# IIDA brand guidelines

The identity is typographic, because the argument is. There is one device — a
rule with a notch cut out of it — and it means the thing IIDA exists to say:
that a white space is left in the middle of India's research economy.
Everything else is type, hairlines and restraint.

Generated at build time from the same source as [https://iidalabs.org/brand](https://iidalabs.org/brand),
so the two cannot disagree. If they ever do, the page is right — take a fresh
copy of this file.

## The device

A rule under the wordmark, with a notch cut out at the same 1:4 asymmetry as
the divider running between every section of the site. The gap is not
decoration and is not centred — an even gap reads as a dash. Regenerate the
marks with `npm run logo`.

## Marks

- **Lockup** — Primary. Wordmark and notched rule. ([/logo.svg](https://iidalabs.org/logo.svg))
- **Lockup, reversed** — On ink and photography. ([/logo-reverse.svg](https://iidalabs.org/logo-reverse.svg))
- **Lockup with expansion** — First use, and where the acronym is unknown. ([/logo-full.svg](https://iidalabs.org/logo-full.svg))
- **Expansion, reversed** — As above, on dark. ([/logo-full-reverse.svg](https://iidalabs.org/logo-full-reverse.svg))
- **Icon** — Avatars and favicons — anywhere a wordmark cannot survive. ([/logo-icon.svg](https://iidalabs.org/logo-icon.svg))
- **Icon, reversed** — On light surfaces. ([/logo-icon-reverse.svg](https://iidalabs.org/logo-icon-reverse.svg))
- **Open Graph** — 1200×630. Link previews. ([/og.png](https://iidalabs.org/og.png))

Rules:

- Clear space on all sides is the height of the wordmark's cap.
- Minimum width 88px for the lockup; below that use the icon.
- Never re-set the wordmark in another face. The SVGs carry outlined glyphs and no font dependency, which is why they are the source.
- Never stretch, rotate, add a shadow, or place the lockup on a busy photograph — use the reversed icon instead.
- Never recolour the mark. Ink on paper, or paper on ink.

## Colour

Two warm sources. **accent** is for brand, links and CTAs; **signal** is only
ever live state — an open slot, an active status, a number that moved. Signal
used decoratively stops meaning anything, and the scoreboard depends on it
meaning something.

| Group | Token | Value | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Paper | `--paper` | `#F5F2EA` | Backgrounds. Warm ivory, never white — white reads as a template. |
| Paper | `--paper-2` | `#EFEADF` | Backgrounds. Warm ivory, never white — white reads as a template. |
| Paper | `--paper-3` | `#E5DED0` | Backgrounds. Warm ivory, never white — white reads as a template. |
| Paper | `--paper-4` | `#DAD1BE` | Backgrounds. Warm ivory, never white — white reads as a template. |
| Ink | `--ink` | `#1A1815` | Text. Warm near-black, never #000. |
| Ink | `--ink-2` | `#3B372F` | Text. Warm near-black, never #000. |
| Ink | `--ink-mute` | `#7C7466` | Text. Warm near-black, never #000. |
| Line | `--hairline` | `#DCD5C6` | Rules and borders. The site is built from hairlines. |
| Line | `--rule` | `#C7BDA9` | Rules and borders. The site is built from hairlines. |
| Accent — book cloth | `--accent` | `#CC785C` | Brand, links and calls to action. The default warm mark. |
| Accent — book cloth | `--accent-dp` | `#A85B41` | Brand, links and calls to action. The default warm mark. |
| Accent — book cloth | `--accent-mute` | `#F2E2D9` | Brand, links and calls to action. The default warm mark. |
| Signal — live state only | `--signal` | `#FF4000` | Open slots, active status, scoreboard deltas. Never decorative, never a CTA. |
| Signal — live state only | `--signal-mute` | `#FFE4DA` | Open slots, active status, scoreboard deltas. Never decorative, never a CTA. |
| Ink surface | `--ink-bg` | `#17150F` | Dark sections. Every hairline must be restated here or it vanishes. |
| Ink surface | `--ink-bg-2` | `#241F17` | Dark sections. Every hairline must be restated here or it vanishes. |
| Ink surface | `--go` | `#2E6A4A` | Dark sections. Every hairline must be restated here or it vanishes. |

## Type

| Role | Typeface | Use |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Display | Bricolage Grotesque | Headings and the wordmark. Weight 800–900, tight tracking. |
| Body | Newsreader | Running text, and the one italic accent line per section. |
| Data | JetBrains Mono | Eyebrows, labels, numbers, buttons. Uppercase, wide tracking. |

All three faces are open-source and free.

