# AUBORA — BRAND IDENTITY

**The full identity system for the venture group and every product beneath it.** Source of truth for colour, type, iconography, layout, voice, and the family grammar that lets Cerno, Meridian, Verto, and future ventures read as one house. **This is the single brand document for the whole group** (the former one-page usage note is folded in here). The `Brand/` folder is the single home for the visual identity: ready logo families in `logos/<brand>/`, the three faces in `fonts/`, Office/document stationery in `templates/`, master SVGs in `svg/` (Claude Design's locked marks in `svg/_cd_sources/`), raster in `png/`, and the generators in `_build/`. The group architecture context is `Aubora/SU - Group Consolidated Reference 2026-06.md` (Parts 4-5).

- **Version:** 1.6 · **Date:** 2026-06-16 · **Status:** active group identity; **Dawn mark adopted**, **Bindery is the single house palette**, **`Brand/` consolidated into one source of truth** (full logo families per brand in `logos/`, fonts, templates, one doc), the product **app icons are iOS-26 Liquid Glass** (Cerno stacked cards + check, Meridian crest + sun, **Verto = two chevron arrowheads only, shafts transparent**), every flat/web/print surface uses flat Burgundy; aubora.co live (bigger header emblem, footer matches), cerno.me header on the canonical mark; name knockout-screened, CPI clearance pending
- **Logo:** finalised in section 3 (the **"point of light"**: a gilt sun poised above a burgundy horizon, with the AUBORA wordmark). Approved 2026-06-14.
- **Refinements over the Cerno system** are deliberate and noted inline (the datum line, the dawn palette, the gilt metal, the parent inversion). Where Aubora and the old Cerno guide differ, Aubora governs the group.

---

## 1. Foundation

**The name.** Aubora is *aube* (dawn) plus *aurora* (first light). The group exists to make the first useful version of a thing: the first draft, the first match, the first clean conversion. Everything in the identity says "first light", a horizon at daybreak with a sun rising on it.

**What Aubora is.** A single house that builds focused software products. Aubora is the company and the umbrella; the products carry their own names and do the talking to users. The group shows up on contracts, in email, on the corporate site, and behind every product as the maker.

**Positioning.** Calm, exact, and trustworthy. The opposite of loud martech. The identity should feel like a senior colleague: precise, unhurried, quietly confident. It must scale from a one-line email signature to an App Store icon to a legal memorandum without losing itself.

**Personality, in five words.** Calm. Exact. Selective. Warm. Enduring.

**Brand promise.** First light: the clearest possible start, then out of your way.

---

## 2. Brand architecture

**The model is branded house with a visible parent.** Aubora is the endorsing parent; products are the heroes. A user meets *Cerno*, not "an Aubora product", but the maker is legible one layer down ("by Aubora").

| Layer | Role | Shows up as |
|---|---|---|
| **Aubora** (group) | The company, the maker, the legal and financial entity | Corporate site, contracts, email signature, "by Aubora" endorsement, investor materials |
| **Cerno** (product) | Selective job-application workflow | cerno.me, the app, its own mark |
| **Meridian** (product) | Personal health and stimulant reference | Its own surface and mark |
| **Verto** (product) | Document ⇄ Markdown conversion (macOS) | Its own surface and mark |
| **Future ventures** | New products under the same grammar | Built from the family rule (section 4) |

**Endorsement.** Where space allows, a product surface may carry a discreet "by Aubora" lockup (wordmark or mark) in a footer or about screen. The group never competes with the product for attention on the product's own surface.

**Naming convention for new ventures.** Short, coined or Latinate, one to three syllables, pronounceable in French and English, an empty trademark namespace in classes 9/35/42, and a free exact-match domain. Verify against the same clearance discipline used for Aubora before adoption.

