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PIVOT

Visual style guide
6 October 2026

Visual Style
Guide / Editorial
System

How Pivot looks, and how to make things that look like Pivot.

Pivot CollectiveStart here

Five things make it Pivot.

Get these right and anything you make, a page, a report or a post, will look like it belongs. The chapters after this show how.

  1. 01

    One colour per section

    Each section, slide or sheet takes one ground from the palette, painted edge to edge.

  2. Brand-locked editorial artwork: learning the adaptation log

    02

    Flat ink, never gradients

    Colour is laid flat. Texture lives inside the artwork, never on the page.

  3. 03

    Pictures whole, words beside

    Show a photograph or artwork in full and set the words next to it, not on it.

  4. PIVOT

    04

    The mark leads the word

    When the dots and the word sit together, the dots are bigger.

  5. 05

    Pivot's words, as written

    Use the team's approved text. You may shorten it; never rewrite it.

Who this is for
Designers, agencies, partners and the Pivot team: anyone making something in Pivot's name.
What is fixed
The palette, the three typefaces, the mark, flat ink, and Pivot's own words.
What is open
How you combine them. Each piece is laid out on its own merits; there are no templates to fill in.

Ink on paper.

Pivot is set like a screen print: flat colour, paper with a little texture, and artwork placed like a print.

Screen-printed plate: a gold figure reaching for a door handle between two tall navy panels, on terra and teal blocks.
A plate on its own paper ground
Screen-printed plate: a ring of navy figures with worn ink, and one gold dot standing outside the ring.
A cut-out figure, standing free
Screen-printed plate: a desk lamp lighting a hand sorting printed sheets, on navy, with the left two thirds left empty for type.
Made for its slot: the picture keeps right, the words take the left

  • Flat ink

    One palette, laid flat. No gradients, glow or haze.

  • Texture in the plate

    Worn edges and paper showing through belong to the artwork. The page stays clean and exact.

  • Placed like a print

    Each artwork is one object with room around it, standing free or entering from one edge.

Do

  • Let the artwork carry all the texture.
  • Leave clear room around every plate.

Don't

  • Add rough edges, grain or printer's marks to page elements.
  • Use gradients, glows or drop shadows to fake depth.

The mark.

Six dots hold a formation; a seventh, in gold, steps out of line.

The mark
The mark given a body: a ring of navy figures printed with worn ink, and the gold dot standing outside the ring.
The same idea, given a body in the artwork
PIVOT
On light grounds: navy, gold dot
PIVOT
On dark grounds: paper, gold dot
PIVOT
On gold: navy, white dot
The mark alone
PIVOT
The word alone
PIVOT
Stacked: the mark above

Do

  • Make the mark about 1.8 times the height of the word beside it.
  • Put the mark to the left of the word, or above it.

Don't

  • Set the mark and the word at the same height.
  • Leave the gold dot on a gold ground: it turns white there.

Colour.

Thirteen colours. Each section takes one of them as its ground.

  • void#081420Darkest ground: openings and endings
  • navy#0d1b2aThe main dark ground
  • deep#0c2231A supporting dark
  • paper#f4f1eaThe main light ground, for reading
  • white#fffBehind logos and images
  • paper shade#e9e5dcA light band
  • gold#daa520Facts and accents
  • gold pale#f0d984A soft gold
  • teal#1D9494Lines and accents, not grounds
  • mist#9CC3CBA soft cool ground
  • terra#A8502DOne key statement
  • terra deep#912727Warnings and deadlines
  • teal ground#18787aTeal, darkened to carry text

Every ground has a job

  • voidOpenings and endings
  • navyThe main dark ground
  • paperReading and evidence
  • goldFacts and short signals
  • terraOne key statement
  • terra deepWarnings and deadlines

Text that reads on each ground

  • AaPaper on navyAny text · 15.42:1
  • AaGold on navyAny text · 7.77:1
  • AaPaper on terraAny text · 4.84:1
  • AaPaper on terra deepAny text · 7.38:1
  • AaPaper on voidAny text · 16.46:1
  • AaNavy on paperAny text · 15.42:1
  • AaVoid on goldAny text · 8.30:1
  • AaWhite on tealLarge text only · 3.67:1
  • AaPaper on tealLarge text only · 3.26:1
  • AaPaper on teal groundAny text · 4.65:1
  • AaNavy on mistAny text · 9.18:1

Do

  • Pick one ground per section and paint it whole.
  • For body text on teal, use the darker teal ground.

