Brand Guidelines
The brand spine for Artifice NYC, and the system both entities inherit from. Black and white linen, one accent, two faces, two boxes.
A nonprofit for experimental discipline.
Artifice helps artists working with technology and science fiction make new work, show it, and keep a public record of how it was made.
Mission
Give experimental work the discipline and the public stage to become real, and keep the record of its making open.
Vision
A future where experimental work reaches the public while it is still being made, and the record stays open for anyone to read.
Method
Two registers run in one space — WHITEBOX (the lab) and BLACKBOX (the stage) — recorded in a public Index.
The marks
The ○✱ lockup is the parent identity. The hexagon and asterisk carry WHITEBOX and BLACKBOX. The cursive wordmarks are fixed art assets, never re-set in a live font.
Do
- Use approved files only.
- Keep clear space of at least the mark's own height.
- Place on black or white linen, high contrast.
Don't
- Recolor outside the palette.
- Add shadow, glow, bevel, stretch, or rotation.
- Re-typeset the wordmarks in any live font.
WHITEBOX / BLACKBOX
Every artifact lives in one mode, never both. The friction between them is the curatorial work.
Science · the lab
WHITEBOX
Process visible, materials labeled. Made legible to anyone who wants to understand how it was made.
Fiction · the stage
BLACKBOX
Rendered as experience and encounter, with process held back so it can be felt before it is explained.
Black, white linen, one accent
Black and white linen carry roughly 90% of every surface; cobalt is the single accent. There is no “cream.” White Linen #fcfaf5 is the only off-white.
Two faces, one job each
Helvetica Now Display carries every heading and all body — one family, differentiated by scale, never by weight or face swaps. Fragment Mono is the metadata voice: captions, labels, system text. Redaction 50 Italic appears only in rare display moments.
| Role | Face | Case | Tracking | Leading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heading | Helvetica Now Display | ALL CAPS | −1.5% | 100% |
| Body | Helvetica Now Display | sentence / caps | −1.5% | 100% |
| Caption | Fragment Mono | UPPERCASE | −1.5% | as needed |
| Display | Redaction 50 Italic | as authored | default | default |
Type decisions
- One display sans + one mono. Never a third family.
- Body and heading share Helvetica Now Display; size carries the hierarchy.
- Line length 45–75 characters; captions 30–50.
Don't
- Set the cursive wordmarks in a live font — they are art.
- Use weight swaps to make a heading; change scale instead.
- Leave single-word last lines; rebreak the line above.
Write like an editor, not a copywriter
Assume a peer. State, don't sell. Warmth comes from noticing, not adjectives. Every sentence survives one question: does it earn its space?
Do
- Observation over declaration — show the condition, trust the reader.
- Material before concept — koji in a lab, resin tied to rare-earth pricing.
- Name references only when load-bearing.
- Confidence without volume — state it plainly.
Don't
- “Excited to announce,” “groundbreaking,” exclamation points.
- Stacked one-line declarations (Nike-ad cadence).
- Investor framing — “spatial intelligence,” “the future of.”
- Explain a metaphor with a second metaphor.