Fairground
Brand Guide

Fairground brand guide. Every rule here is measured from the artwork, or marked as a recommendation.

Version 1.02026Eight sections

01 Introduction

Introduction

Two ideas hold this identity together. Learn them and the rest follows.

Fairground is farm management software. It gives a farm a record of its own, so the numbers written about it by other people can be checked. The elevator writes the settlement. The retailer writes the spray bill. The machine company holds the applied rate. Fairground is paid by the farmer. That is why it can question any of them.

Whoever does the work should keep the record.

The identity carries two ideas. Everything in this guide comes back to one or the other.

A tractor and implement working a pale field, seen from above, tiny in a very large empty plane.
Fig. 01·1 A tractor and implement working a pale field. One machine, one long shadow, everything else empty. white-field-photo.jpg · 1800 × 1203

One. The black dots are data points.

The mark is four of them. The graphics scatter them across a field grid and join them with hairlines. The photography is printed as halftone, so a picture of a farmer walking a field is built from thousands of the same dot.

Look closely. You can count them.

The picture and the data are made from the same material. Nothing is standing in for anything else. Enlarge a Fairground photograph and you do not find grain. You find records.

Two. The shadow angle is the sun crossing the field.

Every dot casts a shadow. The shadow is not always in the same place.

Set the four marks side by side and the shadow swings about thirty five degrees. Those are not four different lights. It is one light, at four times of day.

It reads that way because you are looking down. Every graphic in this system is an aerial view, which is how a field is looked at. Round bales in a stubble field each cast one shadow, all pointing the same way. So do the dots.

Four charcoal dots in a diamond above the FAIRGROUND wordmark, on bone, each dot casting a soft shadow down and to the left.
Fig. 01·2 The primary lockup. Four dots, one shadow angle, the wordmark beneath. slide-07.jpg · 1400 × 1401
Round bales in a stubble field photographed from directly overhead, each throwing one shadow, all the shadows pointing the same way.
Fig. 01·3 Round bales seen from directly overhead. Each one casts a single shadow and every shadow points the same way. This is the mark, photographed. hay-bails.jpg · 1800 × 1349

How to use the two ideas

Hold any new piece up against them. Are the dots doing real work, or are they decoration? Is the sun in one place, or has each object been lit separately? Those two questions catch almost everything.

A farmer walking away down a field track, the whole photograph rendered as thousands of black halftone dots.
Fig. 01·4

A man walking away into a field, printed as halftone. The dots are coarse enough to count. Look at his shoulder, then at the crop line, and it is the same dot doing both jobs.

walking-thru-field-crop.jpg · 1800 × 1104

02 The Mark

The Mark

Four marks, one dot. Put them side by side: the dots stay the same while the time of day changes.

The dot

There is one dot. It comes in four sizes, stepped evenly. On a 1400 pixel artboard they measure 15, 28.5, 43.5 and 59 pixels across. The steps average about 14.7 pixels, so they read as a 1:2:3:4 ladder.

Nothing else in the system uses a size that is not on this ladder.

One · 15 Two · 28.5 Three · 43.5 Four · 59
The size ladder, drawn to the measured diameters at a 1400 pixel artboard. The Diamond is built entirely from size three.

The four configurations

Diamond. Four dots at size three, on the corners of a square turned forty five degrees. The square's diagonal measures four dot widths. Everything is equal. Nothing is ranked. This is the primary mark. Reach for it by default.

Column. Three dots stacked, at sizes four, three and two, largest at the top. Even spacing. It reads as a scale being read down.

Row. Four dots in a line, at sizes one, two, three and four, smallest on the left. Even spacing. It reads as something growing over time.

Plot. Four dots at roughly even horizontal steps, at sizes two, four, three and four, set at four different heights. It is a plotted series. The line rises, dips and rises again.

The Diamond is the identity. The other three are the identity doing arithmetic. Use them when the piece is about a number moving.

Diamond configuration: four equal charcoal dots on the corners of a tilted square, above the FAIRGROUND wordmark, on bone.
Fig. 02·1Diamond, on bone. Four dots at size three on a square turned forty five degrees. Shadow at about 33° below horizontal.slide-07.jpg · 1400 × 1401
Column configuration: three charcoal dots stacked vertically, largest at the top, above the FAIRGROUND wordmark, on bone.
Fig. 02·2Column, on bone. Three dots at sizes four, three and two. Shadow at about 44°.slide-08.jpg · 1400 × 1401
Row configuration: four charcoal dots in a line growing from smallest on the left to largest on the right, above the FAIRGROUND wordmark, on bone.
Fig. 02·3Row, on bone. Four dots at sizes one to four, smallest on the left. Shadow at about 50°.slide-09.jpg · 1400 × 1401
Plot configuration: four charcoal dots of differing sizes at four different heights, like a plotted series, above the FAIRGROUND wordmark, on bone.
Fig. 02·4Plot, on bone. Four dots at four heights, at sizes two, four, three and four. Shadow at about 69°, the steepest in the set.slide-10.jpg · 1400 × 1401
D 5D × 5D
The Diamond, drawn to the measurement. Four dots of diameter D sit at the edge midpoints of a square five dots across. The bounding box measures 216 by 216 pixels at a 1400 pixel artboard, and D is 43.5.

