The Record
Sharp cuts, a pointed foot, a filing rule beneath. The letter is drawn as a measurement — the identity of a document that can be checked.
Three routes · one locked name · drawn against the repository
One name. Three arguments. Your buyer decides which one is true.
Vanisree is settled, so nothing here is a naming shortlist. Each route is a complete identity on the same word — its own mark construction, type system, colour physics, state language and product screens — aimed at a different person in the sign-off chain.
01 · The three marks, at the same size
Read them from three metres away. The one you can still name wins the recognition test.
The Round
Round caps, arms that are not quite equal, a terracotta node where they meet. The letter is drawn as a movement — the identity of a day that keeps going.
The Ledger
Two solid bands, a flat foot, and nothing beneath them. The letter is printed, not drawn — the identity of a book that has to balance.
02 · Route by route
Same product, same name, same grid — three different arguments about what a day is worth.
| Dimension | 01 · The Record | 02 · The Round | 03 · The Ledger |
|---|---|---|---|
| The argument | A day is worth what it can prove. | A day is worth the round that was actually run. | A day is worth what reconciles at closing. |
| Mark construction | Flat top cuts, pointed foot, one ink filing rule at 30% opacity. | Two round-capped strokes, right arm starting three units higher, terracotta node. | Two solid parallelogram bands, flat foot, and nothing under the letter. |
| The mark's own rule | The mark never carries the accent: colour means state, and state is data. | The mark is allowed to be imperfect in exactly one place — the two arms are not equal. | The mark is one ink and no rule. The accent lives on the page, where it sits under a total. |
| Display face | A text serif — the sheet reads like a filed document. | Manrope, the only face already licensed and inside the repo. | A slab serif — the book face. |
| Body & data | System sans for prose, mono for every figure. | Mukta for prose, so Devanagari strings sit in the same body face; mono for figures. | Plex Sans for prose, Plex Mono for every figure and every amount. |
| Ink on paper | Cool blue-black on a near-white. Measured 16.93:1. | Deep indigo on a warm off-white. Measured 15.44:1. | Near-black on ledger cream. Measured 14.35:1. |
| The accent | Fix blue — the action, and nothing else. | Terracotta — the action and the node in the mark. | Vermilion — the action and the second printing ink. |
| State language | Three named verdicts: verified, flagged, missing. Amber is a chip with ink text, never amber text. | Words and round dots. Red is banned from status entirely — red tells a rep she is being blamed. | Two inks only. State is carried by rule weight and a solid or hollow marker, never by a third hue. |
| Converts | The owner who has been shown a screenshot too many, and the accountant. | The field rep, and the manager who has to ask for adoption. | The MD still running the business on a bahi-khata, and the accountant. |
| Where it fails | Reads cold to a rep at 7 am. The rep screens have to be re-cut in its type, not just re-coloured. | Softest on the owner's desk. It needs route 03's reconciliation view to close the sale. | Can tip into dated and municipal. The paper temperature and the hairlines have to hold. |
| First screen to build | Attendance record with the proof panel open. | Punch in and today's beat plan. | Travel claims, then the month close. |
03 · How to decide
Four tests, in this order. The last one decides.
- The three-metre test. Put the three plates on one screen and walk back. Reproduce this page at 30% and the mark you can still describe is the one that survives an app icon.
- The disputed-day test. Show each route to the person it aims at and ask one question: which of these would you show if a visiting day were challenged in a shop? The rep answers route 02. The accountant answers 01 or 03.
- The 16 px test. Each sheet already renders its mark at 24 px and 16 px with the accessory dropped. Put that icon beside four real apps on a phone home screen before you fall in love with the sheet version.
- The lost-buyer test. Decide by the signer you cannot afford to lose, not the one you enjoyed drawing for. In this product that is usually the person who signs the cheque and never opens the app.
- The Devanagari companion cut in route 02 is drawn as वनिश्री. That spelling is ours, not the client's, and it must be confirmed before any script version is produced.
- Whether Vanisree is registered in class 9 or 42, and whether the parent organisation's existing mark governs the typography, is a question for their counsel.
- Whether the dashboard's violet, navy and rose values really belong to a different organisation — if so, the dashboard is currently wearing an unrelated brand.
None of these are reasons to delay choosing. All three are reasons not to print yet.
Mark construction with grid and clear space · the two lockups · type roles and specimens · the token table with OKLch values, resolved sRGB and measured contrast · the state system · two real product screens drawn in the route's own system · the voice rules, quoted against the strings the product ships today · the buyer it is built to convert.
Pick the route your buyer believes, and the mark gets drawn properly.
Once you choose, the tokens are rebuilt in the product before the remaining thirty-one screens are written — so nothing arrives branded a fourth time.