---

## 3. Logo and wordmark

**The mark: the point of light.** A single gilt disc — the first point of light — poised just above a fine burgundy horizon, the disc set slightly left so the eye enters where the day begins. Abstract and reductive on purpose: no letter, no eye, no ring. It reads from a wall sign to a 16px favicon and is built to outlast trends. The disc is crowned by a fine two-tier gilt corona that leans 8 degrees forward (toward the reading direction, for a little life), with a soft Ivory Buff dawn glow behind it; the horizon stays level, so only the corona leans. This is the **Dawn** mark (adopted 2026-06-14, Claude Design's locked artwork, reproduced for every variant in `make_marks.py`). The favicon and monochrome cut drop the corona and glow for small-size clarity. (Approved 2026-06-14, replacing the earlier "A with a sun in its counter" draft, which read as clever-literal and was retired.)

**The wordmark.** AUBORA set in Newsreader SemiBold, tracked +2 percent, outlined to paths (no font dependency). Burgundy on light grounds, cream on dark, ink where a neutral is wanted.

**The lockup (primary, canonical).** Horizontal, left to right: the gilt sun rises at the far left, a single fine burgundy horizon carries the eye rightward, and AUBORA stands on that horizon. The sun and the word share one line. A reverse lockup (cream on burgundy) serves dark grounds.

**Forms** (all in `Brand/svg/`, filenames carried over from the prior draft):
- *Standalone mark* — disc and horizon, no container: gilt sun + burgundy horizon on light grounds, gilt sun + cream horizon on dark (`..._mark_standalone_{burgundy,cream}_master.svg`).
- *App icon* — the mark in the squircle: the group's is the **light** treatment (cream field, `..._icon_light_master.svg`); the product template is the burgundy field (`..._product_icon_burgundy_template_master.svg`).
- *Square / favicon* — `..._mark_square_burgundy_master.svg`, `favicon-16/32.png`.
- *Monochrome* — disc and line in one flat colour, no separate sun colour: for Liquid Glass tinted/clear modes, small sizes, embossing, one-colour print (`..._mark_mono_{burgundy,white}_master.svg`).
- *Background plate* — the cream squircle alone, for layered Liquid Glass icons (`..._iconlayer_bg_cream_master.svg`).

**Geometry (for reproduction).** On a 1024 icon: a fine burgundy horizon at y=620 (~20 units, round caps) spanning x 206–818; a flat **Gilt `#B8915E`** disc, radius 92, centred at x=452 (left of centre), poised ~44 units above the line. The sun is flat (no gradient) and uses the Bindery metal rather than a brighter gold, to stay timeless and on-palette.

**The logo is static.** There is no animated logo; an optional dawn motion lives in `Brand/_build/` but is not part of the identity, and the email signature uses the static mark. Reproduce every mark from `Brand/_build/make_marks.py`.

---

## 4. The family grammar

This is the engine of the system: the few things that stay constant so the house reads as one, and the few a product may change so each is itself.

**Constant across every venture (the four invariants):**
1. **The burgundy squircle** product container (Apple-style superellipse, ~22 percent corner radius).
2. **One horizontal datum line** through the glyph. This is the family signature. In Aubora it is the horizon under the rising sun; in a product it is the same calm line the glyph resolves into. Strokes resolve into the line; they are never cut by a bar.
3. **The Bindery palette** (section 5).
4. **The three typefaces** (section 6): Newsreader, Hanken Grotesk, IBM Plex Mono.

**What a product may change (only these three):**
1. Its **own centred glyph**, its core verb drawn as one clean form (Cerno: a C resolving into the datum line; Meridian and Verto each their own).
2. Its **wordmark** (set in Newsreader, outlined to paths).
3. **At most one muted accent** colour drawn from or harmonised with the Bindery palette.

**The parent inversion (the one deliberate exception).** Products always wear a **burgundy field with a cream glyph**. Aubora, the parent, inverts this: a **cream or light field with a burgundy glyph**, plus a standalone form that travels with no container at all. This is how the eye tells parent from product at a glance. Do not give a product the light treatment, and do not put the group on a burgundy product tile.

