Pavot Design Inc. | Brand guidelines

01 / The idea

Pavot is the French word for poppy.

Poppies grow in worked ground. They open with the morning light, they need little tending, and they turn an ordinary field into something you notice. That is the promise of practical AI: small, useful, and rooted in the work a business already does.

The French name reflects Nova Scotia’s Acadian heritage and gives the brand a word nobody else in the local market owns. It is short, it is easy to spell, and it sounds close to “pivot”, which is what a good first AI project often is.

Design is in the name because the company designs workflows. It does not sell software, and it does not sell a model. It designs the fit between a task, a tool, and the person who checks the result.

Say it: pa-VOH. The t is silent.
Write it: Pavot in running text. Pavot Design Inc. in footers, contracts, and invoices. Never PAVOT or pavot.
Not this: The bloom is a botanical poppy, not the remembrance poppy. Keep it away from remembrance imagery and campaigns.

02 / Positioning

One task first. Measured. Then the next.

Who

Owner-led service businesses in Nova Scotia with roughly 5 to 50 staff. Professional services and trades first. Tourism and hospitality second.

What

AI opportunity reviews, focused pilots, and team training. A free 20-minute discovery call about one recurring task starts every engagement.

Promise

A clear starting point, a scoped pilot with a written quote, and results that are measured, not assumed. Your team stays in control.

Tagline

AI that fits the work you already do.

Descriptor

Practical AI, by design.

Proof points

Start with one task
Pilot before you commit
A person reviews every output
Local, in plain language

03 / Inspiration

What we took from the leading AI brands.

Eight companies set the visual standard for AI in 2026. We studied their public brand resources and homepages and borrowed principles, not looks. Company names and links are references, not endorsements.

Anthropic
A warm neutral canvas, an editorial serif, and the confidence to leave space. Paper and Instrument Serif come from here.
Mistral
One simple emblem that becomes a whole system. The four-petal bloom repeats as pattern, bullet, and loading state.
ElevenLabs
A strict monochrome base with colour reserved for meaning. Ink and Paper carry the brand; Pavot marks the action.
Perplexity
Own one unexpected colour. Their turquoise showed that a single hue can identify an AI brand. Ours is poppy red.
Cursor
Show the work, not the claim. Every Pavot page shows a workflow with a human review step, never a robot.
Harvey
Editorial display type and disciplined monochrome earn professional trust with owners and their accountants.
Runway
Let one visual carry the first impression. The bloom at poster scale replaces stock imagery.
Lovable
Make a sophisticated capability feel approachable. Plain-language actions and a soft, warm palette.

The common thread across all eight: restraint. A neutral base, one owned colour, one repeated form, and copy that shows the work. Pavot follows that pattern and adds warmth, because our clients are owners, not developers.

04 / The bloom

Four petals. One centre. A hairline of paper between.

The bloom. Also the poppy from above, a window with four panes, and a plus sign in negative space.

Built on a 64-unit grid. Each petal is a 28-unit square with a 16-unit outer radius. The gap is 4 units. The centre is a circle of radius 4.

Versions

Colour on Paper. The default.

Ink. Print, stamps, embossing.

Petal on Night. Dark surfaces.

Paper on Pavot. Covers and photos.

Clear space

Keep space around the bloom equal to one petal width, which is 44% of the bloom’s height. Nothing enters that space: no text, no rule, no edge of a photo.

Minimum size

Use the bloom at 20 px or larger on screen and 6 mm or larger in print. Below 20 px, use the bloom without the centre dot. The horizontal lockup needs 96 px or 24 mm.

20, 24, 32, 48 px

05 / Wordmark and lockups

The name is set once, in Instrument Serif.

Pavot

Horizontal lockup. Use this first.

Pavot

Stacked lockup. Square spaces only.

Pavot

On Night. Petal bloom, Paper wordmark.

PavotDesign Inc.

Legal lockup for contracts and invoices.

The wordmark height equals 1.3 times the bloom height. The gap between them equals half the bloom height. The bloom always sits on the left. Do not set the wordmark in any other typeface, weight, or case.

06 / Colour

Paper and Ink do the work. Pavot marks the action.

Paper#F5F0E6

Default surface. Warm, printed, calm.

Ink#171512

Headlines, body text, the centre of the mark.

Pavot#D63D22

The bloom, the primary action, one accent per view.

