JOSH JACOBSART 305BRAND BOOK, LOGO PROJECT

THEHOMEDEPOTBUILDING BETTER, TOGETHER.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION ONE SECTION TWOCompany Overview & Background New Brand Identity

Greeting & Welcome from the CE0

Our Vision, Mission, & Values

Company History

Our Brands & Their Meaning

The Role of Brand Identity

How to Use This Guide

Contact Information

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Logo Comparison

Stacked vs. Linear Orientation

Clear Space

Sizing & Scaling

Logo in Color

Typography

Incorrect Logo Usage

Design Process

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1

FRANCIS BLAKECEO, THE HOME DEPOT

GREETINGS & WELCOME Hi, I’m Francis Blake, Chairman and CEO here at The Home Depot. Over the past 35 years, this company has grown from its grassroots origins in Atlanta Georgia to being one of the largest home improvement chains in the world, and I am incredibly proud. From the start, associates were able to offer the best customer service in the industry, guiding customers through projects such as laying tile, changing a fill valve or handlinga power tool. Not only did store associates undergorigorous product knowledge training, but they also began offering clinics so customers could learn how to do it them-selves. The Home Depot revolutionized the homeimprovement industry by bringing the know-how and thetools to the consumer and by saving them money. And we’re continuing to revolutionize today. With this rebranding, we at The Home Depot hope to modernize the face of our company while maintaining our promise of helping people to build better together. We hope that this guide offers investors, staff, and others insight,wisdom, and more on how may be changing our look, but our values remain, unwaivering.

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The Home Depot is in the home improvement business and

our goal is to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the

most competitive prices. We are a values-driven company, with out eight core values working as

the cornerstone of our business model.

OUR VISION, MISSION, & VALUES VISION

MISSION

VALUES

The Home Depot continues to revolutionize the

home improvement industry by bringing the know-how and the tools to the consumer and by

saving them money.

Our values are as follows:

• Excellent customer service• Taking care of our people• Giving back• Doing the “right” thing

• Creating shareholder value• Respect for all people• Entrepreneurial spirit• Building strong relationships

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The Beginning

The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. Along with investment banker Ken Langone and merchandising guru Pat Farrah, the founders’ vision of one-stop shopping for the do-it-yourselfer came to fruition when they opened the first two Home Depot stores on June 22, 1979, inAtlanta, Georgia. The first stores, at around 60,000 square feet each, were cavernous warehouses that dwarfed the competition and stocked 25,000 SKUs, much more than the average hardware store at that time. Empty boxes piled high on the shelves gave the illusion of even more product.

According to Bernie and Arthur, the customer has a bill of rights at The Home Depot, and this entitles the customer to the right assortment, quantities and price, along with trained associates on the sales floor who want to take care of customers. Their philosophy of customer service – “whatever it takes” – meansCultivating a relationship with customers rather than merely completing a transaction. As Bernie says inBuilt from Scratch, “At the end of the day, we’re in the people business.” A Story of Growth

The Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in U.S. history. In 1981, the company went public onNASDAQ and moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1984. The 1980s and 1990s spawnedtremendous growth for the company, with 1989 marking the celebration of its 100th store opening. The company arrived in Canada with the acquisition of Aikenhead’s home improvement centers in 1994, and it began flying its flag proudly in Mexico in 2001 through the acquisition of Total HOME. In 2006, the company extended its reach to China by acquiring The Home Way, a 12 store chain.

From the beginning, The Home Depot developed strategic product alliances directly with industry-leading manufacturers to deliver the most exclusive assortments to customers. Through a combination ofnational brands and proprietary products like Ryobi® tools, RIDGID® tools, BEHR® paint, LG®appliances, and Toro® and Cub Cadet® lawn equipment, the company sets the standard for innovative merchandise for the do-it-yourselfer and the professional contractor.

COMPANY HISTORY

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BRAND & ITS MEANINGWHAT IS OUR BRAND?