---

## 5. Colour — the Bindery palette

The group palette. One warm paper world, one burgundy doing the work, one metal (gilt) for light, and a dawn glow reserved for the sunrise moment. This refines the older Cerno palette: the burgundy is slightly deeper and warmer (`#6E2433` vs Cerno's `#7A2435`), "gold" becomes the metallic **Gilt**, and **Cream** plus **Ivory Buff** are added to carry the dawn.

| Token | Hex | Role |
|---|---|---|
| **Burgundy** | `#6E2433` | Primary brand colour: the mark, primary actions, active state, section numbers, table headers |
| **Burgundy Deep** | `#511A26` | Pressed/hover, deep accents, the dark ground for reverse lockups |
| **Ink** | `#1A1714` | Primary text and headings on light grounds |
| **Slate** | `#5B6068` | Secondary text, captions, metadata, mono furniture |
| **Gilt** | `#B8915E` | A metal. The sun, hairline rules, selected/badge accents, dark-ground detail. **Never body text.** |
| **Paper** | `#FBF9F4` | Default page / canvas background |
| **Cream** | `#F7EFE0` | Cards, panels, zebra rows, the group's light squircle field |
| **Stone** | `#D6CDBD` | Stronger dividers, totals, inactive fills |
| **Line** | `#E3DACB` | Hairline rules, separators, borders |
| **Ivory Buff** | `#EBD3A2` | **Dawn glow only**: the soft radial behind the rising sun. Not a fill, not text. |

**Rules.**
- **Gilt is a metal, not a yellow.** Use it for the sun, fine rules, and small accents on dark grounds. Never set body copy or large fills in Gilt.
- **Grounds.** Burgundy mark on light grounds (Paper, Cream); cream mark on dark grounds (Burgundy, Burgundy Deep). Never burgundy on dark or cream on light.
- **One accent does the work.** A layout earns calm by letting Burgundy carry meaning and everything else stay neutral. Resist a second bright colour.
- **Dawn glow** (Ivory Buff) appears only as the radial behind the sun in marks and covers; it is the single warm flourish.

**Semantic colours** (status and validation only, never decoration): Success `#2D6A4F` · Warning `#B8860B` · Error `#9B2335` · Info `#4A6FA5`. Badges use full-strength text on the same hue at ~12 percent opacity.

**Contrast and accessibility.** Ink on Paper and Burgundy on Paper both clear WCAG AA for body text. Cream and Stone are backgrounds, never text colours. Gilt on Paper fails text contrast by design, hence the metal-only rule. Always test a new pairing before shipping.

**Print (CMYK approximations).** Burgundy C18 M88 Y62 K28 · Ink K92 · Gilt C8 M28 Y58 K12 · Paper near natural white. Confirm against a proof for any printed piece.

---

## 6. Typography

Three families, all SIL OFL (free forever), embedded everywhere. **Never substitute Inter** (retired group-wide in June 2026) or any other face.

| Role | Family | Weights / styles | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display, headings, wordmark, cover titles | **Newsreader** | 400 / 500 / 600 + italics | Serif. The editorial voice. The wordmark is Newsreader outlined to paths. |
| Body, UI, in-prose labels | **Hanken Grotesk** | 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 | The workhorse sans. Default on body. Replaced Inter. |
| Kickers, IDs, metadata, running furniture | **IBM Plex Mono** | 400 / 500 | Uppercase, letter-spaced, used sparingly. |

**Fallbacks** (only if a brand face is unavailable): Georgia for Newsreader, Arial for Hanken Grotesk, any monospace for IBM Plex Mono.

**Type scale (documents).**
- **Cover title:** Newsreader 33pt, Ink, with a burgundy left bar and a mono kicker.
- **H1:** Newsreader 15-18pt, Burgundy, bottom hairline, number in Gilt.
- **H2:** Newsreader 11.5-13pt, Ink, Title Case.
- **H3:** Hanken Grotesk 9.5-11pt Bold, Slate, sentence case.
- **Body:** Hanken Grotesk 9.5-10.5pt, Ink, 1.5 line height.
- **Caption / metadata:** IBM Plex Mono 7.5-8pt, Slate, letter-spaced.