Don't

  • Mix two grounds inside one block.
  • Set small text in gold or teal on a light ground.

Type.

Three typefaces, each with one job.

  • Readex ProShifting Knowledge and PowerTitles and statements
  • MontserratKnowledge into action, through equitable partnerships.Everything people read
  • JetBrains MonoLabels & numbers 0123Labels, never sentences

Eleven sizes

  1. h196pxShifting Knowledge
  2. h267pxShifting Knowledge
  3. h348pxShifting Knowledge
  4. h435pxShifting Knowledge
  5. sub27pxShifting Knowledge
  6. lead21pxKnowledge into action
  7. body18pxKnowledge into action
  8. base16pxKnowledge into action
  9. small15pxKnowledge into action
  10. label text12pxKnowledge into action
  11. label12pxIntroduction

Sizes are at a 1336px-wide screen. Titles scale with the screen; reading text does not.

Four weights

  • Aa400Body copy
  • Aa400Leads
  • Aa500Eyebrows
  • Aa600Titles

Do

  • Use Readex Pro for titles and statements, Montserrat for reading.
  • Keep every page title at the one title size.

Don't

  • Write sentences in the mono: it is for labels and numbers.
  • Invent a fifth weight or an in-between size.

Images.

Photographs prove what happened. Artwork carries the idea.

An overhead view of a workshop table covered in hand-drawn notes and phrases in coloured marker, with pens and markers around it, in dappled sunlight.
A photograph, large and whole: the evidence
A young woman smiling as she writes with a marker on a sheet held against another participant's arm, at an outdoor workshop.
Photograph: the people and the room, as they were
Brand-locked editorial artwork: engaged participation is not consultation
Artwork: one idea, in flat ink

Artwork says it sideways

Brand-locked editorial artwork: the measure cannot close
A measure that will not close
Brand-locked editorial artwork: translation runs both ways
One question, two hands
Brand-locked editorial artwork: climate heat is a health record
The same lungs

A picture of a clinic only says clinic. A gold tape measure that cannot close around a body says the measure is wrong, and the reader finishes the thought. Captions here are working titles.

