Two surfaces, one mark.
A subbie has to recognise it in a Facebook feed thumbnail on a cracked phone at 6am. A bookkeeper has to trust it in an invoice header at 4pm. The same mark has to do both, and the missing letter has to look like a decision.
Non-negotiables
- Compl, said “comply”; the pronunciation cued, the way Hnry cues “Henry”.
- The missing Y is the device, and it reads as intent, never typo.
- Plain trade English, dry humour, no fintech gloss.
- Claims Register: no crests, shields, padlocks or “approved” badges that imply HMRC endorsement.
Already in the building
- Solo’s design tokens and a “sunrise” visual theme (Confluence; not yet seen by Greg).
- A truck illustration set in production.
- Store listings in review; October go-live; site needed two weeks before.
- Switching away from sunrise costs; extending it is cheap.
The three applications, every time
- App icon: the feed thumbnail and the home screen.
- Phone notification: “£312 CIS deducted. Statement received.”
- Van door / invoice header: the two places a mark has to sit next to a trade.
Blue, teal, green, and a yellow accent.
Top hex codes pulled from each competitor’s live homepage on 5 September. Nobody in the set uses kraft, a pure ink-and-paper system, or safety orange on black. Everybody uses a rounded geometric sans.
Shantell Sans (hand-drawn)AvanttArco PerpetuoNational2FigtreeMonzo SansInter Tight · JetBrains MonoNunitoNunito Sanssystem sansThe cliché in two sentences. Fintech for sole traders is a cool blue-to-teal ground, a rounded geometric sans, a yellow or coral accent for the button, and a smiling person with a laptop. Construction marketing is hi-vis yellow, a hard hat and stencil type. Compl sits between the two categories and can borrow from neither without disappearing into one of them.
What that means for the five. Pie already owns a dark plum ground, so Direction A’s plum must sit warmer and redder or it reads as Pie’s. Monzo owns coral-orange, so A’s amber has to stay amber, not coral. CISDesk already uses hi-vis yellow in this exact niche, which is Direction D’s problem in one swatch. Nobody is on kraft (C), nobody is ink-on-paper (B), and everybody has a tick somewhere (E).
A brand needs a logo plus three or four codes it can own against its category: a colour, a type voice, a motif, a motion or sound. Each direction below is judged on whether its codes are ownable here, not on whether they are pretty.
The day starts, and it just happens.
Extends Solo’s sunrise. The “o” is the sun coming up over the site; the wordmark sits on a horizon rule exactly where the Y’s descender would have fallen. Warm serif, real dawn photography, the truck set.
“We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.”
Labour £1,200 · Materials £300 · CIS 20% −£240
Palette
Dawn plum #2B1E3F · Sunrise amber #F28C28 · Hi-vis #FFD200 (tiny) · Warm paper #FBF6EEType
Fraunces (soft, optical sizing, a little wonk) for the mark and headlines; Instrument Sans for everything else. Warm without being cute.Device
The sun-o, and the horizon rule that runs where the Y would descend. In motion: the sun rises into the o as the app opens.Where it wins
Cheapest to ship: it is Solo’s theme, extended. Feels like 6am on site rather than a bank. Photography of real dawns gives warmth the palette alone would not.Where it loses
Sun motifs are everywhere (energy, wellness, banks). Pie already owns a dark plum ground and Monzo owns coral-orange; the plum must sit redder and the amber must stay amber. Can read soft next to a hi-vis vest.Council read
Ranked 1st of five (24/30). The only unclaimed colour in the category, and already Solo’s theme. Weak device on its own. In the recommendation its palette and type become the constant.The job leaves your desk.
Purely typographic. The word is set in a heavy grotesque and the frame cuts it exactly where the Y would be. Every layout has one thing leaving the frame; in motion the Y slides off the edge and the job is gone. Ink, paper and one hi-vis stripe.
We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.
Labour £1,200 · Materials £300 · CIS 20% −£240
Palette
Ink #111111 · Paper #F5F1E8 · Hi-vis #FFD200, one stripe onlyType
Bricolage Grotesque, heavy, for the mark and headlines; Archivo for body. Confident, slightly industrial, no rounded corners anywhere.Device
The cut edge. The frame always takes the last letter. In motion the Y slides out of frame and the job is gone: “it just happens”.Where it wins
The most ownable system here: nobody in either category is ink-on-paper typographic. The truncation is not explained, it is performed. Reproduces in one colour on a van, a vest, a stamp.Where it loses
Reads unfinished unless razor-crisp. Monochrome can read cold; it needs photography or the hi-vis stripe to carry warmth. Furthest from Solo’s sunrise, so the most rework.Council read
Ranked 2nd (24/30). The only device no competitor can copy without copying the name; the story line made visual. Fails small and risks cold alone. In the recommendation its truncation becomes the wordmark, disciplined by A’s horizon rule.The brown envelope that finally brings good news.
