Brand guidelines

The AI Activation company.

We turn data into decisions, decisions into action, and AI into outcomes you can trust. This hub is the guide to how we say it, show it, and prove it.

Clarity. Speed. Systems that work. One brand.

Use this hub as a guide.

This hub exists to help you understand the Archetype story, the value we deliver, and how we portray our brand, so every deck, page, and post feels like it came from the same company.

Consistency compounds.

The more consistently we tell our story, the more recognizable and trusted Archetype becomes with clients, partners, and the market. When in doubt, come back here, or ask the marketing team.

Our story

Everyone has AI now. Almost no one is getting value they can trust.

88%
of organizations now use AI
95%
of companies aren't capturing substantial value from AI
78%
of executives can't confidently pass an AI governance audit

Sources: McKinsey State of AI · BCG AI Radar 2026 · Grant Thornton 2026 AI Impact Survey

Almost everyone has adopted AI. Almost none are capturing real value, and most can't yet prove it's governed and trustworthy. Closing that gap, from having AI to getting value you can trust, is the opportunity, and it is the business Archetype is in.

What we mean by AI activation

Having AI is easy. Activating it is the work.

Find the lanes

The places AI genuinely moves your business are specific. We find those, and skip the ones where it just adds cost.

Build on trust

Bring AI to your governed data, not your data to the model. Keep access auditable and stand behind every output.

Capture the value

Turn the time AI frees up into real gains in revenue, margin, or risk, measured like any capital decision, with a named owner.

That is the difference between having AI and activating it.

Who we are

Practical advisors. Hands-on builders.

In business since 2006, we work at the intersection of data, AI, and finance, designing, building, and running the systems that turn enterprise data into trusted decisions and activated AI. We build with you, not at you, and create value with our clients, not just for them.

2,900+
consulting engagements delivered
150+
staff across three continents
88%
client repeat rate

20+ years · 40+ industries · Snowflake Elite · OneStream Diamond

These are the official numbers. Retire the 82% and the website's 94%; the 88% repeat-rate definition lives in the intro deck's notes and stays internal. 2,900+ and 150+ headcount pending final confirmation.

Brand personality

Fluent Direct Proven Invested

Fluent: we speak finance and IT, business and build. Direct: we say the quiet part out loud. Proven: numbers before adjectives. Invested: we create value with our clients, not just for them. Confirm or refine with the leadership team.

Language

One positioning line, one definition of activation, and a voice that says the quiet part out loud.

The messaging spine

Positioning: Archetype is the AI Activation company. This is the first line of who we are, everywhere: decks, website, bios, proposals.

Promise: We turn data into decisions, decisions into action, and AI into outcomes you can trust. The promise chains three turns; keep all three, in that order. "Turn data into decisions that work." remains the short-form tagline where one line must stand alone.

The definition: Having AI is easy. Activating it is the work. Activation is three moves: find the lanes, build on trust, capture the value. Every campaign, proposal, and case study should ladder to one or more of these moves.

The value pattern: activation language always answers three questions, in order: what you can now do, what it is worth against where you started, and what becomes possible next, framed as "if you now do XYZ, the projected value is ABC," delivered as service, never as a pitch.

Finding our voice

Five moves define how Archetype sounds. They come straight from the material that has worked, in the room and on the page.

Say it straight

"Almost everyone has adopted AI. Almost none are capturing real value."

Name the uncomfortable truth, even when the reader is living it. Candor is our fastest route to trust; a boutique can say what the big firms won't.

Short lines, one idea

"Practical advisors. Hands-on builders."

Pairs and triads of short declarative statements. Cut every clause that is not carrying weight. If a sentence needs a comma, consider making it two.

Numbers are headlines

"2,900+ engagements. 150+ staff. 88% repeat rate."

Lead with the number, follow with the meaning, cite the source. A defensible figure beats an adjective every time; if we cannot defend it, we do not use it.

Before and after

"From having AI to getting value you can trust."

Contrast is our engine: having versus activating, wrangling versus steering, pilots versus production. Make the delta visible in one line.

Speak to their scoreboard

"Measured like any capital decision, with a named owner."

