Congressional Record

Congressional Record.

Congressional Record brings members of Congress on stage to play music, alongside professional musicians, in a bipartisan evening that makes the case for arts education and the federal funding behind it. The Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Roll Call, and the Recording Academy convene it, with Americans for the Arts and the congressional Musicians and Arts Caucuses. The event came to Workhorse with its own name mark and a twelve-inch record, both drawn from the look of the historical Congressional Record. Workhorse kept the mark, cut a modernized version of the record, and built the rest: the dated label that advances each edition, the invitations, the program, the venue signage, the broadcast titles, the photo coverage, and the brand kit that lives on the live site.

The brief.

Congressional Record is a bipartisan evening on Capitol Hill where members of Congress take the stage with professional musicians to make the case for arts education and the federal funding behind it. The Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Roll Call and the Recording Academy convene it with Americans for the Arts and the congressional Musicians and Arts Caucuses, in the week the music industry comes to Washington. The first edition was 2024; the second is 2026.

The event came to us with its name already set as a newspaper masthead and a twelve-inch record, both drawn from the look of the historical Congressional Record. It asked for those to hold: to read like an institution that had always been on the calendar, to be cut again for each edition without redesign, and to reach every surface the evening touches, from the invitation and the letterhead to the broadcast titles and the site. We kept the mark, modernized the record, made its label a dated seal, and built the system around them.

01Record
The object
est. 2024 · washington, dc
01 / 0412-inch · GoldCongressional Record, Gold pressing
one master · four pressings

The record is
the brand.

It came with the event, drawn from the historical Congressional Record. Workhorse cut a new master and pressed it four ways.

Brought to the project

Brought to the project

Sep 17, 2024

Re-cut by Workhorse

Re-cut by Workhorse

New master

The dated seal
fixed field · variable date
fig. 01edition 2024Congressional Record 2024 edition seal
dateSep 17, 2024
Full seal

The label becomes
a calendar.

Lift the engraved Capitol off the record and it works flat, as a seal. The field holds. Workhorse made the date the only variable, so each edition re-cuts from one master, like the Congressional Baseball Game.

What holds
Engraved CapitolMasthead wordmarkNavy + red ringCircular field
What changes
The date
02System

Design System

A newspaper mark, modernized and built into a system.

The client brought the name set as a masthead, drawn from the historical Congressional Record, along with a twelve-inch record. Workhorse modernized the pressing, kept the Capitol engraved on its label, and made that label a dated seal that advances each edition. The palette stays narrow so the record carries the color, and the same pieces hold a bipartisan Capitol evening together year to year.

2024First edition
2026Second edition
6Convening partners
5Named colors
01System
Color
Navy
Primary ink. The name mark, label type, the engraved field.
#1f2d61
Red
Accent. Label ring, invitation rules, broadcast titles.
#bb1e40
Gold
The record at its richest. Covers, seals, key placements.
#c5a55a
Cream
Background. Paper stock, page ground, on-screen base.
#f5f0e8
White
Reverse for navy applications.
#ffffff
Type
Display
Cheltenham Condensed · 700
Bertram Goodhue and Morris Fuller Benton, ATF (1902); revived multiple times, 1902 / 1904
Congressional Record.
Display. Headlines and section titles.
Body
Franklin Gothic · 300–700
Morris Fuller Benton, ATF (1902); ITC revival 1980, 1902
Congressional Record.
Text, captions, dates and credits. Site title in the narrowest weight.
Accent
Prestige Elite · 400
Howard Kettler (commonly attributed), IBM Selectric, 1953
Congressional Record.
Accent only. Dates, ID numbers, ledger lines.
Marks
Primary Name Mark
Primary Name Mark · Masthead script, navy on cream. The default mark, brought by the client and drawn from the historical Congressional Record.
Name Mark, Reverse
Name Mark, Reverse · White on navy. For dark backgrounds and broadcast.
Full-Color Mark
Full-Color Mark · The name with the record seal. Used on covers and lead placements.
2026 Broadcast Title Mark
2026 Broadcast Title Mark · Title-card version for the 2026 edition.
First Edition Seal, 2024
First Edition Seal, 2024 · The record label as seal. Full date and program inside the field.
Second Edition Seal, 2026
Second Edition Seal, 2026 · Same field, new date. The variable inside the fixed object.
Edition Seal, Reverse
Edition Seal, Reverse · White on navy. For broadcast and dark backgrounds.
Edition Seal, Single-Color
Edition Seal, Single-Color · One-color fallback for press and partner placements.
Arch Mark
Arch Mark · Secondary mark. Letterhead and half-height placements.
America 250 Partner Mark
America 250 Partner Mark · Co-branded mark for the 2026 edition.
The brand book

The guidelines are a page on the live site.

No PDF in a folder. The same theme.json that styles the homepage renders the book. The brand updates, the book updates, the change versions in git.

congressionalrecord.net/brand
Live
Congressional Recordbrand kit · v1.1
01 · Color
1F2D61
BB1E40
C5A55A
F5F0E8
FFFFFF
NavyRedGoldCreamWhite
02 · Type
RecordCheltenham CondensedDisplay
A bipartisan eveningCheltenham ClassicBody serif
Franklin GothicFranklin GothicBody + metadata
EST. 2024 · DCPrestige EliteAccent · ledger
03 · DownloadsWordmark.svgSeal-2026.pngcolors.jsontype-kitrecord.png
theme.json → /brand · one source, every surfaceOpen the live brand book ↗
03Evening

The 2024 edition.

We direct and shoot the evening on the same beats each edition: arrivals in the lobby, the room filling, the members and the professionals on stage, the speakers at the podium under the seal, the finale. The 2024 run came back at seven hundred frames and is filed by edition in the library below.

Photography

Congressional Record, 2024.

The first edition, from the lobby to the finale.

2024Capitol Hill, Washington, DCWorkhorse18 frames
  1. A senator at the podium, the edition seal on the screen behind him
    A guitarist singing at the mic in the stage lights
  2. A representative speaking at the podium beside the record on the screen
  3. A performer on stage with the band, under red and blue light
    A senator at the podium under the edition seal
  4. The finale: members and musicians together on stage under the Congressional Record masthead
  5. A guitarist in a gray suit at the mic
    A speaker at the podium, the seal reading his name on the screen
  6. A singer at the mic with the band behind her

10 of 18 frames.

04Library
The library

Everything filed in one place.

filed on workbench · congressional-record
./VaultCongressional Record
Open library
32 shown · 717 frames archived
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invite
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social
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video
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invite
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2026-letterhead.png
collateral
2026-cover-wide.jpg
2026-cover-wide.jpg
social
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mark
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mark
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collateral
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collateral
387 main · 330 deep tracks · tagged by edition + beatr2 · congressional-record

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