The composed brand.
Eight rule sets that govern every visual decision. Color, type, motion, voice — and the lines you can't cross. The vocabulary is finite. Use it.
00The equation
One ratio governs every artifact in this system. a over b equals φ — the proportion that human eyes have been calling beautiful since Phidias chiseled the Parthenon. Nothing here was designed. Everything was composed.
04Palette
Click any swatch row to copy that format. Paprika is the only accent. Everything else is graphite, cream, or steel. On press, paprika-dark (Pantone 1817 C) replaces paprika.
05Type
Three families, three roles. Funnel for structure. Allura for the ineffable. JetBrains Mono for measure. Never a fourth.
08Motion
Five durations, five eases — each derived from φ. The signature reveal is 1618ms on the φ ease. Tiles play on view; click any to replay.
10Voice
Three steps, in this order: assert · specify · restrain. No corollaries, no reassurance, no emoji.
- a
- numerator, 61.8%, machine, singularity
- b
- denominator, 38.2%, human, de
- φ
- the proportion of beauty (≈ 1.618)
- atom
- irreducible design primitive (rhythm, proportion, tension, reveal, scale…)
- mirror
- cultural / material / audience projection
- composer
- the product (lowercase, never capitalized)
- derivation
- the process; depth measured as n = N
- paprika
- the accent color (never "red," never "orange")
- cream
- the field color (never "white")
- de/
- the favicon mark, "the equation stated"
11Do / Don’t
The forbidden treatments. If you see one of these in the wild, fix it.
12Minimum sizes + clear space
The mark needs room. Reserve at least 1× the height of the e in de on every side. 1.618× when it anchors a composition.
09Grid
Every two-column layout splits at 38.2 / 61.8. Aside (b) on the left, body (a) on the right. Never 50/50. Never 1/3 2/3.
Note: a 12-column grid is allowed as a substrate, but the primary break is always the φ line. Most pages use a 4-col aside + 8-col body (close to φ); precision work splits at exactly 38.2%.