Brand direction B
Before the campaign locked, a second identity for Birchway was designed in Claude Design from my direction: a Gloock wordmark with gilt birch-bark rules, an arched frame for holiday photography, and a five-colour palette. I reviewed the file the way I would preflight any incoming brand file, against real platform specs and the same rules the QA checklist uses, and corrected what didn’t pass. Direction A, the leaf and pie system, is the one the rest of this case study adapts.
The identity
Primary lockup, inverse lockup and monogram, with the seasonal palette. Each swatch now carries the measured contrast of the text colour set on it.
Scaled to fit
The campaign set, corrected
The four formats from the file. The arches held empty photo slots, so they carry direction A’s table illustration until licensed photography is supplied.
Scaled to fit
Scaled to fit
Scaled to fit
Scaled to fit
What I changed in the Claude Design file
The concept was strong; the production details needed work. The biggest fix is the Story, measured live below with the safe zones drawn in.
As received
Scaled to fit
Corrected
Scaled to fit
Story safe zones
- File
- Wordmark 180 px from the top, inside the 250 px band Stories reserve for the profile row; button and legal ran into the bottom band.
- Now
- Wordmark at 266 px and the arch shortened to 680 px, so everything sits inside the band.
MARKET line too small
- File
- Set at 9 px on the master and 6.5 px on the leaderboard, below a legible minimum on screen.
- Now
- Never below 8 px (master 9 px). Where it would be, the compact lockup drops the line, as on the leaderboard.
Label contrast
- File
- Grey labels #7A6E64 on #E4DFD6: 3.73:1, under the 4.5:1 AA minimum.
- Now
- #5A4E45 on Birch: 6.85:1. Gilt on Birch measures 2.03:1, so the file’s rule is extended to all text and the logo.
CTA arrow and copy style
- File
- A typed “→” character in every button, an em dash in the title and all-caps labels throughout.
- Now
- A drawn arrow icon that renders the same in every font and isn’t read aloud. Sentence-case labels, no dashes.
Guidelines, corrected
The file’s one-page guideline sheet, rebuilt as readable text with the corrections folded in.
Logo
Clearspace equals x, the cap height of the B. Keep type, edges, frames and imagery outside it on every format.
- Wordmark minimum
- 100 px wide on screen, 25 mm in print
- MARKET line
- 8 px minimum; below that, use the compact lockup
- Monogram
- 28 px minimum; use it for avatars and square icons
Colour
| Colour | Role | Share | Text on it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spruce #1E3A32 | Core. Grounds every creative | 55% | Birch text: 10.47:1 |
| Birch #F3ECDF | Core. Headlines, wordmark, paper | 25% | Bark text: 13.41:1 |
| Cranberry #9B2F2A | Core. CTA fills only | 10% | Birch CTA label: 6.31:1 |
| Gilt #C9A25E | Accent. Rules and eyebrows, on Spruce only | 6% | Spruce monogram: 5.16:1 |
| Bark #2A211C | Accent. Text on Birch | 4% | Birch text: 13.41:1 |
Share per creative: 55 / 25 / 10 / 6 / 4. Gilt is for rules and eyebrows on Spruce only.
Headline size by format
| Format | Lines | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Story 1080 × 1920 | 2 lines | 124 px |
| Square 1080 × 1080 | 3 lines | 100 px |
| Master 1200 × 628 | 2 lines | 72 px |
| Leaderboard 728 × 90 | 1 line | 24 px |
The leaderboard headline drops from 26 to 24 px so the compact wordmark, divider and button keep their clearspace.
Usage
DoBirch on Spruce, with full clearspace.
Don’tStretch or distort the wordmark.
Don’tRecolour it or set it on Gilt.
Don’tRotate it or add effects.
