A mark, and the rules that keep it recognisable

A brand system is worth more than a logo

A mark on its own is a picture. What makes it a brand is everything around it, decided once and written down, so it still looks like you the tenth time somebody else opens the files.

  1. Logotype
  2. Identity system
  3. Guidelines
  4. Print and assets

Brand kit

What a system looks like when it is written down.

This is our own kit, live rather than exported: the type scale the headings above are set in, and the two ramps this page is painted with. Click anything in it.

Logo

One mark, one word, and the space that holds them apart. Every figure below is measured off the drawing rather than decided afterwards, which is why the clear space is a ratio and not a number.

1x20%markwordtopbaseline

How it is built

Four verticals and two horizontals hold the whole thing. The mark is 153.4 by 154.3 units, the word stands 137.3 tall, which is 0.89x the mark, and the gap between them is 31.5. None of it was decided after the fact, every figure is read off the drawing.

field 153.4 × 154.3ink 76.6%cut 23.4%

The mark on its own

A square field cut by one frond. 76.6% of the field carries ink and 23.4% is the cut, which is what keeps it readable when it shrinks: the shape is the negative space, not the line weight.

24px
40px
120px, the smallest lockup

The floor

The mark holds at 24px because it is one closed silhouette. The lockup needs 120px, below which the word closes up long before the mark does.

Clear space, and what it may sit on

The margin around the lockup is 20% of the mark height, the same gap that separates the mark from the word, so it scales instead of being a number to remember. On the primary itself the logo drops to one colour, so coral never sits on coral.

Type

Two faces, seven steps, and the line height and tracking that belong to each. Change the face, the step or the weight and every figure recalculates.

Aa
Design that survives the handover.

Step

Weight

Role
Display · Bold
Size
60px · 3.75rem, 48px below md
Line height
1.1 · 66.0px
Tracking
-0.025em · -1.50px
Measure, 65ch
1950px

Headings, prices and anything set above 20px.

Colour

Two families, eleven steps each, read straight from the running stylesheet. Select a swatch for its hex, RGB, HSL, naive CMYK and what it is allowed to carry as text.

Primary

primary-500

Coral. Fills, marks and every call to action.

HEX
·
RGB
·
HSL
·
CMYK, naive
·
Tailwind
bg-primary-500
CSS variable
--primary-500
Primary50950
Secondary50950
Accent50950

Click any step. Every figure on the left is computed from that swatch at the moment you select it, read from the same custom property the rest of this site paints with.

Starts at

euros1.500

A logo on its own. A full identity system with the palette, type and usage rules is from €4.200, and it covers the social template kit as well. Every print and promo item carries its own price in the project picker on the contact page.

Start a project

What the work is

  • The mark, with its lockups and the sizes each one is cleared for
  • Files in the formats a printer, a developer and a phone all accept
  • With the identity system: palette with contrast figures, and a type scale with real weights
  • With the identity system: usage rules, including what not to do with it
  • Business cards, flyers, posters, roll-ups and brochures, priced per line
  • An ad set at €210 takes one idea across six placements, priced on the concept rather than the file

What it is not

  • Printing and production, which we prepare files for rather than order
  • Photography and illustration commissioned from third parties
  • Ongoing volume work, which is a pack, a monthly social and promo plan or a reserved day rather than a per-piece price

The other three

  • Web development

    Front end, server and database, written from scratch rather than assembled.

  • Web design, UI and UX

    Structure, layout and every state drawn, handed over ready to build.

  • Video

    Cut from footage you supply, or a promo built from your own website.