IT’S OUR PEOPLE In the retailing business, the customer shopping experience – the products, the environment and the service – determines a retailer’s success or failure. In the home improvement retailing business, the service element becomes even more critical, since many of our customers walk in with a problem without knowing the solution, or with a dream not knowing if they can make it a reality. Therefore, our associates are the links that hold the shopping experience together, and the high level of service they deliver to our customers sets us apart from the competition. We firmly believe that the home improvement business is much more a feel-good business than a look-good business, and our associates prove it every day by providing answers, solving problems and making home improvement dreams come true.

IT’ S OUR CULTUREUnderlying our strong customer service ethic is a set of core values that make up our culture. The values center on respect for our fellow associates, our customers and our communities. This, in turn, fosters an entrepreneurial spirit, which allows our associates to take ownership for their pieces of the business and makes it easier for them to respond more quickly to our customers’ needs. Our associates live the culture every day, not just because they understand its importance to our past and future successes, but because they believe in it.

IT’ S OUR REPUTATIONPut it all together – Home Depot associates, a strong company culture and a positive shoppingexperience – and you’ve got a reputation for leadership and excellence in the home improvementindustry. In building on this reputation externally, The Home Depot strives to associate itself withpartners whose values or goals closely match our own. Our sponsorships of the United States, Canadian and Puerto Rican Olympic teams link us with groups whose spirit and philosophies mirror our dedication to teamwork and excellence. In addition, our status as the Official Home Improvement Warehouse ofNASCAR® , as well as our partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing® , teams us up with the fastest growing sport in the United States. Through these and other associations, we can continue to build the brand and extend our reach to more home improvement customers. It’s just one more way to enhance our leadership position in the industry.5

BRAND & ITS MEANINGTHE ROLE OF BRAND IDENTITYA note on brand identity; The Home Depot brand issomething that we all carry as a team; throughcorporate, distribution, and most importantly retail, we are constantly trying to improve the way we interact with people as whle A mjor part of tis is maintaining a cohesive experience as well as a cohesive image, and all that starts and ends with you. Yes, you. Without you, there would be no brand, so we ask that you use this manual as a sort of brand maintainance guide; refer to it when creating novelties, generating workflow, or interacting with guests, as the cohesive nature of our image depends on you. Thank you, and good luck!

CONTACT INFORMATION1-800-HOME-DEPOT

1-800-466-3337

www.homedepot.com

The Home DepotThe Corporate Office

2455 Paces Ferry Rd NWAtlanta, GA 30339

770-433-8211

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SECTION TWO

NEW BRAND IDENTITY

LOGO COMPARISON

When recreating the logo for The Home Depot, there were alot of things to take intoconsideration. We wanted to create a logo that was more modern, as well as an embodied an idea

that better reflects the values of our brand. The final product, above, accomplishes that in a few ways; the sample strip idea lends to a diversity of products as well as develops a sense of

community, and is brought together by our new slogan, Building Better, Together. Where the old logo was strong but dull, the new logo embodies well the values on which this company was built.

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STACKED VS. LINEAR ORIENTATIONThe linear version of the new logo (right) will be the primary implementation of the logo. because the

positioning and size of the type is balanced with the logo itself, it lends to a more squarish shape and

thusly has more applications such as use onletterheads, paperwork, aprons, et cetera.

The stacked version of the logo (left) plays to the strong vertical nature of the logo, lending less focus

on the type and more focus on the logo/concept. This form of the logo has various different potential uses,

from implementation on the web and othersocial media; basically, anywhere that can

accomodate for its length.9

CLEAR SPACE

When using the logo, it is important to give an

appropriate amount of space surrounding it; for this

implementation, thechimney of the house serves as the guide for the size of

said space, giving itsufficient room to breathe. 10

SIZING & SCALING

LINEAR The best thing about this logo is that despite its size, the idea of the same strip is more or less conveyed at any size. However, be cognizant of resizing it, as the slogan will be lost at too small an instance. If you must use such a smallimplementation, please use the version without a slogan.

