Enterprise Brand System / Edition 01 / May 2026
v 1.0
Brand Guidelines.
- Scope
- Web · Slides · Docs · Print
- Audience
- Senior B2B Leadership
- Style
- Flat · Editorial · Confident
- Anchor
- Cyan #20BEFF · Yellow #FFD93D
01 / Foundation
A system designed for the boardroom, not the billboard.
This guideline is built around four operating principles. Every visual decision — a slide title, a chart color, a callout box — should pass these four tests before it ships. The aesthetic is flat, editorial, and intentionally restrained: the work is what's exciting, not the deck.
01
Flat by default.
Solid color blocks. No gradients in primary surfaces. Gradients are a tertiary tool, used sparingly in supporting moments only.
02
Editorial structure.
Wide margins, strong grid, generous whitespace. Treat every artifact like a magazine spread, not a blog post.
03
One idea per surface.
Per-slide, per-section, per-page: a single insight, supported by hierarchy. If you need a paragraph to explain a chart, the chart is wrong.
04
Color directs attention.
Cyan and yellow are not decoration — they signal where to look. Neutral 90% of the surface, then strike with one chromatic accent.
02 / Identity Mark
Wordmark direction & clear-space.
Until a final mark is locked, this guideline specifies a wordmark architecture: bold geometric sans, an accent character set in cyan, and a single yellow circumflex used as a "seal" punctuation mark. Logo lockups always carry minimum clear space equal to the cap-height of the wordmark on every side.
AcmeCo
Primary lockup · Light surface
AcmeCo
Inverted · Dark surface
AcmeCo
Minimum size · 24px / 7mm
Replace AcmeCo with your brandmark. Cap-height "x" defines all clear-space and minimum-size rules. Never rotate, distort, recolor outside the system, or add effects (drop shadow, outer glow, bevel).
03 / Primary Palette
Two colors carry the brand.
Cyan Surge and Signal Yellow are the only two colors the audience needs to remember. Cyan is the workhorse — used in headlines, primary CTAs, key data, brand surfaces. Yellow is the highlighter — used to mark insight, draw the eye, and punctuate. They never dilute. They never gradient into each other.
Primary · 01
Cyan
Surge
The hero. Used for primary brand surfaces, headlines, key statistics, primary CTAs, link text, and 80% of all chart accents.
- HEX
- #20BEFF
- RGB
- 32 · 190 · 255
- CMYK
- 87 · 25 · 0 · 0
- HSL
- 197° · 100% · 56%
- PANTONE
- 2925 C (closest)
- USAGE
- ~30% of canvas
Primary · 02
Signal
Yellow
The highlighter. Used to mark insight callouts, "you are here" moments, the single number that matters on a chart, and key wayfinding accents.
- HEX
- #FFD93D
- RGB
- 255 · 217 · 61
- CMYK
- 0 · 15 · 76 · 0
- HSL
- 49° · 100% · 62%
- PANTONE
- 108 C (closest)
- USAGE
- ~10% of canvas
04 / Tints & Shades
Each primary has an 11-step scale.
Use the 50–200 range for backgrounds and surfaces, 300–500 for borders and hover states, 600–700 for primary use, and 800–950 for text on light backgrounds when the primary color must carry semantic meaning.
05 / Supporting Palette
Six flat colors that earn their place.
Supporting colors are reserved for specific semantic jobs: gravitas, success, warning, premium variety, warm contrast, neutral warmth. They never replace the primaries — they only show up when their job is needed. All flat. No gradients. (Gradients are reserved for one tertiary use only — see §10.)
Anchor / Gravitas
Deep Navy
#0A2540
Hero backgrounds · Footer · Authority moments
#16A34A
Positive deltas · Success states · Growth
#F43F5E
Negative deltas · Errors · Attention required
#7C3AED
Data viz · Premium tier · Differentiation
#D97706
Yellow's grown-up partner · Print accents
#F5E6C8
Editorial sections · Pull-quote backgrounds
06 / Neutrals
The quiet 70%.
Eight grayscale steps cool-tinted with a hint of navy — never warm, never pure black. Use Ink (#0A1628) for body text and primary surfaces in dark mode. Use Cloud and Paper for default backgrounds. Use Mist for hairline borders. Almost everything you build will be 70% neutrals.
07 / The 60·30·10 Rule
Color is a budget. Spend it precisely.
Every artifact — slide, page, document — should split color across three roles. Sixty percent neutral foundation, thirty percent primary brand color, ten percent accent. This ratio is what separates a brand-led deck from a generic one.
60%
Neutral Foundation
White, Paper, Cloud, Ink. Backgrounds, body text, hairlines.
30%
Primary Brand · Cyan Surge
Headlines, primary CTAs, hero accents, primary chart series.
10%
Accent · Signal Yellow
The single insight, the highlighted number, the "look here" moment.
✓ Do
- Use Cyan as the primary brand surface; Yellow as the punctuation that follows it.
