/applying-bitwarden-branding

name: applying-bitwarden-branding
description: Apply Bitwarden brand standards — logo usage, color palette, typography, iconography, and capitalization rules — grounded in bitwarden.com/brand and the bitwarden/brand repository.
when_to_use: Use when a task touches Bitwarden's visual brand surface in design work or design-adjacent assets. Triggers — "check the brand", "apply Bitwarden branding", "use the brand colors", "is this on-brand", "what color is Bitwarden blue", "what font does Bitwarden use", "logo usage", "brand guidelines", "brand assets", "shield". Not for product content voice or grammar (use `content-style-guide`).
allowed-tools: Skill

Applying Bitwarden Branding

This skill grounds brand-application decisions in Bitwarden's two canonical sources:

• **[bitwarden.com/brand](https://bitwarden.com/brand/)** — the brand guidelines hub, including

logo lockups, the radius system, social-post framing, product images, and B-roll.

• **[github.com/bitwarden/brand](https://github.com/bitwarden/brand)** — the source-of-truth

repository for SVG logos, PNG product icons (multiple sizes), the shield mark, color palette in multiple formats (HEX, HSL, SCSS), screenshots, and media assets.

When applying brand in real work, treat the repo as canonical for assets and the brand site as canonical for usage rules. Detailed reference material lives in `references/brand-assets.md` (asset inventory and file paths) and `references/color-palette.md` (full palette with usage notes and SCSS variable names).

The five rules that catch the most mistakes

1. **Capitalize the B in Bitwarden.** Always. The W is never capitalized. The only place "bitwarden" appears lowercase is inside the official logo lockup — not in body copy, not in headlines, not in handles or URLs. 2. **Primary palette before tertiary palette.** Green, Yellow, and Red are tertiary — use them sparingly, primarily in product graphics and for success / warning / error communications. They are not headline colors. 3. **Inter for everything.** Product and website. The available weights are 300 (light), 400 (regular), 500 (medium), 600 (semi-bold), and 700 (bold). 4. **Logo safe-area is non-negotiable.** Horizontal lockup needs one Bitwarden-shield width of clear space on every side. Vertical lockup uses the height of the "X" in the logotype. Cramped logos break the lockup. 5. **36px radius system, but buttons are the exception.** Rounded corners follow a 36px radius across primary brand surfaces. Buttons sit outside that system — don't apply 36px to buttons.

Logo usage

• **Default mark.** `/logos/logo-horizontal-blue.svg` from the brand repo. Horizontal is the

primary/preferred lockup.

• **Inverse (for dark backgrounds).** `/logos/logo-horizontal-white.svg`.
• **Vertical lockup.** Available for use cases where horizontal doesn't fit; the safe area uses

the height of the "X" in the logotype.

• **Product icon (the shield).** Available rounded and square, at 16/32/64/128/256 px PNG plus

SVG (`/logos/icon.svg`, `/logos/icon-inverse.svg`, `/icons/*.png`). The shield itself lives at `/shield/`.

• **Product logos.** Unique lockups exist for individual Bitwarden products (Password Manager,

Secrets Manager, etc.). Use these "primarily for use in-product."

Don't recolor, distort, rotate, or recompose the logo. If the supplied SVG doesn't fit the need, reach out to the brand owners rather than improvising a variant.

Color palette quick reference

Full palette with all variable names is in `references/color-palette.md`. Five colors carry most of the work:

| Color | HEX | Use | | -------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | Bitwarden Blue | `#175DDC` | Primary brand color. Headlines, primary CTAs, accents. | | Deep Blue | `#0C3276` | Secondary brand color. Dense surfaces, headers. | | Off White | `#F3F6F9` | Default light surface. | | True Black | `#000000` | Default text on light surfaces. | | Teal Highlight | `#2CDDE9` | Accent and highlight — pair with the blues. |

Tertiary palette (Green `#7BF1A8`, Yellow `#FDC700`, Red `#FF6550`) is **sparingly** applied for product graphics and success/warning/error states. The brand site is explicit on this.

SCSS variable names (from the brand repo's `brand-colors/palette.scss`):

• `$bitwarden-blue`, `$deep-blue`, `$off-white`, `$true-white`, `$true-black`, `$light-grey`,

`$teal-highlight`, `$light-teal-highlight`, `$tertiary-green`, `$tertiary-yellow`, `$tertiary-red`.

Typography

• **Typeface:** Inter (open-source, Google Fonts).
• **Weights available:** 300 (light), 400 (regular), 500 (medium), 600 (semi-bold), 700 (bold).
• **Use:** product UI and website body / headline copy. The brand site doesn't enumerate

weight-per-context rules; defer to product or marketing leads when an unusual case comes up.

Iconography

• **Web icons.** Designed for a wide range of uses with more detail than the product icon.
• **Product icon (shield).** Available rounded and square at multiple sizes from the brand

repo's `/icons/` directory.

Asset paths and full sizing tables are in `references/brand-assets.md`.

Capitalization and trademark

• The "B" in **Bitwarden** is capitalized in all copy text.
• The "W" is never capitalized — neither `BITWARDEN` (in body copy) nor `bitWarden`.
• The only place "bitwarden" appears in lowercase is inside the official logo lockup itself.
• "Bitwarden" is a registered trademark of Bitwarden Inc. — surface this when content is

external-facing and trademark attribution is appropriate.

Composing with other skills

• **`content-style-guide`.** Brand sits alongside content style. When reviewing user-visible

surfaces, walk both: this skill catches color, logo, and capitalization issues; the content style guide