570+
hours spent by executors, on average
Key Finding
Current policies are too short, rigid, and unevenly available.
Recommendation
Adopt flexible, paid, job-protected bereavement leave.
VISUAL BRAND GUIDE
CASSIDIE CARMEN BATES
A refined academic-editorial visual system for thesis graphics, research visuals, and website design.
Brand Summary
Warm, Scholarly, Editorial
The visual system should feel like a thoughtful thesis publication: structured, elegant, readable, and human. It should support serious research without feeling sterile, corporate, or overly decorative.
Use
- Refined academic design
- Warm editorial spacing
- Clear research hierarchy
- Human, grief-informed tone
- Structured visual explanations
Avoid
- Blue or corporate gray palettes
- Harsh black outlines
- Generic business icons
- Heavy shadows or gradients
- Overcrowded infographic layouts
Design Purpose
- Every graphic should clarify one idea for the reader.
- The design should help readers track research findings, recommendations, and policy logic.
- The tone should feel scholarly, emotionally intelligent, and grounded in evidence.
- If a visual does not make the research easier to understand, simplify it.
Color Palette
Core Colors
The palette should stay warm, restrained, and publication-like. Use ivory and cream as the foundation, dark brown for readability, and rose tones for emphasis.
#ECE4D5
Warm Page Background
#FDFBF7
Ivory Card Background
#312421
Primary Text
#9E5155
Deep Rose Accent
#BE7E6A
Clay Rose Accent
Page Background
Use behind graphics or as a soft section field.
Graphic Background
Use inside graphics, cards, tables, and quote boxes.
Text
Use for body copy, cc-kicker labels, and readable dark text.
Primary Accent
Use for major headings, key statistics, and strong callouts.
Supporting Accent
Use for borders, dividers, labels, and table headers.
Color Rules
- Use #FDFBF7 as the main background for most website graphics.
- Use #ECE4D5 for secondary cards, soft fields, and page-background moments.
- Use #312421 for all readable body copy and cc-kicker labels.
- Use #9E5155 for major titles, important statistics, and strong callout panels.
- Use #BE7E6A for borders, table headers, dividers, and supporting accents.
- Do not use blue, bright pink, harsh black, corporate gray, or purple gradients.
- Do not rely on color alone to communicate meaning. Pair color with labels or structure.
Typography
Font System
The typography system uses three visual roles: Bodoni Moda for editorial emphasis, Raleway or Arial for readable body copy, and Arial Bold for structured labels, section markers, card headings, and table headers.
Editorial Heading
Bodoni Moda
Use for main graphic titles, large statistics, pull quotes, and major visual moments.
Body Copy
Raleway
This is the primary reading style. Use it for explanatory text, captions, card copy, table content, and instructions.
Structured Label
Ariel Bold
Use for small orientation labels, card headings, table headers, policy categories, and callout labels.
Core Finding
Current Policies Do Not Reflect the Realities of Grief
Bereavement leave should be structured around flexibility, job protection, and the lived realities of grief, rather than a short consecutive absence.
570+
hours spent by executors, on average
What This Shows
- Structured labels orient the reader.
- Bodoni Moda carries the main idea.
- Raleway explains the content clearly.
- Bodoni statistics create visual emphasis.
Type Role
Style Specs
Use
Structured Label
Font: Arial Bold
Size: 13px
Weight: 700-800
Line height: 1
Letter spacing: 0.16em
Case: Uppercase
Color: #312421
Use above sections, graphics, findings, recommendations, and callouts to orient the reader.
Main Title
Font: Bodoni Moda
Size: 44-48px desktop, 34px mobile
Weight: 500
Line height: 1.05-1.08
Letter spacing: 0
Case: Title Case
Color: #9E5155
Use for the primary title of a graphic, section, or editorial visual.
Card Heading
Font: Arial Bold
Size: 15-18px
Weight: 700-800
Line height: 1.25
Letter spacing: 0.06em
Case: Uppercase or Title Case
Color: #9E5155
Use for card titles, table headers, short category names, and structured labels.
Body Copy
Font: Raleway
Size: 16-18px
Weight: 400-500
Line height: 1.45-1.6
Letter spacing: 0
Case: Sentence case
Color: #312421
Use for explanatory text, captions, table content, and instructions.
570+
Font: Bodoni Moda
Size: 54-72px
Weight: 500
Line height: 0.9-1
Letter spacing: 0
Case: Numerals / short data
Color: #9E5155
Use for large statistics, key numbers, and data points that should stand out immediately.
Typography Rules
- Use Bodoni Moda for editorial emphasis, not long body copy.
- Use Raleway for readable and instructional text.
- Use Arial Bold for structured labels, card headings, table headers, and category labels.
- Use uppercase sparingly: section labels, table headers, short card headings, and category labels.
- Use sentence case for paragraphs and explanatory text.
- Keep body copy line height generous so research content remains readable.
- Do not use pure black. Use #312421 for dark text.
Graphic Components
Reusable Visual Pieces
These components should repeat across the thesis page so every graphic feels connected to the same system. Use them to clarify findings, recommendations, definitions, statistics, and policy comparisons.
Standard Card
Policy Gap
Use bordered ivory cards for findings, themes, recommendations, and short explanatory points.
570+
hours spent, on average, completing executorship tasks.
Core finding: The issue is not simply the length of bereavement leave,
but the framework itself.
Component Rules
- Use cards for repeated items, findings, recommendations, and structured categories.
