Brand Style Guide

2.0

Philosophy

The EC Brand is built on discipline, precision, and technical integrity. It reflects an engineering mindset applied to design – where logic defines beauty and standards ensure consistency. Every color, typeface, and pixel is intentional; there’s no decoration; only clarity. The breadth of the system is itself functional: each color, weight, and tone exists to encode meaning – state, hierarchy, context – never to ornament. Range serves clarity; it does not dilute it. The goal is to deliver information cleanly and accurately, without posturing, or pretense.

Tone & Voice

The EC voice is deliberate and confident, grounded in competence rather than loudness. Language is factual, structured, and concise. Every word earns its place. If empathy appears, it’s through precision: by respecting the reader’s time and intelligence. The written voice mirrors the visual system – disciplined, modular, and intentional.

Voice & Tone Guidelines – Do’s and Don’ts

Do

  • Use technical precision – define, don’t decorate.
  • Prefer short sentences and clear hierarchy.
  • Let content show competence; don’t explain it.

Don’t

  • Use hype or motivational filler.
  • Hide uncertainty behind buzzwords.
  • Dilute factual statements to sound fashionable.

Core Personality Traits

Discipline
Every decision follows a rule; systems over moods.
Expertise
Authority earned through understanding, not marketing.
Perfectionism
Details are mandatory, not optional.
Consistency
Predictable structure is the brand’s style.
Rationality
Clarity and accuracy outweigh emotional theater.

Together, these traits form the framework for every EC artifact – from typography to tone.

Palettes

The EC color system is organized into five palettes – Primary, Neutrals, Accents, Surface, and Tints – followed by application guidance. The Primary and Neutral palettes carry the brand and do the structural work; the Accent, Surface, and Tint palettes extend the system for UI, data visualization, and marketing. The rules below apply across all palettes.

  • Use colors as tokens: Use exact HEX codes for all colors; do not adjust hue, saturation, brightness, opacity, or mood. Primary colors define identity, neutrals define structure, accents communicate state, and surfaces/tints set context.
  • Production values: HEX values are the digital source of truth. Print uses vendor-validated CMYK; Pantone values are approximations and should be verified with Pantone Bridge and press proofs.
  • Text on bright fills: For legibility, text that appears on vibrant or bright color blocks should be in Charcoal (on light colors) or White (on dark colors). Never set long body copy in high-chroma colors; reserve strong colors for labels or small highlights.
  • In the tables, “Body Use” indicates if a color is acceptable for body text: Yes (AAA) = safe for long passages; Yes (AA) = use only for short text or headings; Large only = only use for large text, e.g. ≥ 18 pt Regular / 14 pt Bold.
Reading & editorial context

For documents, presentations, and long-form reading, use Charcoal (#323E48) as body text on light backgrounds to reduce eye fatigue. Use EC Navy 900 (#002E6D) or EC Green 800 (#00524C) primarily for headings and emphasis, not as default body copy.

On dark backgrounds or slides, White (#FFFFFF) becomes the main text color, with EC Teal 500 (#00C4B3) or EC Green 700 (#007167) for accents. Avoid large bodies of text in Teal; reserve Teal for interactive elements, highlights, or small decorative areas (≤ 25% coverage of a layout).

This section defines the brand’s primary colors (core brand palette).

More info for primary colors

Primary colors carry the brand identity. Use EC Navy 900 and EC Green 800 for headings, dark backgrounds, and strong emphasis. Use EC Teal 500 and related teal values for links, highlights, interactive elements, and small accents rather than long body copy.

For applied color systems across reading, interface, presentation, and terminal contexts, see Functional Themes.

Typography System

Defines the brand’s typographic hierarchy for digital, print, and interface applications. Typography is treated as a system of three layers – expressive, communicative, and technical – working together.

Icon

Functional Themes

The EC color system adapts across light and dark environments through six predefined Functional Themes. Each theme defines background, heading, body, and link/hover pairings that meet or exceed WCAG 2.2 AA contrast.

Use these themes as turnkey palettes for UI, Word, PowerPoint, or PDF layouts.

For Web/UI, treat these tokens as CSS themes.

For Word/Presentations, apply the same colors via Style presets (Heading, Body, Link).

For PDF/Print, maintain the same ratios; avoid opacity or gradients.

PropertyValue
BackgroundEC Neutral 100 · #FFFFFF
HeadingsEC Neutral 700 · #323E48
Body TextEC Neutral 700 · #323E48
LinkEC Neutral 500 · #5B6670 → 5.87 (AA)
Accent (Hover)EC Neutral 900 · #1D252C → 15.52 (AAA)
Usage NotesFor editorial and document layouts. Calm tone, AAA readability.

Editorial Light, Launchpad, and Interface Light correspond to standard or presentation documents.

Command Console, Interface Dark, and Terminal correspond to dark-mode and engineering environments.

Do’s and Don’ts

Do

Use official assets only.

Use the approved logo and icon variants defined in the Logo and Icon sections.

Do

Match geometry to the variant.

Use the delivered one-color, color, grayscale, and outline artwork exactly as specified.

Do

Use approved color tokens.

Apply the exact palette values and contrast rules documented in Palettes.

Do

Preserve clear space.

Follow the Logo and Icon clear-space diagrams before placing nearby type or imagery.