The shadow

The shadow is the second half of the mark. It is not a drop shadow added to lift the dots off the page. It is not optional.

Within any one mark, every dot shares one angle. In the Diamond, all four agree within two degrees. That is the rule: one sun, one moment, one file.

Between the marks, the angle changes.

Shadow direction, measured per file
MarkDirection the shadow fallsAzimuthMeasured spread across its own dots
DiamondAbout 33° below horizontal, to the left213°2°
ColumnAbout 44° below horizontal, to the left223°5°
RowAbout 50° below horizontal, to the left230°10°
PlotAbout 69° below horizontal, to the left248°11°

Azimuth convention. Zero degrees is due right and angles run counter clockwise, so 213° is down and to the left. The angle names the direction the shadow falls, not the direction of the light.

Read down that column and the sun moves. The Row and the Plot are harder to measure precisely because their shadows run into each other. The direction of travel is clear.

213° Diamond 223° Column 230° Row 248° Plot horizontal
The four measured directions, drawn from one dot. The swing from the Diamond to the Plot is about thirty five degrees.

The wordmark

FAIRGROUND, in capitals, in a very light geometric sans, letterspaced wide. A small TM sits after the D on the cap line.

The spacing is generous for a reason. The gap between letters runs at about sixty per cent of the cap height. That is wide enough for the word to read as a row of separate marks, rather than one block. The dots above it behave the same way.

Detail of the FAIRGROUND wordmark: light geometric capitals, widely letterspaced, with a small TM on the cap line after the D.
Fig. 02·5The wordmark. Display capitals, letterspaced at about sixty per cent of the cap height, with the TM on the cap line.slide-07.jpg, cropped to the wordmark band

How the lockup is built

Measured from logo/slide-07.jpg at 1400 pixels wide:

  • The mark's bounding box is 216 by 216. It is exactly square.
  • The wordmark's cap height is 56 pixels.
  • The gap between the bottom of the mark and the cap line of the wordmark is 148 pixels. That is about two and a half cap heights.
  • The mark centres on FAIRGROUND, not on FAIRGROUND plus the TM. Both centres fall on the same pixel column. The TM hangs off the right and is deliberately not counted.

That last detail is easy to get wrong when rebuilding a lockup by eye. Centre on the letters.

03 Logo Usage

Logo Usage

Most of this section is measured from the artwork. Where it is not, it says so.

Which mark, when

Choosing a configuration
UseReach for
Anything that identifies the companyDiamond
A page, screen or panel about a number changing over timeRow or Plot
A page about a figure being read off a scaleColumn
A space too small for the wordmark to stay legibleThe mark alone, from the same file family

If you are unsure, use the Diamond. It means Fairground, rather than a reading.

Grounds

There are two grounds: bone #EBEAE6 and charcoal #282826. The artwork is built for one or the other. The two sets are not interchangeable.

On bone, the mark is charcoal. On charcoal, the mark is not bone. It is #C7C5BD, a warmer, quieter tone. That is a deliberate choice, and an easy one to undo by accident. The reversed mark sits back instead of punching forward. Rebuilding it in bone would change that.

Both pairings clear WCAG AAA. Charcoal on bone measures 12.27:1. #C7C5BD on charcoal measures 8.55:1.

The four lockups, reversed

The Diamond lockup reversed out of a charcoal ground, the dots and wordmark rendered in a warm pale grey rather than bone.
Fig. 03·1Diamond, on charcoal. Same artwork, reversed. The dots and letters are #C7C5BD, not bone.slide-16.jpg · 1400 × 1401
The Column lockup reversed out of charcoal, three stacked pale dots above the wordmark.
Fig. 03·2Column, on charcoal.slide-17.jpg · 1400 × 1401
The Row lockup reversed out of charcoal, four pale dots growing left to right above the wordmark.
Fig. 03·3Row, on charcoal.slide-18.jpg · 1400 × 1401
The Plot lockup reversed out of charcoal, four pale dots at four heights above the wordmark.
Fig. 03·4Plot, on charcoal.slide-19.jpg · 1400 × 1401

Each supplied file is a flattened JPG with its ground baked in. Every panel here carries the ground the file was built for, so the edge of the file disappears. A mismatch would show as a visible rectangle.

Clear space Recommendation

No clear space diagram was supplied, so this is a recommendation rather than a specification.

Use one dot width as the unit. That means the width of a size three dot, the one used to build the Diamond. Keep one dot width clear on all four sides of the lockup.

Measure from the outside edge of the shadow, not the outside edge of the dot. The shadow is part of the mark. Crowding it is the same as crowding a letter.

The primary lockup with a dashed rectangle drawn one dot width outside the artwork and its shadows, showing the recommended clear space.
The inner dashed rectangle is the lockup including its shadows. The outer one sits one dot width beyond it on every side. Recommendation, not a supplied specification.

