The orange system: how The Linkage Club looks and sounds
One fruit, three colours, two typefaces and a voice that never says "synergy". The whole brand on one page.
Every brand decision here comes back to one object: an orange. Fresh, real, a little zesty. If a choice doesn't feel like that, it doesn't ship.
Three colours, no more
| Role | Colour | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Orange | #FF6200 |
| Background | White | #FFFFFF |
| Text | Black | #000000 |
Orange does the shouting: buttons, highlights, the one thing on the page we want you to notice. White gives it room. Black carries the words. A light peel tint (#FFF3EB) shows up behind cards, but it's orange at low volume, not a fourth colour.
Two typefaces
- Gabarito for headings and body. Bold, round, friendly at large sizes, easy to read at small ones.
- Geist Pixel for labels and small print, like the tags on these posts. It adds a bit of maker energy without taking over.
Headings run tight and heavy. Labels run small and uppercase. Everything else stays out of the way.
A voice with a rule
Warm, direct, a little cheeky. Short sentences. No corporate language.
Good: "real collabs. no zoom calls."
Not us: "unlock synergistic creative opportunities."
If a line would fit on a conference banner, rewrite it.
Plain names
The orange lives in the look and the voice, not the names. The meetup is the meetup. The newsletter is the newsletter. Links are links. If someone has to ask what a thing is, the name isn't doing its job.
Steal this approach
Pick one real object that carries your brand's feeling. Then let it decide your colours, your words and your names. It's much easier to say no to things when you can ask, "Is this orange?"
Got a design story of your own? Write for the Journal.