**Headings state conclusions where the genre allows** (memos, reports), echoing the writing-style discipline. The wordmark is never re-typeset; use the outlined master.

---

## 7. Iconography and app icons

**Glyph approach.** Every product glyph is its core verb drawn as one clean form, centred, resolving into the datum line, on the burgundy squircle. No outlines around the glyph, no second colour beyond the one permitted accent, no effects beyond the built-in dawn glow on the parent.

**The product glyphs (canonical).** Each product wears the burgundy squircle with a cream glyph and a single gilt point of light:
- **Cerno** — two stacked proposal cards (back tilted 12°) + a gilt halo and a single-Bézier approval check, with content lines and category tags. Glyph fills the tile at the approved **0.98** proportion (do not shrink).
- **Meridian** — a cream crest (two flaring strokes) rising to a gilt sun at the apex. **Shipped as 1.0(10); the `.icon` is locked — do not redesign.**
- **Verto** — **two chevron arrowheads only** (one cream `#FBF9F4` forward/right, one gilt `#B8915E` back/left), the **shafts transparent** so the burgundy tile shows through. (Arthur's canonical, 2026-06-16; the earlier full-shaft two-tone arrows are retired.)

**App icon material — Liquid Glass vs flat.** The **app-icon** presentation is iOS-26 **Liquid Glass**: a layered `.icon` (Icon Composer) where the OS renders glass, depth, specular, and the dark/tinted/clear variants per layer. The tile fill is the **glass rendering of Bindery Burgundy** — a vertical gradient rose `#8E3248` (top) → wine `#5E1A28` (bottom) whose midpoint sits on Burgundy `#6E2433`; the parent Aubora inverts to a cream-dawn glass tile (Paper → Cream → Ivory Buff). **Every other surface** (emblems, wordmarks, lockups, web cards, favicons, documents, print) uses the **flat Burgundy `#6E2433`** tile — no gradient or gloss. So "flat burgundy" and "rose→wine glass" are the same identity in two material modes, not two colours. A baked flat PNG showing no glass seams is expected.

**App icons and Apple Liquid Glass.** The mark survives tinted, clear, and dark modes because it is built in three pieces:
- **Monochrome mark** (`..._mark_mono_burgundy_master.svg` / `..._mono_white_master.svg`): the glyph and datum line in one flat colour, no sun. Use for Liquid Glass tinted/clear modes, favicons, small sizes, embossing, one-colour print.
- **Background plate** (`..._iconlayer_bg_cream_master.svg`): the field as a separate layer.
- **Foreground mark:** the glyph (plus sun for the parent) on transparent.

For a layered iOS/macOS icon, drop the plate as background and the standalone or mono mark as foreground in Apple's Icon Composer; the system supplies glass, depth, and the dark/tinted/clear variants. Elsewhere use the composed squircle (with field) or the standalone mark (without).

**Product icon template:** `aubora_product_icon_burgundy_template_master.svg` (the burgundy squircle a new product centres its glyph into).

**Minimum sizes.** Icon 24px comfortable, 16px floor (the horizon holds; the sun reads as a warm point). Print: icon no smaller than 8mm.

---

## 8. Layout and composition

- **Generous margins, hairline rules, one accent.** White space and Line/Stone hairlines carry structure; Burgundy and Gilt do the small accenting.
- **Clear space:** around a mark, a margin equal to the squircle corner radius (~22 percent of width); around the wordmark, a margin equal to cap height. Nothing intrudes.
- **Cover signature:** a Paper or Cream full-bleed cover, a Burgundy left bar, the lockup, a serif title, a mono kicker, and the dawn glow as a soft radial in a corner.
- **Section numbers** in Newsreader, Gilt, to the left of the heading.
- **Bullet glyph:** a small Gilt diamond (◆).
- **Running footer (documents):** mono, left = document title, centre = ARTHUR FRANCO (or the entity), right = page number.

