Brand guidelines

The Hazel Crowe brand

The one reference for anyone making anything with the name on it: covers, listings, this site, ads, press. Every value here is read from the site's single brand file, so the page and the site cannot disagree.

01

Positioning

Practical books about high-stakes conversations at work, written from the other side of the table.

What it is

Four books, one per room where the stakes are real: the negotiation, the hard conversation with someone on your team, the meeting where you have to be understood, and the culture behind all three.

Who it's for

Buyers, candidates and panels, first-time managers, anyone who has to speak up at work, and the leaders who own the system.

The feeling

Plain and steady, and on your side of the table: somebody who has sat in every chair telling you what she watched happen.

Where the books come from: 20 years on the buying side of the table and around 1,200 difficult conversations on both sides of it. Every line of copy leads with something she saw or heard.

02

Name

Hazel Crowe. Hazel is the tree, and the colour named after its nuts. Crowe is an English surname that comes from the bird. Two plain words, easy to say and to spell across a table.

Write “Hazel Crowe” in full on first mention and “Hazel” after that. In the band and the wordmark the name is set in capitals; everywhere else it is in normal case.

03

Tagline

Books from the other side of the table.

  • Approved alternate: Four books from the other side of the table.
  • Approved alternate: What she saw from both chairs.
  • Series name: Across the Table. Used in KDP metadata and on this site; never printed on a cover or a spine.

05

Colour

Ground and ink on everything. Then one accent per book, used on that book's kicker, its band and the one element in its art that matters. Never two accents on one book.

Ground and ink

  • Ground

    #faf5e9

    Background of every cover, spine, back and page

    Ink on it: 17.4:1

  • Ink

    #0f1110

    Titles, body text, silhouettes, the dark logo band

    On ground: 17.4:1. On paper deep: 15.7:1.

The four accents

  • Brick rust

    #9a503a

    Nobody's Fool: kicker, band, the one element in the art

    On ground: 5.4:1. On paper deep: 4.8:1. Ground on it: 5.4:1.

  • Deep teal

    #3b6269

    Five Ways of Looking at a Person; also the site's link colour

    On ground: 6.2:1. On paper deep: 5.5:1. Ground on it: 6.2:1.

  • Slate blue

    #4f6d8e

    Articulate: kicker, band, the straight line in the art

    On ground: 4.9:1. On paper deep: 4.4:1. Ground on it: 4.9:1.

  • Deep ochre

    #7a6330

    Culture Is What Management Tolerates: kicker, band, the wedge

    On ground: 5.3:1. On paper deep: 4.8:1. Ground on it: 5.3:1.

The set band: the four accents in publication order.

Screen support shades

For this site only. Never on a cover.

  • Ink soft

    #3c3f3d

    Secondary text on the site

    On ground: 9.8:1. On paper deep: 8.8:1.

  • Ink muted

    #666863

    Captions, labels and small print

    On ground: 5.2:1. On paper deep: 4.7:1.

  • Paper deep

    #f1e9d6

    Footer and panel surfaces on the site

    Ink on it: 15.7:1

  • Rule

    #dcd3bf

    Hairlines and borders on the site

    On ground: 1.4:1. On paper deep: 1.2:1.

Never an accent

  • Light ochre #bca462
  • Sage #819182

Both stay inside the Five Ways of Looking at a Person art. Ground type on either falls under 3.5:1.

06

Typography

Display

Jost

Medium for subtitles and labels

Stands in for Futura. Wordmark, headings, kickers, buttons, labels. The covers and the print headings are set in Futura; Jost is the closest open web face to it.

Weights: Medium 500, Bold 700.

Body

Charter

Italic for titles in running text

Body text. Charter is installed on Apple devices and used there; everywhere else the site loads Charis SIL, the open font family built from Charter's designs.

Weights: Regular 400, Bold 700, Italic.

  • Print: Futura Bold and Medium on every cover, spine and back, and for the interior headings; Charter for body text.
  • Capitals only for kickers and the wordmark. Titles in title case, subtitles in sentence case on covers.
  • No word is ever broken with a hyphen in a title, subtitle or heading.

07

Voice and tone

How she speaks

  • First person about herself, second person about the reader.
  • Short, flat, specific, unsentimental. Most sentences under 20 words.
  • No theatre, and nothing that would fit in a wellbeing newsletter.
  • Reports what was said and what followed, and leaves other people's thoughts alone.
  • Fair to both sides: says so when the hard outcome was the right one.
  • British English and contractions. Figures for every number above 10.

Messaging pillars

  1. Both sides of the table. The buyer, the representative and the person running the hearing.
  2. What she watched. Observation, told plainly. The reader decides what it means for them.
  3. One room per book. Each book stands alone. Start with the room you're walking into next.
  4. Honest about the studies. Where a point rests on research, name it and say how well it held up.
  5. The reader judges. The copy says what is in each book and leaves the verdict to the reader.

08

Style rules

Voice

  • Open on a scene: a time, a place, what was said.Avoid: opening on a claim about the reader.
  • Short sentences, most under 20 words, with figures for every number above 10.Avoid: stacked adjectives and closing flourishes.
  • Describe what is in the book: chapters, tools, drills, prompts.Avoid: predicting how the reader will feel afterwards.
  • Name a study and say how well it held up.Avoid: presenting research as settled when it is contested.
  • British spelling and plain punctuation.Avoid: em dashes, en dashes and exclamation marks.

Design

  • Ground behind everything, ink for type, and the set band as the signature.Avoid: white or dark page backgrounds.
  • On a front cover: kicker, title, subtitle, art and the band with the name.Avoid: badges, review quotes, imprint marks or the series name on the front.
  • The display face for headings and labels, Charter for reading.Avoid: a third typeface, or capitals for anything but kickers and the wordmark.

Palette use

  • One accent per book, on its kicker, its band and the one element in its art that matters.Avoid: two accents on one book.
  • On a page about all four books, the four accents together as the set band.Avoid: light ochre or sage as an accent: ground type on them falls under 3.5:1.
  • Accent colours for small text only where they pass 4.5:1 on the ground.Avoid: tints and gradients of the accents.

Imagery

  • Flat silhouettes with hard edges, one subject per book, ending in the band.Avoid: photographs, stock images and portraits.
  • The top 37% of the art left as empty ground for the type.Avoid: art that runs behind the title.
  • Three or four flat colours: ground, ink, the accent and its darker band shade.Avoid: texture, shadow, outlines and gloss.

09

Imagery

Flat silhouettes with hard edges, in the manner of mid-century paperback covers. Three or four flat colours: ground, ink, the book's accent and a darker shade of it where the subject crosses the band. No gradients, texture, shadows or outlines. One subject per book, in ink, with the accent on the one element that matters. The subject ends in the band, and the top 37% of the art is empty ground for the type.

  • Nobody's FoolA hand holding three plain cards, the middle one in rust, pushed forward: the forced card.
  • Five Ways of Looking at a PersonOne head in profile, seen through five bands: one person, five readings.
  • ArticulateOne line rises into a tangle and leaves it as a straight slate line: the corridor version, got into the room.
  • Culture Is What Management ToleratesA fire door held open by an ochre wedge: the thing everybody walks past.