Brand style guide
The launchdaylab.com brand guide
From brand ideation to visuals to logo design, by Launch Day Lab
This is the full brand behind Launch Day Lab: the idea, the logo, the colors, the fonts, the photo style and the voice. This website is built from this exact guide. Every color, font, label and line of copy on launchdaylab.com comes from what's below.
Launch Day Lab was its own first client
The site came first. I designed the sunrise-to-space gradient before there was a brand, and the space theme grew out of it: the rocket, the mission console, the flying saucer and the robot. Then I put Launch Day Lab through the same brand process my clients get, answering my own intake questions, to test one idea in both directions. Can a brand guide be built from a site, and can a site be built from a guide? After many hours building the two side by side, this page is the answer: yes, both ways.
> site built from this guide ........ [ OK ]
The brand idea
Run every site like a launch.
Every step checked, every date kept, every result reported. Real photos, real words, real proof.
WhyPlenty of web studios include photos and copy. What owners rarely see is the follow-through: a dated plan and a report on what's working. My own rule is never late, never difficult, never short on what I promised, so the brand turns that into the look.
How we got thereThe launch story was already in the site. Running my own brand process on it, with my intake answers, a look at how other Bay Area studios present themselves and three brand directions, put it into words.
01 · Logo
The Prompt
Launch Day Lab in Archivo ExtraBold, ending in a blinking orange block cursor. The icon is the same idea on a tile: a prompt and that cursor. The line is typed, the system is ready, it's go.
WhyIt's the mission console from this site turned into a mark, so it says precise without being a cartoon. The cursor is the brand's single orange signal, and the icon still reads at browser-tab size.
How we got thereThis is where the brand process did the most new work: 21 logo concepts over two sessions. I picked the Prompt, then tested it at 16 px, as a round social avatar and in one color.
Clear space: the width of the cursor on every side. The cursor is always Launch Orange; the reverse logo goes on Night and dark photos. On screen, the cursor always blinks (about once a second) in the header logo and wherever the logo appears, like a console waiting for the next line. Print, social images and anyone who has motion turned off get a solid cursor.
02 · Color
The gradient came first.
Ink and Paper do the work. Launch Orange is the one signal on any screen. Every soft tint comes from the warm end of the sunrise gradient, and the dark colors are its night end.
WhyThe brand grew out of this gradient, not the other way around. A page that runs from sunrise to space is a launch, so every accent comes from it, and keeping orange to one thing per screen means it always points at what matters.
How we got thereI designed the gradient for this site before the brand existed. The brand process kept it exactly as it was, pulled the tints and darks from it, cut the one color that wasn't in it (an old sky blue) and checked every text and background pair for contrast.
Ink#17191C
Text, buttons, the logo
Paper#FBFAF7
The page
Launch Orange#DD3A0A
The one signal
Peach#FFD0C8
Tags, words on Night
Lilac#E6D6F5
Alternate panels
Night#0A0F26
Dark sections, this footer
Also in the set: Orange text #C2330A for small orange words, Slate #4A4D52 for secondary text, Blush #FFF2EF for soft panels, Orbit #162657 for dark sections.
03 · Type
Bold headlines. A console for the details.
Archivo ExtraBold for headlines and Archivo for reading. Geist Mono for labels, prices, dates and anything the console types.
WhyArchivo is the logo's own font, so the name and the page speak in one voice: sure of itself without shouting. Geist Mono's square shapes match the block cursor, so every label looks like the logo typed it.
How we got thereChosen together with the logo so the two match. Both are free fonts, so every client file and template can use them.
Aa
Archivo
ExtraBold 800 for headlines, tight tracking. Regular 400 for body text. Sentence case, no italics.
Aa
Geist Mono
Medium and SemiBold for labels, package codes, prices and dates. Never for paragraphs.
> launch status [ GO ]
04 · Photos
Real photos, shot by me.
The owner at work, the place itself, the work, and customers in the moment. Natural, warm light and true color. Nothing stock, nothing AI-generated.
WhyThe owners I work with need customers to see the real business, and only real photos of real people can prove it. It's the same promise the brand makes to every client.
How we got thereI've been a working photographer for 10+ years, so this was the brand's first rule before anything else was decided: every photo is real.
- Owner firstThen the place, then the work, then customers in the moment.
- Shot for phonesEvery hero is shot wide and tall, so phones never crop a face.
- No filters on clientsNo orange overlays or duotones on client photos. Rounded corners and a soft shadow, that's it.
05 · Voice
Plain about money and dates.
First person, because it's one person from the first call to launch day. Short sentences, real numbers, and fun only in small places.
WhyMany owners have paid for a website before and didn't get what was promised. Plain talk about price and dates answers that up front, and “I” tells them exactly who does the work.
How we got thereWritten from my own intake answers and the way I already talk to clients, including my rule: never late, never difficult, never short on what I promised.
| I sound | Not |
|---|---|
| Precise | Technical |
| Confident | Cocky |
| Warm | Cute |
| Plain about money and dates | Salesy |
| Playful in small places | Playful in promises |
Signature lineSEO likes the proof. AI demands it.
06 · Space
Sunrise to space, then the fun.
The rocket that lifts off when you book a call, the mission console that types out the launch checklist, the flying saucer, and LDL-2027, the robot who carries the gear. Small surprises, all from the same sky.
WhyOnce the page ran from sunrise to space, a launch was the obvious story, and everything else followed it. The fun lives in small places, never in prices, dates or promises, so the site can smile without being less serious about the work.
How we got thereBuilt into the site first, while I was designing the gradient. The brand process kept every piece and turned them into rules: one full-screen moment (the launch), and every animation has a calm version for anyone who turns motion off.
- The launch"Coming soon." types out, then a rocket lifts off into the night side of the sky.
- The consoleA pre-flight checklist in the brand's mono font, with a glowing button to book a call.
- The fly-bysA flying saucer, shooting stars in the footer, and a few things to find for yourself.
The proof
A site built a guide. The guide rebuilt the site.
That was the test, and launchdaylab.com is the result: the colors, the fonts, the cursor, the console labels and the words all come from this guide now. Add the brand package to your website build and you get the same thing for your business: a full brand, and a site built from it.
Book a free 20-minute call →- > logo: the Prompt[ OK ]
- > colors from the gradient[ OK ]
- > one orange thing per view[ OK ]
- > Archivo + Geist Mono[ OK ]
- > real photos, real words[ OK ]
- > voice: "I", plain, dated[ OK ]
- > space theme: kept[ OK ]