Create Your Own Operation Smile Gear With These 3 Tips
Whether you are a club leader, adviser or just trying to bring Operation Smile to your community, you’re a public ambassador for Operation Smile — and it’s important you represent the organization to a T. One of the main goals of Operation Smile’s branding is to ensure an environment that promotes dignity and celebrates our patients. For example, the vibrant colors you may use on your merchandise are how we reflect the beautiful colors and sights of the countries Operation Smile works in.
Below is an overview of some main points you may need to note when creating customized merchandise, but more detailed information can be found within our Brand Room here.
By Gabby Makar, student volunteer
1. Using the Right Colors
It’s important that when designing your own merchandise you use the corresponding color theme. Legacy Blue and Legacy Red are the colors seen on the Operation Smile logo and are mainly used for official projects, but here are a few other colors you can use as design options. We here in Student Programs love using the bold colors!
2. Use the Operation Smile logo correctly
The logo can not be altered in any way. It must be used from the original file form, which can be found on the Brand Room website here. The globe may be used separately from the organization’s name, but only if the full name logo is also present somewhere else on the item. And, remember, we can’t break apart the globe from the swish!
Here are some examples of how the generic Operation Smile name logo could be used on your merchandise:
3. Know how to customize
If you are looking to add your school’s name or an additional title besides the Operation Smile logo, the default font should be in the Franklin Gothic family, which again can be downloaded from the Brand Room.
Additionally, there should be ample space between the Operation Smile logo and the customized piece — in other words, you can’t add your school’s name or title to the Operation Smile logo.. For example, if you were making customized shirts for your school, you may put the Operation Smile logo on one side, and your school name on the other.
Below is an example of how one of our Regional Leadership Councils customized shirts specifically for their 5K fundraiser:
Finally, if your club is looking to create merchandise, here are some website options you could try:
- https://teespring.com allows you to create, share your design through social media, and when people purchase your item they will package and ship it for you.
- https://www.bonfire.com similarly allows you to run a campaign through their website using your merchandise and also ships the packages directly to the buyers.
- https://www.customink.com is also a very popular site for merchandise used for fundraising.
If you think you need more specific information, remember to read more via our Brand Room here. For any further questions about creating merch for your club, feel free to reach out to Bethany Bogacki, the content manager for Operation Smile. She’s happy to help! Her email address is bethany.bogacki@operationsmile.org.
