Rulebook
7 Sep – 13 Sep · vs previous period: 31 Aug – 6 Sep
The brand book, the label law and the printer's specification, written out as rules a machine runs. Change what one of them does and the queue at the gate is measured again, here, while you watch.
What this book does to the files at the gate
The eleven files waiting downstairs, measured against the book as it is printed and against the book as you have just changed it.
Held
4
Waiting on a person
2
Ready to approve
5
Change a setting in any section below and this strip is recalculated — by the gate itself, in this browser, on the files that are actually waiting. A rule is worth writing down when you can see what it would have caught.
How a rule is tested, and what that lets it do
The module's only real opinion, and the reason the last two columns are not settings.
Arithmetic on the file. Fails on its own, because there is nothing to argue with.
Matched in the text, and the match is printed beside the finding.
A vision model raised it. It never fails a file; it asks a person.
Nobody automated this. It is a line a person ticks before approving.
58 rules in force, 39 of them stopping a file. The rulebook in this demo is v7, in force since 4 Aug.
The words
Read on anything that carries a sentence: a caption, a headline, a listing description, a label back.
No health or diet claims
ReadHarbor Lane sells food, not medicine. A sentence promising an effect on a body is a regulatory problem wherever it goes out.
Food labelling regulation · health claims · Legal · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
No unprovable superlatives
Read"Best", "world's finest", "unbeatable" — the Brand Book calls these empty and they invite a complaint we cannot answer.
Brand Book p. 9 · voice · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
Origin named, never implied
ReadIf a lot is a blend it is called a blend. Naming a single farm on a blended coffee is the one thing this trade does not forgive.
Brand Book p. 22 · how a lot is named · Brand Guardian · last changed 30 Jun
caught 4 in the period · 1 at the gate now
No price in an organic caption
ReadPrices move by channel and go stale in a caption nobody edits. Send people to the page instead.
Brand Book p. 11 · organic posts · Social media · last changed 4 Mar
caught 0 in the period
House voice: plain, no hype punctuation
ReadNo exclamation runs, no all-caps words, no emoji stacks. The Brand Book calls the voice "quiet and specific".
Brand Book p. 9 · voice · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
Colour
The six colours, what they may sit on, and how much ink they put on a sheet of paper.
Brand palette only
MeasuredSix colours, and everything else is an accident. A cup that comes back the wrong red is the thing customers notice before they read a word.
Brand Book p. 14 · palette · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
No near misses of a brand colour
MeasuredA hex four per cent off Clay came out of a screenshot, a resave or somebody's memory. It is not a decision, it is a copy that lost something, and it is fixed by pasting the right value.
Brand Book p. 14 · palette · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 1 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Body type reaches 4.5:1 against its ground
MeasuredUnder it the words are not styled, they are gone — for anyone over forty, on a phone in daylight, or on a label in a shop with the lights the shop has. The ratio is arithmetic on the two colours, so there is nothing to discuss.
Accessibility guidelines · WCAG 2.2 · Brand Guardian · last changed 21 Jul
caught 4 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Display type reaches 3:1
MeasuredA headline carries some contrast in the stroke itself, so the floor is lower. It is still a floor.
Accessibility guidelines · WCAG 2.2 · Brand Guardian · last changed 21 Jul
caught 0 in the period
Total ink under the press ceiling
MeasuredOver three hundred per cent the sheet stops drying, sets off on the one behind it, and the run is scrapped. It is found at the press, at the worst hour of the job, unless it is found here.
Printer's specification · coated sheet-fed, 300% · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Print files are CMYK, screen files are sRGB
MeasuredAn RGB file sent to a press is converted by somebody who is not us, usually the RIP, usually at night. The greens come back grey and nobody can say who chose that.
Printer's specification · colour · Production · last changed 4 Aug
caught 2 in the period
One accent colour in a layout
Flagged for a personClay is a seasonal signal. Two accents in one piece and it stops signalling anything.
Brand Book p. 15 · accent · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
The mark
Clear space, the smallest it may be, and the ways it may not be redrawn.
Clear space of one H on every side
MeasuredThe mark needs the height of its own H clear on every side. Inside that space it stops being a mark and becomes part of whatever it is touching.
Brand Book p. 6 · clear space · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 3 in the period
Never printed under 18 mm wide
MeasuredBelow eighteen millimetres the counters in the wordmark close up on press and it prints as a smudge with a shape.