Stem#2F4A36

Confirmation, completed steps, quiet secondary accent.

Stone#5F5A51

Secondary text, captions, metadata.

Mist#E2DACB

Rules, borders, table lines, subtle fills.

Night#1F1C17

Dark surface for footers, slides, and inverted layouts.

Petal#FF7A5C

The accent on Night. Replaces Pavot on dark surfaces.

The one-accent rule

Each screen, page, or slide gets one Pavot element: a button, a highlighted phrase, or the bloom. When the bloom is present, buttons use Ink. Pavot is expensive. Spend it once.

Proportion

Paper 70Ink 20Mist 6Pavot 4

Approved pairs

Use	Ratio	Min
AaBody text on Paper	16.04	7
AaSecondary text on Paper	6.03	4.5
AaConfirmation text on Paper	8.59	4.5
AaButton label on Pavot	4.62	4.5
AaLarge text and marks on Paper (24 px and above)	4.06	3
AaBody text on Night	14.95	7
AaAccent text on Night	6.62	4.5
AaLabel on Stem	8.59	4.5

Ratios are WCAG 2.2 contrast values checked by an automated test. Pavot on Paper passes for large text and graphics only. Do not set body text in Pavot.

07 / Typography

A serif that speaks, a sans that works, a mono that measures.

Display

Poppies grow in worked ground.

Instrument Serif

Headlines, pull quotes, the wordmark. Sizes of 32 px and above only.

Regular and Italic / SIL Open Font License 1.1

Text

An assistant drafts the reply. A person reads it before it goes out.

Geist

Body copy, navigation, buttons, forms, and every interface label.

400 to 600 / SIL Open Font License 1.1

Data

PILOT 02 / 14 DAYS / 3 REVIEWERS / CAD

Geist Mono

Eyebrows, tokens, figures, code, and technical captions.

400 and 500 / SIL Open Font License 1.1

Scale

Step	Size	Leading	Tracking	Face
Display 1	72 to 120 px	0.96	-0.02em	Instrument Serif
Display 2	48 to 64 px	1.02	-0.015em	Instrument Serif
Heading	28 to 36 px	1.15	-0.01em	Instrument Serif
Lead	20 px	1.5	0	Geist 400
Body	16 to 17 px	1.65	0	Geist 400
Small	13 to 14 px	1.5	0	Geist 500
Eyebrow	11 to 12 px	1	0.12em, uppercase	Geist Mono 500

Italic is the only emphasis in headlines. Use it for one word, the word that carries the meaning. In body text, use weight 600 for emphasis. Never underline, except links.

08 / Voice

Talk like a good tradesperson explains a job.

Plain

Say what the work is. Name the task, the tool, and the person who checks the result.

Warm

Write to an owner who is busy, not to a procurement committee. Short sentences. Real examples.

Grounded

Claim only what a pilot has shown. Measure, then describe. No multipliers, no revolutions.

Local

Canadian spelling. Nova Scotia examples. Prices in CAD. Say where we are and who we serve.

Revolutionise your business with cutting-edge AI solutions that deliver 10× productivity.

Start with one recurring task. We test whether AI helps, measure the result, and hand the workflow to your team.

Our proprietary intelligence layer autonomously optimises enterprise workflows.

An assistant drafts the reply from your approved information. A person reads it before it goes out.

Unlock exponential growth. Book a demo today!

Bring one task to a free 20-minute call. We will tell you if AI is a fit.

Canadian spelling: organisation, colour, centre, labour. Prices in CAD. Say “AI” not “A.I.” Say “assistant” or “workflow”, not “bot” or “agent”, unless a client uses the word first.

09 / Imagery and graphics

Show the work. Never the robot.

Workflow diagrams

The signature graphic is a workflow with a visible human review step. Blooms mark automated steps. A person icon marks the review. Four steps or fewer.

Enquiry arrives
Assistant drafts
Person reviews
Reply sent

The petal pattern

A single petal, or a field of blooms on a 64-unit grid, can fill a cover, a divider, or the back of a card. Use Pavot on Paper or Petal on Night. Never mix scales in one field.

Photography

Real Nova Scotia workplaces, real tools, natural light, and people at work with permission. Warm, slightly desaturated, never blue-toned. If no real photo exists, use the bloom at poster scale instead of a stock image.