Paperwork made beautiful. The CIS deduction statement is the hero object: mono figures, cream stock, a rubber stamp with the Y die-cut clean out of it. The most serious-looking option in the set, on purpose.
WE TOOK THE Y OUT OF COMPLY. BECAUSE IT JUST HAPPENS.
Palette
Kraft #C69A63 · Cream #F7F1E4 · Ink #1F1A17 · Reclaimed green #2F6B4F · Deduction red #B23A2EType
IBM Plex Mono for every figure; Libre Franklin for body; Archivo Narrow uppercase for stamps and labels. Money in green, money out in red, always.Device
The stamp with the Y punched out, and perforation lines. In motion: the stamp lands, the Y hole shows the amount underneath.Where it wins
Nobody is on kraft. Seriousness is a costly signal near the taxman (Sutherland). Turns the most hated object in the trade, the brown envelope, into the brand’s own. Bookkeepers will trust it instantly.Where it loses
Can read bureaucratic, or too close to HMRC’s own register (Claims Register: no implied endorsement). Harder to make a subbie smile in a feed. Kraft photographs badly on cheap screens.Council read
Ranked 3rd (18/30). Highest bookkeeper-trust score in the set; too close to dread and to HMRC to be the face of the brand. Its document discipline is kept on every Hub PDF and invoice header.Stencilled on the site gate.
Hazard tape, stencil type, hi-vis and black. The Y is masked out as if the stencil ran out of paint. The most fluent option for the audience and the most dangerous one, because the whole trade already looks like this.
We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.
Labour £1,200 · Materials £300 · CIS 20% −£240
Palette
Hi-vis #FFD200 · Black #111111 · Safety orange #FF5A1F · Concrete #B8B4ADType
Allerta Stencil for the mark; Barlow Condensed for headlines; Barlow for body. Signage, not software.Device
The stencil that ran out at the Y, and hazard tape as the rule. In motion: spray-paint reveal, the Y never arrives.Where it wins
Instantly legible to the audience; nobody has to be told who it is for. Funny in a dry way. Reproduces on anything on a site.Where it loses
The construction-marketing cliché in one swatch, and CISDesk already uses hi-vis yellow in this exact niche. Hogshead’s Copycat. Can read cheap, and a bookkeeper may not want it on an invoice.Council read
Ranked 5th (13/30). Rejected as Copycat: the construction-marketing cliché, and CISDesk already owns the yellow. Hi-vis survives at one percent as an accent, nothing else.Sent. Deducted. Done.
The council’s own completion device from the naming run. A single tick sits where the Y was and draws itself the moment an invoice sends. Calm green, clean humanist sans, nothing else.
“We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.”
Labour £1,200 · Materials £300 · CIS 20% −£240
Palette
Moss #2F6B4F · Cream #F4F1EA · Ink #1B1716 · Mint #DFF0E6Type
Manrope throughout; Fraunces italic only for the story line. Quiet, modern, forgettable on purpose.Device
The tick-as-Y, drawn on send. The one gesture that says “done” to everyone without a word.Where it wins
Reads “done”, not “typo”, at any size (Palmer). Calmest in the set; a bookkeeper would put it on a statement without a second thought.Where it loses
Ticks and green are the fintech and compliance default: QuickBooks, CIS Manager, a thousand SaaS logos. Fails Ritson’s distinctive-asset test on the motif and the colour at once. Gives up the sunrise for nothing ownable.Council read
Ranked 4th (17/30). The tick and the green are unownable. The completion motion survives inside the product as the “sent” confirmation.Done, then gone.
Greg’s choice from the five, sharpened by the council into one device with two states. Resting state: the word runs to the frame and is cut where the Y would begin, ruled by a hi-vis edge. Event state, in motion and in product only: a tick draws on that edge when an invoice sends, holds, and the whole word leaves the frame. Warm ink, warm paper, one yellow line, and nothing else.
We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.
