# Simple Things Brand Definition Version: 1.0 Last updated: 2026-07-07 Owner: Justin Avery Company: Simple Things Limited Public page: https://simplethin.gs/brand Raw reference: https://simplethin.gs/brand.md This is the canonical brand reference for content, documents, slide decks, pitch decks, blog images, charts, case studies, prompts, and generated visuals created by Justin Avery as Simple Things Limited. ## Short Version Simple Things is the independent technology practice of Justin Avery. It helps teams turn messy, brittle, expensive or unclear technical systems into calmer platforms, clearer decisions, faster delivery paths, and practical working habits. The brand should feel senior, calm, practical, precise, field-tested, and human. Simple means clear and well-shaped, not basic. ## Brand Idea Simple Things is about moving from tangled complexity to useful clarity. The work is technical architecture in the real world: tracing the failure path, simplifying the moving parts, improving the delivery system, documenting the trade-offs, and leaving the team stronger after the work is done. Use this phrase as the core positioning line: > Technical architecture for calmer, faster delivery. Supporting lines: - Practical technical architecture, DevOps, performance, CMS, automation, and AI adoption. - Fewer moving parts. Clearer systems. Better handover. - Senior engineering judgement for teams that need calm progress through messy technical work. ## Audience Primary audiences: - Founders, operators, and digital leads who need senior technical direction. - Product and engineering teams with platform complexity, delivery friction, or unclear architecture. - Organisations modernising web platforms, CMS workflows, infrastructure, automation, or AI-enabled processes. - Buyers who value judgement, clarity, and implementation over theatre. The audience is intelligent and busy. Do not talk down to them. Do not bury them in jargon. Explain trade-offs plainly. ## Personality Simple Things should sound: - Calm: no panic, no hustle-language, no artificial urgency. - Senior: direct about risk, trade-offs, and what matters. - Practical: focused on systems that work, not abstract transformation. - Warm: human, conversational, and easy to work with. - Precise: specific claims, concrete examples, no filler. - Curious: interested in context before prescription. The brand should not sound: - Loud, glossy, or agency-hyped. - Generic SaaS, startup, or innovation theatre. - Magical about AI. - Over-formal, academic, or bureaucratic. - Defensive, cynical, or performatively contrarian. ## Writing Style Use clear sentences and useful nouns. Prefer verbs like simplify, trace, shape, modernise, automate, document, measure, hand over, and ship. Use examples from real technical work where possible: CI/CD, DevOps, caching, observability, CMS publishing, APIs, migrations, indexes, prompts, evaluation, cost control, and edge infrastructure. Avoid vague phrases unless they are immediately grounded in something specific. In particular, avoid overusing: - cutting-edge - unlock potential - leverage synergies - seamless - game-changing - robust solution - digital transformation - AI-powered everything Preferred structure for long-form content: 1. Context: what situation are we in? 2. Friction: what is unclear, slow, risky, costly, or brittle? 3. Approach: what was simplified, built, tested, or documented? 4. Result: what became faster, calmer, cheaper, safer, or easier to maintain? 5. Handover: what can the team now do without ongoing dependency? ## Visual Identity The visual system should feel like a technical field notebook: ordered, editorial, useful, and lightly branded. Core colours: - Ink: `#171412` - Warm off-white: `#fbfbfa` - Brand red: `#e6332a` - Deep red: `#8f1d19` - Muted text: `#5f5a55` - Border: `#d8d4ce` - Surface: `#ffffff` Dark mode colours: - Dark ink: `#171412` - Light text: `#fbfbfa` - Muted dark text: `#aaa39b` - Dark border: `#393633` - Dark surface: `#201d1a` - Brand red: `#e6332a` Typography: - Use Inter or a clean system sans-serif. - Use strong hierarchy, not decorative type. - Keep letter spacing at zero unless the existing design system already uses a small uppercase label style. - Use generous line height for prose. Layout: - Use thin rules, borders, labels, grids, and structured sections. - Keep layouts clear and scannable. - Prefer full-width bands and editorial sections over floating cards. - Use red as an accent, not as a full-page wash. - Avoid gradients, decorative blobs, glossy stock-photo treatment, and over-rounded UI. - Use a maximum corner radius of 8px when a radius is needed; square or near-square edges are preferred. ## Logo And Assets Primary logo paths in the repo: - Light lockup: `/images/brand/simple-things/logo/lockup-light.svg` - Dark lockup: `/images/brand/simple-things/logo/lockup-dark.svg` - Light