Minimum size Recommendation

No small size specimens were supplied. These are starting points. Test them in print before anything goes to press.

  • Full lockup on screen: not below 105 pixels wide, which puts the cap height near 8 pixels.
  • Diamond alone on screen: not below 40 pixels wide.
  • Row and Plot: these carry a size one dot, which is a quarter the width of the size four dot. Do not use Row or Plot where the size one dot would fall under 3 pixels. Below that, it stops reading as a dot and starts reading as dirt.
The full lockup reproduced at 105 pixels wide, the smallest size at which the wordmark still resolves.
105 px, full lockup minimum
40 px, Diamond alone minimum

File formats Recommendation

The supplied logo files are flattened JPGs with their ground baked in. There is no transparent artwork in this set. Ask the designer for vector or transparent PNG artwork before the identity goes to any third party. Until then, place the files on their matching ground and nowhere else.

Do and don't

DoPlace the bone lockup on an undisturbed bone ground, with the shadow intact and one angle across all four dots.Specification
NeverRemove the shadow. All eight logo files have it. It is half the idea, not a page effect.Specification · violation shown
NeverGive two dots in one mark different shadow angles. One sun, one moment, one file.Specification · violation shown
The Diamond mark dropped straight onto a busy aerial photograph of coloured fields, shown here as an intentional example of what not to do.
NeverPlace the lockup straight onto a photograph. On imagery the identity arrives inside a hairline circle, or inside a clearing cut out of the grid.Specification · violation shown
The full misuse list
RuleLabelWhy, and what proves it
Never remove the shadow.SpecificationAll eight logo files have it. It is not a page effect, it is half the idea.
Never give two dots in one mark different shadow angles.SpecificationMeasured. The Diamond's four dots agree within two degrees.
Never invent a new shadow angle for a lockup.SpecificationFour angles exist. Use the file that has the one you want.
Never stretch or skew the Diamond.SpecificationIt is a square turned forty five degrees, measured 216 by 216. Any stretch breaks it.
Never rebuild the reversed mark in bone.SpecificationThe reversed artwork is #C7C5BD. Measured in all four charcoal files, on both dots and letters.
Never recolour the dots in a lockup.SpecificationIn every logo file the dots are charcoal or the reverse tone. Coloured dots exist, but never beside the wordmark.
Never re-space the wordmark or move it relative to the mark.SpecificationThe lockup is fixed: 148 pixel gap, centred on the letters.
Never centre the lockup on the TM.SpecificationMeasured. The mark centres on FAIRGROUND. The TM hangs off the right.
Never place the lockup straight onto a photograph.SpecificationIt never happens in the supplied set. On photography the identity always arrives inside a hairline circle with dots on it, or inside a clearing cut out of the grid.
Never put the mark in a box, badge or keyline.SpecificationNo container appears anywhere in the set.
Never mix two configurations in one composition.RecommendationEvery supplied piece uses one. That is consistent practice, not a stated rule.
Never screen the mark as halftone.SpecificationThe dots are the mark. Halftoning them makes dots out of dots. It appears nowhere in the set.

04 Color

Color

Two colours do the work. Two more exist, and they are only ever allowed to mean something.

The two that do the work

Bone #EBEAE6 · rgb(235,234,230) The ground. About 95% of everything. Warm enough that a soft shadow reads.
Charcoal #282826 · rgb(40,40,38) The ink, and the dots themselves. Everything that is not ground. 12.27:1 on Bone. AAA
The working pair
NameHexRoleShare of surface
Bone#EBEAE6The ground.About 95% of everything
Charcoal#282826The ink, and the dots themselves.Everything that is not ground

Bone is not white. It is warm and slightly grey. That is why the shadows can be seen at all. A soft shadow on pure white looks like a printing fault. On bone, it looks like weather.

Charcoal is not black either. Sampled from the artwork, it sits at #282826.

Charcoal on bone measures 12.27:1. That clears AAA at every text size, in both directions.

The reverse tone

When the identity reverses out of charcoal, it does not go to bone. It goes to #C7C5BD, measured in all four charcoal logo files. The result is quieter and warmer than a straight knockout.

#C7C5BD on charcoal measures 8.55:1. Also AAA.

Reverse tone #C7C5BD · rgb(199,197,189) The mark and wordmark on charcoal grounds. Never used on bone. 8.55:1 on Charcoal. AAA

Teal and clay

Rare. Four appearances in forty files Teal #5E8285 · rgb(94,130,133) The cool end of a two ended ramp. Display sizes and dots only. Never used as text. 3.48:1 on Bone. Fails AA for text
Rare. Four appearances in forty files Clay #C78F77 · rgb(199,143,119) The warm end of the same ramp. Display sizes and dots only. Never used as text. 2.29:1 on Bone. Fails everything

These two are rare. They are not a general palette. They have exactly one job: they show that one thing is not another thing. Every appearance in the supplied set is a reading of some kind.

