s often easiest to shoot it yourself to ensure it fits with the style and tone of your project.

However, the Asset Library does contain some general campus shots that can be downloaded and used in your videos where needed.  

Use of transitions vary in video projects depending on the mood you aiming to convey and general tone of the content.  

However, transitions should always be used sparingly, and we recommend sticking to the most common transitions: cuts and dissolves. You should avoid using transitions such as 3D transitions, wipes and swirls.

All videos published by Imperial should include captions to ensure the content is as accessible as possible.   

There are two different types of captioning: 

Closed captions 
Closed captions will appear as separate selectable tracks in a video. These can be enabled and disabled as required by the user. They can also, on some platforms, be translated to any language automatically. 

Open captions  
Open captions mean the text is written on top of the image permanently. This is sometimes referred to as 'hard burned' or 'burnt in'. They cannot be turned on or off and they only support one language per video. 

We recommend using closed captions for online videos wherever possible. 

Captions can be generated at cost via third-party tools such as Rev. Where budget is not available, users can generate their own captions for free using YouTube.   

Bear in mind that titling/captions need to be in the title safe area, and not cover any name captions 

Read more about captioning.

Creators are welcome to use music in their video content where it feels appropriate.  

You must ensure you have the rights to use the track, and commercial music should not be used unless you have secured a licensing agreement.  

If you have budget, there are a number of royalty-free music libraries where tracks can be purchased for a minimal fee:  

Pond5 

Premium Beat 

Shutterstock Music Library 

Where budget is not available, YouTube has a library of free music tracks for download. Sometimes artist attribution is required as a condition of use, so please review the license carefully before downloading.