- Use large Bodoni Moda numbers when a statistic should be immediately visible.
- Use rose callout bands for final takeaways, core findings, or policy implications.
- Use Arial Bold for section labels, card headings, table headers, and structured labels.
- Use Raleway only for body copy, descriptions, and longer explanatory text.
- Do not use heavy shadows, black outlines, or decorative containers around every section.
Tables
Editorial Table Style
Tables should feel designed, not spreadsheet-like. Use clear borders, rose headers, ivory cells, centered content, and strong visual hierarchy.
Category
Calculation
Result
Total Boomer population
60 x 100%
60M
Mortality-adjusted proportion
60 x 20-25%
12-15M
Table Rules
- Use #BE7E6A for headers and borders.
- Use #FDFBF7 for table cells.
- Use Arial Bold for table headers.
- Use Raleway only for table body text.
- Use Bodoni Moda for important results or large numbers.
- Keep table text centered unless there is a clear reason to left-align.
- On mobile, stack rows into readable cards instead of forcing horizontal scrolling.
Layout Patterns
Examples
Use consistent layouts so readers quickly understand how to move through findings, recommendations, timelines, and comparisons.
01
Grief-Informed
Use lived expertise and subject-matter data.
02
Policy Gaps
Identify where current structures fall short.
03
Executor Needs
Account for fiduciary duties and time-sensitive tasks.
Current Systems
Short, consecutive blocks of time. Narrow family definitions. Reliance on PTO or sick leave.
Model Framework
Flexible, paid, job-protected leave with broader eligibility and executor-specific support.
Lived Expertise
+
Subject-Matter Data
=
Grief-Informed Policy
Layout Rules
- Use three-part frameworks for themes, categories, or key findings.
- Use comparison layouts when showing the gap between current practice and model policy.
- Use equation layouts when explaining how concepts combine.
- Use timeline layouts for origins, historical shifts, and policy evolution.
- Keep graphic widths consistent, ideally max-width 980px.
Production Rules
Spacing, Mobile, and Accessibility
Spacing
Use max-width 980px, desktop padding around 38px 42px, and mobile padding around 28px 22px.
Mobile
Stack columns, reduce large titles, avoid horizontal scrolling, and keep body text around 16px.
Callouts
Use “Core finding,” “Core recommendation,” “Policy implication,” or “Why it matters” for takeaways.
Accessibility
Keep contrast strong, avoid tiny text, use real text when possible, and never rely on color alone.
PowerPoint Guidance
Presentation Do’s and Don’ts
PowerPoint slides should feel like an extension of the thesis visuals: refined, warm, academic, and highly readable. The goal is to help the audience follow the argument without overcrowding the slide.
Do
- Use one clear idea per slide.
- Use Bodoni Moda for slide titles and large statistics.
- Use Arial Bold for short labels, section markers, and chart headings.
- Use Raleway only for body copy and explanations.
- Use #FDFBF7 or #ECE4D5 as the slide background.
- Keep margins generous and layouts balanced.
- Leave space for photos, graphics, charts, or visual evidence.
- Use the same visual structure across related slides.
Don’t
- Do not crowd slides with full paragraphs from the thesis.
- Do not use blue, bright colors, corporate gray, or purple gradients.
- Do not use harsh black outlines or heavy drop shadows.
- Do not use generic corporate icons or cartoon-style graphics.
- Do not use Bodoni Moda for long body text.
- Do not shrink text just to fit more information on one slide.
- Do not rely on color alone to explain a point.
- Do not make every slide look different from the last.
PowerPoint Rule of Thumb
- Each slide should answer one question or make one point.
- If a slide needs more than three bullets, split it into two slides.
- If text must be smaller than comfortable reading size, there is too much content.
- Use visuals to organize the argument, not decorate it.
Slide Examples
Cover, Content, and Closing Slides
These examples show how the presentation can translate the thesis style into slides while leaving enough space for imagery, charts, or supporting visuals.
One-Pager Guidance
Rules for a Research One-Pager
A one-pager should translate the research into a concise, skimmable, and polished document that can stand alone. It should communicate the main argument quickly, while leaving space for imagery, key facts, and a clear takeaway.
Purpose
Use a one-pager to summarize the research for readers who need the main point, key evidence, and recommendation quickly.
Length
Keep it to one page. If the content needs smaller text to fit, the page is too crowded.
Structure
Use one headline, one short summary, one strong visual, one key statistic, and 3-5 supporting points.
Visual Balance
Leave room for an image, chart, portrait, or symbolic visual. Do not make the page all text.
One-Pager Rules
- Lead with one clear headline or policy takeaway.
- Use a short opening summary of 2-3 sentences.
- Include 3-5 key findings, recommendations, or proof points.
- Use one strong statistic or data point as the visual anchor.
- Include one image, portrait, chart, or symbolic visual area.
- Use section labels to make the page easy to scan.
- Use short paragraphs, bullets, cards, and callout boxes.
- Leave enough margin so the page can print cleanly.
- Include author, date, website, and contact information.
- Do not try to summarize the entire thesis.
One-Pager Layout
Recommended Structure
This layout keeps the page skimmable: title and summary at the top, image and evidence in the middle, and a clear takeaway at the bottom.
Bereavement Leave in America
A grief-informed framework for supporting bereaved workers and estate executors.
Image / Portrait / Chart
Core takeaway: Death is inevitable. Grieving is universal. Bereavement leave is neither.