# Venice Brand Kit (DESIGN.md)

This file is the machine-readable Venice brand system. Give it to an AI agent, IDE, or design tool as context so anything it produces stays on-brand. It covers what Venice is, how to use the logo, the color palette, typography, partnership lockups, and the approved boilerplate and executive bios. Every rule here matches the official Venice brand guidelines.

The full visual reference (with examples of correct and incorrect use) lives at venice.ai/brand.

---

## What is Venice

**In a sentence:**
Venice is a privacy-first AI platform providing unrestricted access to the world's leading AI models across text, image, video, code, and audio generation.

**In a paragraph:**
Venice is a privacy-first AI platform providing unrestricted access to the world's frontier and open-source models across text, image, video, code, and audio. Trusted by over 3 million users, Venice brings you the full power of AI without the surveillance, providing anonymized access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, alongside fully-private access to the Grok suite by xAI and leading open-source models. Venice is accessible through its app, API, and permissionlessly via staking. Venice was founded by Erik Voorhees in 2024. Learn more at venice.ai.

---

## Logo assets

The kit ships three marks, each in SVG and PNG. Every mark comes in two forms:

1. **Transparent** in the two approved ink colors, Deep Blue and Off White, to place on any background yourself: `-deep-blue` and `-off-white`.
2. **Background baked in** for each approved background, ready to drop in as-is: `-on-off-white` (Deep Blue ink), `-on-deep-blue` (Off White ink), and `-on-midnight-blue` (Off White ink).

| Mark | What it is | Files (in `logos/<mark>/`) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wordmark | The custom italic "Venice" script. The primary identifier. | `venice-wordmark-deep-blue`, `venice-wordmark-off-white`, `venice-wordmark-on-off-white`, `venice-wordmark-on-deep-blue`, `venice-wordmark-on-midnight-blue` (each `.svg` and `.png`) |
| Keys | The crossed-keys symbol (Venetian heraldry). The compact mark for icons, seals, and favicons. | `venice-keys-deep-blue`, `venice-keys-off-white`, `venice-keys-on-off-white`, `venice-keys-on-deep-blue`, `venice-keys-on-midnight-blue` (each `.svg` and `.png`) |
| Lockup | Wordmark with the crossed keys below it. The full brand stamp. | `venice-logo-lockup-deep-blue`, `venice-logo-lockup-off-white`, `venice-logo-lockup-on-off-white`, `venice-logo-lockup-on-deep-blue`, `venice-logo-lockup-on-midnight-blue` (each `.svg` and `.png`) |

Use the transparent files when you control the background and the baked-in files when you want the exact approved presentation. Always use these approved files. Never redraw, retype, or recreate any mark.

---

## Use and misuse

Use the Venice wordmark, keys, and lockup from the approved files. Keep spacing generous, preserve the artwork, and avoid improvised marks.

### Logo (lockup)
Keep the primary lockup intact and give it a clear exclusion zone.

**Correct**
- Use the approved logo artwork without modifications.

**Incorrect**
- Do not place other elements too close to the logo.
- Do not change the opacity of the icon or logo.
- Do not modify anchor points, curves, or proportions.
- Do not use the icon or logo in a stroke (outlined) format.

### Wordmark
Use the wordmark from approved files only. Do not redraw it, stretch it, recolor it into low-contrast combinations, or alter kerning.

**Correct**
- Use the approved wordmark without modifications.

**Incorrect**
- Do not add drop shadows, outlines, or other effects to the wordmark.
- Do not change the color if it makes the wordmark illegible. If in doubt, use Deep Blue or Off White.
- Do not ever change the letter kerning.
- Do not distort or stretch the wordmark in any way.

### Keys
The keys are the compact symbol for the brand. Use them cleanly and never decorate, outline, fade, or redraw the vector. The keys are also the avatar mark: use them, not the wordmark, for round profile pictures.

**Correct**
- Use the approved keys artwork without modifications.
- For profile pictures, center the keys in the round avatar with equal space on all sides, never letting the mark touch the edge of the circle.

**Incorrect**
- Do not change the opacity of the keys.
- Do not modify curves, anchor points, or proportions.
- Do not add foreign elements to the mark.
- Do not use the keys in a stroke (outlined) format.
- Do not crowd the keys to the edge of a round avatar. The circular crop will clip the mark.

---

## Colors

Use the palette with enough contrast for the environment. Venetian Blue is an accent, not a dominant background.