The question arrives late
The question arrives late
Who holds the pen
Who holds the pen
The room decides before the meeting
The room decides before the meeting
Evidence cools
Evidence cools
The map is drawn by the road
The map is drawn by the road
Consent keeps its door
Consent keeps its door
Two clocks one project
Two clocks one project
The listening is the work
The listening is the work
What the survey left out
What the survey left out
Power sits lower than it looks
Power sits lower than it looks
Care is a structure not a feeling
Care is a structure not a feeling
The finding outlives the study
The finding outlives the study
Show all 148 artworksShow fewer
The margin writes back
The margin writes back
Adaptation is not retreat
Adaptation is not retreat
The body keeps the record
The body keeps the record
Knowledge moves sideways
Knowledge moves sideways
The shortest distance is refused
The shortest distance is refused
What cannot be counted still weighs
What cannot be counted still weighs
The second generation asks differently
The second generation asks differently
Proof is a shape you can stand in
Proof is a shape you can stand in
The planted foot
The planted foot
Presence not absence
Presence not absence
Absence outlined presence blocked
Absence outlined presence blocked
Lived experience as lens
Lived experience as lens
Asymmetric permission
Asymmetric permission
Whether to bring yourself in
Whether to bring yourself in
Two arms one body
Two arms one body
The matching notch
The matching notch
Crossing without extraction
Crossing without extraction
Institutions edge through a body
Institutions edge through a body
Hierarchy posture lexicon
Hierarchy posture lexicon
Ink block over the crowd
Ink block over the crowd
Everything on one point
Everything on one point
Off register
Off register
The category bends first
The category bends first
Many vessels one bowl
Many vessels one bowl
Accompaniment
Accompaniment
The work inside the work
The work inside the work
Data from the inside
Data from the inside
The table was the argument
The table was the argument
Knowledge returns home changed
Knowledge returns home changed
Researcher inside the researched
Researcher inside the researched
The open hand
The open hand
The bowl
The bowl
The shared sun
The shared sun
The garden mind
The garden mind
Recovered r01 the planted foot
Recovered r01 the planted foot
Recovered r03 absence outlined presence blocked
Recovered r03 absence outlined presence blocked
Recovered r05 asymmetric permission
Recovered r05 asymmetric permission
Recovered r06 whether to bring yourself in
Recovered r06 whether to bring yourself in
Recovered r07 two arms one body
Recovered r07 two arms one body
Recovered r10 institutions edge through a body
Recovered r10 institutions edge through a body
Recovered r11 hierarchy posture lexicon
Recovered r11 hierarchy posture lexicon
Recovered r12 ink block over the crowd
Recovered r12 ink block over the crowd
Recovered r13 everything on one point
Recovered r13 everything on one point
Recovered r15 the category bends first
Recovered r15 the category bends first
Recovered r18 the work inside the work
Recovered r18 the work inside the work
Recovered r21 knowledge returns home changed
Recovered r21 knowledge returns home changed
Recovered r23 the open hand
Recovered r23 the open hand
The midwife knows the road
The midwife knows the road
The grandmother clause
The grandmother clause
The unpaid ward
The unpaid ward
Two women one microscope
Two women one microscope
She asked a different question
She asked a different question
The seed bank
The seed bank
The heat map is a map of houses
The heat map is a map of houses
The ramp was an afterthought
The ramp was an afterthought
The third presence
The third presence
The weight is carried by the absence
The weight is carried by the absence
Listening is the structure
Listening is the structure
The measure cannot close
The measure cannot close
Who writes the question
Who writes the question
The table rearranged
The table rearranged
Permission is asymmetric
Permission is asymmetric
The margin becomes the centre
The margin becomes the centre
Two knowledges one body
Two knowledges one body
The room breathes differently
The room breathes differently
Disclosure keeps its exit
Disclosure keeps its exit
A survey cannot hear silence
A survey cannot hear silence
It returns home changed
It returns home changed
The signal changes instrument
The signal changes instrument
Translation runs both ways
Translation runs both ways
The weight is carried by the absence
The weight is carried by the absence
The archive leaks sideways
The archive leaks sideways
Trust refuses the metronome
Trust refuses the metronome
The category bends first
The category bends first
Listening is the structure
Listening is the structure
The matriarch holds the record
The matriarch holds the record
Three generations one question
Three generations one question
The body that was not the model
The body that was not the model
The pregnant researcher
The pregnant researcher
The room listens back
The room listens back
The slow arrival
The slow arrival
Cfe the exchange has two doors
Cfe the exchange has two doors
Cfe the ecosystem not the pipeline
Cfe the ecosystem not the pipeline
Cfe who holds the agenda
Cfe who holds the agenda
Cfe learning in public
Cfe learning in public
Lens the instrument is the self
Lens the instrument is the self
Lens disclosure has a temperature
Lens disclosure has a temperature
Lens the collective of ones
Lens the collective of ones
Lens expertise without a certificate
Lens expertise without a certificate
Climate the same lungs
Climate the same lungs
Climate just transition
Climate just transition
Climate heat is a health record
Climate heat is a health record
Climate who pays for the weather
Climate who pays for the weather
Youth not a future tense
Youth not a future tense
Youth the brief was blank
Youth the brief was blank
Youth creative methods are methods
Youth creative methods are methods
Youth mental health is a room not a fault
Youth mental health is a room not a fault
Even ground the name is the brief
Even ground the name is the brief
Even ground funding that listens first
Even ground funding that listens first
Even ground care is infrastructure
Even ground care is infrastructure
Peer the shortest distance
Peer the shortest distance
Peer self care is not alone care
Peer self care is not alone care
Srhr the choice is the service
Srhr the choice is the service
Engaged the ethics board and the street
Engaged the ethics board and the street
Engaged participation is not consultation
Engaged participation is not consultation
Kt the finding and the decision
Kt the finding and the decision
Kt the report nobody opened
Kt the report nobody opened
Research culture is a building
Research culture is a building
Practice the facilitator leaves the room
Practice the facilitator leaves the room
Practice the community of practice
Practice the community of practice
Learning the adaptation log
Learning the adaptation log
Learning failure is data
Learning failure is data
Systems the lever and the fulcrum
Systems the lever and the fulcrum
Systems the last mile is the first
Systems the last mile is the first
Sustainability the project ends the work does not
Sustainability the project ends the work does not
Power the room was always shaped
Power the room was always shaped
Power nothing about us without us
Power nothing about us without us
Method the question changed the questioner
Method the question changed the questioner
Method two clocks in one project
Method two clocks in one project
Evidence the plural of data
Evidence the plural of data
Seam the weight of absence
Seam the weight of absence
Seam the archive leaks
Seam the archive leaks
Seam the data has a back
Seam the data has a back
Seam consent is not a signature
Seam consent is not a signature
Seam the unfunded work
Seam the unfunded work
Seam findings going back
Seam findings going back
Seam two systems one bridge
Seam two systems one bridge
Seam co authorship
Seam co authorship
Third figure between
Third figure between
The measure cannot close
The measure cannot close
A survey cannot hear silence
A survey cannot hear silence
Knowledge returns home changed
Knowledge returns home changed
The missing column
The missing column
The archive leaks sideways
The archive leaks sideways
The handle is on one side
The handle is on one side
One lock many keys
One lock many keys