Labour £1,200.00 · Materials £300.00 · CIS 20% −£240.00
Palette
Warm ink #17140F · Warm paper #F3EDE0 · Hi-vis #FFD200 only on the cut edge and the drawn tick · Concrete #B8B4AD for secondary text · no green, no orangeType
A heavy grotesk for the mark and site-facing headlines: Bricolage Grotesque as the interim, a less-crowded or commissioned cut as the target. Archivo for body. IBM Plex Mono for every figure. No rounded corners anywhere.One device, two states
Resting: the cut, ruled by the hi-vis edge exactly where the Y would start. Event, in motion and in product only: the tick draws on the edge in 300 ms as the Y’s two arms without its stem, holds 200 ms, and the whole word leaves the frame in 400 ms. The tick is never in a printed mark, never in the icon.Icon and documents
Icon: an ink square, the “c” in paper, the right edge in hi-vis cutting the letter; at 16px a black square with a yellow edge. Documents: the word set whole, a thin hi-vis right-margin rule, mono figures, the CIS split as the hero row; the tick only as a small ink “received” mark, never yellow, never beside a tax figure.Residual risks, stated plainly
Monochrome is cold by nature: warm ink, warm paper, duotone photography of real people at knocking-off time and a Caregiver voice must be present in every asset, or the brand is cold. A minority will always read the cut as an error, more so at small sizes. The tick is the category’s default gesture; confining it to motion keeps it out of the mark but does not make the gesture ownable. Bricolage is shared with many startups and will date. Leaving the sunrise retires Solo’s tokens and re-skins the truck set.Council score
24/30, equal to B alone and stronger where B was weak (bookkeeper trust 3 to 4, from the document rules and mono figures), one point weaker on Claims-Register safety because any tick carries an “approved” reading the rules must police. Combining B and E literally, with a static tick in the mark, would have scored 19. Anthem, in Hogshead’s sense: quietly done.One device, two states.
The same twelve experts were asked not to re-argue the choice but to make it as strong, ownable and safe as it can be, and to say plainly where it cannot be fixed. Unanimous on the rule that makes it work: the tick is an event, never part of the static mark.
What holds
- Ink and paper is the only unowned system in the category; every competitor is a coloured ground (Ritson, Fishkin).
- The cut is the name made visual; copying it means copying Compl (Ries).
- Hi-vis is the Y: one line, exactly where the missing letter would start, as the cut edge at rest and the drawn tick in the event (Ogilvy).
What it must beat
- Monochrome is cold by nature; relief has to come from photography and voice every time (Schwartz, Mark).
- A static tick in the mark makes two hammers, which is none (Ries); the tick reads “approved” unless the copy beside it is a transaction state (Ogilvy, counsel).
- Bricolage Grotesque is borrowed fashion and will date (Ritson).
The fixes adopted
- Warm the ink and paper one step each: #17140F and #F3EDE0.
- Draw the tick as the Y’s two arms without its stem; 300 ms draw, 200 ms hold, 400 ms leave (Palmer).
- Icon is a shape, never a letter or a tick: ink square, yellow edge (Fishkin).
- On documents the word is whole; mono figures; a thin yellow margin rule (Dunford).
The dissent, kept in
- Godin and Hogshead want the cut bolder and never explained; Ogilvy and Dunford want it confined and the copy working harder. Resolved by surface: bold site-facing, absent on documents.
- Ritson endorses nothing before the thumbnail and bookkeeper tests.
- Schwartz: a monochrome relief brand is a contradiction that photography and voice must resolve every single time.
The four codes
| Code | The asset | Why it is ownable against the category |
|---|---|---|
| Colour | Warm ink #17140F ground; warm paper #F3EDE0; hi-vis #FFD200 only on the cut edge and the drawn tick; concrete #B8B4AD for secondary text; no green, no orange | Nobody in the set is ink-and-paper. Yellow as a single line where the Y was is Compl’s; yellow as a ground was CISDesk’s. |
| Type | Heavy grotesk for the wordmark and site-facing headlines (Bricolage Grotesque interim; target a less-crowded or commissioned cut); Archivo for body; IBM Plex Mono for every figure | The category is rounded geometric sans and hand-drawn friendliness. A heavy grotesk with a mono for money reads “this is a document, and it is right”. |
| Motif | The cut where the Y would start, ruled by the hi-vis edge; every layout has one element leaving the frame | Unique by construction: it is the name. The rule turns a layout trick into a repeatable asset. |
| Motion | Done, then gone: the tick draws on the yellow edge in 300 ms, holds 200 ms, the word slides right and off in 400 ms; every video end card; the in-product “sent” confirmation | Competitors use spinners and static ticks. A draw-then-leave sequence is a learned code that performs the story line each time and keeps the tick out of the static mark. |
Surface rules
Site-facing (feed, van, sticker, hoarding, TikTok end card): ink ground, the cut word with the hi-vis edge, duotone photography of real people, one element leaving the frame; the tick only in motion. Documents (invoice header, statement PDF, email): paper ground, the whole word, a thin hi-vis right-margin rule, mono figures, the CIS split as the hero row; the tick only as a small ink “received” mark, never yellow, never beside a tax figure. Icon and favicon: the ink square with the yellow edge, never the tick. Copy beside any tick: transaction states only. “Sent.” “Statement in.” “£312 deducted.” Never “approved”, never “compliant”.
