How the Ian Anderson Gray brand looks, sounds and fits together: the logo, colours, type, photography and the family of brands around it. For anyone designing for Ian, writing about him, or putting his name on an event page.
Always the full name: Ian Anderson Gray. Not “Ian Gray”, “IAG” or “Ian A. Gray”. “Ian” is fine on second mention.
The tagline is Creative AI Solutions. Set it in capitals with wide letter spacing under the name, or in normal case in a sentence: “Ian Anderson Gray: Creative AI Solutions”.
AI is always in capitals, and spelled out as artificial intelligence the first time where the reader may not know it.
iag.me is the web address, written in lower case. It is not the brand name.
The tagline is a working one for now and may change. This page is the reference: check it before printing anything.
02Logo
The mark is a play button inside three rings: a nod to the live video work it grew from (it is the Confident Live play button in the new orange), and to pressing play on new ideas. Use the horizontal logo by default.
Horizontal. The default, for headers, slides and email signatures. SVGPNG
Stacked. For square spaces: social profiles, badges, event programmes. SVGPNG
Wordmark. Where the mark would be too small to read, or is already shown nearby. SVGPNG
Mark. On its own as an icon: favicons, app icons, watermarks, small spaces. SVGPNG
On different backgrounds
Full colour on Paper, Sand or white.
Reversed on Night, Plum or dark photos.
White on Ian orange or busy colour.
Black for one-colour printing, stamps and engraving.
Clear space
Keep a margin of at least half the mark’s width clear of other text and images on every side.
Minimum size
Horizontal logo: at least 160 pixels wide on screen, 35 mm in print.
Mark: at least 24 pixels or 6 mm. Smaller than 16 pixels, use the one-colour mark.
Please don’t
Stretch or squash it
Change its colours
Rotate it
Add shadows, glows or outlines
Put it on a busy photo without a panel behind it
Ian Anderson Gray
Retype the name in another font
03Colour
Warm and calm: a strong orange used sparingly, on warm whites and soft browns rather than cold greys. The contrast figures show how readable text in each colour is on Paper (light mode) and Night (dark mode). 4.5:1 is the minimum for normal text under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) AA level, 3:1 for large text and graphics.
Paper and Sand 60%Ink 25%Orange 10%5%
Brand colours
Ian orange
#D65C32RGB 214 92 50
The main brand colour: the mark, large shapes, highlights and backgrounds behind white headings. Not for small text on light backgrounds.
As text: 3.8:1 on Paper, Large text4.8:1 on Night, AA
Burnt orange
#A8411CRGB 168 65 28
Links, labels and buttons on light backgrounds. The brand orange darkened so text is easy to read.
As text: 6.0:1 on Paper, AA3.1:1 on Night, Large text
Peach
#F29A73RGB 242 154 115
Links and highlights on dark backgrounds.
As text: 2.1:1 on Paper, Not for text8.6:1 on Night, AAA
Rust
#AB4826RGB 171 72 38
The middle ring of the mark. Hover states and secondary shapes.
As text: 5.6:1 on Paper, AA3.3:1 on Night, Large text
Plum
#4E2026RGB 78 32 38
The centre of the mark. A deep accent for panels and dark graphics.
As text: 13.3:1 on Paper, AAA1.4:1 on Night, Not for text
Neutrals
Ink
#1D1A17RGB 29 26 23
Body text and headings.
As text: 17.1:1 on Paper, AAA1.1:1 on Night, Not for text
Stone
#5C544DRGB 92 84 77
Secondary text: dates, captions, notes.
As text: 7.3:1 on Paper, AAA2.5:1 on Night, Not for text
Linen
#E3DBD3RGB 227 219 211
Borders and dividers.
As text: 1.3:1 on Paper, Not for text13.7:1 on Night, AAA
Sand
#F6F1ECRGB 246 241 236
Panels, cards and notices on the light background.
As text: 1.1:1 on Paper, Not for text16.7:1 on Night, AAA
Paper
#FFFDFBRGB 255 253 251
The page background. A warm white rather than pure white.
As text: 1.0:1 on Paper, Not for text18.4:1 on Night, AAA
Dark mode
Night
#141210RGB 20 18 16
The page background in dark mode.
As text: 18.4:1 on Paper, AAA1.0:1 on Night, Not for text
Night panel
#1F1B18RGB 31 27 24
Panels and cards in dark mode.
As text: 16.8:1 on Paper, AAA1.1:1 on Night, Not for text
Moonlight
#ECE6E1RGB 236 230 225
Text in dark mode.
