Los Angeles City SealCity of Los Angeles Style Guide

This Style Guide documents the frameworks, typography, web components, and best practices used by the City of Los Angeles' Information Technology Agency to build its websites.

Websites are an important channel for government and its residents to communicate with each other. The standards set in this Style Guide aim to provide visitors to City of Los Angeles websites with a good user experience and consistent branding so that information is exchanged as easily and effectively as possible.

Browse this site to explore individual web components, seals, and logos used on City of Los Angeles websites. This is a living document so expect it to change over time.


 Recommended Tools & Frameworks



Design System:
Bootstrap version 5

Icon Library:
Font Awesome version 6.5

Font Library:
Google Fonts

Analytics:
Google Analytics



  City of Los Angeles Branding

There are hundreds of websites belonging to the City that the public may interact with. In order to establish the City's brand and establish a sense of uniformity for the public as they visit the City's various websites, all websites must include its official branding bar which includes the City seal and the words "City of Los Angeles".

Instructions on how to add the branding bar to your website is available at https://navbar.lacity.org.


 Compatibility Across Devices & Browsers

Mobile responsive websites dynamically respond and resize themselves based on the device being used to view them whether you are using a traditional desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone. In an era where over 80% of American adults use a smartphone and residents will use a variety of devices to access L.A. City services, websites must be responsive and usable across multiple devices and browsers to ensure that all visitors have access to the same information.


 Accessibility Guidelines

Websites are an important channel of communication between government agencies and the public. Therefore we should ensure that City websites are readable and accessible to all populations including those with disabilities that may need assistive technologies to access and read information on a website.

All City of Los Angeles websites are required to follow WCAG 2.0 standards with no errors in either Level A or AA.


 Multilingual Options

Los Angeles is home to 538,800 immigrant residents designated as English Language learners, who represent over 37 percent of the immigrant Angeleno population. In order to ensure that all Angelenos have equal access to information and services, the City of L.A. must ensure that its websites can reach populations with limited English proficiency by utilizing tools such as Google Translate.

In accordance with Executive Directive 32 (Garcetti Series), departments shall ensure that their websites can be translated from English into at least the following languages;


 Using 3rd Party Images, Videos, and other Content

It is common practice to include content like graphics and photography on websites that have been created from third party providers like stock photography providers. However the City must ensure that proper clearances have been obtained before using that material on their websites.


 Make Information Searchable and Discoverable

The City of Los Angeles has over 120 official websites with tens of thousands of pages of content. The ability for L.A. residents and businesses to efficiently and easily access the information they desire (and the opportunity to show additional content that viewers may find useful) should be a top priority. All public-facing city websites shall ensure that their content can be indexed and searched by commonly used commercial search engines.


 Include Copyright Notice

Under U.S. Copyright law, copyright-protected materials may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, or otherwise published without the prior written permission of the owners of these materials. This also applies to trademarks, which can be a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

To protect City materials, all pages of City websites shall display a City of Los Angeles copyright statement and give proper trademark notice using either of the following standard copyright notices.

Approved Copyright notices to include in the footer of a website include;


 Link to Privacy Policy

A government website can potentially collect personally identifiable information (PII - any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual who is the subject of the information) on a website and must be transparent about policies and practices with respect to PII.

The City of Los Angeles' Standard Privacy Policy is available at https://disclaimer.lacity.org/privacy.htm.


 Link to Disclaimer

A disclaimer is important because it helps protect the City against legal claims. Disclaimers notify users that the City will not be held responsible for damages arising from the use of its websites. Every page of a City website shall provide a link titled "Site Disclaimer" located in the footer area that should link to the City's official disclaimer page which includes language related to the City's policies and Google Translate's policies.

The City of Los Angeles' Standard Disclaimer is available at https://disclaimer.lacity.org/disclaimer.htm.