BRAND GUIDELINES · V2
Our design language.
The brand is built on three ideas: a muscular italic wordmark, a single red
accent, and a signature horizontal slice. Applied consistently, it stays
recognizable from a 32-pixel favicon to a storefront banner. That's not a style
preference — it's a defined system with rules, and the rules are what make it work.
WHAT IT'S FOR
The direction is high-contrast, confident, and disciplined — one red,
hard edges, muscular italic type, lots of white space. The personality comes
from restraint, not variety. Conventional discipline, distinctive personality —
that combination is the whole point.
EVERY ELEMENT HAS A JOB
The single red
Instant recognition — our cheapest, most durable asset
The −14° italic skew
Speed and forward motion
The white space
Confidence and quality; restraint reads premium
The slice
A memorable, ownable shape competitors can't copy
01 · COLOR
Brand palette
Primary · the single accent
Alpha Red
HEX
#E30613
RGB
227 · 6 · 19
CMYK
0 · 100 · 100 · 0
Deep Red
HEX
#AA0310
RGB
170 · 3 · 16
CMYK
15 · 100 · 100 · 15
Dark surface · text on light
Ink Black
HEX
#0A0A0C
RGB
10 · 10 · 12
CMYK
0 · 0 · 0 · 100
Smoke
HEX
#F2F2F0
RGB
242 · 242 · 240
CMYK
0 · 0 · 1 · 5
Paper
HEX
#FFFFFF
RGB
255 · 255 · 255
CMYK
0 · 0 · 0 · 0
Usage: Alpha Red is the single accent — never substitute another red.
Pair only with Ink Black, Smoke, or Paper. Avoid gradients, drop shadows, and tinted variants of the red.
Deep Red appears only inside the slice — it is depth, not a second accent.
Flat, not lit. No glows, halos, shadow blooms, or gradient fills on the red.
One flat value. Structure comes from ink, white, and hairline neutral borders — never red-tinted
surfaces. Think Vercel / x.com discipline, with Alpha Red as the one accent.
Text follows the neutrals: white (Paper) carries headlines and body on ink/dark
surfaces; Ink Black carries text on Smoke or Paper. Red is reserved for the mark and for
deliberate accents — a key word or phrase inside a white headline, an eyebrow, an icon.
What to avoid is red as the default color for a full heading or body copy.
ROLES, NOT COUNT
We don't have five brand colors — we have one accent and four neutrals,
each with exactly one job. Adding secondary or tertiary accents isn't
extending the system; it's a different category whose only job is "more variety"
— which is exactly what the rules exclude.
BRAND COLOR vs UI COLOR
Brand colors express identity — our one red, strict rules.
UI colors communicate function — success green, warning amber, error,
info, neutral grays — and live in the product design system, not the brand
palette. Adding a success-green doesn't touch the brand; adding a second brand
red breaks it.
02 · TYPE
Typography
DISPLAY · WORDMARK
ALPHA
Arial Black (stack: Helvetica Neue Black, Impact). Always italic at
−14°. Used for the wordmark and monograms only.
Weight 900 (Black)
Skew −14° on X
Tracking −2 at display sizes
Case ALL CAPS
SUPPORTING · UI · BODY
Don't settle for beta.
Drive forward with Alpha — the AI built for dealers, not demos.
System UI stack for product, web, and marketing body. Tabular numerics
where alignment matters.
Headlines 700, tight tracking
Body 400–500
Labels Courier New mono, tracked +3
LICENSING THE WORDMARK FONT
The wordmark is set in
Arial Black, a Monotype typeface —
not
available through Adobe Fonts. License it from MyFonts at
catalog.monotype.com/font/monotype/arial/black.
For logo / static-graphic use, buy the
Desktop license.
03 · LOCKUP
Clear space & minimum size
X
X
Maintain clear space of X = the cap-height of the letter A on all sides.
No other graphic, photo edge, or text may enter this zone.
MINIMUM SIZES
Print
Minimum for any printed application
1.25 in
Digital
Minimum full-wordmark width for screens
120 px
Favicon
Use AD plate or Sliced A monogram only
32 px
04 · DECISIONS
How we decide what gets in
1 · THE FAVICON TEST
Does it survive shrinking to 32px and blowing up to a banner? Textures
muddy when small; extra colors compete when large. If it can't do both, it
doesn't belong in the identity.
2 · IS IT OWNABLE?
One red is ownable. Five accents aren't. A specific skew and slice are ownable;
generic gradients and textures make us look like everyone else. We're avoiding
two failure modes — generic and busy. Discipline avoids both.
05 · USAGE
Do / Don't
DO
Use Alpha Red on white, black, or smoke backgrounds.
DO
Keep the −14° italic skew. Never uprighten.
DO
Keep surfaces flat — solid ink and white, hairline neutral borders.
DO
Reserve red for the accent: a CTA, the active tab, one key phrase.
DO
Use the Sliced A or AD plate for small touchpoints and favicons.
DON'T
Don't recolor the mark. No gradients, no stroke outlines.
DON'T
Don't add red glows, halos, or shadow blooms. Flat, not lit.
DON'T
Don't gradient the red — one flat value, never red→dark fades on type.
DON'T
Don't tint surfaces or borders red as structure — use neutral lines.
DON'T
Don't add drop shadows or 3D effects.
DON'T
Don't stretch, squash, or re-skew the wordmark.
DON'T
Don't place over busy photography without a solid plate behind.
DON'T
Don't rebuild the slice cut in another color.
