# OpenStation Brand

> Brand guidelines for OpenStation (one word, capital O and capital S), the open-source WordPress plugin that turns wp-admin into a desktop OS: windows, a dock, spaces and a command palette on top of WordPress. This file is the machine-readable summary; the visual reference lives at index.html and the structured tokens at brand.json.

The name works on three levels: the space and cosmos territory, the initials hinting at OS, and "Open" saying open source out loud. The visual world is a calm, engineered station in deep space: dark surfaces, neon pulse accents, holographic meshes, and a small ghost mascot.

## Colors (all named after spatial concepts)

Primary palette:

- Pulse #E94FF3 (RGB 233, 79, 243): neon identity accent (formerly named Pulsar)
- Nebula #EC9BFF (RGB 236, 155, 255): soft identity accent
- Starlight #FFFBFF (RGB 255, 251, 255): light contrast
- Sirius #9AF2FF (RGB 154, 242, 255): cyan contrast accent (brightened from the former #C2F1F1)
- Lagoon #9F98FF (RGB 159, 152, 255): violet-blue contrast accent
- Obsidian #1A1721 (RGB 26, 23, 33): surface dark (replaces the former Astro #19161E)
- Void #0C0B0F (RGB 12, 11, 15): darkest color, base background

Shade palette (secondary, a ten-step grays ramp from dark to light; Void, Obsidian and Starlight are shared with the primary palette):

- Void #0C0B0F, Obsidian #1A1721, Astro #33303A, Silver #4D4A52, Pewter #66636B, Osmium #99969C, Ash #B3AFB5, Cloud #CCC8CE, Mist #E6E2E6, Starlight #FFFBFF

Named gradient fills and backgrounds (all vector SVGs, defined as gradient recipes in Figma):

- Holomesh (holographic: lavender, pink, cyan, mint): assets/holomesh.svg. For hero surfaces, backgrounds and CTAs; never a background behind the logo.
- Pulsemesh (pulsar style: magenta, pink, cyan, white; a #8D9BF3-to-#C878F0 base with six radial glows): assets/pulsemesh.svg (formerly named Pulsarmesh)
- Auromesh (aurora style: lavender, mint, cyan; linear #D1C6F8 to #CEFADA to #B8FFFF): assets/auromesh.svg
- Starmesh (stellar: white, silver; a radial glow from Starlight #FFFBFF into Cloud #CCC8CE): assets/starmesh.svg
- Voidmesh (void: #010101 to #111114 to #1E1D23 linear): assets/voidmesh.svg. The default dark background behind content (formerly named Space).
- Miomesh (Mio's gradient: Pulse #E94FF3 to #AA67FF to #A580FF to #4B3EFF linear): assets/miomesh.svg. Belongs to the mascot; used for Mio's glow and accents.
- Galaxy (Void base, Nebula glows, Starlight starfield): assets/galaxy.svg. Hero background.

## Typography

- Geist (variable): everything human, headlines, UI, body.
- Geist Mono (variable): the instrument voice, labels, metadata, statuses, code.
- Typographic scale, from the named text styles in the Figma Typography section. Line height is 1.3 on Display, the headings and Caption, and 1.5 on the three body sizes. Geist Sans: Display 72px Medium 500, H1 48px SemiBold 600, H2 36px SemiBold 600, H3 30px SemiBold 600, H4 24px Medium 500, H5 20px Medium 500, Body Large 18px Regular 400, Body 16px Regular 400, Body Small 14px Regular 400, Caption 13px Regular 400. Geist Mono (no H4 or H5): Display 72px Light 300, H1 48px Bold 700, H2 36px Regular 400, H3 30px Regular 400, Body Large 18px Regular 400, Body 16px Regular 400, Body Small 14px Regular 400, Caption 13px Regular 400.
- Both under SIL OFL 1.1, self-hosted: fonts/Geist-Variable.woff2, fonts/GeistMono-Variable.woff2, license at fonts/OFL.txt.

## Logo

- Logomark: assets/logomark.svg (a circle with a fluid blob cut; refined upright version, August 2026). Two flat fills: Starlight, or the Holomesh holographic gradient baked in as a vector gradient stack (assets/logomark-holo.svg). No shadows or effects outside the app icons.
- Logoword: assets/logoword.svg (the full lockup with the name outlined; the live text version is "OpenStation" in Geist SemiBold 600, sentence case, no added tracking). Holo-mark version: assets/logoword-holo.svg.
- App icon: Void #0C0B0F tile, rounded square (radius 25/120 of the icon size, assets/logomark-app.svg and assets/logomark-app-holo.svg) or circle (assets/logomark-app-circle.svg and assets/logomark-app-circle-holo.svg), soft white inner shadow, mark fills the central 3/5 of the tile. Inside the icon the mark gets the dimensional treatment (baked into the SVGs): the Pearl radial fill (Starlight to Cloud) or Holomesh, a Mist edge stroke, a soft halo ring, stacked drop shadows and an inner highlight. Always on Void; there is no inverted or holo-background app icon.
- Wordmark rule: the wordmark is used in all references to the product as space allows; monochrome usage is preferred, with the brand colors as accents.
- Chip rule: when referring to OpenStation as a product (social media, the plugins page, app listings), always add the chip: the mark sits on its Void app tile, never bare. Rounded square or circle, in the flat Pearl fill or the holographic one.
- Holoversion rule: the holographic version fills the mark with Holomesh and leaves the wordmark in Starlight. Holomesh may also be used on backgrounds and CTAs elsewhere, but never sits behind the logo; the knocked-out (negative) logo on Holomesh is not part of the system.
- Lockup proportions (updated August 2026, the wordmark grew about 24% against the mark): the wordmark's cap-to-descender height is 65% of the mark's height, the gap is half that (32.5% of the mark), and the wordmark block sits 20% of the mark height below the top edge and 15% above the bottom. In live text: Geist SemiBold at 0.742 times the mark height. The asset ships at an 80px mark: 59.4px type, 26px gap, 458px wide (5.725 times the mark height).
- Clear space: 32.5% of the mark height left and right of the lockup (the same measure as the gap), 25% above and below; 25% on all four sides of the standalone icon. That makes the construction box 6.375 by 1.5 mark heights around the lockup, and 1.5 mark heights square around the icon.
- Note for anyone reading this file: the Logo section of the guide page (index.html) shows the assets only, as a wordmark card and an icon card plus the holo pair and the chips. The clear-space and proportion rules are not drawn there; this file and brand.json carry the wording.

## Mascot

Mio, a small ghost blob that glows in Pulse and drifts between windows. Its own gradient is Miomesh (assets/miomesh.svg): Pulse #E94FF3 to #AA67FF to #A580FF to #4B3EFF. Named explorations: Luna, Cometa, Órbita, Eclipse, Alba, Nube, Asteroide, Gotita (assets/mio/). Final form and usage rules are still open.

## Files

- [brand.json](brand.json): design tokens (colors, grays, meshes, type scale, radii, logo rules)
- [assets/](assets/): logomark, logoword, app icons, the wordpress.org plugin icon (plugins-icon.svg, 192px chip with radius 13), meshes and backgrounds, Mio explorations, merch renders, and imagery mockups under assets/imagery/ (wordpress.org plugin banner, X profile mockups)
- [fonts/](fonts/): Geist and Geist Mono variable files plus the OFL license

## Licensing

OpenStation is an open-source WordPress plugin (GPL): https://wordpress.org/plugins/desktop-mode/ and https://github.com/WordPress/desktop-mode. Brand assets are meant to be reused; keep attribution sensible and do not present modified marks as official.