Brand Book p. 7 · minimum size · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb · print and packaging only
caught 1 in the period
Never shown under 96 px wide
MeasuredThe same closing-up, on a screen, where it also becomes the thing people tap.
Brand Book p. 7 · minimum size · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb · screen only
caught 0 in the period
Never stretched, squashed or rotated
MeasuredIt is one drawing. Scaling it by different amounts in the two directions makes a different drawing, and everybody can see it even when nobody can say why.
Brand Book p. 8 · what may not be done · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period
Two colourways only: Harbor, or reversed out
Flagged for a personHarbor on light, or the mark knocked out of a dark ground. A mark in the accent colour is a mark from another company.
Brand Book p. 8 · what may not be done · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period
Not over a busy part of a photograph
Flagged for a personA mark sitting on a pour or a crowd reads as neither. Where a layout needs it over a picture, it goes over the quiet corner.
Brand Book p. 8 · over photography · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Only the lockups in the book
On the checklistWordmark, stacked, and the roundel. A designer who needs a fourth arrangement asks for one rather than making one at four in the afternoon.
Brand Book p. 5 · lockups · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period
A reminder beside the checklist.
Type
Which faces, at what size, and — the one that stops a finished file — what the licence actually covers.
Licensed for where it is going
MeasuredA typeface licensed for the web is not licensed for a printed poster, and a stock photograph bought for social use is not cleared for packaging. The licence is checked before the file goes anywhere, not after.
Type and image licences · Legal · Legal · last changed 21 Jul
caught 1 in the period · 1 at the gate now
House faces only
MeasuredHarbor Grotesk and Lane Text, with Dock Mono for spec lines. A face nobody bought is a face nobody may use, whatever it was set in.
Brand Book p. 18 · typography · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 1 in the period
Nothing set under the surface's smallest size
MeasuredEach surface has a size below which its own type stops being read: a poster across a room, a label in a hand, a spec line on a phone.
Brand Book p. 19 · the type scale · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 1 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Mandatory text at 1.2 mm x-height or more
MeasuredThe law sets the height of the letters the law requires, not the point size — an x-height of 1.2 millimetres. It is the one type rule that is not a matter of house style, and the one that is checked in millimetres on the artwork.
Food labelling regulation · legibility · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging and print only
caught 1 in the period · 1 at the gate now
At most two families in one piece
MeasuredThree families is not a voice, it is a document that changed hands.
Brand Book p. 18 · typography · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
Real weights, never faux bold or slanted
On the checklistThe families ship the weights. A bold made by outlining and a slant made by shearing both look like what they are, at size, on paper.
Brand Book p. 19 · weights · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
A reminder beside the checklist.
The law, on a label
Set from the product record, never typed. A field the record does not hold stops the job rather than being guessed.
Every field set from the product record, never typed
MeasuredA label typed by hand is a label that is right until the recipe changes. Every required field is read from the record, and where the record does not hold one, the job stops rather than the field being filled in by whoever is nearest.
Company brain · product records · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging and print only
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
The name of the food
ReadWhat the thing is, in words a customer uses, not the marketing name on the front.
Food labelling regulation · mandatory particulars · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 0 in the period
Ingredients
ReadRequired on every food label sold in a shop, in descending order of weight. A missing ingredients line is not a design note, it is a recall.
Food labelling regulation · mandatory particulars · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Net quantity
ReadThe weight in the bag, with the estimated sign where it is used. Checked against the record rather than the artwork, because the artwork is where it gets copied wrong.
Food labelling regulation · mandatory particulars · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 0 in the period
Origin
ReadWhere the coffee is from, and for a blend, that it is a blend. The trade does not forgive a single farm named on a blended lot, and neither does the regulation.
Food labelling regulation · mandatory particulars · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Importer and address
ReadSomebody's name and a place a customer can write to. It comes from the company brain, so it is the same on every bag.
Food labelling regulation · mandatory particulars · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 0 in the period
Storage and best before
ReadHow to keep it and until when. On coffee it is also the only honest thing on the bag about how long it stays good.
Food labelling regulation · mandatory particulars · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 0 in the period
Lot or batch mark
ReadThe code that makes a recall a recall of one batch rather than of everything with that name on it.