Never

No robots, humanoid faces, glowing brains, circuit boards, binary rain, network globes, or hands touching light. No AI-generated images of people or places presented as real.

10 / Motion

The bloom opens. Everything else stays still.

One motion belongs to the brand: the four petals scale out from the centre over 240 ms with a soft ease. Use it when a page loads, when a task completes, or as a loading indicator. Nothing else animates unless it helps someone understand a change.

240 ms, cubic-bezier 0.2, 0.7, 0.2, 1
Transform and opacity only
Stops when prefers-reduced-motion is set

Bloom open, loop

11 / In use

The same few parts, in every place.

PavotBook a call

Practical AI / Nova Scotia

One task. Then the next.

Bring one recurring task to a free 20-minute call. We will tell you if AI is a fit and what a sensible first step looks like.

Find your first task

Website header and hero. One Pavot button. The bloom is the image.

Pavot

Your namePavot Design Inc.Nova Scotia, Canada

Business card, front and back. Paper stock, Ink text.

AI opportunity review
for your business

Pavot Design Inc. / 2026

Title slide on Night. Petal bloom, Paper type.

Your namePavot Design Inc. · Practical AI, by design.Nova Scotia, Canada · pronounced pa-VOHPavot

Email signature. Plain text with one small lockup image, no banners.

12 / Rules

Do this. Not that.

Use the bloom in Pavot on Paper, or in Petal on Night.
Keep clear space around the bloom equal to one petal width.
Set headlines in Instrument Serif and everything else in Geist.
Use one Pavot element per screen: a button, a highlight, or the mark.
Show a workflow diagram with a visible human review step.
Write the legal name, Pavot Design Inc., in footers and contracts.

Do not add gradients, glows, shadows, or outlines to the bloom.
Do not rotate the bloom or set it at an angle.
Do not set body text in Pavot on Paper. The contrast is 4.06, below AA for small text.
Do not use robots, circuit boards, brains, or glowing networks.
Do not pair the bloom with remembrance imagery or November remembrance campaigns.
Do not stretch the wordmark or set it in any typeface other than Instrument Serif.

13 / Assets

Everything you need, in the repository.

Tokens

:root {
  --pavot-paper: #F5F0E6;
  --pavot-ink: #171512;
  --pavot-pavot: #D63D22;
  --pavot-stem: #2F4A36;
  --pavot-stone: #5F5A51;
  --pavot-mist: #E2DACB;
  --pavot-night: #1F1C17;
  --pavot-petal: #FF7A5C;
  --pavot-font-display: "Instrument Serif", Georgia, serif;
  --pavot-font-text: Geist, Inter, system-ui, sans-serif;
  --pavot-font-data: "Geist Mono", ui-monospace, monospace;
  --pavot-motion: 240ms cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.7, 0.2, 1);
}

Fonts: Instrument Serif, Geist, and Geist Mono, all under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, from Google Fonts. The lockup SVGs embed the display font, so the wordmark renders correctly wherever the file opens. The written guide lives at marketing/pavot/brand.md.

14 / Status

Proposed, not registered.

Pavot Design Inc. is a proposed brand created on 7 September 2026. No name clearance, trademark search, domain purchase, or incorporation has happened. Before any public use:

Search the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies and the Canadian trademarks database for “Pavot” and near variants.
Incorporate, or drop “Inc.” from every asset until you do. The suffix is a legal statement.
Check domain and social handle availability. No domain is named in this guide on purpose.
Replace the Harbour AI working name in the site configuration, metadata, and privacy notice together, in one change.

A poppy for practical AI.

Pavot is the French word for poppy.

One task first. Measured. Then the next.

Who

What

Promise

What we took from the leading AI brands.

Four petals. One centre. A hairline of paper between.

Versions

Clear space

Minimum size

The name is set once, in Instrument Serif.

Paper and Ink do the work. Pavot marks the action.

The one-accent rule

Proportion

Approved pairs

A serif that speaks, a sans that works, a mono that measures.

Instrument Serif

Geist

Geist Mono

Scale

Talk like a good tradesperson explains a job.

Plain

Warm

Grounded

Local

Show the work. Never the robot.

Workflow diagrams

The petal pattern

Photography

Never

The bloom opens. Everything else stays still.

The same few parts, in every place.

Do this. Not that.

Everything you need, in the repository.

Tokens

Proposed, not registered.