Workhorse. Brand book

./01

Strategy & Voice

2 disciplines

Brand Strategy

Workhorse is an independent design studio founded 2014. We work as strategic design partners for experts, entrepreneurs, and enterprise. Today we run two registers in parallel: the studio inside the work, and the platform that lets the work scale through agentic workflows and brand context every agent on the stack respects.

/01Audience · 3 segments

01

The ExpertAuthor, scholar, practitioner, or specialist building a public-facing practice

An expert in their field whose work outpaces their visual presentation. Knows their audience but cannot give them a coherent surface to engage with. Wants a partner who can read a body of work and give it form without losing the substance.

Identity that respects the depth of the workA publishing surface that holds long-form thinkingHelp articulating the practice without reducing itStudios that lead with mood boards before researchIdentities that look like every other thought-leader siteGeneric positioning that flattens the field

02

The EntrepreneurFounder or operator of a growing organization

Building a company in a space where the brand has to do real strategic work. Past the seed stage, into the years when the brand decides the next round, the next hire, the next category. Needs a partner who can hold the long view while shipping weekly.

Strategic positioning that survives a Series B pitchIdentity systems that scale with the teamTokens and components their developers can ship fromAI-ready brand context their agents actually respectStudios that hand off PDFs and disappearIdentities that break the moment a junior designer touches themPositioning written by people who never met the company

03

The Enterprise LeaderVP, Director, or Chief of Brand at a cultural, civic, or professional institution

Operates inside an institution with weight. Museum, library, festival, agency, professional association. Cares about institutional credibility and long-arc cohesion. Procurement-aware. Wants a studio that has worked in their world before.

A studio with eleven years of institutional workDocumented systems that survive team turnoverProcurement-friendly engagement structureReferences from peer institutionsStudios that scale into agencies the moment work shows upIdentities optimized for VC pitches, not institutional gravityProcess that lacks rigor on stakeholder review

Voice & Messaging

#voice-messaging

Tone: Direct, Informed, Confident, Plain-spoken, Precise.

/01Voice · character + tone

Tone

Direct
Informed
Confident
Plain-spoken
Precise

./02

Brand & Identity

3 disciplines

Brand Identity

#brand-identity

24 brand colors carrying the system.

/01Palette · 24 tokens · click to copy hex

Typography Systems

#typography-systems

2 type roles across the family.

/01Typography · 2 cuts

primaryMaison NeueMaison Neue — clean, modern grotesque. Workhorse primary typeface.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

monoMaison Neue MonoMonospace for code and technical contexts

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Logo & Marks

#logo-marks

Marks, variants, and the sub-brand systems they anchor.

/01Marks · 2 families · 14 variants · hover to download

WordmarkThe primary Workhorse mark. Use for the largest and most recognizable applications: site header, brand book cover, primary signage, document headers.

Defaultsvg

On darksvg

On lightsvg

On brandsvg

Reversedsvg

Monochrome blacksvg

Monochrome whitesvg

Wordmark, horizontal lockupThe horizontal lockup. Reserve for narrow placements where vertical space is limited: footer rows, small headers, embedded contexts.

Defaultsvg

On darksvg

On lightsvg

On brandsvg

Reversedsvg

Monochrome blacksvg

Monochrome whitesvg

system · Studio PublicationNotes
system · Design SystemWorktable
system · ProductWorkhorse Platform
system · Studio PracticeWorkhorse Studio

./03

Systems

1 discipline

Design Systems

#design-systems

The brand as a live design system: color roles, type, spacing, motion, and components. Open the full system for the complete spec.

/01Design system · preview

Color roles

background#FFFFFF

foreground#18181B

primary#18181B

primary-foreground#FFFFFF

secondary#F4F4F5

secondary-foreground#18181B

muted#FAFAFA

muted-foreground#71717A

accent#FED100

accent-foreground#141414

card#FFFFFF

card-foreground#18181B

border#E4E4E7

input#E4E4E7

ring#18181B

surface-2#FAFAFA

surface-3#F4F4F5

Open the full design system17 color roles · 13 spacing steps · 6 radii · 8 motion tokens · live components

./04

Digital Product

1 discipline

Web Design

#web-design

The brand as a working system: tokens become content patterns and product screens. How the brand and the work connect.

Screens

Real screens

Pages Workhorse runs in production, rendered from the same components.

01Work · case study opening
A case study opening: the band, the float card, and the chapter index grouped by discover, define, design and develop.
wrkhrs.co/work/mlk-public-library
Workhorse
Work
Environmental & IRL
MLK Memorial Library
Up from the People.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is the central library of the District of Columbia and the only public library Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ever designed. When the library reopened in 2020 after a renovation by Mecanoo and OTJ Architects, it opened with a permanent exhibition on the city’s history of protest, Up from the People: Protest & Change in DC. Workhorse was the brand and visual design partner on that exhibition, working with Bluecadet, Colloqate, Kubik Maltbie, Openbox and Studio Joseph and with the library’s own curators and archivists.
Discover
01Building
02Archive
03Workshops
Design
04Exhibition
05Identity
06Participation
Develop
07Opening