Food labelling regulation · traceability · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 1 in the period
Allergen statement where the line is shared
ReadRoasted coffee carries none of the fourteen, but a line that also runs flavoured lots does, and the statement says so.
Food labelling regulation · allergens · Legal · last changed 9 Apr · packaging only
caught 2 in the period · 1 at the gate now
The press
The printer's own specification, in the printer's own numbers. Checked here; never called print-ready.
Enough pixels at the size it is laid out
MeasuredOn a screen this looks identical. On paper it is the difference between type and a smudge, and it is found at the press.
Printer's specification · 300 dpi at size · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 0 in the period
Three millimetres of bleed on every edge
MeasuredThe guillotine moves. Without bleed the movement shows as a white hairline down one side of half the run.
Printer's specification · bleed · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 2 in the period
Nothing within four millimetres of the trim
MeasuredThe same movement, seen from the other side: type set to the edge is type with its descenders cut off.
Printer's specification · safety margin · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 0 in the period
Every face embedded in the file
MeasuredA face that is not embedded is substituted by the RIP, silently, with whatever it has. The file opens correctly on the designer's machine and on nobody else's.
Printer's specification · fonts · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Spot colours named, and only the ones we buy
On the checklistA spot colour invented in the file becomes a fifth plate and an invoice nobody approved.
Printer's specification · separations · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 0 in the period
A reminder beside the checklist.
No light type set to overprint
On the checklistWhite set to overprint disappears on press. It is invisible on screen and in the proof, and obvious on the pallet.
Printer's specification · overprint · Production · last changed 4 Aug · print and packaging only
caught 0 in the period · 4 at the gate now
The approve button waits for this tick.
Die-line on its own layer, and not printed
On the checklistA die-line left in the artwork prints as a thin magenta rectangle around the label, on every bag.
Printer's specification · die-lines · Production · last changed 4 Aug · packaging only
caught 0 in the period · 2 at the gate now
The approve button waits for this tick.
The surface it is going to
What the place it is going to asks of it. Arithmetic, and all of it fails publicly if nobody looks first.
A shape the surface takes
MeasuredA shape the surface does not take is not a styling note. It is refused at the moment it is sent, when nobody is watching.
Channel specifications · Brand Guardian · last changed 2 Sep
caught 2 in the period
Above the channel's pixel floor
MeasuredUnder the floor the channel either refuses the upload or scales it up itself, and what it does is worse than what we would have done.
Channel specifications · Brand Guardian · last changed 2 Sep
caught 0 in the period
Inside the surface's running time
MeasuredA cut over the limit is not shortened by uploading it. It is refused, or it is trimmed where the platform feels like trimming it.
Channel specifications · Brand Guardian · last changed 2 Sep
caught 0 in the period
Headline clear of the platform's own furniture
MeasuredA covered headline is worse than a cropped one: the export looks perfect and the words sit behind a button on every phone that sees it.
Channel specifications · Brand Guardian · last changed 2 Sep
caught 3 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Inside the text the surface carries
MeasuredPast the limit the channel truncates, and it truncates at its own convenience rather than at the end of a sentence.
Channel specifications · Brand Guardian · last changed 2 Sep
caught 0 in the period
Nothing written on a marketplace main image
MeasuredEvery marketplace asks the same of a main image: the product, nothing written on it, no logo and no badge. A listing is taken down for this quietly, and nobody is told which image did it.
Marketplace listing policies · Brand Guardian · last changed 30 Jun
caught 4 in the period
Main image on a plain white ground
Flagged for a personThe ground has to be white, not nearly white, and not a white room. A model can see this and a model is often right; a person confirms it before a listing goes out on it.
Marketplace listing policies · Brand Guardian · last changed 30 Jun
caught 0 in the period · 1 at the gate now
Product fills the frame the channel asks for
MeasuredUnder the fill the listing looks like a smaller product than the one beside it, and on some channels the zoom stops working.
Marketplace listing policies · Brand Guardian · last changed 30 Jun
caught 7 in the period
Under the channel's file size
MeasuredOver it the upload fails at the end rather than the beginning, usually on the last file of the set.
Channel specifications · Brand Guardian · last changed 2 Sep · screen only
caught 0 in the period
What is already out there
The same rules, run against pages that went out months ago and nobody has read since.
The shop's name written one way
ReadHarbor Lane Coffee, spelled that way, everywhere. A second spelling on a live page is a second company as far as search is concerned.