The story, told once
About page, launch film and the first store screenshot only: “comply” set whole with the Y in hi-vis outline, the cut version beside it, then “We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.” Every video ends on the cut word; the tick draws; the word leaves; the line fades up in paper. The voiceover says “Compl” before the card shows it. Never in ads after launch week. Archetype: Sage in the mark, Caregiver in the voice, never Jester.
Tests and pass marks
Gate A additions: after three seconds with the cut word, 85% say “comply”; 80% call the cut “on purpose”; “typo” not in the top three associations; after seeing the in-product tick, no more than 5% say “HMRC approved”. 48-hour thumbnail test against a CISDesk-style yellow ground and a teal control: beats the yellow control on next-day recognition by ten points; thumb-stop 1.3 times the teal control; 70% of stoppers can say the name; 60% answer “trades” to “who is this for?”. Bookkeeper header test: at least equal to Xero and QuickBooks on trust; under 10% say “unfinished”. Icon: 70% recognise the square at 16px after one exposure at 180px.
Scores, same six criteria
| Direction | Distinct | Subbie feed | Bookkeeper | Story | Sunrise | Claims-safe | Total /30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B The Last Letter, as drawn | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
| E Tick Done, as drawn | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| B + E literally combined (static tick in the mark) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| Done, then gone (B + E refined) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 24 |
On the five criteria that exclude the sunrise, which the founders have chosen to leave, it scores 22 of 25 against the council’s own earlier hybrid at 23 of 25. Close enough that the tests, not the table, should decide.
Twelve lines you can lift
The cut is the hammer. The tick is the hammer moving. Put the tick in the static mark and you have two hammers, which is none.
Laura RiesInk, paper, one yellow line, a heavy grotesk, a cut edge, a draw-then-leave. Six things nobody else owns. Write them down.
Mark RitsonA ruled yellow edge makes the cut a decision. On the invoice the word is whole, because that is where she decides to trust you.
David OgilvyA black-and-paper mark in a feed of teal will annoy the fintech crowd. That is the sound of fascination.
Sally HogsheadSage in the mark, Caregiver in the voice. The cut removes what you don’t need; the tick tells you you’re alright.
Margaret MarkEveryone else is a full word in a friendly sans pretending to be a bank. Compl is the one that stopped.
April DunfordA mark that is deliberately unfinished is a password. Let the tribe explain the missing letter; the brand never does after launch week.
Seth GodinLeaving a word unfinished is a costly signal of confidence, provided everything else is finished to the millimetre.
Rory SutherlandYellow as a stripe where the Y was is yours; yellow as a ground was CISDesk’s. Make the icon a square with a yellow edge, never a letter.
Rand FishkinFrame one, the missing money. Frame two, the cut. Frame three, the tick draws and leaves. Trigger, signature, relief.
Katelyn BourgoinDraw in three hundred milliseconds, hold for two hundred, leave in four hundred. The brain files it as done without reading a word.
Melina PalmerBlack and paper promise competence. This market buys relief. Put a real face at knocking-off time in every frame or it stays admired and unused.
Eugene SchwartzA’s light. B’s stop. C’s figures.
The council’s pick, named so it cannot be mistaken for a bit of everything: two directions in the name, three harvested parts, and a rule for each. A’s palette and type are the constant. B’s truncation is the wordmark, disciplined by A’s horizon rule so the stop reads as a ruled decision. C’s document discipline lives on every Hub PDF and invoice header. E’s completion motion becomes the in-product “sent”. D’s hi-vis is allowed at one percent.
