BroadNarrow LLP — Brand Guidelines: Masters

Document type: canonical specification · Governs: the .ai master artwork only Does not govern: exports, spacing in application, or any deliverable file — see BN-BRAND-EXPORTS.

How to use this document. Section 0 summarises the whole document. Section 1 maps common questions to the section that answers them. Section 2 lists every numeric constant in machine-readable form. Sections 3 onward are the full specification. Rules carry stable IDs (e.g. MU-03) so they can be cited and amended precisely.

0. Summary

The essentials of the BroadNarrow master artwork system:

1. Two colours only — pure black #000000 and pure white #FFFFFF. No accent colours.
2. One typeface — Oswald. “broad” in Medium, “narrow” in Light, ™/® glyphs in Regular.
3. Three assets — the Wordmark (“broadnarrow”), the Logo (a pair of square brackets), and the Lockup (both combined). The Lockup is the preferred signature.
4. One master unit c — the height of the outlined wordmark. Every identity ratio is expressed in c. The logo’s internal geometry uses p, linked by 0.80p = c.
5. Twelve master files, all .ai, all in 020 Logos & Wordmarks / 010 Masters. That folder is the only source of truth.
6. Trademark status: pending. Application filed in India only. Use the ™ variants now; the ® variants exist but must not be used until registration is granted.
7. Two size treatments — Size Standard when the mark is reproduced taller than 100px; Size Responsive (enlarged symbol) at 100px tall or below. A measured pixel threshold, confirmed by the founder via direct visual comparison.
8. Never distort. All scaling is aspect-ratio locked, without exception.
9. Masters are tight-cropped — artwork only, no padding. The bounding box is the measurement datum.
10. Change control is mandatory — new dated master, change-log entry, version bump.

1. Quick answers

2. Constants

Every hard value in this document, machine-readable. Prose elsewhere must agree with this block; if they ever conflict, this block and the section it derives from are to be reconciled via §8.2 Change control.

units:
  c: "height of the outlined 'broadnarrow' bounding box — the master unit"
  p: "logo base unit (side of the initial construction square, guide R1); finished logo bounding box confirmed square (p x p) by the founder, 27 Jul 2026"
  D: "datum — top-right corner of the word 'narrow'"

relations:
  logo_scale_in_lockup: "0.80p = c"
  derived: "p = 1.25c"

colour:
  bn_black: { hex: "#000000", rgb: "0/0/0", cmyk: "0/0/0/100", pantone: "Process Black C" }
  bn_white: { hex: "#FFFFFF", rgb: "255/255/255", cmyk: "0/0/0/0" }
  rich_black_large_solids: "C60 M40 Y40 K100"
  marks_and_type: "100% K"

typography:
  family: Oswald
  licence: "SIL Open Font License 1.1"
  weight_broad: Medium
  weight_narrow: Light
  weight_symbol: Regular

symbol_height_s:
  tm_size_standard: "0.10c"
  tm_size_responsive: "0.20c"
  r_size_standard: "0.14c"
  r_size_responsive: "0.30c"

symbol_gap_g: "0.10c"
lockup_spacing_d: "0.25c"

minimum_size: "no minimum-size rule is specified"

size_treatment_rule:
  standard: "rendered mark height > 100px"
  responsive: "rendered mark height <= 100px"
  basis: "measured pixel threshold, confirmed by the founder via direct visual comparison, 28 Jul 2026"
  unit: "px = CSS/screen pixel height of the rendered mark, not a print/mm measurement"

contrast:
  minimum_ratio: "4.5:1"

logo_geometry:
  guide_R1: "p x p square"
  guide_R2: "0.80p high x 0.60p wide, centred in R1"
  guide_R3: "p high x 0.45p wide, centred then snapped left in R1"
  left_bracket_height: "p"
  right_bracket_height: "0.80p"   # step 5: duplicate, aspect-locked scale to 0.80p high
  # Detailed shape (stroke width, arm length, path) is defined by the pen-tool path in
  # step 4, not by separate ratios. Do not infer additional geometry values here —
  # measure the actual master (BN Logo.ai) if an exact figure is needed.
  bounding_box: "p x p (square) — confirmed by the founder, 27 Jul 2026"

trademark:
  status: pending
  jurisdiction: India
  jurisdiction_count: 1
  symbol_in_use: "TM"
  symbol_blocked: "R"

masters:
  count: 12
  format: ".ai"
  location: "Brand & Creative/020 Logos & Wordmarks/010 Masters"
  crop: "tight to artwork, no padding"

3. Foundations

Rules in this section apply to every asset. Asset specifications in §7 add only what is specific to each mark.

3.1 Colour

The brand is strictly two-colour. There are no accent or secondary brand colours.

3.2 Typography

3.3 Notation

Every construction value is a multiple of a named unit — never a bare number.

The system uses one primary unit. Symbol sizing, symbol placement, lockup scale, and lockup spacing are all expressed in c. Only the logo’s internal geometry uses p, and that is linked to c by a fixed relation.

Terminology. BroadNarrow calls c the wordmark’s cap height. Strictly, “broadnarrow” is lowercase with ascenders (b, d) and no descenders, so this box height is the ascender height. The firm’s usage is retained; what matters is that c is unambiguously the height of the outlined wordmark.

