# Merv brand usage guide

This is the living source of truth for applying the Merv identity. The system is called **Human Systems**: technology should feel capable, calm, useful, and shaped around people. Merv is European-rooted and internationally relevant. Do not narrow the identity to a single national claim or imply a provenance that the business has not established.

## Brand foundation

Merv Technologies builds products that remove complexity and help people do their best work. The brand pairs human warmth with technical precision: confident without swagger, clear without becoming cold, and distinctive without decoration for its own sake.

The exact core messaging is:

- Headline: **Technology, made human.**
- Tagline: **Technology that makes work simpler.**
- Description: **Merv Technologies builds products that remove complexity and help people do their best work.**
- Product endorsement: **A Merv Technologies product**

Preserve spelling, capitalization, and punctuation whenever these lines appear as brand copy.

## Naming hierarchy

Use **Merv** as the everyday brand name and primary customer-facing signature. Use **Merv Technologies** for the corporate entity, formal introductions, legal contexts, partnerships, and the product endorsement. Use **merv.tech** as the domain and compact digital signature. Product names lead in product experiences; connect them to the parent company with the approved endorsement rather than turning the corporate name into the product name.

## Voice

Write for a capable person who wants to move forward:

- Be direct and useful. Lead with what changes for the reader.
- Use warm, natural language and concrete verbs.
- Explain technical ideas plainly without talking down to people.
- Sound calm and assured; avoid hype, inflated claims, and jargon.
- Keep sentences economical, but never trade away clarity or humanity.

## Color palette and accessible use

| Token | Value | Role and accessible use |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Teal | `#46b9ac` | Primary accent, fills, and large graphic moments. Do not use for normal-sized text on white. |
| Coral | `#b94653` | Warm secondary accent and concise emphasis. Use decoratively; verify contrast before using it for text. |
| Mint | `#f3fbf9` | Quiet surface behind deep-teal text and marks. |
| Deep teal | `#173b37` | Primary text, icons, and logo on white or mint. |
| Slate | `#5c7773` | Secondary text on white; keep type at a readable size and weight. |
| White | `#ffffff` | Primary light surface and text on dark teal. |
| Dark teal | `#102f2c` | Dark surface with white text and inverse marks. |
| Border | `#cfe2df` | Dividers and non-essential boundaries, never the sole cue for state. |

Color must not be the only way information, focus, errors, or status are communicated. For any unlisted pairing, validate WCAG contrast in the final product context; target at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text and meaningful interface graphics.

## Typography

**Manrope** is the display and identity face. Use it for headlines, short moments of emphasis, and the Merv wordmark or retained symbol glyph exactly as supplied. **Inter** is the body and interface face. Use it for paragraphs, controls, labels, data, and the endorsement line. Prefer a restrained weight hierarchy and sentence case. Never recreate a logo by typing the name in a font; use the canonical SVG.

## Logos

Choose the mark that fits the context, not a newly assembled variant. The primary Merv lockup is the default. Use the corporate lockup only when the full entity name matters, the inverse lockup on dark backgrounds, the domain lockup for a compact digital signature, and the standalone symbol where the brand is already understood.

Clear space around every full lockup must be at least half the symbol width on every side. Keep that space free of text, edges, imagery, and other marks. The symbol-only mark remains usable at 16 pixels; at that size, simplify stroke rendering for clarity without changing its geometry. Minimum rendered widths are 120 pixels for the primary or inverse Merv lockup, 160 pixels for the corporate and domain lockups, and 180 pixels for the product endorsement.

Keep the supplied proportions, colors, typography, and asymmetric symbol corner. Do not stretch, rotate, outline, add effects, recolor outside the approved palette, or place the mark where contrast is weak.

## Signature shape

The organic signature shape adds warmth and movement to spacious layouts. Crop it generously, keep it secondary to content, and use only the supplied teal, coral, and mint construction. It is not a logo container or a decorative network diagram.

**No circling dot.** **No orbit line.** Do not add particles, nodes, perimeter decoration, or other motifs that suggest an orbital or network system around the symbol or signature shape.

When motion is appropriate, keep it slow and quiet: the reference morph cycle is 12 seconds and the float cycle is 10 seconds. Respect `prefers-reduced-motion`; the reduced-motion treatment is static, with no morphing, floating, or substitute looping animation.

## Product endorsement

Use the endorsement lockup to connect an independently named product to Merv Technologies. Place it once in a quiet supporting position—typically a product footer, about screen, launch end card, or the lower edge of a product marketing page. Keep it visually subordinate to the product name, aligned to the surrounding layout, and on white or mint. Render it at no less than 180 pixels wide and preserve its single-line hierarchy. Do not rewrite, stack, abbreviate, or rebuild **A Merv Technologies product**.

## Imagery

Show real people, work, tools, and environments with natural light and unforced composition. Favor moments of capability, collaboration, and relief from complexity over staged celebration. Product imagery should make the workflow legible and respect the interface's actual state. Avoid generic futurism, glowing circuitry, humanoid robots, cold server-room clichés, and decorative data networks. Use the signature shape sparingly as a framing device rather than placing it over faces or essential product detail.

## Canonical files

Always use these source files; do not export a new master from presentation or design-tool copies.

- [`tokens.json`](tokens.json) — exact names, messaging, colors, typography, and motion values.
- [`merv-symbol.svg`](../assets/brand/merv-symbol.svg) — standalone retained symbol.
- [`merv-primary.svg`](../assets/brand/merv-primary.svg) — default Merv lockup.
- [`merv-primary-inverse.svg`](../assets/brand/merv-primary-inverse.svg) — inverse Merv lockup for dark surfaces.
- [`merv-technologies.svg`](../assets/brand/merv-technologies.svg) — corporate lockup.
- [`merv-tech.svg`](../assets/brand/merv-tech.svg) — domain lockup.
- [`merv-product-endorsement.svg`](../assets/brand/merv-product-endorsement.svg) — approved product endorsement.
- [`signature-shape.svg`](../assets/brand/signature-shape.svg) — organic signature shape.
- [`social-avatar.svg`](../assets/brand/social-avatar.svg) — square social avatar.
- [`social-cover.svg`](../assets/brand/social-cover.svg) — social cover artwork.
- [`assets/brand/merv-primary-email.png`](../assets/brand/merv-primary-email.png) — raster email lockup.
- [`brand/templates/email-signature.html`](templates/email-signature.html) — usable HTML email signature.
- [`brand/templates/investor-template-content.md`](templates/investor-template-content.md) — investor-deck content model.
- [`brand/templates/merv-investor-template.pptx`](templates/merv-investor-template.pptx) — editable branded investor presentation.

When canonical assets or tokens change, update this guide and its automated brand contracts in the same change so guidance remains current.