- Pair Cyan with Ink (dark text on cyan) or White (white text only when font is heavy ≥ 700).
- Use Signal Yellow for one "highlight" per slide — never two.
- Default to Paper or White backgrounds. Reserve dark mode for opening, closing, and section divider slides.
- When in doubt, remove color and add it back only if it earns its place.
✕ Don't
- Don't gradient-blend Cyan into Yellow. They are equals, not transitions.
- Don't use Signal Yellow as a background for body text — it's a highlight, not a surface.
- Don't use more than three brand colors on a single slide (excluding neutrals).
- Don't tint Cyan toward teal or Yellow toward orange. Hue drift breaks recognition.
- Don't add drop shadows, glows, or 3D effects. The system is flat — full stop.
08 / Typography
Geist for clarity. Fraunces, sparingly, for character.
The system uses one workhorse — Geist — across display, body, and code. For editorial moments where the brand earns the right to feel human, Fraunces (italic, light) acts as a single accent voice. Geist Mono carries technical specifications, data labels, and metadata.
Geist · Display
Weights: 700 / 800 / 900
Tracking: −3.5%
Leading: 0.92×
Use for
Slide titles, section headers, hero numbers, page openers.
The future arrives
quarterly.
Geist · Body
Weights: 400 / 500 / 600
Tracking: 0%
Leading: 1.55×
Use for
Paragraphs, captions, sub-titles, body copy across all surfaces.
Built for senior leadership audiences who read fast and skim faster. Body copy stays at 17–19px on web, 18–22pt on slides, with line-heights that let the eye breathe. Geist's open apertures and balanced x-height keep dense data slides legible at twenty paces.
Geist Mono · Technical
Weights: 400 / 500
Tracking: +6%
Use UPPERCASE
Use for
Section labels, metadata, page numbers, code, hex codes, footnotes.
SECTION 04 / DATA · Q3 2026
REVENUE → +24.7% YoY
SOURCE: INTERNAL · CONFIDENTIAL
09 / Type Scale
One scale. Web, slides, docs.
A single type scale governs every surface. Slide values are the primary spec; web and document values follow proportionally. Body never drops below 16px on web or 18pt on slides — readability for the back row of the boardroom is non-negotiable.
Display XL
96px / 800
96pt / 800
—
The Future
Display L
64px / 800
64pt / 800
36pt / 700
Section Title
Display M
48px / 700
48pt / 700
28pt / 700
Slide Header
Heading L
32px / 700
32pt / 700
22pt / 700
Sub-title
Heading M
22px / 600
24pt / 600
16pt / 700
Block heading
Body L
19px / 400
22pt / 400
12pt / 400
Lede paragraph copy.
Body
16px / 400
18pt / 400
11pt / 400
Standard body text.
Caption
13px / 500
14pt / 500
9pt / 500
Caption · footnote · meta.
Mono / Label
11px / 500 ↑
12pt / 500 ↑
9pt / 500 ↑
Section · Label
10 / Layout & Grid
12-column grid. Wide margins. Always.
Web pages, slides, and document spreads share the same 12-column logic. On 16:9 slides, the working area is 1920×1080 with 96-pixel margins on the long edges and 80-pixel margins on the short edges. Grid alignment is non-negotiable — nothing floats freely.
Web
Max 1280px
Gutters 24px
Side padding 80px
Slide (16:9)
1920×1080
Gutters 32px
Margins 96/80px
Document (A4)
Margins 25mm
Gutter 6mm
Body 11pt / 1.5
11 / Presentation System
Four slide archetypes. Use them ruthlessly.
Most enterprise decks fail because they invent a new layout per slide. This system gives you four archetypes that cover 95% of real-world needs: Title, Section Divider, Bento Data, and Single-Insight. Build the deck by sequencing these — don't freestyle.
01 / TitleQ3 2026 · Board Review
The platform compounds.
02 / Section · 02
Where we are
winning.
Three categories now contribute more than 60% of net revenue retention.
Headline metric
+24.7%
Year-over-year revenue growth, driven entirely by enterprise expansion.
04 / Single insight
Q3 outpaced every previous quarter.
Q3 revenue exceeded the previous best quarter by 31%, marking the strongest expansion since the platform's launch.
Slide-building checklist
01. One idea per slide — if you can't summarize it in 8 words, split it.
02. Body text never below 18pt. Titles never below 32pt.
03. One Yellow accent per slide. Maximum.
04. Page numbers and metadata in Geist Mono, bottom-right.
12 / Document System
Word · PDF · PRD · Brief.
Long-form documents follow the same architecture as slides, scaled down. Title page in Display L; section openers in Display M; running heads in Geist Mono uppercase; pull-quotes set in Fraunces italic on Sand. Every page carries a thin Cyan rule under the running head — the brand's quietest signature.
Internal Memo04 · 12 / 2026
Quarterly review
Three signals worth your attention.
The quarter closed twelve days ahead of plan, with three structural shifts that warrant board-level discussion. This memo summarizes what changed, why it matters, and the three decisions we are asking the group to weigh in on by month-end.