Do

  • Use photographs large and whole, at their own shape.
  • Choose artwork that suggests the idea rather than illustrating it literally.

Don't

  • Put words over the subject of a picture.
  • Crop shapes out of a photograph, or lay gradients over it.

Layout.

A handful of patterns, combined page by page.

Side by side

Our Role In Change

Brand-locked editorial artwork: engaged the ethics board and the street

Art beside a navy field

Pathways to Change

Brand-locked editorial artwork: cfe the ecosystem not the pipeline

Change the ground as the story moves

  1. 01 OpenSet the scene on a dark ground.
  2. 02 ProveFacts in a short gold band.
  3. 03 ExplainReading and figures on paper.
  4. 04 TurnA change of field marks a change of argument.
  5. 05 CloseLand the point on a dark ground, briefly.

Long reading

This first issue of The Bowl reflects the early months of collective learning in Phase 2 of the Centres for Exchange (CfE) programme. During this period, partner organisations and enabling partners focused on establishing the conditions for shared inquiry, laying the groundwork for learning that could evolve through practice, reflection, and engagement with context.

“The youth conceptualisation of the topic was different to ours. For youth a hole in the roof filling a room with water is ‘flooding’.”
Brand-locked editorial artwork: disclosure keeps its exit
A figure keeps to its own column

Do

  • Line things up by the text itself, not by the boxes around it.
  • Move a heading, its title and its paragraph together, as one block.

Don't

  • Run reading text wider than about 70 characters a line.
  • Put two artworks in one section: one plate, with room around it.

Components.

The parts that recur on every Pivot page.

