The House system.
A brief governance of marks, colours, type, and conduct. To be followed without discussion.
Three marks. No others.
The house operates three identity marks. Any fourth will be regarded as forgery and pursued accordingly.
I. Wordmark — Primary
"IMPERIOUS." set in Cormorant Garamond, 44px letterspaced. The period is oxblood. Always paired with horizontal rule and house inscription.
- Minimum width
- 120px / 32mm print
- Clear space
- Equal to the cap-height of "I" on all sides
- Permitted on
- Ivory, ink, oxblood grounds only
II. Monogram — Secondary
The bracketed italic "I." for favicons, wax seals, envelope corners, bag stamps. Used when the wordmark would be unseemly.
- Minimum size
- 16px / 4mm
- Never
- Scaled beyond 120px without supervision
- Stamped on
- Wax, paper, linen, leather
III. Seal — Ceremonial
The circular seal bears the house motto in full — TU NON DIGNUS ES, translated beneath as "You are not worthy." Reserved for correspondence, wax impressions, invitations declined, and certificates of refusal.
- Motto (inner)
- TU NON DIGNUS ES
- Motto (translation)
- YOU ARE NOT WORTHY
- Minimum diameter
- 36mm. Smaller renderings are unreadable and, frankly, embarrassing.
- Permissible uses
- Letters of rejection, wax seals, the bottom of handwritten cards, certificates of non-fulfilment.
Four colours. This is already two too many.
Oxblood is used sparingly, for the full stop, the seal, and the point at which we are forced to raise our voice. Old Brass is reserved exclusively for foil stamping and may not be rendered on screen.
Two typefaces. No others will be entertained.
Display — Cormorant Garamond
NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmno
pqrstuvwxyz
Used for all display settings, product names, pull quotes, and any occasion that calls for a degree of ceremony. Italic oxblood for emphasis only; never for running text.
Support — Inter
TUVWXYZ 0123456789
MAISON · DE · CAFÉ · MMXXVI
Reserved for nav, labels, metadata, specifications, and small-caps utility settings. Never set in sentence case. Never set above 14px.
We speak as follows.
House copy is terse, formal, and quietly condescending. Warmth is to be avoided. Enthusiasm is unacceptable.
Instead of "Welcome"
Instead of "Add to cart"
Instead of "Thank you"
Instead of "Sorry"
Instead of "Sale"
Instead of "Follow us"
The house speaks this way.
- — Use the first-person plural. "We" is the only correct pronoun for the house.
- — Prefer "shall" to "will"; "one" to "you" where possible.
- — End sentences with full stops, not exclamation marks. Ever.
- — Permit the em-dash. Avoid the emoji.
- — When amused, be drily amused. Never pleased.
We do not speak this way.
- — Never use "hi," "hey," or any variant of friendly greeting.
- — Never describe anything as "delicious," "exciting," or "handcrafted."
- — Never use emojis, GIFs, or imagery suggesting joy.
- — Never apologise without a condition attached.
- — Never, under any circumstance, employ the phrase "just launched."
Asset files, for the deserving few.
Supplied without passwords, watermarks, or documentation. You will know how to use them, or you will not.
Misuse will be noticed. It will not be corrected; it will be remembered.