# 01 · Start here

A guideline only works if the binding parts are obvious. This section separates the decisions that are fixed from the ones that are guidance, names who the rules apply to, and points at where the files live.

*Updated 2026-08-17. Source: https://brand.haux.studio/start-here*

## Read this before you make anything

Two questions come up on every project: does this rule bind me, and where do I get the file? Both are answered on this page.

Anything carrying the Haux name is covered, whether the studio made it, a contractor made it, or a client did.

### Who this binds

Three groups use this document and each uses it differently. The studio treats it as the working system and revises it. Contractors treat it as the brief, so nothing has to be agreed by email that is already settled here.

Clients applying the Haux name to a co-produced piece are held to the same rules. Co-branded lockups are the one case with no rule yet, and Brand architecture says so plainly rather than guessing at one.

Work that carries no Haux name is out of scope. Client projects delivered under the client’s own identity follow the client’s system, not this one.

## Four things are fixed. The rest is judgement.

Changing a fixed element costs recognition, which is the only asset a brand this size has. Everything else is guidance, and guidance can be argued with if the argument is good.

### Fixed

Four elements are settled. They may not be redrawn, re-tinted, substituted or extended on a project.

The mark, in the lockups Logo permits, and the three primary colours with their ramps.

The typefaces, in the roles Typography assigns them, and the word lists in Voice and tone: both the words the brand uses and the ones it refuses.

### Flexible

Layout, imagery and motion are guidance. They are written as recommendations with the reasoning attached, so a project can depart from them when the reasoning does not hold.

A departure is a judgement call and it should be recorded rather than absorbed. Governance sets out how to raise one and who signs it off.

### The three fixed colours

> Three primary colours. Everything else in the palette exists so these can stay rare.

| Name | Hex | Token | Role | Pantone |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Orange 500 | `#ff3c00` | `--haux-orange-500` | The signal. One moment per view, never the field. | PMS 172 C |
| Near-black 900 | `#050505` | `--haux-black-900` | Structure. Type, rules and inverted bands. |  |
| Near-white 100 | `#fcfcfc` | `--haux-white-100` | The field. Every layout starts here and earns its way off it. |  |

*Ramp steps, gradients and the eight structural neutrals are set out in Colour, along with the 60/30/10 ratio that governs how much of each is used. The three bases above are the part that does not move.*

> Fixed is fixed. Everything else is judgement.

## Link the rule, do not describe it

Most questions are answered by one section, and reading this front to back is a waste of an afternoon. Work in the order below instead.

Check whether the element is fixed, read the section that owns it, then apply the rule as written. If the rule does not fit the case in front of you, that is worth reporting, because it usually means the rule was written for a narrower case than it claims.

Every rule on this site has its own anchor. The hash beside a heading is a link to that rule alone, so a disagreement can be settled by pasting a URL rather than paraphrasing a paragraph.

### When two sections disagree

The more specific section wins. Colour governs which colours exist, Accessibility governs whether a pair may carry text, and Accessibility wins on that question every time.

If neither section resolves it, the decision has not been made. Say so and raise it through Governance rather than picking one and shipping it, because a guess that ships becomes a precedent.

## Cite the date, not a version number

A rule is only useful if you can tell how current it is, so every section carries its own date at the top.

### Version and date

This release is dated 17 August 2026. Sections carry their own dates and those dates differ, because sections are revised independently rather than republished together.

A numbered release scheme has not been agreed. Cite the section and its date until Governance sets one, and treat any undated copy of these rules as out of date.

### Where to get files

Logo files, fonts, templates and the token package are in Downloads, with the licence terms attached to each.

Nothing here should be recreated by eye or exported from a screenshot. If the file you need is not in Downloads, request it through the route in Governance rather than rebuilding it, because a rebuilt asset is a second version of a fixed element.

*Everything on this site holds until a dated revision says otherwise.*