Black Hole Week Assets
This page will introduce you to the world, characters, colors, and fonts of Black Hole Week. NASA celebrated Black Hole Week in 2019, 2021 and May, 2022.
The world of Black Hole Week is bold, colorful, and a bit retro. It's also populated by a fun bunch of characters, including a little blue explorer (called the "Traveler") and their black hole friends.
Below, you'll find tons of helpful images, GIFs, and other materials to get you going if you want to join in!
If you are having trouble downloading the ZIP or AI files, please contact Barb Mattson: barb.mattson@nasa.gov
The Traveler
This little character can't wait to travel all over the universe, and since they clearly can't be convinced otherwise, we need to help them stay safe. This character is defined by boundless enthusiasm, a bit of naivete, and a childlike love of exploration and discovery. They also prefer being referred to as "they/them."
Download a .zip file of all Traveler stills HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Traveler GIFs
Download a .zip file of all Travler GIFs HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
The Black Hole
Honestly, all this black hole wants is to be left alone. But, if that's not possible, it at least hopes that any visitors can keep a safe distance. This character is aloof and a bit too cool for the rest of us, but it's ultimately friendly and willing to help people learn more about black holes.
Download a .zip file of all black hole stills HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
The Black Hole GIFs
Download a .zip file of all black hole GIFs HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Stellar-mass Black Hole Birds
These little black hole birds are a fun-loving bunch! They're happy to either flit about by themselves or grab a nearby friend for an orbital dance. They also love showing off their plumage in the form of accretion disks or jets.
Download a .zip file of all black hole bird stills HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Stellar-mass Black Hole Birds GIFs
Download a .zip file of all black hole bird GIFs HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Other Black Hole Friends
An unlikely pair, the baby (stellar-mass) and supermassive black holes enjoy just doing what they do best. For the supermassive black hole, it's being, erm, super massive. The baby loves crying.
Download a .zip file of all other black hole friends stills HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Other Stuff
From rocket ships and galaxies, to space potatoes and unicorns, there's a lot of other stuff out there in the universe of the Traveler and Black Hole Week!
Download a .zip file of all other stuff stills HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Black Hole Week Text Treatment
While we could just write out "Black Hole Week," we decided it would be more fun to make the "o" a black hole. Fun fact: If you squished the mass of Mars into a sphere the size of that "o," it would turn into a black hole!
Download a .zip file of all text treatment stills HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Color Palette
The colors we use are meant to be friendly, accessible, and bright — even though most of our adventures take place in outer space! Our primary colors are blues, purples, and oranges, with a few wild card accent colors thrown in for good measure. Finally, since our black holes are, well, black, we usually depict outer space as a dark or medium purple.
Blues (#2c7189, #269cdd, #3eb1ff, #57cdf7, #94d9f7)
Purples (#2b2143, #6868af, #a3a3e5)
Oranges (#ff900b, #dbac61, #f9d793)
Neutrals (#000, #afafaf, #fff)
Accents (#9aea83, #f27a66, #41e6da)
Fonts
To evoke a bold, retro feel, our primary font is Futura PT Bold. Also, we'll often write in all caps or small caps for headings and large labels.
For smaller labels, footnotes, and other special cases that call for something lighter or more organic, Coniferous is our alternate font.
IIllustrator Files
Download Rocket Launch Adobe Illustrator file HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Download the Traveler Bedroom Adobe Illustrator file HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Download the Baby & Supermassive Black Holes Adobe Illustrator file HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Download the Other Things Adobe Illustrator file HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Download the Traveler & Black Hole Adobe Illustrator file HERE (Right click and select "save linked file as")
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Illustrator
- Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Support
- Barb Mattson (University of Maryland College Park)
- Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Writers
- Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)
- Jeanette Kazmierczak (University of Maryland College Park)
- Sara Mitchell (University of Maryland College Park)
- Kelly Ramos (Business Integra)
Release date
This page was originally published on Monday, February 28, 2022.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 11:44 AM EDT.