---

## 9. Stationery and documents

All ventures share one document system on the Bindery palette, so a Cerno memo, a Meridian note, and an Aubora contract read as one house.

- **Letterhead:** the Aubora wordmark (Newsreader, Ink) top-left; a Hanken Grotesk kicker or tagline below; the entity line (`Aubora SASU`, later `Aubora, Inc.`) top-right in Hanken Grotesk Slate. A thin Line rule near the foot; contact info left, page number right, both mono.
- **Memo / report:** H1-H3 as in section 6; executive summary first; "so what" at the end of each section.
- **Presentation:** Paper or Cream slides, Ink text, Newsreader headings, Hanken Grotesk body, Burgundy header bars, Gilt accents.
- **Spreadsheet:** Newsreader title, Hanken Grotesk cells, Burgundy header row with Paper text, Stone totals, IBM Plex Mono for IDs.
- On a **product** surface show that product's mark; on **group** surfaces (email, contracts) show the Aubora mark or wordmark.

---

## 10. Email signature

The Aubora signature uses Hanken Grotesk for body, Newsreader for the name or wordmark, Burgundy for the wordmark and links only, and the small static Aubora mark (the logo is static; no GIF). Setup and the hosted assets are in `Brand/signature/` (`SU - Aubora Email Signature Setup 2026-06.md`). The founder address becomes `arthur@aubora.co` once the domain is live; keep `arthur@cerno.me` until then.

---

## 11. Motion

The logo itself is static. One optional motion idea exists: the dawn, a ~2-second sunrise where the Gilt sun lifts to the horizon and settles. If ever used, use it once at first contact (a site hero, an app splash), never looping; the pipeline lives in `Brand/_build/` (`capture.mjs`). The email signature is a static mark, not animated. Motion is a rare flourish, not part of the identity; nearly every surface is still.

---

## 12. Voice and tone

**Group voice:** calm, exact, selective, warm, enduring, a trusted senior colleague. Short declarative sentences, active voice, second person. No exclamation marks, no emoji, no motivational filler. French uses *vous* and avoids anglicisms. (Follows `arthur-writing-style`; no em dashes.)

**How it flexes per product:** the register stays; the subject changes. Cerno speaks to a candidate with quiet precision; Meridian speaks about health with care and zero hype; Verto speaks to a maker about a clean conversion. None of them shout.

**The homophone rule.** Said aloud, "Aubora" sits near "Aurora". Always pair the spoken name with the mark, show the spelling in copy, and secure the exact spelling in every domain and handle.

---

## 13. How the ventures express the system

- **Cerno** inherits the burgundy squircle, the datum line (a C resolving into it), the Bindery palette, and the three faces; it keeps its product domain (cerno.me) and its own mark, and carries a discreet "by Aubora" where appropriate.
- **Meridian** and **Verto** follow the same grammar, each with its own glyph and at most one accent, each on the burgundy field.
- **Aubora** is the single light/inverted mark, the corporate site (aubora.co), the email and contract identity, and the endorsement that sits behind all three.
- **A new venture** is built by taking the four invariants and changing only the glyph, the wordmark, and one accent (section 4), then clearing the name.

