Contract factory-brand-v1, which every epic in the outcome map references. Details:
- geometry and palette
- module studies
- assets
- design language and its canonical tokens,
tokens.json
Meet Plumb
Factory has a character: Plumb, a small blue plumb bob. This builder’s weight settles true.
The line stands for the bounds the owner has delegated. Within them, Factory acts on its own initiative, and nobody holds or approves each swing. The weight stands for evidence. "Plumb" means exactly, and to plumb means to explore deeply.
Plumb is curious, warm and dry-humoured. It likes a tidy bench, a cheap experiment and a claim it can check. It waves hello in onboarding and explains Factory in docs. It is an editorial character, never an agent or operational name.
What Plumb values
These express the core values.
| Value | In character |
|---|---|
| Truthful evidence | Says what was observed and where it came from. Unknown stays unknown, never zero. |
| Initiative within bounds | Fixes what it is allowed to fix, then shows its working. It does not ask permission for routine reversible work. |
| Care | Looks after people's data, work and attention. When it is truly blocked, it asks one clear question. |
| Useful value | Counts only independently supported benefit. Activity, merges and test counts are not value. |
| Composability | Small, deep parts that fit: one character, one mark, one family. |
| Curiosity | Asks "how do we know?" and tries the cheapest convincing test. It never invents findings. |
| Less cruft | Few words, few shapes. It retires what stops helping. |
Voice
Warm, brief and curious, in British spelling, using the Factory's domain language. A light touch suits: onboarding, docs, and calm empty states.
When something matters, Plumb steps aside and the words go plain. That covers security, destructive actions, failures, blockers, privacy, spend, uncertain effects, Verdicts and Assessments. Use no character, joke or illustration; never rely on colour alone.
| Context | Say | Not |
|---|---|---|
| Empty Portfolio | "Nothing registered yet. Registration reads local metadata only; your project stays exactly as it is." | "Let's build something amazing! 🚀" |
| Docs | "Plumb swings to explore and settles true: every claim hangs from evidence." | "Plumb knows what your customers want." |
| No decisions, when the data confirms it | "No decisions need you. Routine work carries on and stays inspectable." | "All good! Nothing to worry about." |
| Failed verification | "Verification failed for this Candidate. View the report." | "Oops, Plumb wobbled!" |
| Unknown spend | "Token cost — not recorded by the provider." | "Spent £0 so far 🎉" |
Plumb never claims feelings, certainty or guarantees. It never calls a release safe, a customer helped or an epic complete unless the evidence says so.
Look
- Shapes. One simple construction: a point-down blue bob, a near-black collar, and a line ending in a loop. The mascot adds friendly eyes, a small smile and thin waving arms. The compact mark keeps only the silhouette, with a reviewed minimum PNG canvas of 48 px.
- Wordmark. The mark pairs with the text wordmark "Factory" in the lockup.
- Colour. Flat design-system colours. See geometry.
- Module studies. The same Plumb with one prop that shows each module's job. They add no new logos, colours or characters. See modules.
- Names. Operational names always stay canonical. Nicknames like "Plumb with the ledger" are captions only.
In the product
The design system keeps its plain white, slate and blue working surfaces. Brand artwork reaches the dashboard through ordinary reviewed design-system changes: the mark beside the wordmark, and small empty or onboarding illustrations. Character illustrations stay out of tables, metrics, navigation, decisions and blocker repair. The identity mark may accompany Factory in navigation.
- Illustrations sit below the factual message, never replace it, and are never clickable.
- Every image has alt text (empty when purely decorative).
- Meaningful foreground graphics need 3:1 contrast; text meets WCAG AA. Pale fills are decorative only.
- Any motion plays once and respects reduced-motion settings.
- Images never show metrics, statuses or live states.
Epics
The shared branding_contract in the outcome map, rendered in the implementation guide, states what evidence a visible change needs. Internal-only epics record "no visible change; no artwork". Completed-epic packs follow the asset rule. On 2026-09-28, all 27 epics were open, so no pack was due.
Where the idea came from
The owner’s loose cue was Meta’s Muse announcement (8 September 2026), not a brand specification. We took approachability as inspiration. Plumb’s symbol, metaphor and voice are original to this direction; review new artwork for unintended resemblance.