Every audience has its own win condition: the CFO, the IT leader, the partner rep, the champion. Frame value in the reader's currency, not ours.

Do

Lead with the outcome. "We turn data into decisions, decisions into action, and AI into outcomes you can trust."

Build with, not at. "We build with you, not at you, and create value with our clients, not just for them." Partnership language over vendor language, always.

End statements with a period. Positioning lines, sayings, and headlines carry a sense of finality.

Don't

Don't hide behind jargon. No "synergize," no "best-of-breed paradigms," no internal acronyms in client-facing work.

Don't oversell AI. We are the company that tells you where AI does not pay. That restraint is the brand.

Don't bury the point. If the value is in sentence three, rewrite the paragraph.

How we engage, in words

Engagement models, always named this way: Project-based delivery (clear scope, defined finish line), AIMS, Archetype Integrated Managed Services (we run and continuously optimize what we build; spell it out on first use), and Embedded expertise (our people inside your team, building capability and handing it off as we go).

Pricing, always framed input to outcome: Time & Materials (billed for time; best when scope is forming), Fixed Fee (a fixed price for a defined scope; where most of our work is today), Value-Based (our fee tied to the results we deliver). The standard line: "Most work is fixed fee, with value-based available for outcome-ready clients."

Sayings

One-liners in active use. Like the positioning line, sayings end with a period.

Having AI is easy. Activating it is the work.

From having AI to getting value you can trust.

Practical advisors. Hands-on builders.

We build with you, not at you.

We deliver the architecture. The customer stays. One deal becomes many.

A finance tool gets fitted in later. An architecture gets designed in now.

From data janitor to strategic partner.

What you can now do, and what's possible next.

Internal framings that guide how we work but stay off client materials: "Marketing is not promotion, it creates pre-engagement confidence." "We enter through experience, not pitch decks or RFPs." "Two mandates, one brand."

Color

Near-black and white space first, with five accents that each carry a job.

Foundation

Black
Hex
UseDark fields, header, hero
White
Hex
UseLight field & type on dark
Ink
Hex
UseText on light
Gray
Hex
UseSecondary text on light
Gray 2
Hex
UseSecondary text on dark
Light
Hex
UseLight panels & fills

Accents tints at 80 / 60 / 40 / 20%

Archetype Purple
Hex
JobLead accent, brand moments
Orange
Hex
JobWarm emphasis, icons
Blue
Hex
JobLinks, buttons, data
Teal
Hex
JobOutcomes, confirmation
Lime
Hex
JobSparing highlight only

Palette anchored to the logo. The color brandmark is built from #76206C, #EE5C2A, and #3DB5EB, so those are canon, with teal and lime from the palette board completing the set. The corporate deck theme (#711F70, #DD742F, #60B3ED, #3F9188, #B8CC12) and the Industry Day #E97132 are drift; retire them as templates get touched.

The brand gradient

One approved gradient: deep indigo sweeping into brand purple, darkening toward the base. Use it for feature panels, section covers, and title moments where a solid field feels flat. Type on the gradient is always white; keep it to one gradient moment per piece.

Senior-led. Execution-focused.
Brand Gradient  source: corporate deck, slide 10 (asset: image18.png)

Proportion

At a distance, Archetype reads as a near-black and white brand, purple as the lead accent, blue doing the interactive work, and the other accents in deliberate supporting roles. Color codes content; it does not decorate it.

34%
34%
12%
8%
6%
3%
3%

Usage rules

Do

Use black or white as the field; blue for links and primary buttons; accents to code content, one color per category, used consistently.

Use tints and Light for fills, backgrounds, and data visualization layers.

Check contrast: body text on color must pass WCAG AA.

Don't

Don't set long-form text in accent colors.

Don't combine multiple saturated background colors in one layout.

Don't invent new colors, or mix the retired drift hexes with this set in one piece.

Typography

Archivo carries the headlines. Roboto does the everyday work.

