Brand guidelines · v2.0

Signal design system

The intelligence layer powering agentic retail

How Intelligence Node looks, sounds, and shows its data — built to work with existing assets, not replace them.

Signal edition · July 2026

One brand idea: better intelligence

01 · Foundation

The future will not be won by better AI alone. It will be won by better intelligence — everything we make should feel like the product: confident, precise, quietly warm.

Lead with the shift

Frame the market reality first, then position Intelligence Node as the foundation. The urgency is real; don't inflate it.

Precise over promotional

Specific, verified figures beat adjectives. "99% exact-match accuracy," never "industry-leading."

Intelligence is the through-line

Every message ladders back to the core idea: real-time, trusted intelligence for human and AI decisions.

Write like an analyst, not an advertiser

02 · Voice & tone

We say

"Match similar and identical products with 99% accuracy."

"The intelligence layer powering agentic retail."

"Real-time, trusted intelligence for human and AI decisions."

We avoid

"Revolutionary, game-changing AI" — hype stacking.

"Data provider" and "pricing tool" — undersells the layer.

Exclamation marks, emoji, unverified numbers, buzzword stacks.

Sentence case everywhere, including headlines and buttons. Second person "you" for the customer; "we" sparingly. Tone dial: social — confident with a point of view · decks — declarative and quantified · product & email — plain and brief.

The dots stay exactly as they are

03 · Logo

Primary. Full-color on Paper or Surface. Default everywhere.

Reversed. White version on Ink, Astronaut, Reef, or coral only — never mid-tone backgrounds.

Clear space, minimum size, misuse

03 · Logo

Clear space

Equal to the dot-cluster radius on all sides. Nothing enters this zone.

Minimum size

Digital: 120px wide. Print: 30mm. Below that, use the dot sphere alone.

Never

Rebuild or recolor the dots · stretch or rotate · add shadows · place on mid-tone or busy backgrounds.

Eight colors. Three tiers. Nothing else.

04 · Color

Coral#FF6666 · primary · fill only

Blush#F5C4B3

Aqua#3DE0C8 · signal

Astronaut#28336F

Reef#123D3A

Paper#F2EFE9 · background

Surface#FCFBF8 · cards

Ink#161418 · all text

Paper leads. Coral marks the action.

04 · Color

Usage

Paper is the primary background for every page, screen, and slide. Surface is only for cards and panels sitting on Paper. All UI tints — borders, hovers, muted text — derive from the eight colors via opacity. If a layout feels "coral," it's wrong: coral marks the one thing the eye should land on.

Accessibility

Ink on Paper — body text · 15.95:1 White on coralbuttons · ≥14px medium, never body copy Paper on Astronaut / Reef / Ink — AAA Never: coral paragraphs · coral small text on Paper (2.49:1) · text on photos without a scrim

One typeface. Weight does the work.

05 · Typography

Display · 600Price with precision

Title · 600Market intelligence

Body · 400Monitor competitor pricing in near real-time.

Label · 500Agentic retail

Neue Haas Grotesk Display Pro everywhere — 600 for headings ≥28px, 400 for body. Office-safe fallback: Inter → Arial/Helvetica; decks using fallbacks are compliant.

99% match accuracy Pull-stat — number in 600, unit line explains it, source cited in scope.

Real retail, natural light, warm grade

06 · Imagery

photo: buyers & merchandisers at work

Subject. People in real decision contexts. No stock handshakes, no glowing AI brains, no rendered people.

photo + ink scrim 50–65%

Treatment. Ink scrim at 50–65% whenever Paper text sits on a photo. Subtle warm grade to sit with Paper.

photo aligned to grid column

Placement. Photos align to grid columns; one coral edge may tag an image. Never a coral tint over the whole photo.

The insight is coral. Everything else recedes.

07 · Data visualization

Electronics gap widened to 9.8%

4.2%

5.6%

3.1%

9.8%

GroceryApparelHomeElectronics

Source: Intelligence Node platform data, Q2 2026

Series order

1 Ink · 2 Coral · 3 Aqua · 4 ink 24% tint. Grid lines are hairlines, never coral.

Titles state findings

"Electronics gap widened to 9.8%" — not "Price gap by category."

No decoration

No 3D, shadows, or legend boxes when ≤3 series — label directly.

Three LinkedIn formats cover 90% of posts

08 · Social templates

Digital shelf

38%of PDPs are missing the attributes AI shopping agents search for.

A · Stat card — 1200×1200 · Ink · one 600-weight number · aqua signal dot.

Point of view

Agentic commerce won't wait for your catalog to be ready.

B · Insight card — 1200×1200 · Surface · statement + coral rule.

New reportThe State of Price Intelligence 2026

C · Content promo — 1200×627 · text left, gradient or asset right.

Four deck masters, one document grid

09 · Content templates

Quarterly business reviewPricing performance

Title. Ink or line-grid Paper, title bottom-left.

Act 2 · The platformMeet the intelligence layer

Content. Label, 600 header, Surface cards.

Act 3What this means for margin

Divider. Statement on a coded gradient.

99%match accuracy across 1B+ SKUs

Stat. One number per slide.

One-pager (Letter/A4): logo top-left · uppercase label · 600 title 28–34pt · Surface content blocks in 2 columns · one chart max · Ink CTA band at the foot. Margins 0.75in; body 10.5–11pt.

Designed to coexist with what exists

10 · Interoperability

Re-theme, don't rebuild

Existing decks: swap theme colors, keep layouts. Existing charts: apply the series order. Existing photos: add the ink scrim under text. Existing PDFs & posts: remain valid.

Office theme mapping

Text 1 → Ink #161418 Background 1 → Paper #F2EFE9 Background 2 → Surface #FCFBF8 Accent 1 → Coral #FF6666 Accent 2 → Aqua #3DE0C8 Accent 3 → Astronaut #28336F Headings & body → Inter (NHG Display Pro where licensed)

Rollout order for a lean team

Next steps

New social posts use the three templates immediately.

New decks start from Deck Master v02.

Update the Office theme file once; all new decks inherit it.

Leave the existing content library untouched.

Brand guidelines v2.0 · Signal · July 2026