DOE Logo, Seal and Word Mark

The DOE seal and DOE logo are official graphical identifiers of the U.S. Department of Energy and are meant for official use only.  They are to be used on official Departmental publications and communications to identify the source of the information, recognize the Department's official involvement, and similar Departmental confirmation of content and information.  The usage of a DOE graphical identifier is an implied or explicit endorsement of the content it is associated with.  They should not be used on unofficial communications that do not meet the standard of an official statement by the Department.

Description of the DOE Seal Elements

The DOE seal is composed of a shield bisected by a lightning bolt on which is emblazoned a sun, atom, oil derrick, windmill, and dynamo, which are crested by the head of an eagle atop a rope.  The sun, atom, oil derrick, windmill, and dynamo serve as representative technologies whose enhanced development can meet the Nation’s increasing demand for energy; the lightning bolt represents the power of the natural forces from which energy is derived; the eagle represents the care in planning and the purposefulness of efforts required to respond to the Nation's needs; and the rope represents the cohesiveness in the development of the technologies and their link to our future capabilities.

The color scheme of the seal is derived from nature, symbolizing both the source of energy and the support of man's existence. The blue field represents air and water, green represents mineral resources and the earth itself, and gold represents the creation of energy in the release of natural forces. By invoking this symbolism the color scheme represents the Nation's commitment to meet its energy needs in a manner consistent with the preservation of the natural environment.

DOE Seal, DOE Logo, and DOE Co-Branded Logos: Official Graphical Identifiers

There are essentially three versions of artwork that all come under the Department’s definition of its official graphical identifier.  All the artworks contain the DOE seal, the core element in branding and identifying official Departmental information.  It is helpful and sometimes needed to specify which artwork is being published or considered for publishing so that the proper artwork can be provided.

  • DOE Seal: The traditional, circular DOE seal as described and identified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 10 Energy, Part 1002 Official Seal and Distinguishing Flag.
  • DOE Logo: The DOE logo is the circular DOE seal combined with the department's name in bold typography beside it to make it more readable and recognizable.
  • DOE Co-Branded Logos: A departmental entity may further brand themselves through a co-branded logo, consisting of their office name combined with the DOE logo.  Office names are the top-level name of an organization, the name of the Program Office or Staff Office.

It is preferred that DOE logo artwork is used to brand and identify Departmental information.  The large wording of the Department's name makes it more readable and recognizable.  This may be the DOE logo by itself, or an office-specific co-branded logo.

The DOE seal alone may be used when design, aesthetics, branding, or other considerations make that artwork fit the publication's context better than the full logo.  

Deployment by Departmental Offices

Departmental Program Offices and Staff Offices have the authority to place a Departmental graphical identifier on official publications and communications created and distributed by their office.

Depending on the nature of the publication or communication the office should consider which identifier is best or appropriate to brand the content.  In many cases a co-branded logo is best, audiences may respond and interact in a more involved and comfortable manner knowing that the office publishing the content is in-line with their interests.  Other times an initiative may cross-cut multiple organizations and the DOE logo without an office name best conveys Departmental promotion of the initiative or information.  For some high-level events, initiatives, or audiences, the DOE seal alone might be best to convey Departmental support or involvement, or if the design, aesthetics, or other considerations determine that the seal is best for that context or content.

If a Departmental office has questions or wants assistance in analyzing which artwork should be used on their publication, contact the Headquarters Graphics Office at [email protected] and the request will be routed for assistance.   This is not an on-demand service, assistance is based on the availability of the involved staff, and a normal review process may take several working days to initiate.

Desired Use by a non-DOE Entity

If a non-Departmental organization wants to use a DOE graphical identifier to recognize an official relationship with a federal Departmental office, such as a grant, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), or other official relationship, it is possible for a review to be performed to determine if, and if so how an identifier could be used.  A commercial relationship, such as selling products or services to a Departmental entity, does not meet the standard of an official relationship with the Department.