As text: 1.2:1 on Paper, Not for text15.1:1 on Night, AAA
04Typography
Two free, open-source Google Fonts families, both under the SIL Open Font License, so anyone can use them in print, slides or software: Lato for headings and labels, Open Sans for reading.
Headings Lato Black (900)
Creative ideas, human first
Labels, menu, tagline Lato Bold (700), capitals, 0.16em letter spacing
Creative AI Solutions
Body text Open Sans Regular (400), 17 pixels (1.0625rem), line height 1.65
I help businesses use artificial intelligence to be more productive, effective and creative, without losing what makes them human. Plain English, real examples, and no hype.
Emphasis Open Sans SemiBold (600), Bold (700) and Italic
SemiBold for buttons,bold for key points and italic for titles and asides.
Heading sizes
Level
Font
Size on a phone to a wide screen
Example
Page title
Lato Black
2 to 3rem (32 to 48 pixels)
Page title
Section
Lato Black
1.45 to 1.9rem (23 to 30 pixels)
Section heading
Subsection
Lato Black
1.3rem (21 pixels)
Subsection heading
Kicker
Lato Bold, capitals
0.85rem (14 pixels)
Kicker label
Sentence case for headings: “Creative ideas, human first”, not “Creative Ideas, Human First”.
Left-aligned text, lines no longer than about 70 characters.
Easier-to-read option: the website’s accessibility menu swaps in Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, a font designed by the Braille Institute for readers with low vision.
Where Lato and Open Sans aren’t available (some email programs, Microsoft Office without the fonts installed), use Arial.
05Photography
Real, warm and natural: Ian as he is when he’s talking to you. Daylight, warm tones, a genuine smile, and the orange in the brand often turns up in the clothes and the setting.
The main portrait: about pages, speaker profiles, press. Photo: Amber-Rose Smith, 2024.A relaxed alternative, with space beside him for a heading. Photo: Amber-Rose Smith, 2024.Square and circular crops: social profiles, bylines, event listings. Photo: Amber-Rose Smith, 2024.
Do
Use the current portraits (2024 onwards) for anything new.
Credit the photographer where you can.
Crop to a circle for bylines and avatars, keeping the face in the upper middle.
Give every image useful alt text: a short description of what it shows, for people using screen readers.
Crop screenshots tightly, and point things out with Ian orange.
Don’t
Use stock photos of people pretending to work.
Use AI-generated pictures of Ian or of any real person.
Add heavy filters, or put text over his face.
Use pictures without saying when AI made them: label AI-generated illustrations as such.
Circle crops for bylines, comments and speaker listings.
06Graphic elements
Simple shapes with gently rounded corners (8 pixels, 0.5rem), thin warm borders, and plenty of space. These are the website’s real components.
Where it all started: Ian's blog about social media tools and strategy since 2011, and the name of the company. Use it for social media articles, tools reviews and training.
Cold cherry #CC0033
Process grey #666666
Mild grey #AAAAAA
Sour lime #CCCC33
Fonts: Dutch 766 Bold BT and Myriad.
The logo dates from 2012 and still says iag.me. Refresh it before using it in new places.
With the main brand: show “by Ian Anderson Gray” under the Seriously Social logo, and never place the two logos the same size side by side.
Confident Live Live video
Ian's live video brand: the Confident Live Marketing Show and podcast (2019 to 2025), courses and the Confident Live Studio. Use it for live streaming, video production and speaking on camera.
Live red #D9003E
Deep red #700012
Black cherry #1F0C14
Charcoal #374247
Silver #BAC7C7
Lime #C4EB00
Fonts: Bebas Neue or Alternate Gothic No. 2 for headings, Myriad Pro for text.
The Ian Anderson Gray mark is the Confident Live play button in the new orange, which ties the two together.
With the main brand: show “by Ian Anderson Gray” under the Confident Live logo, and never place the two logos the same size side by side.
Select Performers Websites, hosting and care plans
Ian's other company, Select Performers Limited, builds and looks after websites. It is a separate company with its own brand, so never combine its logo with the Ian Anderson Gray logo or present it as part of Seriously Social Limited.
09Company details
Ian Anderson Gray is a trading name of Seriously Social Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 12992220.
UK rules for limited companies say the company’s full name, its number, where it is registered and its registered office address must appear on the website, on emails and letters, and on order forms and invoices. Use the wording on the left wherever the Ian Anderson Gray name is used for business.
The registered office is for administration only and does not accept parcels.
SVG files are vectors and scale to any size: use them for print and the web. PNG files are four times the size shown and have see-through backgrounds. The text in every file is converted to outlines, so no fonts are needed.