"Compounding does the work. Our job is to not interrupt it."
PAGE 01 / 04
13 / Iconography
Line icons. 1.5px stroke. Always.
All iconography is line-based, drawn on a 24px grid, with a 1.5px stroke and round caps. Icons are monochrome and inherit text color — they never carry brand color directly. The icon set should feel like a calm extension of the typography, not a competing visual layer.
Stroke
1.5px on a 24px grid. Never bold an icon to add hierarchy — that's typography's job.
Color
Icons inherit currentColor. They render in Ink, Slate, or White depending on surface — never in Cyan or Yellow.
Sizing
16px for inline · 24px for buttons · 32px for cards · 48px+ for feature moments only.
14 / Data Visualization
Color narrates. It does not decorate.
In every chart, one series is the story — and that series is Cyan Surge. Everything else recedes to neutral grays. Yellow appears only to mark a single annotation: "this point matters." The supporting palette is reserved for categorical comparisons where five or more series must be distinguished.
Categorical · for ≤ 6 series
Sequential · Cyan ramp · for heatmaps & ordered data
Diverging · for delta/comparison · negative ↔ positive
ON GRADIENTS — SEQUENTIAL AND DIVERGING SCALES ARE THE ONE PLACE WHERE MULTI-STEP COLOR INTERPOLATION IS ALLOWED.
EVERYWHERE ELSE: FLAT FILLS ONLY. SHADOWS, GLOWS, AND GLASSMORPHISM ARE PROHIBITED.
15 / Accessibility
WCAG AA, by default.
Every primary color combination in this system has been contrast-tested. Two rules are non-negotiable: never set body text in Signal Yellow on white (it fails). Never set body text in white on Cyan Surge below 600 weight (it fails). When in doubt, set type in Ink — it passes against every brand surface.
Ink on White
Body text · Headings
17.4 : 1
AAA · Pass
Ink on Cyan Surge
Headlines · CTAs
10.8 : 1
AAA · Pass
Ink on Signal Yellow
Highlight callouts
14.2 : 1
AAA · Pass
Yellow on White
Never use for text
1.4 : 1
Fail · Avoid
Cyan on Deep Navy
Hero headlines on dark
7.6 : 1
AAA · Pass
Cyan on White
Headlines only · ≥ 24px / 700
2.6 : 1
Fail at body · Large only
Three rules, no exceptions
- Body text is always Ink on a light surface, or White on Ink/Deep Navy. Anything else needs a contrast check.
- Cyan Surge as text on white is reserved for ≥ 24px display weight, never body. For body links, drop to Cyan-700 (#0982B3).
- Signal Yellow is a surface, not a text color. Never set type in yellow.
16 / Voice & Tone
Confident, plain-spoken, unhedged.
The brand sounds like a senior operator, not a marketing department. Sentences are short. Verbs do the work. Hedging language ("we believe," "potentially," "going forward") is cut on the second pass. Numbers replace adjectives wherever possible.
✓ Sounds Like
- "Revenue grew 24.7% this quarter."
- "The platform compounds. Our job is not to interrupt it."
- "Three things changed. Two matter."
- "We chose B because A would have cost us six weeks."
✕ Doesn't Sound Like
- "We are excited to announce strong quarterly performance!"
- "Leveraging best-in-class synergies to unlock value."
- "In an ever-evolving landscape of digital transformation…"
- "Our innovative solutions empower customers."
17 / Quick Reference
The cheatsheet.
Print this page. Pin it to the wall.
Color · The Five You Need
- Cyan Surge
- #20BEFF
- Signal Yellow
- #FFD93D
- Ink
- #0A1628
- Slate
- #475569
- Cloud
- #F1F5F9
Typography
- Display
- Geist · 700–900
- Body
- Geist · 400–500
- Mono
- Geist Mono · 400–500
- Editorial
- Fraunces Italic · 300
- Min body
- 16px web · 18pt slide
The 60·30·10 Rule
- 60% Neutral
- White · Cloud · Ink
- 30% Cyan
- Headlines · CTAs
- 10% Yellow
- One highlight only
- Per slide
- Max 3 brand colors
Slide Build · 60-Second Test
- Idea
- One per slide
- Title
- ≤ 8 words · ≥ 32pt
- Body
- ≥ 18pt · No bullets > 5
- Yellow
- One accent · Maximum
- Footer
- Mono caps · Bottom-right
Contrast · Pass / Fail
- Ink / White
- 17.4:1 · ✓
- Ink / Cyan
- 10.8:1 · ✓
- Ink / Yellow
- 14.2:1 · ✓
- Cyan / White
- 2.6:1 · large only
- Yellow / White
- 1.4:1 · NEVER
Hard Don'ts
- No
- Gradients in surfaces
- No
- Drop shadows, glows, 3D
- No
- Yellow as text color
- No
- More than 3 brand colors / slide
- No
- Hue drift on Cyan or Yellow