Purpose

Our Mission

Eyebrow and section title
Explore the work
Button
Participatory ResearchLearning Partnerships
Tags
One collectiveTwo aligned entities
2018Non-profit founded
Cape TownWorking globally
Proof strip: three facts on gold

Our Approach

Global health and development systems often reproduce unequal power dynamics, privileging certain forms of knowledge, voices, and ways of working.

Card
Action needed

For a deadline, a closing date, or a change that affects the reader.

An invitation

For a call to take part, a result, or something new.

Notices: caution and invitation
Partner logos, laid down like prints
Co-CreationOur Projects
ReflectionsRead Our Blog
Knowledge & PolicyResource Hub
Index banner: projects, blog and resources share one

undefined

Explore the work
Closing band: the last word on every page

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Motion: rise, settle, hold

  • First screen

    What is on screen when a page opens is already in place. Nothing glides or waits.

  • 12px · 0.85s

    Further down, text glides up into place as it arrives. It moves; it never fades.

  • 30px · 1.2s

    Artwork arrives like a sheet laid down, with a slight settle.

  • 0.06s

    What scrolls in together lands in reading order, one after another.

  • 0.7s · 1.5s

    Labels type themselves in: quickly in the first screen, slower further down.

  • Reduced motion

    If a reader asks for less motion, everything is simply in place.

Do

  • Reuse these parts before designing a new one.
  • Let text glide and artwork settle; let a group arrive in reading order.

Don't

  • Fade, blur, scale or spin things in.
  • Restyle a part for one page: change it everywhere or not at all.

Making things.

Posts, slides, covers and posters use the same rules on a different sheet.

Slide 16:9 · Plate on the right, words on the left, mark at the foot.
Square post 1:1 · One cut-out artwork, lower right; the title keeps clear of it.
Portrait post 4:5 · A whole photograph; the words sit below it, on the colour.
Report cover A-series · Title above, photograph below, full width and whole.
Poster A-series · The gold sheet: the biggest title, one plate across the foot.

Email signature

Angelique Thomas
Programmes Lead
name@pivotcollective.org
pivotcollective.org
  • Print 1
  • Print 2
  • Print 3
  • Print 4
  • Print 5
  • Print 6
  • Print 7
  • Print 8
  • Print 9
  • Print 10

Ten prints to choose from. Make yours at /signature/: pick yourself or fill in your own details, choose a print, copy, paste.

Values to copy

Colour

  • void#081420
  • navy#0d1b2a
  • deep#0c2231
  • paper#f4f1ea
  • white#fff
  • paper shade#e9e5dc
  • gold#daa520
  • gold pale#f0d984
  • teal#1D9494
  • mist#9CC3CB
  • terra#A8502D
  • terra deep#912727
  • teal ground#18787a

Typefaces

  • Readex Pro600 titles, 400 statements
  • Montserrat400 reading
  • JetBrains Mono500 labels

Sizes at 1336px

  • label12px
  • label text12px
  • small15px
  • base16px
  • body18px
  • lead21px
  • sub27px
  • h435px
  • h348px
  • h267px
  • h196px

Do

  • Start from the sheet closest to yours and keep its proportions.
  • Close every sheet with the mark, or the word alone.

Don't

  • Stretch or recolour an artwork to fit a space.
  • Add a second artwork to the same sheet.

The rules.

Everything above, on one page.

  1. Use Pivot's words as approved. Shorten them if you must; never rewrite them.
  2. Use only the thirteen colours, and give each section one ground, painted whole.
  3. Keep colour flat: no gradients, glow or haze.
  4. Texture belongs inside the artwork. Page edges, rules and boxes stay clean.
  5. Show pictures whole. Words sit beside a picture, never on its subject.
  6. Never cut a shape out of a photograph.
  7. The mark is bigger than the word beside it, or the word stands alone.
  8. Three typefaces, four weights, eleven sizes, and nothing in between.
  9. Animate position only, calmly, and respect a reader's request for less motion.
  10. Never use the retired dark gold for text.

Not sure? Ask before you publish: info@pivotcollective.org