They appear here, and nowhere else:

  1. assets/graphics/slide-05.jpg. The headline runs teal on the left through neutral to clay on the right, across a single line of type.
  2. assets/motion/motion.mp4, around eight seconds. The same ramp, turned vertical, running down the four lines of the headline.
  3. assets/applications/print-4.jpg. A four dot Row, coloured. Sampled left to right: #B06966, #8E726B, #597477, #5A8382. It ramps clay to teal across the series.
  4. assets/applications/booth.jpg. Another four dot Row on the counter front. Sampled left to right: #CEC688, #D7B472, #9BA77F, #2E8D84. Gold through olive to teal.

These four are the whole population across type and dots; the same hues also serve as printing inks in one photograph.

Top #5E8285Bottom #C78F77 The vertical axis is what motion.mp4 uses. slide-05.jpg runs the same endpoints horizontally.
A headline set across a halftone field scene, the type running teal at the left through neutral to clay at the right.
Fig. 04·1The ramp on type. Teal at the start of the line, clay by the end. One line, one journey.slide-05.jpg · 2000 × 1125
A brochure spread with a row of four coloured dots above justified body copy, the dots ramping from clay through neutral to teal.
Fig. 04·2The ramp on data. Four dots, clay to teal, each with the same shadow. This is what the accents are for.print-4.jpg · 1800 × 1350

The rule that follows

Colour is a reading. It is never a decoration.

Colour may land on data. It may run across a series of dots to separate them. It may run across a display line as a gradient. It may not fill a panel, tint a button, colour a rule, carry a body of text or brighten an icon.

If you cannot say what the colour means, leave it off.

Contrast, measured

Every pairing on this page, computed with the WCAG formula
PairingRatioVerdict
Charcoal #282826 on Bone #EBEAE612.27:1AAA
Bone on Charcoal12.27:1AAA
Reverse tone #C7C5BD on Charcoal8.55:1AAA
Charcoal on Reverse tone8.55:1AAA
Clay #C78F77 on Charcoal5.36:1AA at any size
Teal #5E8285 on Charcoal3.52:1Large text only
Teal on Bone3.48:1Large text only
Clay on Bone2.29:1Fails. Never set text in it on bone.
Teal on Reverse tone2.43:1Fails. Do not pair them.

The accents are already used the way those numbers require. In the artwork, they only appear at display size or on a dot. Neither has ever carried body text. Neither should.

Colour in photography

The aerial photographs carry saturated colour, and some of it is added in post. Whole fields are mapped onto a ramp running through gold, green, teal and orange. It looks like a yield map because that is how it behaves.

Those colours belong to the photograph. They are not tokens. Do not sample them into the interface or use them as flat fills.

Fields photographed from directly above, some left as shot and some mapped onto a saturated gold, green and orange ramp.
Fig. 04·3Fields from overhead with a colour ramp laid over them. Photographic colour, not brand colour.fields-aerial-pattern.jpg · 1800 × 1011

05 Typography

Typography

Two faces. One draws, one explains.

An honest note first

The original typefaces were not supplied with these files, and their names do not appear in the artwork. What follows describes the letterforms and names the closest faces freely available on the web. Those named faces are stand-ins. They are close. They are not the same. Replace them as soon as the real names arrive.

Display

What it looks like. Monoline geometric capitals in a very light weight. The O is a full circle. The G has a straight horizontal bar and no spur. The R has a straight angled leg. The A comes to a point. Every stroke is the same width, and that width is very thin.

What it does. Headlines, the wordmark, panel statements. Capitals only. Letterspaced wide.

Jost 200 Stand-in for the unsupplied original

Display and wordmark. Capitals, very light, letterspaced wide.

A B C · a b c · 0 1 2 3

Made for your farm.

"Jost", "Futura", "Century Gothic", "Avenir Next", "Trebuchet MS", system-ui, sans-serif

Outline is its second setting. At large sizes, the display face is often set as an outline: a hairline stroke with no fill. The headline reads as drawing rather than type. A photographic object is often laid over it, covering parts of the letters. The words still read because you finish them yourself. That is the point of the device. Protect it.

Solid

Dollars speak louder than data.

Outline

Dollars speak louder than data.

  • Outline is allowed at a computed size of 56 pixels or more. Below that, a one pixel stroke on a light geometric is unreadable.
  • Outline is allowed at a viewport of 1024 pixels or more. Below that it reverts to a solid fill, including on this page.
  • Outline is never used on the page's first heading, and never on a link, button, label or table cell.
A four line headline set in outline capitals, hairline stroke and no fill, with a photographed seed laid over it covering parts of several letters.
Fig. 05·1Display, set as outline. Four lines, hairline stroke, no fill. The seed sits on top and takes out part of the W, the A and the R. It still reads.empower-headline.jpg · 2000 × 1122
MADE FOR YOUR FARM set in outline capitals with a ridged silver seed sitting inside the counter of the O, and a narrow justified column of body copy at the right.
Fig. 05·2"MADE FOR YOUR FARM." in outline, with the ridged seed occupying the counter of the O. Body copy justified in a narrow column at the right.slide-04.jpg · 2000 × 1125
DOLLARS SPEAK LOUDER THAN DATA set very large in outline capitals, with a split seed pod interrupting two of the letters.
Fig. 05·3"DOLLARS SPEAK LOUDER THAN DATA." Outline display at its largest, with the split pod interrupting two letters.slide-06.png · 2000 × 1125
The display face set solid and small in pale type on a grey photographic ground, rather than as an outline.
Fig. 05·4Display set solid rather than outline, small and light, in bone on a grey photographic ground. The same face doing a quieter job.slide-02.png · 2000 × 1125

Text

What it looks like. A neutral sans with a two storey a, a single storey g, open round letters and flat terminals cut at a slight angle. Nothing decorative.