## Voice

Say the number, including when it is zero.

- Publish the count before there is anything to count. A dated zero is more credible than an undated claim.
- Name what would make us stop. Every research track carries written kill criteria; so should any claim.
- British spelling. Sentence case in prose, uppercase only in mono labels.
- No superlatives, no "revolutionary", no stock photography, no gradients. If a sentence would survive being read back by a sceptic, it can stay.
- Never publish a person's name without their consent, or imply consent that was not given.

## Social

The three post sizes are generated from whatever line you give them, so a post
is one command rather than a design job: `npm run social -- "All fifteen seats
are spoken for."` rewrites the square, landscape and story versions together.

The LinkedIn covers keep their lower-left quarter empty on purpose — that is
where LinkedIn lays the profile photo or the company logo, and anything put
there is covered. The personal and company covers are different shapes rather
than one crop of the other.

- **Avatar** — 400×400. Profile pictures, anywhere square. ([/downloads/social/avatar.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/avatar.png))
- **LinkedIn cover, personal** — 1584×396. Profile backgrounds. ([/downloads/social/linkedin-banner.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/linkedin-banner.png))
- **LinkedIn cover, ink** — 1584×396. The reversed variant. ([/downloads/social/linkedin-banner-ink.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/linkedin-banner-ink.png))
- **LinkedIn cover, company** — 1128×191. Company pages — a different shape, not a crop. ([/downloads/social/linkedin-company-banner.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/linkedin-company-banner.png))
- **Company cover, ink** — 1128×191, reversed. ([/downloads/social/linkedin-company-banner-ink.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/linkedin-company-banner-ink.png))
- **X header** — 1500×500. ([/downloads/social/x-header.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/x-header.png))
- **Post, square** — 1080×1080. LinkedIn and Instagram feed. ([/downloads/social/post-square.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/post-square.png))
- **Post, landscape** — 1200×675. X, and link cards. ([/downloads/social/post-landscape.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/post-landscape.png))
- **Story** — 1080×1920. Instagram and LinkedIn stories. ([/downloads/social/story.png](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/social/story.png))

## Deck

Six 16:9 slides: cover, section divider, statement, scoreboard, closing, and
one that tells you to install the fonts and then delete itself.

A `.pptx` references fonts by name and cannot embed them the way the images
and PDFs here do, so the cover is a rendered image with the real type baked in
and the inner slides are editable text. Install the three faces or PowerPoint
will substitute them. All three are free.

Download: [https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-template.pptx](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-template.pptx)

Two decks built for a specific buyer conversation rather than left blank —
BFSI/fintech and cybersecurity, three pages each, in both shapes: A4
portrait for a leave-behind document, 16:9 landscape for a stage
presentation. Both carry a status line on their target metric ("illustrative
target — not yet a shipped result") because neither application has shipped.

- BFSI / fintech — [PDF, portrait](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-bfsi.pdf) ·
[PDF, landscape](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-bfsi-landscape.pdf) ·
[.pptx, portrait](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-bfsi.pptx) ·
[.pptx, landscape](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-bfsi-landscape.pptx)
- Cybersecurity — [PDF, portrait](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-cybersecurity.pdf) ·
[PDF, landscape](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-cybersecurity-landscape.pdf) ·
[.pptx, portrait](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-cybersecurity.pptx) ·
[.pptx, landscape](https://iidalabs.org/downloads/iida-deck-cybersecurity-landscape.pptx)

## Using this

The assets above are the whole set. The zip at https://iidalabs.org/brand is not a
separate brand pack — it is assembled from these same files on every deploy (currently 321 KB).

Regenerate the marks with `npm run logo`, the link-preview image with
`npm run og`, member cards with `npm run cards`, the course briefs with
`npm run course-pdfs`, social assets with `npm run social`, and the deck
template with `npm run deck`. The BFSI/cybersecurity partner decks are four
commands, one per format and shape: `npm run deck:partners`,
`npm run deck:partners:pdf`, `npm run deck:partners:landscape`, and
`npm run deck:partners:landscape:pdf`. All of them read the same tokens as
this file. For anything not covered here, write to research@iidalabs.org rather than
guessing — the gap in the rule is the one thing worth getting right.