02 ICONOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION

# A line and a song.

Pagebird's visual language is built from two ingredients: linework — gold or coral, drawn with a steady hand — and a single songbird. Icons are simple, two-weight, and softly rounded. We do not generate realistic illustrations; we draw.

01

## Icon set

2px stroke · 24px grid

Icons live on a 24×24 grid with a 2px stroke and rounded line caps and joins. They are line-only when small (UI), and may be filled with gold for marketing surfaces. The set covers reading, social, and meta — extend by drawing in this style, never by importing from a generic pack.

### Core set · cream

Book
Bookmark
Discuss
Community
Events
Discover
Members
Explore
Notifications
Create

### Inverted · forest

Library
Read · live
Add
Search
Notes
02

## Linework

Gold ovals · coral squiggles

Pagebird's signature decorative motif is gold linework — a few hand-drawn open ovals, slightly overlapping, that sketch the gesture of a flock or a breeze through pages. Used at low opacity behind hero areas and on the green field. Coral squiggles play a similar role on cream.

Gold linework · on forest
Coral squiggle · on cream

### Underline · italic accent

where readers flock
.
03

## The bird

A single yellow songbird

The pagebird mascot is a single yellow songbird — round, friendly, always facing right or three-quarter, mid-chirp. It typically stands on a forest-green book. Use sparingly: one bird per surface, not a flock.

Standing
Singing
On a book
In the green

### Mascot do · don't

DO

One bird per surface. Let it sit on a book, perch on a corner, or pop out of a card. Always with the same yellow body, gold wing, coral beak, ink linework — never recolored.

DON'T

Don't multiply it into a flock. Don't recolor or stylize. Don't generate AI versions in different art styles. Don't pose it aggressively or angrily — pagebird is calm.

DO

Pair the mascot with the wordmark on cream or with the gold linework on forest. Add a small chirp glyph (curved lines from the beak) when it's the focus of an illustration.

DON'T

Don't use the bird as a UI loading spinner. Don't animate it excessively. Don't crop the head or feet — keep it whole.

04

## Photography

Quiet · Tactile · Real

When we use photography, it's of real readers and real books, lit naturally, with a tactile quality — fabric, paper, wood, ceramic. Backgrounds skew green, cream, or shadow. Avoid stock photography and avoid posed groups smiling at the camera. The reader is in the image, not posing for it.

01 · The world outside
A place to find stories.
02 · The meetup
Real conversations,
real connection.
03 · In transit
Stories travel with us.
04 · At home
Your space, your story.
05 · The annotation
Thoughtful, personal.
Brand · in the world

### Carried like
a favorite book.

Pagebird applied to physical objects — totes, bookmarks, pins, stickers — should look like something a thoughtful indie bookstore would already sell. Natural canvas, ink, gold. Never glossy, never loud.

### Treatment

i.
Warm white balance.

Lean into amber and ochre. Never blue-cool, never hospital-bright.

ii.
Shadows are welcome.

Soft contrast. Pools of light from a lamp, a window, a phone screen. No flash.

iii.
Documentary, not posed.

Side or three-quarter angles. Faces absorbed, not performing. Two to five people, never a crowd.

iv.
Crop generously.

Photography lives next to type. Give the type its air. A 4:5 or 1:1 frame leaves room for an eyebrow above and a caption below.

v.
No filters.

Color-grade in post toward cream/forest, but keep skin natural. Skip presets that flatten or stylize.

vi.
Real books, real readers.

No stock. The reader is in the image, not posing for it. The book has a name; the name should be legible if the camera saw it.