What it does. Body copy, captions, interface labels. Sentence case. Generous line spacing. In print, it is often justified in a narrow measure. This gives the page a quiet block of grey against a good deal of empty space.

Inter 300 / 400 / 500 Stand-in for the unsupplied original

Body copy, captions and interface labels. Sentence case, generous leading.

A B C · a b c · 0 1 2 3

You did not go into farming to be buried in spreadsheets. The answers should be right there: what you grew, what it cost, the inputs you used, the profit on each load. This paragraph is set at the guide's body size, in the guide's body measure, with the leading the artwork uses.

"Inter", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif

The scale

Type scale as built
StepSizeFace and weightTrackingCaseLine height
Display 1clamp(2.5rem, 8.5vw, 5rem)Jost 200.30emUpper1.05
Display 2clamp(2rem, 5vw, 3.5rem)Jost 200.12emUpper1.1
Display 3clamp(1.375rem, 2.4vw, 1.75rem)Jost 300.10emUpper1.2
Display 41.0625remJost 400.12emUpper1.3
Ledeclamp(1.0625rem, 1.5vw, 1.25rem)Inter 3000Sentence1.7
Body1remInter 4000Sentence1.75
Small.875remInter 4000Sentence1.7
Annotation.6875remInter 500.14emUpper1.5
Data.75remInter 400, tabular.06emAs set1.5
Display 1

Fairground

Display 2

Fairground

Display 3

Fairground

Display 4

Fairground

Lede

Whoever does the work should keep the record.

Body

Whoever does the work should keep the record.

Small

Whoever does the work should keep the record.

Annotation

Whoever does the work should keep the record

Data

slide-07.jpg · 1400 × 1401 · 12.27:1

Rules

  • Capitals for display. Sentence case for text. The two never swap.
  • Outline setting belongs to large display only. Never outline body copy.
  • Letterspacing on the display face stays wide. Around sixty per cent of the cap height between letters is what the wordmark does, and headlines follow it.
  • Body copy gets air. Line spacing is generous and the measure stays narrow.
  • Justified body copy is allowed and is used in print. Do not justify anything under three lines.
  • Never set body copy in an accent colour. The contrast numbers in Section 04 rule it out.
  • Never italicise. No italic appears anywhere in the supplied set.

06 Visual Language

Visual Language

Six things recur. Learn them and you can build a new piece without asking.

The field grid

A square grid of hairlines, a little darker than the ground and drawn very fine. It is the field seen from above. Everything else sits on it.

The grid never carries content. It does not become a table, border or container. When a message needs room, the grid is cut away to make a clearing. A panel is not laid over it. Look at the ends of the lines around the message in slide-15. They stop short. Nothing covers them.

A fine square grid filling the frame with dots of several sizes placed across it, and a clearing in the centre where the grid lines stop short to make room for a line of text.
Fig. 06·1The field grid with dots on it, and a clearing cut out for the message. The grid lines stop at the edge of the clearing. Nothing is laid over the top. This page borrows the same grid.slide-15.jpg · 2000 × 1125

The dots on the grid

Dots in the four sizes, set across the grid, each casting the same shadow at the same angle. They read as records dropped on a field.

They are placed, not sprinkled. Large dots anchor the layout. Small dots sit near the edges.

The constellation

Dots joined by hairlines into a simple figure: a triangle, an X, a circle, a straight axis. The figure is always something a person could draw with a ruler and compass.

An object sits inside it. The lines are the reading. The object is the thing being read. The dots mark where the reading was taken. They often continue in a small descending series along one edge, like samples taken down a line.

An X drawn in hairlines between four dots, with two further dots sitting on the lines and a split seed pod at the crossing point.
Fig. 06·2An X drawn between four dots, with two more sitting on the lines. The split pod is at the crossing point.slide-00.png · 2000 × 1125
A hairline triangle with a dot at each corner, four smaller dots descending along its right edge, and a ridged silver seed inside.
Fig. 06·3A constellation. Three dots make a triangle in hairline, and four more descend along the right edge like samples taken down a line. The ridged seed sits inside.slide-12.png · 2000 × 1125
A single hairline axis with two arcs, dots of mixed sizes spaced unevenly along it like a number line.
Fig. 06·4An axis and two arcs. Dots sit along the axis at uneven spacing, small and large together. It behaves like a number line. This page's scroll position readout is the same device.slide-14.jpg · 2000 × 1125

The same construction carries copy. An outline headline holds the left, the object sits into a letter, and a narrow justified column holds the right margin. The object moves to sit where the letters can spare it, which is why no two of these compositions place it the same way.