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The Stacked version of the logo has the potential to lose the detail of the wording when minimized, so please be careful of this fact. If you mustminimize to such a size, try to use the linear version of the logo, as it conveys theinformation in a more whole formation. However, this implementation still retains itsconcept when minimized.

STACKED

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LOGOS IN COLOR

CMYK C0 M60 Y100 K0

RGB R245 G130 B32

PANTONE 165 C

CMYK C0 M45 Y75 K0

RGB R248 G158 B83

PANTONE 157 C

CMYK C0 M30 Y50 K0

RGB R252 G188 B134

PANTONE 713 C

CMYK C0 M15 Y25 K0

RGB R254 G220 B189

PANTONE 7506 C

CMYK C0 M0 Y0 K100

RGB R0 G0 B0

PANTONE BLACK C

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There are three different implementations of color, each with their own unique purpose. Firstly, there’s Pantone; Pantone is a spot color process, which means that unlike the otherprocesses, the colors used are pure colors, not mixed,making it a more affordable method of printing. Secondly, there’s CMYK, which is short for Cyan Magenta Yellow Black. This process is a four color process, meaning the printer uses all four of these colors to create the final product; use thesecombinations when cost efficiency is no issue. Lastly, HEX/RGB, or Red Green Blue, is a color cobination process which is used for publications online. When using the new Home Depot logo, please be cognizant of these differences, and be sure to use the appropriate color version of the logo when creating things for our company; for example, for modifications of the website please use the HEX/RGB version of the logo, but don’t use that version if you need to go to print with something, and vice versa.

A NOTE ON COLOR

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TYPOGRAPHYFRANKLIN GOTHIC BOOK

FRANKLIN GOTHIC DEMI

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Though many fonts were considered when creating this logo, we narrowed it down to the Franklin Gothic family; specifically, Franklin Gothic Book & Frnaklin Gothic Demi. This is a strong, sans-serif font family which we hope will help to bring our company into more modern times. Demi is great for headings and featured text, whilst Book is better for content, such as this.

INCORRECT LOGO USAGE

THEHOMEDEPOT

Please don’t incorrectly scale the logo; it’s proportions should always

stay the same.

Please keep to logo at the correct orientation. No turning, flipping, or

the like.

Be sure to never move the textto an incorrect poition;it’s there for a reason

We’d like to think this logo iscolorful enough as it is; that said, please don’t add your own colors.

The addition of the stroke distorts the nearby color, disrupting the

cascading value effect.

Please maintain all capital letters in the logotype; lowercase letters don’t

give off the same impression.

It is very important that the weight of the font remain as it is in the

finalized logo.

Please refrain from using the logo-type by itself; it was built to function

side-by-side with the logo.

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At the end of the day,we’re in the people business.“ ”- Francis Blake, CEO

DESIGNPROCESS

DESIGN PROCESS

STORE VISIT19

Walking through the store, I knew that no matter what, I had to include the orange in the new logo. Its presence throughout the store was overwhelming and anything besides orange would completely unbalance everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve.

DESIGN PROCESS

THE COMPETITION

We were tasked to come up with, as a group, a list of attributes which best described The Home Depot. Together, we compiled each person’s list into one big group of words, then systematically sorted it down to the ideas we best felt represent The Home Depot. These are the words that we came up with:

Before the new logo was even a twinkle in the eyes of the creative team, We had to take into

consideration the works of our current main competitior, Lowes. Whilst crafting the logo,

we made sure to stear clear of the warehouse or modern house look that Lowes was front-ing and tried to creat a unique and modern

identity that would help capture the new and unique properties that so well define our

brand.