### Primary accent: Venetian Blue
Used only as an accent (a CTA, an active state, a link). Never a background, never a logo color.

| Name | Hex | Mode |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Venetian Blue | `#3C8FDD` | Light mode |
| Venetian Blue | `#125DA3` | Dark mode |

### Foundations
| Name | Hex | Role |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Deep Blue | `#0E2942` | Primary text and logo color on light backgrounds |
| Midnight Blue | `#0A121A` | Dark mode background |
| Off White | `#F7F5ED` | Light mode background, primary text and logo color on dark backgrounds |

### Secondary accents
| Name | Hex |
| --- | --- |
| Sea Light | `#B3D0EB` |
| Mid Sea | `#29526C` |
| Sea Dark | `#080F16` |
| Stucco Light | `#6E6B5F` |
| Stucco Mid | `#BEA989` |
| Stucco Dark | `#1C1714` |
| Neutral Light | `#FFFEFA` |
| Neutral Gray | `#6E7176` |
| Neutral Dark | `#151F28` |

### Correct color use
- Use Deep Blue, Off White, white, and Venetian Blue in controlled combinations.
- Pair light backgrounds with dark type and dark backgrounds with light type.
- Use Venetian Blue sparingly for emphasis and interactive accents.
- For the logo: use Deep Blue on light backgrounds and Off White on dark backgrounds. Always keep enough contrast for the logo to stay legible.

### Incorrect color use
The logo only appears in Deep Blue, Off White, white, or black. Venetian Blue and the secondary palette colors are never approved logo colors.
- Venetian Blue is an accent color, never a logo color.
- The logo never appears in Venetian Blue, even on a dark background.
- Stucco Mid is not an approved logo color.
- Mid Sea is a secondary accent, never a logo color.

---

## Partnerships and co-branding

Co-branding pairs the Venice wordmark with a partner logo. Keep both marks legible, give them equal weight, and let them breathe.

### Co-branded lockup
Place the Venice wordmark and the partner logo side by side, separated by a thin vertical divider.

- **Divider:** a single thin vertical rule between the two marks, in the wordmark color at reduced opacity. Center it vertically on the wordmark.
- **Partner logo:** give both marks equal visual weight. Scale the partner logo so it reads the same size as the wordmark, and align them on the same center line.
- **Spacing:** leave even space on each side of the divider, and keep clear space around the whole lockup so nothing crowds it.
- **Color:** choose the wordmark color that holds contrast against the background. Off White on dark, Deep Blue on light.

---

## Typography

The Venice type system pairs expressive display typography with clear supporting text. Headlines should feel composed, not shouted.

### Typefaces
| Role | Typeface | Use |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Display | Canela | Major headlines and expressive brand moments. |
| Supporting Sans | Aeonik | Body copy, supporting text, and interface labels. |
| Mono | Aeonik Fono | Sparingly, for technical labels and guideline captions. |

### Type scale (reference)
| Role | Typeface | Size / Leading |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Display | Canela | 64px / 0.96 |
| Heading 1 | Canela | 48px / 1.0 |
| Heading 2 | Canela | 32px / 1.04 |
| Body | Aeonik | 16px / 1.55 |
| Caption / UI | Aeonik Fono | 12px / 1.3 |

### Correct typography
- Use sentence case, intentional hierarchy, generous line-height, and readable spacing.

### Incorrect typography
- Do not use all caps for headlines or headers.
- Do not add periods to headline-style headers.
- Do not substitute typefaces within the hierarchy.

---

## Executive bios

**Erik Voorhees, Founder & CEO**
Erik Voorhees is a technology entrepreneur and a longtime advocate for privacy and free speech. One of the earliest entrepreneurs in Bitcoin, he spent more than a decade building companies that let people move and manage money freely and privately, including ShapeShift, a pioneering digital asset exchange. He became a leading voice for the idea that individuals deserve tools they can use freely and without asking permission. Now he brings that same belief to artificial intelligence as the founder and CEO of Venice, the privacy-first, uncensored alternative to ChatGPT and Claude.

**Jesse Proudman, Co-Founder, President & CTO**
Jesse Proudman is an engineer and entrepreneur with nearly three decades building large-scale infrastructure. He co-founded Blue Box Group, a managed private cloud company acquired by IBM, where he served as a Distinguished Engineer and CTO of the Blue Box division. He then founded Makara, a crypto investing platform subsequently acquired by Betterment. As co-founder and CTO of Venice, he architects the systems that make private AI possible at scale, delivering leading models without logging conversations or training on user data.

Headshots are included at `executives/erik-voorhees.jpg` and `executives/jesse-proudman.jpg`.

---

## Kit contents

```
venice-brand-kit/
├── DESIGN.md
├── logos/
│   ├── wordmark/   (Deep Blue + Off White, SVG + PNG)
│   ├── keys/       (Deep Blue + Off White, SVG + PNG)
│   └── lockup/     (Deep Blue + Off White, SVG + PNG)
├── executives/
│   ├── erik-voorhees.jpg
│   └── jesse-proudman.jpg
└── venice-brand-guidelines.pdf
```