“We took the Y out of comply. Because it just happens.”
| Code | The asset | Why it is ownable here |
|---|---|---|
| Colour | Dawn plum #2B1E3F ground; sunrise amber #F28C28 as the one loud colour; warm paper #FBF6EE for documents; hi-vis #FFD200 at one percent | No fintech, CIS tool or construction brand in the set uses plum. Amber-on-plum is recognisable at thumbnail size before the word is read. It is what Solo already built. |
| Type | Fraunces for the mark and headlines; Instrument Sans for body; IBM Plex Mono for every figure on a statement | The category is geometric sans. A serif with weight is the odd one out in the feed and reads “established” on the desk. Mono figures prime accuracy where the bookkeeper looks. |
| Motif | The stop: the word ends where the y would be, and the horizon rule ends flush with it. Every layout has one element that runs off the right edge | Unique by construction. Copying it means copying Compl. |
| Motion | The slide-off: 400 milliseconds, the last element settles then leaves right to left. Every video end card; the in-product “sent” confirmation | Competitors use ticks and spinners. A departure that means “done” is a learned code the brand can own. It is the story line in motion. |
Wordmark rule
Lowercase compl in Fraunces, stopped where the y would begin, with the horizon rule ending flush with the l. Below about 120px it is always paired with the product word (Compl Solo, Compl Hub). Below 40px the icon replaces the word.Icon rule
The sunrise “o” alone: an amber disc over a plum ground with the horizon rule. Favicon, app icon, social avatar. Nothing else appears at icon size. The sun never appears inside the wordmark: one hammer per surface.Register
Caregiver in the colour (“we’ve got this, you’re alright”), Everyman in the voice. Not Ruler, not Outlaw. Anthem, in Hogshead’s sense: quietly sorted.The story, told once
About page, launch film and the first store screenshot only: “comply” set in full, the y ghosted, then the line. In every video the y slides off in 400 milliseconds and “Because it just happens.” fades up in amber. Never repeated in ads.Hedges
No literal sunrise illustrations, ever; the sun exists only as the o. Amber only as display type or on plum. Kraft and stamps confined to the statement PDF, never in acquisition creative. No crests, shields or ticks in the mark. One art director owns the mark. Palette fixed after the tests, then untouched for three years.Council score
27/30, above A and B (24 each) because the surfaces are separated rather than blended. Ritson’s condition stands: nothing is fixed until it has been recognised by strangers.Twelve experts, five hats, one hammer per surface.
The same twelve who ranked the name: Ries, Ritson, Ogilvy, Hogshead, Mark, Dunford, Godin, Sutherland, Fishkin, Bourgoin, Palmer, Schwartz, simulated from their published frameworks and run through de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats on the five rooms above. Unanimous on rejecting D and E. Genuinely split on A versus B, and resolved by surface rather than compromise.
Red hat · gut
- A feels like Solo already; B feels like the only idea in the set; C makes Sutherland sit up and everyone else wince.
- D is dismissed on sight (“Screwfix with a payroll”); E is “every SaaS logo since 2015”.
Yellow hat · benefits
- Colour is the cheapest ownable asset and plum-and-amber is unclaimed (Ritson, Fishkin).
- The cut is the story line made literal; nobody can copy it without copying the name (Ries, Hogshead).
- C’s receipt discipline wins the bookkeeper’s trust on the document, where it is actually won (Dunford, Sutherland).
Black hat · risks
- The cut fails at icon size and can read as an error unless a rule disciplines it (Ogilvy, Palmer).
- Sunrise drifts to wellness softness; kraft drifts to dread and to HMRC’s register (Mark, Bourgoin).
- A hybrid is how committees make mush; one hammer per surface or nothing (Ritson, Ries).
Green hat · fixes
- Rule the stop: the horizon line ends flush with the l, so the eye reads a decision (Ogilvy).
- Sun for the icon, stop for the word, mono for the figures: three surfaces, three hammers, no overlap (Ries, Dunford).
- The slide-off as the in-product “sent”, four hundred milliseconds, gone means done (Palmer).
- A sticker with the y missing for the first five hundred users (Godin).
Blue hat · the ranking
- A First Light: the ownable colour, the existing tokens, Caregiver warmth; weak device on its own.
- B The Last Letter: the ownable device and the story line made visual; fails small and risks cold on its own.
- C The Brown Envelope: the strongest bookkeeper-trust idea and the boldest signal; too close to dread and to HMRC to be the face.
- E Tick Done: the completion motion is worth keeping inside the product; the tick and the green are unownable.
- D Site Tape: the construction-marketing cliché; harvest hi-vis as an accent, nothing else.