3.4 Aspect ratio

3.5 Size treatment (Standard vs Responsive)

There is no minimum-size rule for any asset. The rule governing which trademark-symbol size to use is a measured pixel threshold, based on the rendered height of the mark (CSS/screen px), not a print/mm measurement and not a device category:

3.6 Backgrounds & contrast

3.7 Master-file handling

4. Prohibitions

These apply to every asset. Asset-specific prohibitions are listed in §7.

5. Usage

5.1 Asset hierarchy

5.2 Trademark symbol

Current status: trademark pending. BroadNarrow has filed an application; the mark is not yet registered.

™ → ® transition mechanism. The ® masters already exist and are held ready.

6. Master inventory

All twelve masters live in Brand & Creative / 020 Logos & Wordmarks / 010 Masters. Filenames omit the .ai extension for brevity.

⛔ pending = artwork exists but must not be used until trademark registration is granted (USE-02).

7. Asset specifications

Each specification follows the same structure: Definition → Construction → Variants → Prohibitions. Colour, size treatment, contrast, and universal prohibitions are governed by §3 and §4.

7.1 Wordmark

Definition. The typographic logotype: the single lowercase word “broadnarrow” set in Oswald, with a two-weight construction — “broad” in Oswald Medium, “narrow” in Oswald Light. Apart from this deliberate weight pairing it uses Oswald’s default metrics: no custom kerning, tracking, or letterform edits.

Live vs outlined. The live master retains editable text; the outlined master converts that text to vector paths for font-independent delivery. They are visually identical.

Trademark symbol construction. The ™ / ® glyph is set in Oswald Regular, converted to outlines, then placed by this rule — identical for every symbol variant:

Variants. g and D are identical for every variant; only s changes.

® runs larger than ™ at equivalent treatments because the glyph’s enclosing circle needs more height to stay legible.

Prohibitions.

7.2 Logo

Definition. A geometric mark: a pair of square brackets — a left bracket and a smaller mirrored right bracket — grouped and reproduced as fill-only artwork.

Construction. All dimensions in the base unit p. Three guide rectangles establish anchor points and are deleted at the end.

Left bracket 1. Draw a square p × p, fill none, stroke 1 px — guide R1. 2. Draw a rectangle 0.80p high × 0.60p wide; centre it in R1 — guide R2. 3. Draw a rectangle p high × 0.45p wide; centre it in R1, then snap it to the left edge inside R1 — guide R3. 4. With the pen tool, draw a path joining the resulting anchor points to form the left bracket.

Right bracket

5. Duplicate the left bracket; aspect-locked, scale it to 0.80p high (80% of the left bracket).
6. Mirror it, centre it in R1, then snap it to the right edge of R1.

Finish

7. Delete the three guide rectangles.
8. Set stroke to none and fill with BN Black or BN White.
9. Group the two brackets — this group is the logo.

Known dimensions. The two measurements fixed by the construction steps above:

The bracket’s detailed shape — stroke widths, arm lengths, the exact path — is defined by the pen-tool path drawn from the three guide rectangles’ anchor points (step 4), not by a separate set of ratios. There is no additional geometry to state beyond the construction steps themselves.

Logo bounding box: p × p — confirmed by the founder (27 Jul 2026) as a perfect square. This is also independently supported by two measurements: the derived Social Avatar export is exactly 499 × 499 px (BN-BRAND-EXPORTS §3.1), and the Favicon and Logo SVG exports share an identical square 1000 × 1000 viewBox with zero padding.

Prohibitions.

7.3 Lockup

Definition. The combined signature: the Logo paired with a wordmark in a fixed relationship. The Primary lockup uses the plain outlined wordmark; ™ / ® lockups use the corresponding trademark wordmark.

Construction (aspect-locked throughout)

1. Scale wordmark and logo so the logo’s smaller right bracket (0.80p) matches the wordmark’s c, measured on “broadnarrow” excluding any symbol — that is, 0.80p = c.
2. Using Align to Key Object with the logo as key object, vertically centre the wordmark to the logo.
3. Set Horizontal Distribute Space between logo and wordmark to d = 0.25c.

Layout. Logo leading (left), wordmark trailing (right).

Derived scale relation. Step 1 fixes the logo’s size relative to the wordmark:

p = 1.25c — within any lockup the logo’s overall height is 1.25 × c, and the spacing d = 0.25c (= 0.20p).

This single relation keeps every lockup variant proportionally identical.

Variants. All share the same geometry (0.80p = c, d = 0.25c); only the wordmark component differs.

Prohibitions.

8. Governance

8.1 Ownership

Review cadence. Quarterly, and on any material change (new asset, new rule, corrected value).

8.2 Change control

Versioning. MAJOR.MINOR. MAJOR = a change that alters how the identity reproduces, or a restructure of this document. MINOR = clarifications, added rules, corrected copy.

8.3 Adding an asset

8.4 Evidence standard

9. Decision log

All items are ratified. Retained as an audit trail: R1, R9 set by the founder; R2–R8 originally set by the brand advisor under delegated authority (26 July 2026); R2 and R3 were subsequently corrected/withdrawn by the founder (28 July 2026) after the advisor’s figures for those two items turned out to be fabricated rather than genuine founder input. Re-open any item via §8.2 change control.

10. Change log

11. Glossary

BN-BRAND-MASTERS · Companion: BN-BRAND-EXPORTS · © BroadNarrow LLP