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Brand guidelines

Randilen Plains

Quiet, photo-led and exact. The identity starts from the land at Randilen: pale grass, petrol-dark water and night sky, low sun. Restraint, space and photography come first, with a voice and palette of its own.

02

Colour

Paper, an abyssal navy called Ink, and an earth scale of Sand, Clay, Terracotta and Mahogany. Ink is the text and the logo on paper, and the photo wells and the lightbox. Earth night, #1c1612, is the footer, the open menu, the end of nightfall, and the primary button: a near-black warm brown, not that navy. The header bar, once solid, stays paper. Ink soft is secondary text on paper, and the map water. Navy stays on the map. Terracotta is for links and form focus on paper, not for buttons. Outlined buttons use an earth-night border and label. Never use terracotta, ink soft or navy on earth night. On earth night the text is paper, mist or haze, outlined buttons are paper, and the focus ring is haze. Mahogany is the map’s land label and the button focus ring on paper; it is too red for a button fill. Burning Flame is a glint on earth night only, never a fill. Contrast is WCAG 2.2, measured against Paper and Earth night.

  • Neutrals

    Paper

    #eee9df --paper

    Page base. Palladian, a warm off-white, never pure white.

    On paper
    1.0:1 Decorative
    On night
    14.8:1 AAA

  • Neutrals

    Paper sunk

    #e1dbcf --paper-sunk

    Quiet panels. Palladian stepped toward oatmeal #c9c1b1.

    On paper
    1.1:1 Decorative
    On night
    13.0:1 AAA

  • Neutrals

    Ink

    #1b2632 --ink

    Abyssal navy. Text and the logo on paper, photo wells and the lightbox. Not the menu.

    On paper
    12.7:1 AAA
    On night
    1.2:1 Decorative

  • Neutrals

    Ink soft

    #434e5a --ink-soft

    Secondary text and micro labels on paper (7.0:1, 6.2:1 on sunk). Map water. Never on earth night (2.1:1).

    On paper
    7.0:1 AAA
    On night
    2.1:1 Decorative

  • Night

    Earth night

    #1c1612 --earth-night

    Footer, the open menu, nightfall, and primary buttons. Near-black warm brown, not the navy of Ink. A paper label is 14.8:1. Hover lifts to #3a2c24 (11.1:1).

    On paper
    14.8:1 AAA
    On night
    1.0:1 Decorative

  • Night

    Navy

    #2c3b4d --petrol

    Map routes and text selection. Blue Fantastic. Not used for buttons. Never on earth night (1.6:1).

    On paper
    9.4:1 AAA
    On night
    1.6:1 Decorative

  • Night

    Mist

    #c5c2ba --mist

    Secondary text on earth night (10.1:1).

    On paper
    1.5:1 Decorative
    On night
    10.1:1 AAA

  • Night

    Dusk

    #e4d9c8 --dusk

    Warm stone midpoint of nightfall, before earth night.

    On paper
    1.2:1 Decorative
    On night
    12.8:1 AAA

  • Earth

    Sand

    #d69e6b --sand

    Sampled light ochre. Decorative. Not for small text on paper (1.9:1).

    On paper
    1.9:1 Decorative
    On night
    7.6:1 AAA

  • Earth

    Clay

    #b9805d --clay

    Sampled sandy clay. Decorative on paper (2.8:1). 5.4:1 on earth night.

    On paper
    2.8:1 Decorative
    On night
    5.4:1 AA

  • Earth

    Terracotta

    #8e4632 --terracotta

    Links and the focus ring on paper fields. Truffle #a35139 deepened for small text (5.7:1). Not outlined buttons. Never on earth night (2.6:1).

    On paper
    5.6:1 AA
    On night
    2.6:1 Decorative

  • Earth

    Mahogany

    #744537 --mahogany

    The dark earth. Map land label, small text on paper (6.6:1), and the button focus ring. Too red for a button fill.

    On paper
    6.6:1 AA
    On night
    2.3:1 Decorative

  • Glint

    Flame

    #ffb162 --haze

    Burning Flame. A glint on earth night only (10.0:1). Never a fill, never text on paper (1.5:1).

    On paper
    1.5:1 Decorative
    On night
    10.0:1 AAA

Proportions, roughly: 70% paper, 20% ink and photography, 8% earth night and navy, 2% earth and flame. Sand and clay are swatches, not text colours.

03

Typography

Bodoni Moda for headlines, Hanken Grotesk for everything else. A high-contrast Didone gives the calm, editorial register; the optical size is capped so hairlines survive at large sizes. Headlines are set in regular weight, upright, in sentence case: no italic or bold first words, no all-caps headlines.

  1. Display

    Bodoni Moda 400 · clamp 48–152px · line-height 1.0

    --fs-display

    Randilen

  2. H1

    Bodoni Moda 400 · 42–96px · 1.04

    --fs-h1

    Two ways to stay

  3. H2

    Bodoni Moda 400 · 34–68px · 1.12

    --fs-h2

    A veranda over the waterhole

  4. H3

    Bodoni Moda 400 · 26–40px · 1.18

    --fs-h3

    Breakfast somewhere remote

  5. Lead

    Hanken Grotesk 400 · 21–30px · 1.38

    --fs-lead

    Six bandas and eight tents on the open plains.