The Departmental office whose official relationship is to be recognized needs to be involved to review the context of the usage, media, audience, association with other content, intent of the usage, and other merits and concerns, to ensure that the publishing clearly recognizes that official relationship and does not unduly imply or state endorsement of non-Departmental organizations, products, services, policies or activities.

There are no Department-wide pre-set standards that would approve of an external organization using an identifier without going through a review process.  A DOE office can publish guidelines for an identifier to be used by an external organization to recognize an official relationship with that specific office, where the office does not need to be involved to perform a review.

Process:
The non-Departmental organization should contact the DOE office that they are in a relationship with, whose official involvement is desired to be recognized.  That office has the lead in processing a review, and if following proper usage guidelines also has the authority to approve of the external organization using an identifier to recognize their official relationship.

Normally a review would be performed by a federal employee, at Headquarters, with responsible involvement in the initiative, grant, or whatever the relationship is based upon.

If for any reason a Departmental office wants assistance in performing a review, the Office of Administration (MA-40) will assist that office.  The office can initiate a request for assistance by contacting HQ Graphics at [email protected] and the request will be routed for assistance.  This is not an on-demand service, assistance in performing reviews is based on the availability of the involved staff, and a normal review process may take several working days to initiate.  The review will still need the involvement of a federal employee at Headquarters, with responsible involvement in the initiative desired to be recognized, to represent the involved DOE office.  This review assistance cannot supersede or replace the direct involvement of the involved DOE office.

If a non-Departmental organization does not have contact information for the DOE office they are involved with, and whose relationship is desired to be recognized, there is likely not much that can be done.  Any review will need the involvement of a federal employee at Headquarters with responsible involvement in the initiative to provide input.  However, if such a circumstance exists, the Office of Administration will analyze and any pertinent information and see if a point of contact in the involved DOE office can be located.  If an 

This review assistance of the Office of Administration cannot supersede or replace the direct involvement of the DOE office. 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are not a Federal employee of the Department, or you want to use the DOE logo, seal or word mark by a non-Federal, non-DOE entity, or use the artwork in a manner that does not constitute the Department's official position but may represent our funding or other support, we need to gather information to fully review your desired usage and determine if it is appropriate, as well as what kind of conditions may be needed to qualify/explain its usage.  This process is dependent on the details of the desired usage and the immediate availability of the authorities involved.

Please start the Request for Permission to Use the DOE Logo by responding to the initial questions below, and emailing them to [email protected]. This is not an on-demand, dedicated service, so please allow at least several working days for your request to be addressed.  Once we have your initial information we will review it and see if we have further questions.  Once we have all the information we need a final executive review will be processed, which usually takes a few working days.

Note: If your external organization has received funding or support through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) please contact the EE Communications Office for guidance on using the EERE graphical identifier. They can be reached via e-mail through:
[email protected]
 

Request for Permission to Use the DOE Logo, Seal or Word Mark by a non-DOE Entity
Externally (non-DOE), the official identifiers could be used to recognize funding, support, or other formal involvement of the Department if: there is an official relationship between the Department and the external initiative, event, or information; the usage has proper qualifying language, and context, to explain its presence on non-DOE materials, and is properly separated from other material not related to the DOE information; the DOE office whose involvement is being recognized approves of this method of recognition; and it is reviewed and explicitly approved by an appropriate organizational representative of the Department.  An official DOE graphical identifier cannot be used in a manner that has an implied or explicit endorsement of any private company, service, product or activities.  There is a Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) regarding the DOE graphical identifier at:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2000-title10-vol4/xml/CFR-2000-title10-vol4-part1002.xml

 

 

The Director, Office of Administration is the Secretary's designee for reviewing and approving usages of the DOE graphical identifier by entities external to the Department, or purposes other than standard official usages. The Department has a concurrence system to process requests for official DOE identifiers which gathers pertinent information about the association with the Department, the relationship with the requestor, the context the identifier would be used, and the content it would be associated with. 

This process requires involvement from the DOE Program Office whose official involvement would be recognized/represented.