Brand Book p. 4 · the name · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period
The current mark, not the one before it
Flagged for a personThe mark changed in February. Anything still carrying the old one is a page nobody has opened since, which is usually true of more than the logo.
Brand Book p. 5 · the mark · Brand Guardian · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period
No claim outside the approved set in a live description
ReadA sentence written into a listing two years ago is still being read today, and it is still ours. The same list the captions are checked against.
Food labelling regulation · health claims · Legal · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
A product called the same thing on every channel
ReadThree names for one bag is three products to a customer comparing them, and one of the three always has the old price.
Brand Book p. 22 · how a lot is named · Brand Guardian · last changed 30 Jun
caught 0 in the period
The approved sentence in a profile
ReadThe one line under the name is the only copy on the account most people read. It is written once and it is the same on every platform.
Brand Book p. 10 · profiles · Social media · last changed 4 Mar
caught 0 in the period
Profile picture above the mark's floor
MeasuredEvery platform shows the avatar smaller than it is uploaded. Under the mark's own floor it is a green circle.
Brand Book p. 7 · minimum size · Social media · last changed 18 Feb
caught 0 in the period
Storefront art from the current season
On the checklistA marketplace storefront banner is the one piece of our design a marketplace lets us control, and it is the one nobody remembers to change.
Brand Book p. 24 · storefronts · Brand Guardian · last changed 30 Jun
caught 0 in the period
A reminder beside the checklist.
Live pages inside the palette
Flagged for a personA theme update, a template, a marketplace's own styling: colour drifts on live pages without anybody choosing it.
Brand Book p. 14 · palette · Brand Guardian · last changed 12 May
caught 0 in the period
The palette, measured
Not a design opinion. Arithmetic on the six colours, which is why it belongs in a rulebook.The six colours
The hex the screen uses, the build the printer uses, and how much ink that build puts on one spot of paper.
| Colour | CMYK | Ink | Body type reads on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harbor#1f3a34 | 82 / 52 / 62 / 45 | 241% | Sand, Chalk |
| Sand#e8dcc8 | 8 / 11 / 22 / 0 | 41% | Harbor, Bean |
| Clay#b6613a | 22 / 70 / 82 / 8 | 182% | nothing in the book |
| Bean#40241a | 55 / 75 / 80 / 75 | 285% | Sand, Chalk |
| Sea#4d7c74 | 72 / 36 / 52 / 12 | 172% | nothing in the book |
| Chalk#faf7f1 | 1 / 2 / 4 / 0 | 7% | Harbor, Bean |
The press takes 300 per cent on one spot. None of the six is near it on its own; a rich black built as four plates at full strength is, and that is the build that gets a run scrapped.
Every pair in the book
Which ink may carry body copy on which ground, and at what ratio. Measured, so there is nothing to discuss.
The faces, and what the licence covers
The rule that stops a file which looks finished: a face bought for the web is not bought for a printed poster.
| Face | Used for | Licensed for |
|---|---|---|
| Harbor GroteskBought outright in 2024, all media. | Headlines, wordmark | screen, print, packaging |
| Lane TextPerpetual desktop plus web licence. | Body copy, labels | screen, print, packaging |
| Dock Monobreached at the gateWeb licence only. Not cleared for print or packaging — a poster using it is held here. | Spec overlays, batch numbers | screen |
What the book has changed
Each version, what it was written after, and how many rules came in with it.
v74 Aug 20266 rules
The printer's specification came in as rules: ink ceiling, bleed, safety margin, embedded faces, colour space.
v621 Jul 20263 rules
Contrast floors written down after a spec line went out on a listing in Sand on Chalk. Licence coverage made a blocking rule.
v530 Jun 20265 rules
Marketplace main-image rules taken from the channels' own policies; how a lot is named tightened after a blend was listed as an estate lot.
v412 May 20267 rules
The brand book refresh: palette, voice, superlatives, the type scale.
v39 Apr 202610 rules
The label law written out field by field, with the x-height, after a print run was held at the plate stage.
v218 Feb 202610 rules
The new mark: clear space, the two colourways, the minimum sizes, and what may not be done to it.
Nothing on this page is saved. A setting you change is measured against the files at the gate and forgotten when you leave, which is the honest version of a demo: the arithmetic is real, the consequences are not.