---

## 14. Do-not list (consolidated)

1. **No eye, ring, halo, or under-eye imagery.** The gold shape is a sun on a horizon, never an iris. Keep the datum line crossing it as a horizon; never wrap a closed ring around it.
2. **Products never recolour their squircle; the group is the one exception.** Products stay burgundy; only the parent takes the light/inverted treatment.
3. **Never sever the line.** Strokes resolve into the datum line; never cut a letter with a bar.
4. **Do not distort.** No stretching, skewing, rotating, re-proportioning. Scale uniformly.
5. **Do not re-typeset the wordmark.** Use the outlined master.
6. **Do not add effects.** No drop shadows, bevels, or strokes beyond the built-in dawn glow.
7. **Mind the grounds.** Burgundy on light, cream on dark; never the reverse.
8. **Never use Inter** or any non-brand face. Newsreader, Hanken Grotesk, IBM Plex Mono only.
9. **Gilt is a metal, not body text.** Never set copy or large fills in Gilt.
10. **Mind the homophone.** Always show the spelling; secure the exact-match domains and handles.

---

## 15. Assets and reproduction

**`Brand/` is the single source of truth** for the whole group's visual identity. Layout:

```
Brand/
  logos/   aubora/ cerno/ meridian/ verto/   — full logo FAMILY per brand (emblem / wordmark /
           lockup × colour·mono·reverse, each SVG + PNG 1024/512/256; the glass app-icon; the
           layered Icon Composer .icon). See logos/README.md.
  fonts/   Newsreader · HankenGrotesk · IBMPlexMono   — the only three group faces (README inside)
  templates/   Aubora Word / Presentation / Workbook stationery
  svg/     master SVGs (group marks, products/, _cd_sources/ = Claude Design's locked dawn-* masters)
  png/     raster exports + favicons + icon-layers/
  icon/    Aubora.icon (group)            signature/   email-signature assets
  _build/  the generators (the source pipeline) + _glass_out renders + _archive
  SU - Aubora Brand Identity 2026-06.md   — THIS document, the one brand doc
```

**Generators (`Brand/_build/`).** `make_marks.py` → the group Dawn marks (reads Claude Design's locked
masters from `svg/_cd_sources/`; **not byte-reproducible** — the Newsreader wordmark outlining drifts,
so it also rewrites the deployed `Site/assets` copies; snapshot+diff or only run when re-cutting marks).
`make_product_icons.py` → the flat product glyphs/icons. `make_glass_icons.py` → the burgundy glass app
icons (`GLYPH_SCALE` cerno 0.98). `make_logo_families.py` → the per-brand families in `logos/` (idempotent).
Fonts are SIL OFL (Newsreader, Hanken Grotesk, IBM Plex Mono) — in `fonts/`, or install from Google Fonts.

**Live consumers kept in sync (code, not deleted):** the apps' `Assets.xcassets` / `.icon` bundles and
in-bundle fonts, Cerno `app/public` favicons + web icons, and `Aubora/Site/assets/*` (the deployed site
copies; `make_marks.py` refreshes the group marks there). These mirror `Brand/` and stay with their code.

---

## 16. Governance

This document is the group brand source of truth; the one-page usage note is its quick reference. Any session that changes the identity updates this file and the group consolidated reference (Parts 4-5) in the same session, and bumps the version. The logo and wordmark (section 3) were finalised on 2026-06-14.

