On-screen text
The default typeface that should be used for on-screen text (OST) is Electrolux Sans.
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Below, we will describe technical principles and parameters of how we use our typeface. For a more general overview of our typeface and how it complements our visual style, see Typography.​
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On the other hand, asset-specific principles are described in individual asset chapters, namely in Benefit image and Video asset types.
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This chapter is divided into two section - OST principles for images and OST principles for video.
OST guidelines for images
Typeface
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Font is Electrolux Sans SemiBold
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Font tracking: 0, leading: auto, kerning: metrics, paragraph: center text
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Should be in sentence case with no full stops
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Make sure to follow punctuation rules at the end of this chapter
Legibility & placement
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Colour is pure white or Electrolux blue
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Text should be placed in a part of the image that is not busy, i.e. it should be easily readable
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Avoid drop shadows
Copy
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Font size is the width of the image divided by 30, in px. For example, a 4678px wide image should have a copy with the size of 156px
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The copy shouldn't be longer than 2 lines
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The copy is horizontally centered
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The are no rules in terms of where the copy should be placed vertically
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Pop-up text
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Font size is the width of the image divided by 36, in px
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Pop-up text shouldn't be longer than 2 lines
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Pop-up text can be placed freely
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Disclaimer
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Font size is the width of the image divided by 80, in px
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The disclaimer shouldn't be longer than 2 lines
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Disclaimer is located at the bottom action safe frame (90%)
Crop consideration
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Place your copy(ies) within a 1:1 crop area, i.e. a copy cannot exceed the bound of a square crop
Quick tip: If you want to change the displayed size of your type in Photoshop from pt to px and vice-versa, you can do so by going to Edit > Preferences > Units & Rulers > Rulers.
Photoshop template
You can download a Photoshop template containing all pre-defined text types in proper sizes below. It also contains common On-screen Graphics, such as taglines, icons, dimension and volumetric lines.
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The template has a resolution of 4678x3508 px. If your artwork has a higher resolution, you can simply upscale the template - all elements are in vector format, so no quality loss will occur.
OST guidelines for video
The following section describes general OST principles that are applicable for all text in video.
The sections that follow afterwards deal with specifics of individual OST types. Make sure to read both of them to have a full understanding of how we apply OST to our videos.
If you wish to learn how to "construct" individual OST types in terms of wording (i.e. what the actual text should be) or need additional details, refer to individual Video asset chapter.
General rules
These are general OST rules that are valid in all instances:​
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Font
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We use Electrolux Sans, mostly Regular or Semibold
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Colour
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Preferably white (RGB 255/255/255)
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Can be Electolrux blue (RGB 4/3/80) on white or bright backgrounds
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Safe frames
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All OST should be located within title safe frame area
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Size of the safe area is 80%
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Size
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All values are defined for a full HD (1920x1080) video
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For other resolutions, scale accordingly
Legibility - Option #1: drop shadow
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You can add a slight drop shadow to increase OST legibility:
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Aim for a non-disturbing diffuse look, i.e. avoid sharp shadows or dark "blobs" of shadows
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This can be achieved with the following settings:
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distance = 0
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size = high values
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opacity/strength = at reasonable levels
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Legibility - Option #2: darker background
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Alternatively, you can locally decrease exposure of the background and add a slight blur:
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Create an adjustment layer
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Apply Exposure (with negative values) and Lens blur (with lower values)
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Mask out the layer to cover only the area below and around the text
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Feather the mask edges
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Openings
Structure
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Consists of a subhead (first line(s), smaller font) and a headline (second line(s), bigger font)
Subhead
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font type: Electrolux Sans Regular
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font size: 55 px
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tracking: 10 px (metrics)
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leading: automatic
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paragraph: center text
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no. of lines: 1 or 2
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max no. of characters: ~110
Headline
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font type: Electrolux Sans SemiBold
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font size: 80 px
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tracking: 10 px (metric)
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leading: automatic
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paragraph: center text
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no. of lines: 1 or 2
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max no. of characters: ~75
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can be two sentences as well - in that case, respect punctuation rules below
​OST position
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Distance between the subhead and the headline: 40px
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The position of the entire opening block (subhead + headline) on the screen: centered vertically and horizontally
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OST animation
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The copy is visible from the very first frame and fades out over 1 second
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Do not animate the copy in any other way​
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General rules
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Respect the general rules outlined above
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Background
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Background for openings is usually a blurred or out-of-focus video (but not necessarily)
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Blur should look cinematic and authentic, not cheap or generic (i.e. use a Lens blur or similar, not Fast or Gaussian blur)
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A natural depth-of-field effect can be used instead of a blur
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Background blur specs
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Pick a blur radius that makes the text better readable but doesn't feel over the top
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Blur strength should decrease to 0 as the text fades out
Chapter headline​​
Use cases
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is used to denote a new chapter or block of a video
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can also be used to highlight an important message or to introduce a closing statement
Headline specs
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font type: Electrolux Sans SemiBold
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font size: 80 px
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tracking: 10 px (metric)
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leading: automatic
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paragraph: center text
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no. of lines: 1 or 2
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max no. of characters: ~75
OST position
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The block is centered both vertically and horizontally
OST animation
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The OST fades in over 1 second and fades out over 1 second
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Do not animate the OST in any other way​​
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General rules
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Respect the general rules outlined above
Copy
Font specifics
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Font type: Electrolux Sans Regular
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Font size: 70 px
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Tracking: 0
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Font leading: 75px
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Font kerning: metrics
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Paragraph: center text
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No. of lines: 1 or 2, in rare cases 3 is acceptable
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Max no. of characters: 88 (for 2 lines max)
OST position
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Centered horizontally
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Aligned to the bottom title safe frame. This is true irrespective of whether the copy is one, two or three lines.
