NHSScotland Signage Guidelines

NHSScotland signage guidelines and NHS Scotland Brand Guidelines 2025.

The NHSScotland signage guidelines set out how the NHS Scotland identity is applied to construction site signage and to permanent external and internal signs. They are read with the 2025 NHS Scotland Brand Guidelines and the NHSScotland status note on Wayfinding.

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For signage and wayfinding

What it asks of your signs

01Capital projects worth £100,000 or more must display the NHS Scotland identity on site signage, hoardings and perimeter fencing, whether publicly or privately funded. The identity goes on hoardings and fencing at no less than 350 mm high.
02The guidelines expect the construction contract to make the main contractor responsible for the cost, provision and maintenance of site signs and hoardings, so check the preliminaries.
03Permanent external signs use a white background with NHS Scotland Dark Blue. Key services such as A&E can be reversed out of Dark Blue for emphasis, and joint facilities go in a Dark Blue strip beneath the main message.
04Internal signs reverse out of Dark Blue for non-medical information and Light Blue for medical information, with red kept for emergency services. Statutory safety signs keep their prescribed colours.
05Range text to the direction of the arrow, keep any border to 10% of the x-height or less, and set everything in upper and lower case.
06The 2025 Brand Guidelines make Source Sans the primary font and Arial the secondary, replacing the Stone Sans named in the 2002 signage guidelines. Agree the typeface with the Board before artwork.
07Boards may use a dual-language English and Gaelic logo with permission from the Scottish Government: English first, Gaelic underneath in NHS Scotland Light Blue.

What it is

NHS Scotland has its own corporate identity, separate from the NHS in England. Its signage guidelines, a 21 page PDF still published on the NHS Scotland Corporate Identity site, cover three things: identifying capital build sites, permanent external signage, and internal signage. They say plainly that they are not prescriptive on specification, planning, manufacture or installation; they set the identity, colour and typography layer and refer you to the NHS Wayfinding guidance and the Sign Design Guide for the rest.

NHS National Services Scotland reissued Wayfinding in August 2016 as best practice guidance in NHSScotland and links these signage guidelines from its status note, with a warning that they should not be used on their own without the Wayfinding document.

The 2025 brand refresh

The NHS Scotland Brand Guidelines 2025 are now the headline document on the identity site. They keep NHS Scotland Dark Blue (Pantone 288 C) and switch the lighter blue to Pantone 3005 C for accessibility, add a dark grey, and require colour combinations to meet at least WCAG AA. The primary font is Source Sans, with Arial as the secondary. Suppliers cannot use the identity, with specific exceptions that include signage, uniforms and vehicle livery. Permission questions go to the NHS Scotland brand policy team at the Scottish Government.

The signage guidelines predate the refresh and still name the Scottish Executive and the Stone Sans typeface. Treat their sign layouts and hierarchy as current practice and take colour values and fonts from the 2025 Brand Guidelines, confirming with the Board's brand guardian.

How it compares with the rest of the UK and Ireland

In England the NHS Identity Guidelines set Frutiger and NHS Blue. In Wales NHS bodies follow their own identity and the Welsh Language Standards. The HSE Signage Manual in Ireland is the most prescriptive of the four, with a full sign family and Irish language rules. Gaelic on NHS Scotland signs is a Board decision under its Gaelic language plan, not a national requirement.

Editions and history

The signage guidelines PDF dates from 2002 and refers to the Scottish Executive, the name used before 2007. The NHS Scotland Brand Guidelines 2025 replace the earlier identity guidelines and change the primary font and the light blue. NSS issued its NHSScotland status note on Wayfinding on 8 August 2016.

Sources checked

A summary in our own words, checked on 16 October 2026. It is not the document itself and not legal advice.

Equivalents and related

The same ground, elsewhere.

Working to NHSScotland Signage Guidelines on a live project?

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