Godin, Hogshead and Sutherland: A alone is a brown cow; they want B’s or C’s nerve. Ogilvy, Palmer and Fishkin: B alone fails the busy reader and the small screen; they want A’s warmth and legibility. Ritson: endorses nothing before a recognition test and warns that hybrids are how committees make mush. Sutherland is the lone voice for C as the primary identity. The hybrid is the answer to all four at once only because each surface gets one hammer.
The scoring table
| Direction | Distinct in category | Subbie feed | Bookkeeper trust | Story line | Extends sunrise | Claims-Register safe | Total /30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A First Light | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 |
| B The Last Letter | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
| C The Brown Envelope | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
| D Site Tape | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| E Tick Done | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| Hybrid: First Light, Last Letter | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 27 |
What to test, and the pass marks
Inside Gate A (the name test)
Thirty subbies, ten bookkeepers, blind. After three seconds with the wordmark: at least 85% say “comply”; at least 80% call the stop “on purpose” or “a design thing”; “typo” or “unfinished” not in the top three associations.
48-hour thumbnail test
Feed mock-ups, 1:1 and 9:16, about a hundred subbies via a small boost in two trade groups; five variants: A, B, the hybrid, C, and a teal competitor-style control. The hybrid must beat A and B on next-day recognition by ten points or the better single is adopted; thumb-stop at least 1.3 times the teal control; 70% of stoppers can say the name.
Bookkeeper header test
Twenty bookkeepers. The Compl invoice header and statement rated at least equal to Xero and QuickBooks on “I would trust this document”, and clearer on “I can see the CIS deduction at a glance” by a majority.
Twelve lines you can lift
The word that stops before the y is a hammer nobody can copy without copying your name. Keep the sun for the icon.
Laura RiesFour codes, written down, never touched for three years. Distinctiveness is a habit, not a mood board.
Mark RitsonA ruled line under a stopped word is a decision. A ragged edge is a printing error. The plumber’s wife knows the difference.
David OgilvyTell the missing-letter story once, in a dry voice, then never explain it again. Explaining kills fascination; discovery feeds it.
Sally HogsheadCaregiver in the colour, Everyman in the voice. That pairing stops the cut from becoming a joke at the customer’s expense.
Margaret MarkOn a bookkeeper’s desk the brand is the deduction statement. Set the figures in mono and make the CIS split the hero row.
April DunfordGive the first five hundred a sticker with the y missing. If it ends up on a van, the identity works.
Seth GodinKraft paper in a fintech category is a costly signal: we’re not pretending to be a bank. Use it where the numbers live.
Rory SutherlandDesign for sixteen pixels, one-eighty pixels and a Facebook feed. The sun survives the first two; the cut wins the third.
Rand FishkinPut the thirty per cent in the ad’s first frame and the sunrise in the second. The mark is the relief, not the trigger.
Katelyn BourgoinWhen the invoice sends, let the y slide away. Four hundred milliseconds and the brain learns that gone means done.
Melina PalmerProblem-aware buyers need to see the problem before the sunrise. Two frames: the missing money, then the missing letter.
Eugene SchwartzSimulated personas built from each expert’s published work; the full five-hat transcript is kept with the working files. Assumption the council made and this page shares: Solo’s Confluence sunrise tokens are close to A’s plum and amber. If they differ, the colour code is re-tuned, not the structure.
From a direction to a brand guide.
- Founders’ pick: The Last Letter + Tick DoneChosen by Greg 5 Sep. The council sharpens it rather than re-arguing it; the other rooms are archived with their reasons. Sign-off below confirms it.
- Retire the sunrise formallyPull Solo’s tokens and the truck set from Confluence; re-skin the trucks in ink, paper and one yellow line; write the reasons down once.
- Wordmark to finalFreeze the one-device-two-states rule and the surface rules first. Commission or select the grotesk; draw the tick as the Y’s arms without its stem; test the joint in motion at 16px and 180px, and one colour on a sticker.
- 48-hour thumbnail test1:1 and 9:16 feed mock-ups against Hnry, Coconut and Pie; recognition and “who is this for?” at a glance. Thresholds from the council.
- Compl brand guideDeployed with a sign-off block: tokens, type, mark, motion, voice, the three applications, store assets, social templates.
- Landing page and store listing in the chosen identitycompl.co.uk live two weeks before launch; “Compl Solo: CIS invoicing” assets ready before approval completes.
Pick a direction.
Tell us which room you want to live in, or which two to combine. We keep a record of every sign-off and change request.
Sent straight to Greg. One click, no email app needed.