BRAND ATTRIBUTES

PATIENTHELPFULFRIENDLYHONESTCARINGHUMBLEGENEROUSAMBITIOUSCREATIVECONSCIOUSRELIABLEKNOWLEDGEABLE

DO-IT-YOURSELFSKILLFUL

EXPERIENCEDVARIETY

WAREHOUSEAFFORDABLEECO-FRIENDLY

SAFETYONE-STOP-SHOP

GARDENING

INTERNATIONALECO-FRIENDLYSUSTAINABLE

POWERFULPROFESSIONAL

PHILANTHROPICLEADERSHIPTEAMWORK

PROGRESSIVERESPECTFULCOMMUNITY

CHARACTER • CONSTRUCTION • CORPORATE

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INITIAL SKETCHES 22

DESIGN PROCESS

INITIAL SKETCHES23

After initial sketches were done, the pages were passed around and the classmates were to select the ones they felt were the

most strong. These were the highest voted logos.

When creating the initial sketches, we tried to center them on the attributes of our brand that we found to be the most important. In the end, we chose Helpful, Do-It-Yourself, Creative, Variety, Internation, Safety, Warehouse, Teamwork, Professional, & Family Friendly.

DESIGN PROCESS

thehomedepot

H OM EDEPOT

HOMEDEPOTTHE

Having selected the three sketches we wanted to begin working from, initial renders were made. First, theconcept of the paint strip sample was found to represent alot of the values well; community, diversity, andvariety. The second logo, called henceforth the ‘Home’ logo, was a little more straightforward in regards toconcept; it said “We are The Home Depot, and we have everything you need.” Lastly, the ‘Gentleman’ logo represented the do-it-yourself aspect of our brand, and hoped to accomplish a very strong sense of pride.

INITIAL RENDERS25

H OM EDEPOT

Inital criticism said alot of things. In regards to the sample logo, the originalimplimentation of the ‘Code” typeface was disconcerting, and didn’t work well with the overall design. The Home logo needed simplification; it’s overly illustrative nature would be a problem throughout the process. Feedback was none to kind to theGentleman logo; though he does reflect the values of the company, implimentation of type was not successful, and it was difficult to place him in the world of The Home De-pot. This logo was scrapped in favor of more work on the other two.

SECOND DRAFTS

H OM EDEPOT

T H E

DESIGN PROCESS

THEHOMEDEPOT

THEHOMEDEPOTAs mentioned earlier, it became obvious during the initialwalkthrough that implementation of any other color besides theofficial company orange would be disquieting, so when adding color this played a significant factor. The addition of the roof to the sample logo brought a whole new meaning to the logo, and combining that with the low contrast of color and alternating pattern created a very unique visual effect. The Code typeface was eschewed for a more professional and usable one, Franlkin Gothic Demi. In the House logo, the addition of color didn’t help much, as at the prblem with this logo wasn’t in its composition but in the complexity of its execution.Combine that with the typographical failings of the Bebas font family, eventually this logo was tabled to further explore the Sample logo.

THIRD DRAFTS27

DESIGN PROCESS

HOMEDEPOT

THE

HOMEDEPOT

The fourth set of edits played around with a variety of elements. Firstly, we wanted to see if there was a way to make the logo more stout so that it could be fit onto more things. Secondly we tried to impliment a more effective set of typographical rules by moving the type to a stacked position. Ultimately, though the stout logo was more manueverable, ultimately the original implimentation was more successful. The stacked orientation, as it would occur, turned out to be a failure, and we would everntually revert to a more linear layout.

FOURTH DRAFTS

DESIGN PROCESS

THEHOMEDEPOT

THEHOMEDEPOT

THEHOMEDEPOT

The final round of edits saw the implimentation of the Franklin Gothic Book font face, which was found to

really compliment the Demi face. Initial renders of this implimentation focused the Book font on the HOME with Demi

working for THE and Depot, butultimately the Book font would be solely

applied to THE whilst HOME DEPOT would remain Demi; this implimentation made more sense as far as weight and foces were concerned. Text would be

moved to the left of the logo to make for an easier right-edge alignment, and the addition of a slogan, “Building Better,

Together.” on the bottom served to bring the concept full circle.

FIFTH DRAFTS

THEHOMEDEPOTBUILDING BETTER, TOGETHER.

THEHOMEDEPOT

THE FINAL PRODUCT

LOGO MAIN LINEAR LOGO STACKEDFIFTH DRAFTS