ASALA · Brand sheet

Ledger mark

A counting frame. Three rods leave the left post and stop at different lengths inside a closed frame, one bead on each. It reads as a frame of beads, not a letter: the studio counts before it draws.

Mark data
Grid1,000 units square
Frame100 units on all four sides (10%)
Rods100 units thick; they leave the left post and run 660, 520 and 740 units
BeadsBicone, 180 × 230 units, one per rod; the middle bead may go teal on dark grounds, nowhere else
TypeBig Shoulders Display, weight 800, optically spaced; L nudged 40 units right

Started asA façade of five fins under a roof slab.

BecameA ledger: the rods run the classic abacus way, horizontally, and stop at staggered lengths, so the shape reads as a counting frame and never as an M or an E.

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Sheet title

Primary mark

SheetI-101
Scale1:1
Date

Started asA logo on a grid.

BecameA drawing on a 1,000-unit grid: the frame is one unit of 100, each rod is one unit thick, and the dimension strings give every rod’s length from the left post.

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Sheet title

Construction

SheetI-102
Scale1:20
Date

Clear space on every side = x, two frame thicknesses (20% of the mark). Nothing enters the hatched zone. In the horizontal lockup the gap to the rule is half a mark.

Minimum sizes
UseSizeSample
Mark64 px
Mark: minimum48 px
Small cut32 px
Small cut: favicon16 px
Wordmark72 px wide
Stacked lockup56 px wide

Below 48 px use the small cut. At favicon sizes the full mark can read as a sliders icon, so the small cut is drawn on a 16-pixel grid: a thicker frame, two full-width wires, and beads counted in groups, two and one over one and two.

Started asA safe-area box.

BecameA setback, as in planning: the frame thickness is the unit of clear space, and the small cut keeps it a frame of beads at favicon size.

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Sheet title

Clear space & minimum sizes

SheetI-103
Scale1:1
Date
Stacked: footer and large uses.
Horizontal: headers. Mark at cap height, half a mark of space, a rule, half a mark, then the name.
Wordmark alone, for running text and signage.
Mark alone: app icon, favicon, lift button.

Started asLogo variations.

BecameFour lockups from one rule: the mark never sits right up against the name. Stacked it stands over the wordmark; side by side a rule and half a mark of space separate them.

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Sheet title

Lockups

SheetI-104
Scale1:1
Date
Paper on black: 19.6:1
Black on Casper: 10.6:1
Paper on Dove Grey: 4.8:1
Paper on Slab, teal bead: 16.7:1

Started asLight and dark logo versions.

BecameFour grounds from the palette. The teal bead appears only on the two darkest; the mark is never set over photography.

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Sheet title

Surfaces

SheetI-105
Scale1:1
Date
Don’t stretch or squash it.
Don’t turn it on its side. The rods run horizontally.
Don’t line the beads up or run every rod to the far post. Then it reads as a sliders icon.
Don’t draw it in outline.
Don’t set it in low contrast: Stone on black is 2.2:1.
Don’t add effects, shadows or a tint.

Started asA “don’t” page.

BecameSix ways to break the building. Each one loses the rule that makes the mark: staggered rods, counted beads, horizontal, solid, high contrast, flat.

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Sheet title

Misuse

SheetI-106
Scale1:1
Date
Contrast schedule
Text / markGroundSampleRatioUse

Started asA brand colour list.

BecameA material palette: black ground, Dove Grey as a surface (never small text on black), Casper as light. Every pair is measured; the schedule says where it may be used.

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Sheet title

Palette

SheetI-107
Scale1:1
Date
The screen: black plate, openings show the Dove Grey wall. Scale 1 tile = 64 grid units.
The shadow: the same tile with a skew and stretch from the sun’s azimuth and altitude.

Rules. Square grid only. Geometry only: squares, rotated squares, eight-point stars, square spirals and straps. Never lettering of any kind, never anything that reads as script. Used as pattern on screens, shadows, loaders and hatching; never behind body text.

Started asA decorative background pattern.

BecameA perforated screen built step by step on a square grid: square, rotated square, the eight-point khatam, interlace, square spirals, then the field. It casts the hero’s shadow.

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Sheet title

Pattern system

SheetI-108
Scale1:10
Date
2416
AAuditSpirit level
2416
SSpecifySet square and dimension line
2416
AArchitectCompass
2416
LLaunchPlumb bob
2416
AAttendCalliper

Rules. One 24-unit grid with a 2-unit margin, like the mark’s frame. A 1 px stroke that stays 1 px at every size, square caps and mitre joins, current colour only; no fills, no shading, no hatching, no text. Below 16 px each instrument drops to a simpler drawing. Read down, the letters spell the method: A·S·A·L·A. Hover or focus a symbol to see its one motion; it is off when reduced motion is on.

Started asFive words on the roof plan.

BecameFive drafting instruments: a spirit level to audit, a set square to specify, a compass to architect, a plumb bob to launch true, a calliper to attend to the fine adjustments.

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Sheet title

Method symbols

SheetI-109
Scale1:1
Date