SableBrand guidelinesv1.0
A fragrance house with a quiet voice
- Version
- 1.0 · Nov 2025
- Discipline
- Brand
- Sector
- Fragrance
- Prepared by
- Berke Tok
Foundations
Identity and online store for an independent perfumer. The brand speaks in materials and memory, and the shop is built to sell slowly.
1.1Purpose
A flacon reduced to cap, glass and the line of the liquid. The wordmark is set wide in a Garamond, the way perfume houses have always been.
1.2Audience
Who it is for
People buying fragrance as a considered object, often as a gift, rarely in a hurry.
Positioning
For people who choose a scent the way they choose a book. Unlike counters of bestsellers, Sable sells a small library, described slowly.
1.3Principles
- P1
A bottle for a mark
The mark is the bottle itself: cap, glass and liquid line, legible at favicon size and on a box lid.
- P2
Notes, not adjectives
Product pages lead with materials, longevity and the perfumer, in a serif set at a reading size.
- P3
Campaign and shop in one
The launch page and the product page share one grid, so a campaign never feels like a separate site.
Voice
How Sable sounds in product, support and marketing. One voice; the tone moves with the moment, not the channel.
2.1Traits
Quiet
No superlatives. The bottle, the notes and the occasion carry the copy.
Literary
Sentences can be long if they are good. Notes are described as places and times.
Exact
Concentration, volume and longevity are always stated. Romance does not replace facts.
2.2Say this, not that
- Say
Smoke from a cedar fire, saffron on warm skin.
NotAn irresistible, captivating scent.
- Say
Eau de parfum · 50 ml · 8–10 hours
NotLong-lasting luxury fragrance.
- Say
Wrapped by hand. A card can be written for you.
NotFree gift wrapping on all orders!
2.3House style
- 01Product names in title case: Ember Oud
- 02Volumes as 50 ml
- 03Never “perfume” for an eau de toilette
Logo
One mark, one wordmark, one horizontal lockup. The mark is drawn on a 48-unit grid and is never redrawn, only scaled.
3.1Lockups
3.2Construction
Construction circles and the 4-unit grid the mark is drawn on.
- Grid
- 48 units, 4-unit subdivisions
- Construction
- Orthogonal, no curves
- Lockup
- Mark 129.72 : word 559 units wide
- Gap
- 47 units between mark and word
3.3Clear space and size
Shown at true size. Below these the mark fills in and the word loses its counters.
3.4Misuse
Do not stretch or squash
Do not rotate
Do not recolour
Do not outline
Do not add effects
Do not set on low contrast
Colour
Four colours with fixed roles. Values are the source of truth for screen; print is proofed against the CMYK starting points below.
4.1Palette
- PrimaryNoir
- HEX
- #151312
- RGB
- 21 19 18
- HSL
- 20 8% 8%
- OKLCH
- 18.9% 0.004 49
- CMYK
- 0 10 14 92
- On it
- Bone
- GroundUmber
- HEX
- #3B2F29
- RGB
- 59 47 41
- HSL
- 20 18% 20%
- OKLCH
- 31.7% 0.020 48
- CMYK
- 0 20 31 77
- On it
- Bone
- TintStone
- HEX
- #E6DED3
- RGB
- 230 222 211
- HSL
- 35 28% 86%
- OKLCH
- 90.4% 0.017 76
- CMYK
- 0 3 8 10
- On it
- Umber
- PaperBone
- HEX
- #F6F2EC
- RGB
- 246 242 236
- HSL
- 36 36% 95%
- OKLCH
- 96.3% 0.009 78
- CMYK
- 0 2 4 4
- On it
- Umber
4.2Proportion
Share of a typical surface. Primary is an accent even where it leads.
4.3Tonal scale
Derived from Noir in linear light, for charts, states and illustration. Never for the mark.
- 50EFEFEF
- 100E3E3E3
- 200C8C8C8
- 300A8A7A7
- 4007B7B7B
- 500151312
- 60012100F
- 7000F0D0D
- 8000B0A09
- 900070606
4.4Contrast
WCAG 2.2 ratios. AA needs 4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for large text and icons.
- Aa11.59:1AAA
- Aa9.70:1AAA
- Aa1.43:1Fail
- Aa1.20:1Fail
- Aa16.61:1AAA
- Aa11.59:1AAA
- Aa16.61:1AAA
- Aa13.90:1AAA
- Aa1.43:1Fail
Typography
Cormorant Garamond for everything, from display to captions. One family keeps the product and the marketing in the same voice.
5.1Typeface
Cormorant Garamond
Semibold 560 · Light 300
5.2Scale
Base 16 px, ratio 1.333. Line height tightens as size grows.
- Display67 / 1.08 / -3%A fragrance house with a quiet voice
- Heading 151 / 1.08 / -3%A fragrance house with a quiet voice
- Heading 238 / 1.2 / -1.5%A fragrance house with a quiet voice
- Heading 328 / 1.2 / -1.5%A fragrance house with a quiet voice
- Lead21 / 1.5 / 0%A fragrance house with a quiet voice
- Body16 / 1.5 / 0%Identity and online store for an independent perfumer. The brand speaks in materials and memory, and the shop is built to sell slowly.
- Caption12 / 1.5 / 0%Identity and online store for an independent perfumer. The brand speaks in materials and memory, and the shop is built to sell slowly.
5.3Setting
Sentence case
Headings, buttons and labels. Title case only for product names.
Tabular figures
Every amount, time and count, so columns line up and values do not jump.
60–75 characters
Running text measure. Short labels may run to the edge of their container.
Layout
Two grids and one spacing scale cover every screen. Print uses the same 12 columns on the A-series.
6.1Grid
6.2Spacing
A 4 px base. Components step on 4 and 8; sections on 48 and up.
- space-14 px
- space-28 px
- space-312 px
- space-416 px
- space-524 px
- space-632 px
- space-748 px
- space-864 px
- space-996 px
Interface
The identity carried into the product: tokens first, then the handful of components every screen is made from.
7.1Tokens
- radius.sm
- 0 px
- radius.md
- 0 px
- radius.lg
- 0 px
- focus
- 2 px #151312 · 2 px offset
- elevation.1
- 0 1 2 / 8%
- elevation.2
- 0 12 32 / 14%
- motion.fast
- 160 ms · ease-out
- motion.base
- 240 ms · ease-out
- hit target
- 44 × 44 px
7.2Components
Live components, set in the brand typeface with the tokens above.
7.3In product
Applications
Where the rules meet the world. When something here is not covered, follow the checklist and keep the lockup clear.
8.1In context
8.2Checklist
Before anything ships.
- The lockup is at least 18 px tall on screen and 8 mm in print.
- Clear space around the lockup is at least half the mark’s height on every side.
- Body text is Umber on Bone: 11.6:1, AAA.
- Noir can carry text on Bone (16.6:1).
- Headings use Cormorant Garamond; amounts use tabular figures.
- Copy follows the house style in 2.3, starting with “Product names in title case: Ember Oud”.