Welcome to the Carbon Brand Guidelines. These guidelines are designed to help everyone working with our brand create consistent, high-quality materials that accurately reflect who we are. Our brand is more than just a logo or a tagline - it’s the story we tell, the values we embody, and the experience we create for our audience. Whether you’re designing a website, crafting social media content, or printing marketing materials, it’s crucial that every element aligns with our brand identity. This document will guide you through the core elements of our brand, including logo usage, colour palette, typography, imagery, and tone of voice. Following these guidelines ensures a cohesive look and feel across all touch points, helping to strengthen recognition and trust in Carbon.
Our logo is the visual cornerstone of our brand. Use it correctly to maintain brand integrity.
The Carbon logo is designed to create an official, confident impression. A sleek hexagonal icon mark subtly incorporating the greater-than symbol (">") used in coding. The hexagon nods to the legacy of Carbon evoking stability and balance, while the greater-than symbol forms and arrow suggesting progression and forward momentum.
This mark speaks directly to a tech-focused audience, merging a classic coding element with a sleek, forward-looking aesthetic—ideal for a brand that champions innovative tech, simplicity, and a drive toward the future.
The wordmark uses in Suisse Intl, our brand font.
Depending on accessibility, we offer the full logo in the brand gradient colours.
The icon mark will be used whenever the full logo does not fit or work in context, such as a favicon or app icon.
We will only use the icon in colour combinations shown in this document.
Clear space protects the logo from other visual elements that harm legibility or diminish its significance. No graphic elements should encroach around either version of the logo.
For both versions of the logo, the minimum space is equal height of the C from the wordmark, providing a balanced equilibrium around the logo.
The Graphene logo follows the same design principles as the Carbon logo, creating a strong visual connection between the two.
The double-arrow motif (">>") mirrors the greater-than symbol in Carbon’s hexagonal mark, reinforcing a sense of progress and momentum. The gradient from neon green to teal adds a distinct identity while maintaining a sleek, modern feel.
Like Carbon, this logo is designed for a tech-focused audience, balancing clarity and confidence. The wordmark is set in Suisse Intl, ensuring consistency across the brand while keeping a clean and professional look.
The icon mark will be used whenever the full logo does not fit or work in context, such as a favicon or app icon.We will only use the icon in colour combinations shown in this document.
Clear space protects the logo from other visual elements that harm legibility or diminish its significance. No graphic elements should encroach around either version of the logo.
For both versions of the logo, the minimum space is equal height of the G from the wordmark, providing a balanced equilibrium around the logo.
Colour is a crucial foundation for our brand's identity. Our palette reflects both our vibrance and energy as an organisation, and also the union of technology, expertise and internal culture working together as one. The way this palette has been constructed, is at the top level we have detailed custom gradients for maximum brand impact, followed by simplified gradients for more granular use, followed by solid colours for the most paired back application of colour.
The core brand gradients are to be used for maximum impact such as backgrounds, report covers or in graphics. As a collection, the gradients represent the union of technology, underwriting expertise & culture. These can be used together or where necessary for visual distinction these gradients can be used to identify those pillars.
Carbon’s secondary gradients are simplified versions of the core gradients, for use in applications where legibility is of primary concern.
An example would be the Magenta Supporting Gradient is used inside the primary logo.
These gradients are used as backgrounds in cards and assets where a softer gradient is needed than the core or secondary set. Use these gradients when representing the overarching brand offering. Avoid using them in communications focused on individual pillars.
For use in backgrounds and UI, these shades are taken from the primary palette.
The typeface was developed by Swiss Typeface, influenced by the design movement, which aimed to present information objectively by using innovative precision.
The Suisse Int'l typeface is licensed through Swiss Typefaces and requires appropriate licensing for all applications. For digital applications, such as websites, mobile apps, or downloadable content, a web font or app license is required, depending on the use case and audience size. For print materials, including brochures, business cards, or signage, a desktop license is necessary to install and use the font in design software.
Our system font is Arial. This is needed when a custom or brand-specific font might not be available for example:
- When creating content on platforms or tools that don’t support custom fonts.
- For shared documents, such as Word or PowerPoint files, to ensure everyone can view and edit them correctly.
- In emails, where custom fonts may not display properly on all devices.
All typography color usage should pass AAA accessibility to be inclusive.
Our Iconography is sourced from Hero icons who offer a comprehensive set of icons that will be used in our UI design system.
New icons can be added as needed, but the design should follow the same outline style as the existing set, 2px stroke weight, 24x24 bounding box for primary navigation and marketing sections.
For buttons, form elements, and to support text, designed to be rendered at 20x20 and should be solid icons.
For Carbon’s exhibition collateral, the design should reflect boldness, precision, and clarity. Hero statements like “Driven by innovation” or “Grounded by partnership” should be central visual elements, paired with brand visuals or gradients to enhance impact, never used as plain type. Keep these statements concise (6–8 words) to ensure they resonate from a distance.
Signature gradients from the brand palette should be used purposefully as active brand signals, fading towards light or white to maintain a clean, airy feel. Taglines should be paired with bold directional graphics or minimalist type panels for added emphasis.
Spacing is essential, white space should be used effectively to create balance and prevent the design from feeling cluttered, helping the key elements stand out.
Our layouts follow an 8-column grid across all formats, ensuring consistency, balance, and legibility at any size.
Margins are sized at 88px width of the page, bringing a sense of scale and expanse to our layouts.
When creating social media assets, reports, or any digital content, it's important to make sure there’s enough white space. White space, or negative space, is the empty area around text, images, and other elements. It helps keep the design clean and makes the content easier to read. Without enough white space, things can look cluttered and hard to follow.
Using grids in design can also make a big difference. Grids help with alignment and spacing, so everything stays organised and balanced. Whether you’re designing a social media post or a report, a mix of white space and grids will always lead to a more visually appealing and effective result. We suggest you follow the same rules provided in the marketing collateral.
The site's imagery consists of realistic office shots, combining workplace environments with lifestyle images of colleagues.
Our brand’s visual identity for people and office imagery captures a modern, vibrant, and approachable atmosphere. Fundamental principles include clean, professional portraits with balanced lighting and neutral or blurred backgrounds to ensure focus on the individual.
Office imagery emphasises openness and creativity, using dynamic compositions, bright lighting, and natural, candid interactions to showcase collaboration. Photos of the office should be colourful and include details such as plants, signage, and branded elements, while avoiding plain or overly minimal backgrounds.
Vibrant yet balanced colours align seamlessly with our gradient design, reinforcing our brand’s energy and innovation. This cohesive approach ensures our imagery feels authentic, professional, and representative of our culture.
The graphic treatment of gradient hexagon cutouts over imagery are layered strategically, partially framing key elements or subjects within the photographs.
The contrast between the bold gradients and the underlying imagery draws attention to specific areas, creating depth and a sense of movement. The clean geometric lines of the hexagons add a structured and contemporary feel.
Where necessary over imagery we have added this treatment.
We will use the following guidelines when we want to use our shapes in a graphic and expressive way.
How we communicate matters— a lot. Our tone is like our personality; it sets us apart from the crowd and shows who Carbon is, what we stand for, and what makes us different. We use our words to connect with others—whether it’s building solid relationships or demonstrating the value we add. If our voice is sparking thoughts and making an impact, we know we’re getting it right.
This section shows how we’ve applied the brand guidelines to the website and marketing materials. From typography and colour palettes to imagery and tone of voice, every element was carefully aligned with the brand’s identity to ensure consistency. These examples highlight how the guidelines have been brought to life across digital and print, creating a cohesive and recognisable brand experience.