Primary typeface, headlines

Archivo · Regular 400 & Medium 500 · Google Fonts
The AI Activation company.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789 !@#$%^&*()?+

Archivo is a grotesque sans built for headlines at scale, and it is what the website and the corporate deck already use. The website sets display type at Regular (400), letting size do the work; use Medium (500) for subheads, card titles, and small headlines that need a little more presence. Avoid heavy weights; scale, not boldness, is the Archetype move.

Secondary typeface, body

Roboto · Light 300, Regular 400, Medium 500 · Google Fonts
We turn data into decisions, decisions into action, and AI into outcomes you can trust.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789 !@#$%^&*()?+

Roboto handles body copy, UI, captions, and tables. Light (300) on dark backgrounds, Regular (400) on light, Medium (500) for inline emphasis and buttons.

System fonts

Where brand fonts are unavailable (email signatures, editable Office documents shared externally), substitute Arial, which is also the deck template's theme fallback. Manrope appears only in the Industry Day deck; treat it as a one-off, not part of the system, unless we decide otherwise.

Hierarchy

Eyebrow · Roboto Mono · 12/18 · all caps, wide tracking, gray
Analytics that answer back
Headline · Archivo Regular · 64/70
Headlines set large, in sentence case, ending with a period.
Subhead · Archivo Medium · 30/38
Subheads bridge the promise and the proof.
Body · Roboto Regular · 17/27
Body copy is set in Roboto for effortless reading at length. Keep line lengths between 60 and 80 characters, and keep leading generous so dense subject matter stays approachable.

Principles

Do

Left-align type. Headlines at least 50% larger than body copy.

Use scale and space for emphasis, not heavy weights or all caps in running text.

Design on a grid; align text boxes to it.

Don't

Don't use other typefaces or decorative fonts.

Don't mix weights within the same text block.

Don't add drop shadows or outlines to type, and never right-align.

Visual system

A small kit of repeatable devices gives everything we make the same signature.

Dark and light in rhythm

The website sets the register: near-black for the header, hero, feature bands, and footer; white and soft gray for content in between. Follow that rhythm in everything long-form. Dark bands are for moments; white carries the reading.

Buttons: the side-bar treatment

Buttons follow the website spec exactly: 5px corner radius, Roboto Medium with 0.8px letter-spacing, and the signature detail, a 2px vertical bar on the left and right edges. The primary button is solid Blue #3DB5EB with white text and side bars in the darker #2B95C2; the secondary is a translucent field (5% white on dark, 4% ink on light) with side bars in the text color. No drop shadows. Cards, images, and stat blocks stay square; the 5px radius belongs to buttons alone. Text links are blue with an arrow.

Primary actionSecondary action   Learn More

Cards with colored line icons

Card grids follow the website's services pattern: translucent dark cards with thin borders on dark bands, white cards with light borders on light bands, each opened by a small line icon in a single accent color. One accent per card, assigned by meaning and kept consistent across the piece.

Strategy

Purple icon, white title, gray body, blue link.

Learn More
Analytics

Each card keeps exactly one accent color.

Learn More

Numbers as heroes

Big stats live in solid square blocks, black or a single accent, with the number in Archivo and a short plain-language caption. Sources go underneath in a monospace credit line. The number carries the headline weight; the caption carries the meaning; the source carries the credibility.

The triangle field

Outlined triangles drawn from the logo's geometry, in white or accent strokes at low opacity, on dark bands, exactly as the website's services section does it. Decoration only: never behind body text, never touching the logo's clear space.

The thin blue rule

A single thin blue horizontal rule may punctuate a dark hero, as on the website's homepage. One per page, never more.

Imagery

Real people doing real work, graded to sit inside the system.

Do

Authentic photography of teams, workshops, and working sessions; on dark bands, darken or dusk-grade so type and cards can sit on it, as the website's services band does.

Natural light, honest environments, candid moments of collaboration.

Architecture diagrams and line-based graphics in brand colors for conceptual topics; they are proof, not decoration.

Don't

No staged handshakes, glowing brains, or generic "digital transformation" clichés.

No heavy filters or color washes that fight the palette.

Don't place logos or dense text over busy photography without a scrim.

Working draft: this section stays intentionally light until a photography library and art direction examples are selected.