réserve blanche

17:04 Dec 17, 2009 

Compounding the issue, réserve blanche appears to be used in two ways:

1) a "white box" around the logo in its original colours :
TYPOGRAPHIE ET REFERENCES COULEURS
Une utilisation du logotype en couleurs est permise avec une RÉSERVE BLANCHE AUTOUR DU BLASON symbolisée par le filet noir.

2) for "reversed out (in white)"
UTILISATION EN RESERVE (4 COULEURS)
la mention «Conseil Général Finistère - Penn-ar-bed» est EN RÉSERVE BLANCHE, le blason est bordé d’un filet maigre blanc. Une RÉSERVE DE COULEUR (NOIR ICI) AUTOUR DU LOGO est symbolisée par le filet blanc
passeport.cg29.fr/filemanager/download/2129

Working from there, it appears AVEC UNE réserve blanche would be the "white box", while EN réserve blanche would be "reversed out".

16:28 Dec 17, 2009 

None of the following seem to address the situation of a logo in a "white box" on a coloured background. Many other possibilities though. The "white box" might correspond to a "white isolation area" or " Minimum space to be left around logo", as defined below.

w3.tue.nl/en/services/cec/corporate_identity/.../logo_variants/

Isolation area
On printed matter, the logo has a minimum isolation area around it which should always remain clear of other text or graphics. This clear space is the height/width of the castle on all four sides
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/visualidentity/logo.html

http://www.csu.edu.au/division/marketing/stylemanual/prima/l...

To ensure clarity, the logo must always be surrounded by an amount of clear space.
The amount of space should be proportional to the size of the logo and should be at
least equal to the size of the letters in the map part of the logo.
http://www.nsw.ipaa.org.au/00_pdfs/IPAAStyleGuide.pdf

But there's an example of what I think is meant in the middle of page 13 here (which I assume corresponds to " Place the logo in an area of contrast" and is marked "acceptable"):
http://www.bus.emory.edu/pdf/GBS_StyleGuide_07_11_

15:58 Dec 17, 2009 

"Reversed out" looks good, but as I understand it, it's when colours are reversed, e.g. instead of this message being black on white, the background is black, say, and the lettering white.
In the case of a logo, you could indeed do that, i.e. reverse it, so that lines that were black become white lines, and vice versa. But if we assume the logo is designed to go against a white background, there would be no point in "reversing" it to go on the white background I understand the réserve blanche to be. In fact, they could potentially simply "reverse out" the logo on the dark background, but they seem to be insisting it should be in its original format, on white.