Our fonts are a key part of our brand identity and how the public and staff recognise us. Using them consistently helps build trust and reassurance. Fonts must also meet accessibility standards and legislation across all formats, media channels and sizes (both print and digital).
All resources produced by the NHS in Scotland should adopt an open source Google font:
Primary Font – Source Sans.
Secondary Font – Arial, which is installed as standard on all NHS Scotland devices.
The only exception to this is where:
- There is explicit need for a campaign that requires messaging, tone and design style targeted at a specific audience and requires an alternative font to Source Sans. An alternative accessible sans-serif font can be used subject to activity meeting the criteria and definition of a ‘campaign’. Specifically, a campaign can be considered carefully scheduled strategic activity that seeks to inform, engage, or direct patients, the public, or staff to information and services through actionable content. In such circumstances, the headline font in the creative can vary from Source Sans if approved by the relevant NHS Board (or for Scottish Government (SG) staff, from the SG Marketing team), in line with accessibility requirements outlined in NHS Scotland identity guidelines.
- Resources are being produced where there is a requirement to translate English into a language that requires accented letters, such as Baltic characters available via Myriad Pro font.