Building brands that shape tomorrow, with the speed required today.
A working blueprint of how Four Fin shows up — the colors, type, motion, voice, and components we use to help sustainability-focused companies make waves.
An independent, women-led studio that helps sustainable companies make waves.
Our brand is a vessel — strategic, playful, and ocean-rooted. We pair editorial elegance with the warmth of an in-person conversation, and we never take ourselves too seriously while taking the work very seriously.
Wavesest. 2018
waves.
Three primary blues. Three secondaries. Plus tints and gradients.
The Four Fin palette is built on cool blues and grey — calm, deep, oceanic. Sun Yellow is the lone warm note, and it appears only inside the Horizon and Sunset gradients — never on its own or as a solid fill. Tints extend each primary; gradients combine them when atmosphere is needed.
Source — Four Fin brand asset library
Slab serif headlines. Open, readable body.
A two-voice type system. Museo Slab carries the headlines and brand voice — a humanist slab serif with confident, geometric character. Barlow handles body copy and UI — a low-contrast grotesque that stays readable from 12px to 22px. Barlow Narrow handles labels and metadata — always set in caps.
Clear is kind. Warm is professional. Playful is the point.
Three traits anchor everything we write — from a single button to a fifty-page brand book. When in doubt, choose the version that respects the reader's time and sounds like a real human said it out loud.
Clear
Plain language, real verbs, no jargon walls. We'd rather risk being obvious than confusing. Clear is kind — the reader should never have to re-read.
Warm
We write the way we'd talk to a smart friend who happens to run a company. First-person plural, a hint of humor, no faux-corporate gloss.
Tidal
We use ocean language where it earns its keep — "make waves," "turn the tide," "ride the swell." If it sounds like a stretch, cut it.
A small kit, used well.
Buttons, tags, fields, and a case-card. Everything sits on a 4-pt grid, with generous 999px pill radii on interactive elements and 4px squared corners on container surfaces.
Real photography. Always a little salt-air.
Imagery favors real moments over stock: open water, work in progress, editorial graphics, and our clients in their environments.
Open Water — video poster
Editorial — blog graphic
Portrait — speed + tractionThree modes: Open Water (texture + atmosphere, full-bleed), Editorial (branded graphics, type-led layouts), and Portrait (clients and collaborators, natural light, candid). Avoid stock-feeling glossy renders, gradients used as filler, and AI-generated imagery.
