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# Gitpub Brand Style Guide
## Brand Personality
Gitpub combines the familiarity of modern developer tooling with a warmer, community-driven identity inspired by pubs, collaboration, and indie development culture.
The visual identity should feel:
- Familiar to GitHub and developer tooling users
- Warm and social instead of cold or corporate
- Slightly industrial and pub-inspired
- Clean enough for serious development work
- Cozy without becoming gimmicky
The goal is:
> "GitHub if it had a stronger community identity and a warmer atmosphere."
---
## Brand Keywords
Gitpub should feel: **Warm, Collaborative, Creative, Technical, Independent, Open, Modern, Community-driven, Self-hosted, Developer-first.**
---
## Core Brand Colors
| Role | Color Name | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Background | Obsidian Black | `#0F1115` |
| Secondary Background | Graphite | `#171B21` |
| Elevated Surface | Slate Carbon | `#1E242C` |
| Border | Soft Steel | `#2C3440` |
| Primary Text | Warm White | `#F3F2EE` |
| Secondary Text | Muted Silver | `#9CA6B5` |
| Accent Primary | Amber Ale | `#E5A13E` |
| Accent Hover | Golden Lager | `#F0B04D` |
| Accent Deep | Burnt Copper | `#C57B27` |
---
## Supporting UI Colors
These help make the UI feel modern and familiar to developers coming from other tools.
| Purpose | Color Name | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Success | Terminal Green | `#3FB950` |
| Warning | Warm Amber | `#D29922` |
| Error | Commit Red | `#F85149` |
| Info | Repo Blue | `#58A6FF` |
| Secondary Accent | Branch Purple | `#A371F7` |
---
## Why This Works
### Familiarity
The layout and support colors deliberately feel close to GitHub, VSCode, Gitea, and Linear. This makes Gitpub immediately approachable for developers who come from those ecosystems.
### Uniqueness
The amber and copper warmth gives Gitpub its own distinct identity:
- GitHub = cold monochrome
- GitLab = orange corporate
- Gitea = green open-source
- **Gitpub = warm developer social coding**
The pub metaphor comes through subtly without turning the site into novelty branding.
---
## Surface Hierarchy
Surfaces are layered to create depth without introducing heavy contrast.
### Main Background — `#0F1115`
Used for the app shell, page backgrounds, repository views, and dashboards.
### Elevated Areas — `#171B21`
Used for sidebars, navigation bars, top bars, and modal backgrounds.
### Interactive Cards — `#1E242C`
Used for repository cards, issue cards, pull request cards, and panels.
---
## Accent Usage Rules
The amber accent is the core differentiator of the Gitpub brand.
**Use amber for:**
- Primary buttons
- Active tabs
- Selected repositories
- Branding moments
- Important highlights
Avoid using amber everywhere. GitHub works because its blue accent is controlled — Gitpub should treat amber the same way. The UI should remain mostly dark and neutral so the accent stands out intentionally.
---
## Typography
### Primary Text — `#F3F2EE`
Used for headers, main content, and important labels.
### Secondary Text — `#9CA6B5`
Used for descriptions, metadata, timestamps, and placeholder text.
---
## Recommended UI Feel
### Lighting Style
**Prefer:**
- Soft glows
- Subtle shadows
- Slight gradients
- Low-contrast depth
**Avoid:**
- Neon or cyberpunk aesthetics
- Overly glossy effects
- Excessive blur
- Pure black backgrounds
---
## Gradients
### Hero Gradient
```css
background: linear-gradient(
135deg,
#0F1115 0%,
#171B21 55%,
#251B12 100%
);
```
### Accent Gradient
```css
background: linear-gradient(
135deg,
#C57B27 0%,
#E5A13E 100%
);
```
---
## Shadows
```css
box-shadow: 0 8px 24px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
```
---
## Border Radius
| Element | Radius |
| ------- | ------ |
| Buttons | 10px |
| Cards | 14px |
| Modals | 18px |
| Inputs | 8px |
---
## Syntax Highlighting
To feel familiar and readable for developers:
| Element | Color |
| --------- | --------- |
| Keywords | `#FF7B72` |
| Functions | `#D2A8FF` |
| Strings | `#A5D6FF` |
| Comments | `#7D8590` |
| Variables | `#E6EDF3` |
| Numbers | `#79C0FF` |
---
## Pubby Mascot Guidelines
Pubby is the Gitpub mascot. The character should feel developer-adjacent and approachable, not cartoonish or childish.
**Pubby should use:**
- Warm amber accents
- Cream highlights
- Dark outlines
- Muted shadows
**Pubby should feel closer to:**
- GitHub Octocat — simple and iconic
- Discord mascot — polished and friendly
- Modern indie tech mascots
**Not:**
- Mobile game mascot branding
- Overly saturated cartoon colors
- Excessive detail or busy design
---
## Future Expansion Colors
As Gitpub expands into new product areas, these accent themes could be used to differentiate feature sets:
| Area | Accent |
| -------- | ------- |
| CI/CD | Green |
| Social | Purple |
| Hosting | Blue |
| Admin | Copper |
| Security | Crimson |
---
## Overall Visual Goal
Gitpub should feel like a modern developer workspace, a creative coding community, and a self-hosted alternative to GitHub — somewhere people actually want to spend time, not just another git frontend.
> "A modern social coding platform that feels welcoming, powerful, and community-oriented."
The warmth is the differentiator.