Brand Guide — v2.1 — Effective 2026-04-18
A quiet, confident identity — engineered for decades, not trends.
This is the official brand guide for Mark Lynn Design and Lynn & Associates LLC. Every internal and client-facing artifact — memos, decks, proposals, web, print — conforms to these rules.
01 — Logo System
The mark is Mark's signature, retraced.
The ML cursive monogram is a vectorized trace of a handwritten signature. The wordmark — MARK LYNN in Cormorant Garamond Medium, D E S I G N in Libre Franklin Regular — is outlined to vector paths. Every shipped SVG is self-contained: no font, no image, no external reference. v2.1 tightens the signature-to-wordmark gap and thickens the signature stroke.
Primary lockups — Cream background
Reverse lockups — Use only on backgrounds darker than #888
Monochrome — Fax, single-color print, embossing
Monogram — Favicon, stamp, small-scale marks
Branded tiles — Square formats (print, large avatar)
Social & platform assets
Clear space, minimum size, and what never to do
- 01Clear space: keep at least the width of the "N" in LYNN around every side of the logo.
- 02Minimum size: 180px wide for horizontal, 120px wide for stacked, 32px for the monogram alone.
- 03Never re-color the signature, re-set the wordmark, or change the gap between signature and wordmark. v2.1 spacing is hard-coded.
- 04Reverse lockups (C, D) only on backgrounds darker than
#888888. Mono (E, F) only when color isn't available.
02 — Color
Five colors. One accent. One moment per composition.
Cream backgrounds dominate. Charcoal ink carries 90% of the text. Studio Green is the exclamation point the copy refuses to use — one moment per page, never a body-text background. Click any swatch to copy its hex.
03 — Typography
Two type families. Each has one job.
Cormorant Garamond is the voice — display, headlines, editorial moments. Libre Franklin is the hand — body copy, UI, labels, everything functional. Nothing else is part of the system.
Display · Cormorant Garamond
Quiet confidence,
engineered to last.
Light 300Residences
Regular 400Residences
Medium 500Residences
Italic 400Residences
Text · Libre Franklin
Two thousand six hundred residences — designed, drafted, and delivered.
Light 300Residences
Regular 400Residences
Medium 500Residences
SemiBold 600Residences
Hierarchy
| Level | Typeface | Weight | Size | Notes |
|---|
| Display | Cormorant Garamond | Light | 48–72pt | Covers, hero headlines |
| H2 | Cormorant Garamond | Regular | 28–36pt | Section titles |
| H3 Eyebrow | Libre Franklin | Medium | 14pt | ALL CAPS, tracked out |
| Body | Libre Franklin | Regular | 11–12pt | 1.5 line height |
| Caption | Libre Franklin | Regular | 9–10pt | Slate color |
Variable font masters available:
Cormorant Garamond VF
Libre Franklin VF
04 — Voice
Editorial, not promotional.
Specific, not generic. "2,600 residences," not "many homes." No exclamation points, no superlatives, no hype language. When it's tempting to say amazing, say nothing. Christian principles show up in how — integrity, patience, the long view — not in overt language on client-facing materials.
Keep
- Specific numbers, dates, places, names.
- Short sentences that earn their length.
- Statements of what is — not what might be.
- Confidence by omission — no qualifiers.
- Cormorant Garamond for voice, Libre Franklin for action.
Refuse
- Exclamation points. Ever.
- Superlatives: "premium," "luxury," "best-in-class."
- Filler: synergy, leverage, unpack, deep dive, robust, holistic.
- Stock icons, gradients, drop shadows, rounded corners over 4px.
- More than one Studio Green moment per composition.
05 — Usage Discipline
The brand reads like an architecture monograph, not a brochure.
These rules apply to every MLD and L&A artifact — proposals, decks, web, print, internal memos. When in doubt, subtract.
- 01Cream backgrounds dominate. Charcoal ink carries 90% of the text. Stone for card fills and table header rows.
- 02One Studio Green moment per composition. A rule, a button, a callout, a pull-quote bar. Never a body-text background.
- 03Generous white space. Columns narrow. Line height loose. Margins wide.
- 04Imagery: warm natural light, interiors and architecture forward, clients never posed. No stock photography.
- 05No stock icons, no gradients, no drop shadows, no rounded corners over 4px.
- 06Cormorant headline in Charcoal on Cream, with a thin Studio Green rule beneath — the signature composition.
- 07All-caps labels are Libre Franklin Medium with +80–120 tracking, in Slate. Section eyebrows only — never body.
- 08Tables: Stone header row, Cream body rows, Slate rules. No zebra striping, no vertical borders.
Combinations that work
- ◆Cormorant headline in Charcoal on Cream, with a thin Studio Green rule beneath.
- ◆Cream card floating on a Stone background, Charcoal body, Slate caption underneath.
- ◆Studio Green button with Cream text in Libre Franklin Medium, tracked out.