### Changelog
- **1.6 (2026-06-16).** **Consolidated `Brand/` into the single source of truth** and finished the cross-product logo pass. Built a full **logo family per brand** in `logos/<brand>/` (emblem · emblem-mono · emblem-reverse · wordmark · wordmark-reverse · lockup · lockup-reverse, each SVG + PNG 1024/512/256; the glass app-icon 1024/512/256/180; the layered `.icon`) via the new idempotent `_build/make_logo_families.py`; product wordmarks/lockups designed (Newsreader Medium, Ink + cream reverse, emblem-left lockups). **Corrected Verto** to Arthur's canonical glyph — **two chevron arrowheads only, shafts transparent** — and propagated it everywhere (Brand families, the app's `Verto.icon`, `VertoGlyph` imageset, `verto-logo.svg`, macOS `AppIcon.appiconset` ×10, `Verto.icns`, and the aubora.co product card). Clarified the **app-icon = Liquid Glass / everything-else = flat Burgundy** material rule (§7). Built `Brand/fonts/` (Newsreader, Hanken Grotesk, IBM Plex Mono) and relocated Claude Design's locked masters to `svg/_cd_sources/` (repointed `make_marks.py`). **aubora.co**: header emblem cropped + enlarged (was ~34px/minuscule), footer switched from the red mono mark to the full Dawn `mark.svg` to match the header, Verto card refreshed to arrowheads, cache token bumped, deployed to production and verified live (cache still `max-age=600, must-revalidate`, never `immutable`). **cerno.me**: web header/nav icon regenerated from the canonical 0.98 glass mark (was a stale small-glyph icon), committed + pushed. Removed the redundant scattered brand exports (`design-system/`, `_imports/`, the one-page usage note, the HTML brand sheet) now that everything lives in `Brand/`. Skill reference `arthur-document-templates/references/aubora-brand.md` synced.
- **1.5 (2026-06-15, later).** Corrected the product icons to the **actual, crafted product logos** (the v1.4 pass used from-scratch simplifications — a plain C for Cerno, a single curve for Meridian). Rebuilt each flat on solid Burgundy `#6E2433` from its real layered source: **Cerno** = two stacked proposal cards (back tilted 12°) + gilt halo & single-Bézier approval check (from `Cerno/Dataroom/03_Brand/Logo_Assets/Cerno_Icon_v4.svg`); **Meridian** = a cream crest rising to a gilt sun (from `Meridian/app/docs/branding/icon/` layers; = the approved iPhone icon, flat); **Verto** = a cream forward arrow over a gilt back arrow (from `verto-logo.svg` geometry). Re-wired across the site, all three apps, and Cerno web. **Multi-format exports** added at `Brand/svg/products/exports/<product>/`: SVG, PNG 512/1024, opaque app-icon PNG, and **Icon Composer `.icon`** for Cerno & Meridian. Also: the Aubora **group marks on aubora.co are now transparent** (the cream background rect was stripped from the site copies of `mark.svg` and `lockup-primary.svg`, so they blend with the page; the dawn glow stays). aubora.co **deployed to production** (verified live). Glyph cream standardised to Paper `#FBF9F4`. **Skill synced:** `arthur-document-templates/references/aubora-brand.md` updated (flat product icons, retired rose→wine gradient, Aubora-SASU letterhead) and pushed to iCloud `AI - Claude Skills 26` (the old `cerno-brand.md` removed; upload `.zip` refreshed).
- **1.4 (2026-06-15).** Designed the **three flat product icons** the prior record listed as outstanding — they were glossy/skeuomorphic (gradient `#8E3248→#5E1A28`, specular, drop shadows) and off-brand. Each is now a **flat burgundy `#6E2433` squircle, a cream glyph that is the product's core verb resolving into the datum line, and a single gilt point of light** (the parent's rising-sun motif): **Cerno** = a C cradling the point of light; **Meridian** = the day's curve cresting to a gilt zenith; **Verto** = two opposing arrows (convert both ways) on the line with a gilt pivot. Generator: `Brand/_build/make_product_icons.py` → `Brand/svg/products/`. Re-wired everywhere: the aubora.co site (verto-logo replaced, product marks added to the home cards + the Meridian page badge), the three apps' app icons (Cerno-iOS AppIcon, Verto macOS iconset ×10, Meridian's `.icon` bundle rebuilt flat for app + watch, opaque 1024 appiconsets), Cerno web PNGs, and the glossy-gradient tokens repointed (Cerno tailwind `rose/wine/icon-gradient` → Bindery Burgundy/Burgundy-Deep; Verto `Palette.rose/.wine` → same; Cerno `LaunchBackground` float `#FCFBF8`→`#FBF9F4`). **Glyph light purified** from the retired old-Cerno paper `#FCFBF8` to Bindery **Paper `#FBF9F4`** across product icons and the group cream/reverse marks. The aubora.co changes are built and previewed locally; **the Vercel production deploy needs Arthur's go-ahead** (the auto-classifier blocked it). Cerno `tsc` clean, Verto builds clean, Meridian builds clean. Section 7's "glossy product icons still need a flat redesign" item is now **done**.
