/brand-visual-language

name: brand-visual-language
description: Shape language across type, radius and icons carries brand personality. Use when starting a design system, picking icons or radius tokens, or reviewing visual consistency.
metadata:
  priority: 7
  pathPatterns:
    - "**/*.css"
    - "**/*.scss"
    - "**/tokens/**"
    - "**/theme/**"
    - "tailwind.config.*"
    - "design-system/**"
    - "components/**"
  promptSignals:
    phrases:
      - "brand tone"
      - "visual language"
      - "rounded"
      - "angular"
      - "icon style"
      - "border radius"
      - "playful"
      - "serious"
      - "brand personality"
retrieval:
  aliases:
    - brand visual language
    - shape language
    - brand tone
    - rounded vs angular
    - icon style
    - visual personality
  intents:
    - establish brand visual style
    - choose border radius
    - pick icon library
    - match ui to brand personality
    - make design feel consistent
  examples:
    - should we use rounded or sharp corners
    - what icon style fits this brand
    - make the UI feel more playful
    - this feels too corporate, how do I soften it

Brand Visual Language

Visual shape communicates personality. A rounded corner says something different to the user than a sharp one — and that message arrives before they read a single word. The shapes in typography, border-radius, and iconography should tell a consistent story.

Shape Language

| Shape | Tone | Associated with | |---|---|---| | **Rounded, pill-shaped** | Friendly, approachable, playful, modern | Consumer apps, health, kids, lifestyle, social | | **Softly rounded (8–12px)** | Professional, warm, accessible | SaaS, productivity, general B2B | | **Lightly rounded (2–4px)** | Precise, structured, efficient | Enterprise tools, finance, data platforms | | **Sharp / no radius** | Technical, serious, authoritative | Developer tools, security, industrial |

Every component — cards, inputs, modals, badges — should follow the same radius logic.

Radius for Large Surfaces

The perceived "roundedness" of an element changes with its scale. A radius that looks soft on a button may look sharp on a large container.

• **Large Cards & Modals:** Typically use a larger radius than buttons (e.g., if buttons are 4px, large cards might be 8px or 12px) to maintain a consistent visual tone.
• **Wells and Background Sections:** For large background areas or "wells," a smaller radius (2px–8px) is often used to provide structure and define the region without making it feel like a "floating" component. This keeps the focus on the content within, rather than the container itself.

Reading Shape from an Existing Brand

Before choosing a radius, look at the brand's existing materials:

• **Logo:** Is it rounded, geometric, or angular? The logo's shapes are intentional brand decisions.
• **Product photography or illustration style:** Rounded, bubbly illustrations signal a different personality than sharp, technical diagrams.
• **Typography:** A geometric sans-serif (Circular, Futura) reads differently than a humanist sans (Inter, Söhne) or a sharp editorial serif.
• **Competitor landscape:** Sometimes being the slightly softer option in a sharp market, or the more structured option in a playful market, is the differentiator.

> **Read the real shape language, don't infer it (dembrandt engine, optional).** For a brand that already ships a product, extract its actual radius, type, and tone from the live site rather than guessing from the logo: `get_brand_identity` and `get_design_tokens` return computed values off the DOM. See [`extract-design`](../extract-design/SKILL.md).

Typography and Shape

Typeface shapes carry the same tonal signals:

| Type style | Tone | |---|---| | Geometric sans (circular letterforms) | Modern, clean, slightly playful | | Humanist sans (varied stroke widths) | Warm, readable, professional | | Grotesque sans (neutral, utilitarian) | Serious, efficient, no-frills | | Serif | Authoritative, established, editorial | | Rounded sans | Friendly, approachable, informal | | Monospace | Technical, developer-facing, precise |

The typeface and the border-radius should not contradict each other. A rounded, friendly typeface paired with sharp 0px corners creates visual dissonance.

Extending Brand Typography

Brand books often specify a display or heading font but leave body text underdefined — a single weight, no reading size, no fallback. This is common with luxury, fashion, or legacy brands where the brand identity was built for print, not screen.

When the brand book is insufficient for UI purposes, extend it deliberately:

**When extension is justified:**

• Brand font has poor legibility at small sizes (display fonts, decorative typefaces)
• Brand font lacks the weights needed for UI hierarchy (no regular, no medium)
• Brand font has no body or reading variant defined
• Brand font loads poorly (performance, licensing, web rendering)

**How to extend:**

• Keep the brand font for headings and display — this is where brand identity lives
• Add a secondary typeface for body text that is **complementary in tone**, not competing
• Match shape language: a geometric brand font pairs with a geometric body font; a humanist display pairs with a humanist body

Brand heading font (display, h1–h3): maintains identity
↓
Secondary body font (body, labels, UI copy): legibility and completeness

**Pairing principles:**

• Contrast in role, not in personality — the two fonts should feel like they belong to the same product
• Avoid two display fonts or two highly characterful fonts together
• A neutral, high-quality sans (Inter, DM Sans, Söhne) pairs safely with most brand fonts
• If the brand font is a serif, a clean sans body is the natural complement — and vice versa

**Do this sparingly.** Two typefaces is a deliberate extension. Three typefaces is almost always too many. Document the decision and the rationale so future designers do not add a third.

Icono