The Scouts Brand at a Glance
We are Scouts – We give young people skills for life, create belonging, and inspire adventure.
Our personality – Grounded, conversational, colourful, relatable, inspiring, surprising.
Our values – Integrity, Respect, Care, Belief, Cooperation.
Our tone – Friendly, active, inclusive — talk like people, not press releases.
Logo Rules
Our logo is a big part of what makes us recognisable. It’s how people know they’ve found Scouts – so let’s keep it looking its best.
1. Use the real deal.
Get your logo from the Scouts Brand Centre, not from Google or an old file on someone’s laptop. The Logo Generator makes it easy – type in your group (or our district name), download and your good to go.
2. Using your Group Badge as a logo
If you’re using your group badge as the main logo, that’s fine – but always pop the official Scouts logo alongside it (not instead of it). That way, everyone knows you’re part of the movement.
3. Make it local.
You can personalise the official logo with your group or district name underneath:
Groups – Just use your group name (for example “3rd Bradford North”). No need to add “Scout Group” or “District Scouts”. If you have a location, often represented as “(location)” on our website, put it on the second line of the logo without brackets.
District – Use “Bradford North” for anything district-wide. Always use the District official logo – it keeps everything looking consistent. No need to add “District Scouts”.
4. Keep colours on brand.
In England, we stick with purple or white. The other nations have their own colours that represent them. These are: Red (Wales), Green (Northern Ireland) and Blue (Scotland).
5. Give it room to breathe.
Leave a little space all around the logo – at least the height of the “u” in “Scouts” – so its never squashed or crowded.
What not to do:
Don’t stretch it, squish it, recolour it, add shadows, or drop it on top of a busy background. Think crisp, clear and confident. Minimal design is sometimes better.
Colour Use
The core colours we use are Purple (#7413DC) and Teal (#088486), as well as Black and White, with supporting palette colours. You can find all colours and their hex, Pantone and RGB codes on our brand centre page.
Good practice:
1. Use 1-3 colours max per design.
2. Keep colours high contrast for text readability.
3. Use black sparingly – mainly for text.
Avoid:
1. Low contrast (yellow on white, teal on green).
2. Black and Yellow except in relation to safeguarding or name badges.
3. Orange in or relation to Northern Ireland (political sensitivity).
4. Using Orange and Green in or in relation to Ireland. Using Green by itself is a good way to provide relation when talking about Ireland as its represented by Scouts Northern Ireland in Green.
5. Using all colours at once (except for Pride/inclusivity campaigns).
Typography
We use a font family called Nunito Sans which is a free and available font on the Scouts Brand Centre.
Each font type has a purpose within Scouting:
Black – (The font type, not the colour) headlines and hashtags (#).
Extra Bold – Logo personalisation text.
Bold – Call to actions.
Regular – body text on colour backgrounds.
Light – body text on white backgrounds.
Avoid Comic Sans, script fonts, all capitals for long sentences and underlining.
Tone of Voice
Our tone of voice is very important within Scouts, we like to keep things short, clear and easy to understand. For more information discover our How We Talk guide.
1. Write like you speak (Simple English)
2. Use active language (i.e., “We’re camping…” not “A camp is being run…”)
3. Show benefits, not just events (“Help our Scouts get to camp!” instead of “Fundraiser at 2pm”).
4. Keep language inclusive – gender-neutral terms, no jargon, avoid idioms that may confuse non-native speakers.
Photography
Photography within Scouting is essential for giving people insight into scouting and sharing our story.
1. Capture real moments – adventure, teamwork, laughter, achievement.
2. Show diversity in age, ethnicity, gender, ability.
3. Use high-quality, in focus images.
4. Neckerchief helps identify Scouts, but uniforms aren’t always required.
5. Avoid staged or overly formal group photos.
You can also use free and available photos in the image library on the Scouts Brand Centre.
Accessibility
We like to make our branding accessible to all.
1. Always check contrast using WebAIM’s contrast checker.
2. Add alt text to all images (on social media, websites etc).
3. Don’t use images of text – use real text for screen readers.
4. Avoid italics, underlining, excessive caps.
5. Break up long text with headings and bullet points.
Common Mistakes
Making mistakes is okay! You won’t be able to master our brand straight away. Use this as your check list to ensure you are squashing any common errors.
1. Using unofficial or distorted logos. Use official logos provided by the Brand Centre and ensure they are in good resolution (not blurry or pixelated).
2. Placing text directly over busy images without a colour overlay. Avoid placing text over busy images as it makes it harder to read and less contrasted.
3. Mixing too many bright colours. Some colours, especially when paired together can be too hard to read, consider using white or darker colours when paired with bright colours.
4. Using wrong nation-specific colours. Only use Purple, White or Black logos to represent your group/District. Red, Green and Blue is used to represent other nations (Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland). Navy Blue is used to represent the Scout Store and can be used to represent local District Stores.
5. Choosing fonts too small for posters or slides. Some fonts can be too small or hard to read for posters and slides. We use Nunito Sans to avoid this. Make sure text is readable too – text that is below size 10 is typically not that readable.
Volunteer Quick Checklist
Before publishing any design:
1. Logo correct colour & spacing?
2. Fonts = Nunito Sans only?
3. Colours from official palette, high contrast, max 3 used?
4. Photos authentic & inclusive?
5. Text short, active, and benefit-led?
6. Accessibility checks done?
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