Outline display type with a split seed pod set into it, and a narrow justified column of body copy held at the right.
Fig. 06·5Outline display with the pod set into it, and justified body copy held at the right.slide-01.png · 2000 × 1125
The same outline headline construction with a different line of type, the photographed object shifted to a different letter.
Fig. 06·6The same construction with a different line, showing how the object moves to sit where the letters can spare it.slide-03.png · 2000 × 1125
An aerial photograph with a hairline circle laid over it, four white dots sitting on the circle, holding the wordmark and one line of text.
Fig. 06·7The identity on photography. A hairline circle with four white dots on it, holding the wordmark and one line of text.slide-13.jpg · 2000 × 1125

The object

One seed, photographed in the studio on near white, with light hard enough to cast a real shadow.

Two objects recur: a ridged silver seed and a split pod holding pale seeds. Both are shot straight on and sit upright. Both are monochrome or nearly so. Neither is ever tinted.

A ridged silver seed photographed upright on near white, lit hard enough to throw a defined shadow.
Fig. 06·8The ridged seed, shot on near white, lit hard enough to throw a real shadow.seed-corn-kernel.jpg · 1800 × 1800
A split seed pod standing upright on near white with pale seeds visible inside, lit the same way as the ridged seed.
Fig. 06·9The split pod, seeds visible inside. The same lighting and the same treatment.seed-soybean.jpg · 1800 × 1800

The halftone

Photography rendered as a dot screen in charcoal on bone. The screen is coarse. Individual dots are visible at normal reading distance. That is deliberate. It makes the first idea in this guide visible, rather than theoretical.

The halftone appears at three scales. Full scene, as in the man walking. Object, as in the corn plant. And extreme macro, as in the two portrait crops, where a single dot is the size of a fingernail.

As noted in Colour, one warm variant, close-up-warm.jpg, prints the same screen in clay, gold and olive instead of charcoal.

Scale one: a whole scene, a man walking away down a field track, rendered as coarse black halftone dots.
Fig. 06·10Scale one, the whole scene. The same dot draws his shoulder and the crop line.walking-thru-field-crop.jpg
Scale two: a single corn plant rendered as halftone, the dots growing dense on the shadow side and opening toward the light.
Fig. 06·11Scale two, the object. The dots grow toward the shadow side and open toward the light.corn.jpg · 1800 × 1800
Scale three: a portrait cropped to an eye and a cap brim at extreme magnification, where a single halftone dot is enormous.
Fig. 06·12Scale three, the skin. Cropped to the eye and the cap brim, one dot fills a fingernail.close-up-crop-2.jpg · 1800 × 1458
A second portrait at extreme halftone magnification, the face resolving only when you step back.
Fig. 06·13A face at extreme magnification. One dot here is bigger than the whole mark on a phone screen.close-up-2-crop.jpg · 1800 × 1390
An irrigation rig cropped hard and rendered as halftone, the whole machine built from black dots.
Fig. 06·14An irrigation rig as halftone, cropped hard. At this scale the machine is entirely made of dots.irrigation-crop.jpg · 1800 × 1685
A wide halftone strip printed in clay, gold and olive inks instead of charcoal, the only warm halftone in the set.
Fig. 06·15The halftone in colour, printed in clay, gold and olive. The only warm halftone in the set.close-up-warm.jpg · 1800 × 740

The aerial

Colour photography shot directly overhead. Fields, machines, bales, patterns of cropping. Usually, a colour ramp is applied to part of the frame.

The aerial is not a mood shot. It explains why the shadows in this identity behave as they do. Put hay-bails.jpg next to slide-07.jpg and the argument makes itself.

A tractor raking a field seen from directly overhead, with a colour ramp applied across the lower right of the frame.
Fig. 06·16A tractor raking, from directly overhead, with a colour ramp across the lower right.aerial-view-of-tractor.jpg · 1800 × 1349
Fields from above, some left as photographed and some mapped onto a saturated colour ramp.
Fig. 06·17Fields from above, some left as photographed and some mapped onto a ramp. Colour as a reading.fields-aerial-pattern.jpg · 1800 × 1011

Rules for building a new piece

  • Everything is lit by one sun. Every dot, every object, every bale. If a piece has two shadow directions in it, something is wrong.
  • Empty space is the material. These layouts use one object, one line and a lot of nothing. The nothing is not waiting to be filled.
  • Hairlines only. Rules, constellations and grids are drawn at the finest weight that survives the medium. There are no heavy rules anywhere in this system.
  • Type goes on the pale part. On a halftone, put charcoal type where the screen is open. Never where it is dense.
  • The ramp is for fields. Colour grading appears on fields and crops. Not on people, not on objects, not on the mark.