The initial questions to gather information are below. Please start this process by responding to the questions and sending your response to:
[email protected].  Please allow several days or longer for this review to proceed, this is not an on-demand, dedicated service.

1) One of the most important parts of a review is input from the DOE Program Office that is providing the funding, support, or involvement, whose official relationship is being recognized. We need the name and any contact information for the involved DOE office so we may contact them for their input.  We ultimately need to get input from a Federal employee at Headquarters, if you are not sure the status of your contacts you may provide us with whatever contact information you have.

If possible please start by working directly with the DOE office whose official involvement is being represented/recognized.  Their input is critical in determining if and how an official graphical identifier could be used to recognize their involvement.  It is simpler for all parties if the DOE office has determined they do want such recognition done before initiating a formal review.  initiates the DOE seal/logo usage request, but not required.  Requests where a recipient does not have contact information for the DOE organization whose involvement is being recognized may take longer and be harder to process.

2) What is the association between the Department and this external entity or non-DOE usage? Why should the artwork be there? Please provide brief information, but enough so a reviewer can understand the official relationship between this external usage and the Department.

3) Please explicitly describe the desired usage of the DOE graphical identifier. Mock-ups are best. Where will it be used, on what media, how will it be used, what information is it associated with, where will this media be seen or distributed? We need to clearly understand the specifics of exactly how and where the identifier will be used, for each and every desired usage.

Guidance: For most external uses of our graphical identifier there needs to be qualifying wording or clear context to explain why our identifier is being used. Common qualifiers are "Funding provided by" and "Support provided by", as well as being used in a section of the publication clearly identified for Sponsor recognition.  A standard viewer should clearly understand why the identifier is there and what it is recognizing or representing. There cannot be an appearance of endorsement of any private company, service, product or policy.  Yes we will work with you as possible to identify the appropriate context for usage of the DOE identifier, though the requestor and the DOE office whose involvement is being recognized have the lead responsibility in this area.

4) Is there any urgency to this request? When do you need to hear from us? We will work the review process as fast as possible, though the review process is dependent on the availability of the involved persons and offices.  Please allow at least several days or longer for your request to be processed.

5) Who are you? What is your involvement with this request? Who do we contact with further questions?  Please include full information such as your title, organization, involvement with the project, and involvement with the Department.

Once we have your initial responses we will review them and see if we have any follow-up questions.  Once we have the information we need we will initiate the review process.

Standard Colors of the DOE Seal and Logo Artwork

The colors of the DOE seal consist of blue, green, gold and white.  If needed, guidance on color matching can be provided.

Standard colors of the artwork of the DOE seal are:

  • Seal in Color: The DOE seal in full color, blue, green, gold and white.  The seal is circular, and the space outside of the seal is transparent so the background color of the publication surrounds the artwork.
  • Seal in 1-Color, Black or White: The artwork of the seal is all in black or white.  No background colors are used in the outer ring where the Department's name is, or the inner ring where the shield is, or inside of the shield.  All the non-artwork areas are transparent, and the color of the background or publication shows through the artwork.
  • Logo in Color: The DOE seal in color, and the large lettering of the Department's name is in green, matching the green on the outer ring of the seal and the inside of the shield. All of the non-artwork areas outside of the seal, and surrounding the lettering of the Department's name, are transparent, and the background of the publication shows through the artwork.
  • Logo in 1-Color, Back or White: All of the artwork is in the specified color, with the non-artwork areas transparent, and the background of the publication showing through the artwork.
  • Co-Branded Logo in Color: The color logo, with the name of the Program Office or Staff Office in the same green as the Department's name.  There is a gold vertical bar between the DOE logo and the Office name.  All of the non-artwork areas outside of the seal, and surrounding the lettering of the Department's name and Office name, are transparent, and the background of the publication shows through the artwork.
  • Co-Branded Logo in 1-Color, Black or White: The 1-color logo, with the Program Office or Staff Office name in the same single color.  There is a vertical bar between the DOE logo and the Office name is in the same color.  

MAAdm updated 10/13/2020 - New Format