OST animation
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The copy fades in over 1 second and fades out over 1 second
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Do not animate the copy in any other way​​
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General rules
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Respect the general rules outlined above
Disclaimer
Font specifics
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Font type: Electrolux Sans Regular
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Font size: 20px
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Font tracking: 0
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Font leading: 25px
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Font kerning: metrics
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Paragraph: center text
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Disclaimer & copy
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Disclaimer is connected through an asterisk (*) to the main text (copy or headline)
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There is no space between * and the main text or disclaimer
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Disclaimer always ends with a full stop
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OST position
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Centered horizontally
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Aligned to the bottom action safe area
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If the disclaimer is two lines, it is always the first line that is aligned to the action safe area
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OST animation
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The OST fades in over 1 second and fades out over 1 second
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Do not animate the OST in any other way​​
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General rules
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Respect the general rules outlined above
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Comparison
Font specifics
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The comparison pop-up text is the same as copy
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Font type: Electrolux Sans Regular
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Font size: 70 px
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Tracking: 0
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Font leading: 75px
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Font kerning: metrics
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Paragraph: center text
OST animation
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The OST fades in over 1 second and fades out over 1 second
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Do not animate the OST in any other way​​
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General rules
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Respect the general rules outlined above
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Learn more about comparisons for both images and video here
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Pop-up text
Use cases
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Pop-up text is used to explain additional information
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It is usually placed next to a connecting line with a thickness of 3px that ends with a 11px dot
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Learn more about the line here
Font specifics
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Font type: Electrolux Sans Regular
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Font size: 50px
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Font tracking: 0
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Font leading: 50px
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Font kerning: metrics
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Paragraph: center text
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OST animation
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The OST fades in over 1 second and fades out over 1 second
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Do not animate the OST in any other way​​
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General rules
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Respect the general rules outlined above
Period
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.
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First sentence(s) always end(s) with a full stop
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The last sentence is without a full stop
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Disclaimer always ends with a full stop
Slash
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/
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There is no space before or after the /
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E.g.: "connect via Wifi/Bluetooth"
Asterisk
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*
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There is no space before or after the asterisk
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Main text* *with a disclaimer
Dash (hyphen)
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We use the "minus" symbol for a dash (hyphen)
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If it is used in a word (built-in), we call it a hyphen and these is no space before or after the -
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If it is used to connect two parts of a sentence (Superior washing - in less than 1 hour), we call it a dash and there is a space before and after the -
Vertical bar (pipe)
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|
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There is a space before and after the |
Punctuation rules
Logo
Use cases
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Throughout the entire video, our logo is visible on screen
OST position and size
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The logo is 400px wide
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It is placed in the upper left corner and aligned to the corner of the action safe area
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Do not lock up logo with copy or On-screen graphics and keep clear space around it
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OST animation
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The logo is visible from the very first frame of the video
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It disappears (fades out) towards the end, together with the last copy
Outro
Use cases
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Each video ends with Electrolux logo and brand promise ("For better living. Designed in Sweden)"
OST position and size
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Height of the Electrolux logo is 206px
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It is positioned 90px above the brand promise
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The brand promise is:
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Electrolux Sans SemiBold
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size: 56px
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tracking: 0
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kerning: metrics
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The entire block (logo + brand promise) is centered both horizontally and vertically
OST animation
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Electrolux logo and brand promise appears with fade in length 10 frames on sonic logo music
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During the stationary section of logo is animated flare part.
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Everything is included in the videofile.
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Background
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When the logo appears on the screen, the background start to blur / go out-of-focus
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The transition from 0 to 100% blurred background lasts for 37 frames until the second sentence of the brand promise completely appears
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From then, the blurred background is set to 100% until the end of the video​
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Background blur specs
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Blur should look cinematic and authentic, not cheap or generic (i.e. use a Lens blur or similar, not Fast or Gaussian blur)
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Pick a blur radius that makes the logo and brand promise nicely stand out but doesn't feel over the top
Logo and brand promise placement
The logo and the brand promise appear on the sonic logo above
Background blur animation
Templates
We provide a range of ready-to-use OST templates for various editing programs. We currently support Adobe After Effects 2023. Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve will come in the future.
Quick start guide
The recommended template to use is the one for Adobe After Effects since it has the most automated tools. Below is a quick start guide for the template.
General layout
Each OST type is located in a separate comp. This allows you to easily copy and paste that particular comp into your own composition or project.
Editable text layers are located within each particular OST comp.
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Quick tip: The copied OST comp will be placed at the same time it was positioned at in the master comp. To move it where needed, move your playhead to the desired location and press [.
Pressing [ moves selected layers so that their In point is at the current time.
Layout of the template (click to magnify)
To edit the text, open the respective pre-comp (click to magnify)
Automated OST alignment
All On-screen text is automatically aligned to where is should be, based on the number of lines and length of the text. All you need to do is type in the copy, define new lines with Enter and the template takes care of the rest.
Automatic fade-in and fade-out
Each OST element automatically fades-in over 1 second and fades-out over 1 second, starting from the in-point of the layer and ending at its out-point. As you adjust your layer's in and out points, the fade-in and -out adjust automatically with it.
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In addition, each layer has a checkbox that allows you to disable this automatic behavior in case you need to manually adjust the opacity.
Comparisons
Comparison texts (left vs right) align based on the number of lines they have. Icon position is automatically adjusted as well.
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The dividing line has a dropdown menu that allows you to select a predefined line length (for a one-line copy or for a two-lines copy).
Icons
The comparison comp contains two precomps for icons - if you open them, you can simply ALT-drag (replace) any icon (image file) onto the one in the precomp and it will be automatically scaled to the correct size (230px).