Do and don't: imagery

Imagery rules
RuleLabel
Do shoot fields from directly overhead. Every aerial in the set is straight down, not oblique.Specification
Do keep the halftone screen coarse. A reader should be able to see one dot without leaning in.Specification
Do give the studio object a real shadow. Both objects are lit to throw one.Specification
Don't put charcoal type on the dense part of a halftone. Type sits on the open screen.Specification
Don't apply the colour ramp to a person or an object. It appears only on fields and crops.Specification
Don't drop the lockup onto a photograph. Use the hairline circle, or cut a clearing.Specification
Don't tint the studio objects. They are monochrome everywhere they appear.Specification
Don't crop a halftone so tight that the subject is unreadable. The macro crops still resolve into a face.Recommendation

07 Motion

Motion

Two films. Between them they explain the shadow and the dots better than any diagram.

How these were examined

The two films are supplied as MP4. They were not played for this guide. Still frames were pulled from both at one second intervals and examined one by one. Everything below is visible in a frame. Nothing is inferred.

The logo film

assets/motion/motion-logo.mp4. 17 seconds, 1280 by 720, 30 frames per second.

It cycles through the marks. The Diamond appears with the wordmark, then alone. The Row appears, then the Column. Late in the film, the four marks and their lockups share one frame.

Fig. 07·1 17 seconds. The four marks, and the shadow moving under them. Watch the angle, not the dots. The film moves the cast shadow across the same range the four static lockups hold, from 213° to 248°. Silent, with no audio track. motion-logo.mp4 · 1280 × 720 · 57 KB

Watch the shadow. Across the frames, it sits at several different angles beneath the same dots. The film is the shadow rule in motion. It makes the clearest argument in the whole set that the angle is a variable, not a mistake.

The main film

assets/motion/motion.mp4. 27 seconds, 1280 by 720, 30 frames per second.

Four things happen in it.

Fig. 07·2 27 seconds. An object, a headline, a field of travelling dots, and a diamond that closes around the message. Silent, with no audio track. motion.mp4 · 1280 × 720 · 247 KB

The object in the triangle. The ridged seed sits inside a hairline triangle, with a dot at each corner. Four smaller dots run down the right edge in a descending series. Body copy holds the right margin. Every dot casts the same shadow.

The headline. "EMPOWER HOW YOUR FARM WORKS." is set in four lines and carries the vertical ramp. Teal at the top, through neutral, to clay on the last line. This is one of only two places in the whole supplied system where the accents run across type.

The field. A grid of hairlines fills the frame. Dots of different sizes sit across it, each with the same soft shadow falling the same way. They travel. The grid does not.

The clearing. The dots arrive at a diamond around the centre of the frame. Inside that diamond, the grid lines stop. A clean shape remains, holding the wordmark and one line of text: "Cutting through the complexity of day to day management."

That last beat is worth naming. The mark forms itself around the message. Four dots, in the diamond's four positions, frame what is being said. The logo is not stamped on the film. It is where the film arrives.

The sun, measured

Four marks, four angles, one light. The fifth dot is this page's own. The light on every dot spans the artwork's full range from the top of the page to the bottom. Like sunlight, it changes too slowly to watch.

213° Diamond slide-07, slide-16
223° Column slide-08, slide-17
230° Row slide-09, slide-18
248° Plot slide-10, slide-19
213°, primary lockup this page

Rules for motion

  • Dots move. They do not change. Across every frame, they stay charcoal and stay on the size ladder. Nothing scales up to be emphatic. Nothing fades to be subtle.
  • The sun holds still within a scene. Every dot in a frame shares one shadow angle.
  • The grid is the ground. Within a scene, the grid stays put and the dots travel across it.
  • Arrive, do not announce. The identity resolves at the end from elements already on screen.
  • Ease, never bounce. Nothing in the frames suggests overshoot or spring.

Reduced motion Recommendation

This is not addressed in the supplied files, so it is a recommendation.

Give both films a poster frame that stands on its own. Loop them muted, with no autoplay sound and no captions burned in. Where a visitor has asked their system for reduced motion, show the poster frame and a play control instead of a running loop.

This page follows its own advice. Neither film carries an autoplay attribute in the markup. Autoplay is added by script only where motion is welcome, so a reader with reduced motion set, and a reader with no script at all, both land on the poster frame and a play control.

08 Applications

Applications

Six pieces. Print, screen and a room. The same six moves in each.

The identity holds together across them because nothing is reinvented. A brochure spread and a trade stand panel use the same outline headline, the same object, the same halftone and the same empty space. Only the scale changes.

Two things are worth noticing.

The dot does interface work. On the phone screens, the page indicator is three dots. The active one is charcoal and the others sit pale. Nobody had to invent an interface element. The system already had one.

Colour only ever shows up on data. It appears twice in these six pieces. Once as a coloured Row of four dots above the brochure body copy. Once as a coloured Row on the trade stand counter. Both times, it separates a series. Never a fill. Never a frame.