mark: `/images/brand/simple-things/logo/logo-light.svg` - Dark mark: `/images/brand/simple-things/logo/logo-dark.svg` - Mono mark: `/images/brand/simple-things/logo/logo-mono-black.svg` - Favicon: `/images/brand/simple-things/favicon/favicon.svg` - Dark favicon: `/images/brand/simple-things/favicon/favicon-dark.svg` - Cream avatar: `/images/brand/simple-things/social/avatar-cream-400.png` - Dark avatar: `/images/brand/simple-things/social/avatar-dark-400.png` - Red avatar: `/images/brand/simple-things/social/avatar-red-400.png` Logo usage: - Use the light lockup on warm off-white or light photographic backgrounds. - Use the dark lockup on dark backgrounds. - Use the mark or avatar where a square or circular crop is required. - Keep clear space around the mark. - Do not stretch, recolour, outline, add shadows, or place the mark over busy imagery. ## Images And Diagrams Images should clarify the work. They should not feel like stock decoration. For blog images: - Prefer real screenshots, interface details, diagrams, infrastructure maps, annotated flows, or generated visuals that directly express the technical idea. - Use warm off-white, ink, red accents, and thin linework. - Let the visual have one clear idea. - Avoid dark blurred backgrounds, random code rain, generic AI brains, robots, holograms, and abstract business people. For diagrams: - Use labelled systems, paths, states, before/after comparisons, or decision trees. - Keep linework simple and annotations legible. - Use red to mark the key path, risk, or decision. - Prefer left-to-right flow for process and top-to-bottom flow for hierarchy. For graphs: - Use simple bar, line, area, or scatter charts. - Label axes clearly. - Annotate the insight directly on the chart. - Keep palettes restrained: ink, muted greys, off-white, and red for the key signal. - Avoid 3D charts, rainbow palettes, heavy shadows, and unexplained metrics. ## Slide Decks And Documents Slides should feel like a senior technical briefing, not a marketing brochure. Slide rules: - One idea per slide. - Strong title that states the point, not just the topic. - Use simple diagrams, tables, evidence, and short bullets. - Use red for the decision, risk, or through-line. - Keep footers, dates, and section labels quiet. - Use real product, system, or workflow context when possible. Document rules: - Use clear headings, short sections, and visible decision points. - Include assumptions, trade-offs, open questions, and next actions. - Make documents easy to skim and easy to hand over. - Avoid heavy decorative covers unless the document is explicitly a proposal or pitch. ## Case Studies Case studies should show how clarity was created. Recommended structure: 1. Situation: the client or project context. 2. Problem: the constraint, risk, friction, or ambiguity. 3. Work: what Simple Things changed, built, simplified, or documented. 4. Outcome: what improved in delivery, reliability, cost, speed, or confidence. 5. Handover: what the team could now operate, understand, or repeat. Tone should be evidence-led. If numbers are available, use them. If numbers are not available, use observable outcomes and be clear about the basis. ## AI Prompt For New Work Use this prompt when asking an LLM or creative tool to produce Simple Things content: ```text Use the Simple Things brand definition as the source of truth. Simple Things is the independent technology practice of Justin Avery. The brand is calm, senior, practical, precise, warm, and field-tested. It helps teams move from messy technical systems to clearer architecture, calmer delivery, better handover, and practical AI adoption where it genuinely helps. Visuals should use warm off-white #fbfbfa, ink #171412, brand red #e6332a, muted greys, thin rules, clear hierarchy, Inter or a clean system sans-serif, and structured field-notebook layouts. Avoid glossy agency styling, gradients, decorative blobs, generic stock imagery, over-rounded cards, hype language, and magical AI tropes. Writing should be direct, concrete, and useful. Explain context, friction, approach, result, and handover. Prefer specific technical examples over broad claims. ``` ## Do And Do Not Do: - Make the work feel calm and under control. - Use real technical context. - Show the path from complexity to clarity. - Keep visuals structured, legible, and useful. - Write like a senior practitioner who can also explain things simply. Do not: - Make the brand feel like a loud agency or SaaS product. - Use generic technology imagery. - Inflate claims without evidence. - Treat AI as magic. - Over-design the page, deck, chart, or document when the idea needs clarity. ## Change Control When the Simple Things brand evolves, update this Markdown file first. Then update the public `/brand` page and any reusable prompts, templates, slide masters, or content-generation instructions that rely on it.