  6. Body

    Hanken Grotesk 400 · 17px · 1.65 · max 62ch

    --fs-body

    The veranda looks out over a natural waterhole where elephants come to drink.

  7. Micro

    Hanken Grotesk 600 · 11.5px · uppercase · tracking 0.26em

    --fs-micro

    Stay · The Lodge

Pairing
One serif headline, one sans lead or body, one micro label. Never two serif sizes side by side.
Labels
Uppercase, tracked 0.26em, weight 600. Used for eyebrows, navigation, buttons and counters.
Numbers
Tabular figures for times, counts and coordinates (05:30, 06 / 13, 3.7225° S).

04

Photography

Photographs carry the brand. Natural light, honest colour and a lot of land. People appear small, busy with something real, never posing for the camera.

Wooded plains stretching to distant mountains under a stormy sky
Land Low horizon, wide sky, weather allowed.
Guests in an open safari vehicle in soft morning light
People Guests in the scene, not the subject.
A round banda with a canvas roof and open doors onto its private terrace
Places Architecture in daylight, doors open to the bush.
A red spotlight picks out eyes in the darkness on a night drive
Night Real darkness; red spotlight, lanterns, fire.
Do
Early and late light · muted, warm-neutral grade · one clear subject · space for text in the frame · wildlife at a respectful distance.
Avoid
HDR, heavy vignettes and orange filters · staged “safari” clichés · crowded vehicles · baited or stressed animals · people photographed without consent.
Treatment
Full-bleed or generous crops; fixed ratios (3:2, 4:5, 21:9). Text over images only on a calm area with a soft night scrim.

The Lodge, the Bush Camp and Experiences each take a set of 10–15 photographs.

05

Lines and icons

Hairlines do the structuring that boxes and shadows do elsewhere. Corners stay square. There is no icon set: an arrow, a close mark, chevrons and a menu mark, all drawn as hairlines (1–1.25px).

Hairline · 1px · ink at 14%

Vertical rule · 1px · 72px

Arrow · hairline

05 / 13

Counter · tabular

06

Motion

The site is still. Two motions are allowed: nightfall into the earth-night footer, and the scroll-cue glide. Photographs stay still while the page scrolls. They do not scale, drift or zoom. Both allowed motions stop when the reader asks for reduced motion. The scroll cue holds a static hairline in that case.

Photographs
A photograph stays in its frame. Scrolling does not scale it, drift it or zoom it. Nightfall changes the ground around it and leaves the picture where it is.
Nightfall
Across the evening chapters the ground moves from paper, through dusk, to earth night #1c1612. The footer is the same colour and continues that night.
Scroll cue
A hairline under the word Scroll, with a light that travels the line. It is the other allowed motion. Reduced motion parks the light and does not run the glide.
Menu
The open menu uses earth night #1c1612, the same ground as the footer. Text is paper, secondary lines are mist, the current item and the focus ring are haze. The header bar, once solid, stays paper with ink text.
Galleries
Arrows sit inside the photograph, vertically centred. From 1024px each half of the image is a click. On a phone the arrows stay narrow and the middle of the image swipes.
Text without a photograph
A centred Intro. The eyebrow and heading stay centred. Below 640px the body is start-aligned. From 1024px the heading may run to 900px. The body stays at 36rem.

07

Tone of voice

Plain, specific and warm. Say what is there and let the place do the persuading. British English, short sentences, no superlatives.

  • Specific, not superlative

    Write “Six round bandas face a natural waterhole where elephants come to drink.”

    Not “An unforgettable, world-class luxury experience in breathtaking surroundings.”

  • Quiet confidence

    Write “There are no fixed routes. Guides track off-road wherever the sightings lead.”

    Not “Guaranteed Big Five sightings on every drive!”

  • Respectful of people and land

    Write “Randilen is leased in partnership with the Maasai communities who live here.”

    Not “Meet authentic tribal warriors in their untouched world.”

  • Personal, not pushy

    Write “Tell us when you would like to come, and we will shape the rest with you.”

    Not “Book now! Limited availability!”

08

UI examples

Solid buttons are earth night #1c1612 with a paper label (14.8:1). Hover is #3a2c24, still in that brown (11.1:1). Outlined buttons use the same brown for the border and the label, and fill with it on hover. On earth night the solid button turns paper and the outline stays paper. Focus on paper is mahogany; on earth night it is haze. Disabled buttons stay in this brown and fade. Labels never wrap. Cards stay the same size.

Buttons and links

Begin an enquiry Explore the Lodge
Discover the Lodge
Begin an enquiry On earth night

Card

The curved main house of the lodge, open to the plains
Stay The Lodge Six round bandas facing a natural waterhole. Discover

Form fields

Demo only; nothing is sent.

09

How it should feel

The identity starts from the land. What it holds to is the attitude; the material is Randilen’s own.

What it holds to

  • Restraint and a lot of white space
  • Photography first, text second
  • Uppercase, widely tracked navigation and labels
  • Outlined, square, uppercase buttons
  • Alternating image and text sections with small eyebrows
  • A light serif for headlines over a light sans

Randilen’s own

  • Bodoni Moda and Hanken Grotesk, not Cormorant Garamond and Outfit
  • Paper and earth night, not black, white and gold
  • Upright headlines, no italic accent words
  • Nightfall from paper to earth night, and the same night in the footer and the menu
  • Coordinates, times and counters as quiet detail
  • Its own wordmark