A three panel trade stand in bone and charcoal: an outline headline with a seed pod, the Diamond lockup over a halftone of a man walking into corn, and a second outline headline with the ridged seed. The counter front carries a halftone corn plant and a row of four coloured dots.
Fig. 08·1A three panel trade stand. Left panel "DOLLARS SPEAK LOUDER THAN DATA." with the pod. Centre panel the Diamond lockup over a halftone of the man walking into corn. Right panel "MADE FOR YOUR FARM." with the ridged seed. The counter front carries a halftone corn plant and a coloured Row running gold to teal.booth.jpg · 1800 × 1403
A landscape brochure lying open with a second cover across it. The left page runs an aerial of bales with a colour split, the right page body copy above a halftone walker, and the cover an outline headline with a seed pod set into two letters.
Fig. 08·2A landscape brochure, open, with a second cover laid across it. The left page runs an aerial of bales with the colour split. The right page carries body copy above the halftone walker.print-1.jpg · 1800 × 1350
A brochure spread: the left page carries a row of four coloured dots above justified body copy with a halftone corn plant running off the edge, the right page the ridged seed on a hairline axis.
Fig. 08·3A brochure spread. Left page: the coloured four dot Row above justified body copy, with a halftone corn plant running off the fore edge. Right page: the ridged seed on a hairline axis, with four small dots spaced unevenly along the line.print-4.jpg · 1800 × 1350
A laptop, phone and tablet on a bone ground. The laptop shows a halftone portrait with the wordmark and copy, the phone a seed pod inside a hairline X, the tablet an aerial tractor with the identity inside a hairline circle.
Fig. 08·4Laptop, phone and tablet on bone. The laptop runs a halftone portrait at the right with the wordmark and copy at the left. The phone shows the pod inside a hairline X. The tablet shows the aerial tractor with the identity held inside a hairline circle.devicesmockup.jpg · 1800 × 1200
A phone onboarding screen: the Diamond lockup centred above three lines of copy, a three dot page indicator with the first dot filled, and an outlined button.
Fig. 08·5Onboarding, first screen. The Diamond lockup centred, three lines of copy, a three dot page indicator and an outlined button. The first indicator dot is filled. This is the brand's own product using the dot as interface furniture, and it is why this guide does the same.phone-mockup-6.jpg · 1800 × 1188
A second phone onboarding screen: a seed pod inside a hairline X with a dot at each of the four ends, and the second page indicator dot now filled.
Fig. 08·6Onboarding, second screen. The pod inside a hairline X with a dot at each of the four ends. The second indicator dot is now the filled one.phone-mockup-8.jpg · 1800 × 1188

Copy taken from the artwork

These lines are read off the supplied files. They are evidence, not drafts, and they are reproduced exactly as they appear.

Headlines

  • EMPOWER HOW YOUR FARM WORKS.
  • MADE FOR YOUR FARM.
  • DOLLARS SPEAK LOUDER THAN DATA.
  • FROM THE BACK OFFICE TO THE BACK FORTY.
  • Cutting through the complexity of day-to-day management

Interface

  • Continue with Email

Body

  • "You didn't go into farming to be buried in spreadsheets. With Fairground you have actionable, up-to-date analysis at a glance, not piles of numbers. The answers are right there: what you grew, what it cost, inputs used, profits per load, and more. No noise or extra layers, just the information you need to decide with confidence."
  • "Fairground is made for how your farm works. It's an extension of you and your operation: your land, your equipment, your workforce, your plans and financials, all in one place. Always know what's happening, from the back office to the back forty. Keep plans, teams and partners up to date in real-time. Make profitable decisions grounded in your data, not averages."
  • "How you use scarce resources can make or break your year. Fairground shows you what you have to work with, where to focus your resources, and how you're tracking against forecasts. Fine tune as you go to get the biggest bang from planting, inputs, and labor. Leave nothing on the table."
  • "No matter how early you start, a day only has so many hours. We help you squeeze more productivity into every one."

Assets

What is in the folder

Everything below is a presentation still or a film frame from the identity deck. None of it is production artwork. The logo files are flattened JPGs with the ground baked in, so they can only be placed on the ground they were built for.

Production vector files are available on request. Ask the designer for SVG or EPS artwork, and for a transparent variant set, before the identity goes to any third party.

Logo stills

8 files · Flattened JPG, 1400 × 1401, ground baked in

Graphics

12 files · JPG and PNG, 2000 px wide

Imagery

12 files · JPG, 1800 px wide

Applications

6 files · JPG, 1800 px wide

Motion

4 files · MP4 with poster frames, 1280 × 720, silent
What is missing, and what to ask for
ItemStatus
Vector or transparent logo artworkNot supplied. All eight logo files are flattened JPGs with the ground baked in.
The mark alone, without the wordmarkNot supplied as a file. It appears inside the logo film, the booth panel and the phone screens, but was never delivered on its own.
Typeface namesNot supplied and not derivable. Section 05 names stand-ins and says so.
Print colour valuesNot supplied. No Pantone or CMYK specification exists in these files, and none has been invented.
Clear space and minimum sizesNot supplied. Section 03 gives recommendations, labelled as recommendations.
graphics/slide-11.pngRemoved. It was byte for byte identical to slide-00.png. One is shown.