Our brand is the embodiment of our mission, vision, and values. As stewards of the GitLab brand, the Brand Design team works to educate and enable the wider organization with resources to effectively and honestly communicate what the company does for our internal and external audiences.
GitLab's official Brand guidelines can be found at design.gitlab.com under the Brand tab. These guidelines should be applied to all marketing materials, including, but not limited to: digital ads, events, publications, merchandise, etc.
Brand expressions and sub-brands are extensions of our core brand. They are both governed by our brand guidelines, but take on additional creative elements that complement the core branding. Brand expressions help distinguish projects and initiatives that directly promote either the company or the product. Sub-brands are used to classify GitLab programs that bring awareness to topics that extend beyond the company and product.
Brand expressions are directly aligned with GitLab marketing initiatives and connect back to the company and/or product. Visually, they lean into GitLab core branding, while maintaining their own specific look and feel.
An example of a brand expression is the Partner Leadership Summit. This brand expression builds upon the core branding by incorporating new elements, such as the distinct arrow motif, that make it stand apart from our standard marketing collateral.
Here are the style guides for existing brand expressions:
Sub-brands are established for approved initiatives that generate awareness, but don't explicitly connect back to our product. They typically have their own marketing strategy but can be included in ongoing initiatives as well. Sub-brands embrace the guidelines of the core GitLab brand (visually and tonally), while incorporating unique additional creative elements (i.e. a distinct logo, alternative illustration style, etc.). Sub-brands should reflect GitLab's core branding and not feel like a complete departure from it.
An example of a sub-brand is LevelUp, GitLab's certification program. While Level Up offers technical training for the product, it has a broader focus on DevOps as a whole, which extends beyond the company and product.
Here are the style guides for existing sub-brands:
Canva enables team members to self-service their design needs and create on-brand assets. Canva is a great tool for items that need a quick-turnaround or that have ever-changing content (like A/B ad testing). Canva supports print and digital designs, as well as video and animation; team members most frequently use it for digital ads and promotional items. For larger projects that require greater detail or concepting, we recommend you submit a design request to the Brand Design team instead.
To get started in Canva, please complete the checklist below:
If you regularly create designs in Canva, we ask that you work in the GitLab Enterprise Canva Pro account instead of using a free or personal account. To gain access, please submit an access request issue. Once this is completed, someone from the Brand Design team will grant you access.
We have a limited number of seats available, so we encourage teams to consolidate the number of people on their team who need access. Note: Shared logins are prohibited.
Benefits of working in the GitLab Enterprise account:
Extra tips:
Projects) and the team’s designs (GitLab Enterprise) on the left navigation menu.member status, which allows editing and sharing of files.Folders can contain Canva design files, sub-folders, and assets you upload from your device. Once you create a folder, it will default to your folders under Projects. You must manually share the folder with GitLab Enterprise in order for it to be seen and/or edited by the rest of our organization.
Projects from the navigation menu on the left > Hover over your Folder > Click the three dots > Share > Select the eye icon (view access) or pencil icon (edit access) from the GitLab Enterprise drop downTemplates
Folders tab in the GitLab Enterprise account; this is so we can organize the templates in folders instead of the Templates tab, which lacks that structure.Use this template is shown in a purple button. Selecting this option will automatically create a copy that you can start designing in.
Edit Original unless you have prior approval from the Brand Design team. This alters the template for everyone.New files
Pages
Brand kit
Styles tab on the left navigation menu will pull up our color palette and font (Inter) from the GitLab brand kit.Logos tab will show our logo, which you can drag and drop into your design.Typography
Text or Styles tab; this will automatically populate text boxes for you with Inter and the appropriate font weight. These text boxes will still need to be formatted according to our typography guidelines, though:
Graphics
Elements tab, but please use with discretion. This tab is great for finding basic shapes, lines, and image frames; beyond that, use graphics from the GitLab icon library to keep your design on-brand.Uploads tab. The .png file format with a transparent background works best.Photography
Layout and alignment
Exporting
To export your design, select Share in the upper right corner > Download > select your file type > and click Download to have the assets downloaded to your device.
From the Share menu, you can also invite others to collaborate in the file with you.
Depending on your Canva permissions, you may be able to share the file as a template by selecting Template > Publish Template.
Always share your work for review. If you are working from an existing Canva template, you will see the option to request design approval in the top right of the file. If you are creating your own design, you can open a brand review issue and link your file. For expedited requests, please reach out in the #marketing-design channel on Slack with a link to the issue or file.