- **1.3 (2026-06-14).** Adopted the **Dawn** mark: a fine two-tier gilt corona leaning 8 degrees forward over a **level** burgundy horizon, with an Ivory-Buff dawn glow and an **ink-on-cream** wordmark (favicon and monochrome drop the corona and glow). The four primary marks (standalone, lockup, group icon, monochrome) are **Claude Design's actual locked SVGs, used verbatim** as canonical (the lockup master is byte-identical to `design-system/assets/logos/dawn-lockup.svg`). `Brand/_build/make_marks.py` **extracts Claude Design's exact corona** from that SVG and reproduces it to generate only the derived variants Claude Design did not ship (plain-disc favicon, white monochrome, product tile, cream/tile background plates, reverse lockup, wordmarks) plus the proper **Apple Liquid-Glass layers** (`Brand/png/icon-layers/`), all strict-equivalent. PNGs and favicons regenerated; `Site/assets` refreshed; older scattered logo copies archived. Confirmed **Bindery is the single house palette** for the whole group; the legacy Cerno palette is retired as a brand colour, its old brand docs archived under `Aubora/_Archive/OLD PALETTE (pre-Bindery) DO NOT USE 2026-06/`. Product brand chrome migrated to Bindery (Cerno web type-checks clean; Meridian brand tokens migrated surgically with all medication, band, and data-line colours preserved; Verto export CSS migrated). Still open: the native Meridian/Verto builds (a human/Xcode build), and the glossy product logos/icons (Cerno icon, Verto logo, Meridian crest) which need a flat redesign, not a recolour. The "exploration, not adopted" note below is superseded. Section 3 prose still describes the earlier rayed disc and should be refreshed to Dawn; the mark itself is final in `make_marks.py`.
- **Working note — 2026-06-14 (later, exploration, not adopted, identity unchanged).** To explore a more crafted emblem (the open creative thread), three non-adopted seed directions were drawn to the rules: **A Aurora crown** (dense fine sunburst), **B Heraldic sun** (solid wedge rays), **C Dawn break** (low rising sun with an upward fan). They are reproducible via `Brand/_build/_archive/make_emblem_directions.py` (writes `…/directions/`; this exploration script and its output were archived to `Brand/_build/_archive/` on 2026-06-15). A Claude Design upload bundle was assembled at `Brand/_claude-design-bundle/` (each folder maps to a Claude Design setup-form slot, plus ready-to-paste blocks). Adopting any direction will rebuild `make_marks.py` and bump this document; until then section 3 and the current marks stand.
- **1.2 — 2026-06-14 (night).** Warmed the mark: the gilt sun now shines with a fine sunburst of rays (the plain disc read a little austere). Consistent across the icon, standalone, product, and lockup; the favicon and monochrome cut keep the plain disc for small-size clarity. A smiling-horizon variant is on file as an alternative, and a more elaborate/illustrative emblem is the natural job for Claude Design.
- **1.1 — 2026-06-14.** Finalised section 3: the logo is the **point of light** (a flat Gilt sun poised above a fine burgundy horizon, the sun set slightly left; abstract, no letter, no eye/ring), with the AUBORA wordmark and a horizontal lockup that reads left to right into the name. Retired the earlier "A with a sun in its counter" draft after review (it read as clever-literal). The logo is static; the email signature now uses the static mark, and the stale serif-A animation was removed.
- **1.0 — 2026-06-14.** First full identity. Formalised the Bindery palette, the three-face type system, the datum-line family grammar, the parent inversion, Liquid Glass icon layering, stationery, voice, and the do-not list. Logo and wordmark section reserved. Refined from the Cerno system (deeper warm burgundy, Gilt metal, Cream and Ivory Buff for the dawn).
