Why an even number of gear teeth?

An even count keeps the shape symmetrical about both axes, so the mark can be rotated or mirrored without looking wrong.

How do you stop a script from looking bolted to an icon?

Make the connection one continuous stroke with a real taper, rather than butting two finished shapes together.

Does the mark work without the gear?

The script reads on its own, but the gear is what makes it specific. It is specified as part of the primary lockup.

velo

Bicycle Atelier

Brand guidelines
Version 1.0
↓ scroll

01 — The idea

The tail resolves as one continuous stroke into the gear, tapering the whole way.

Client

A bicycle atelier

Construction

A relaxed brush script whose exit stroke becomes a chainring with an even number of identical teeth.

02 — Primary lockupStacked · symbol over wordmark

Bicycle Atelier

03 — On light

Bicycle Atelier

Ink on Bone

03 — On dark

Bicycle Atelier

Race Red on Ink

04 — One colourFor fax, engraving, foil dies and single-plate letterpress

05 — Clear space

Clear space equals the gear's diameter on all four sides.
Minimum 12 mm wide. The hub closes below that.

06 — Scale

48 MM

24 MM

12 MM

FAVICON

Favicon: the gear alone. Below 12 mm the wordmark is dropped and the symbol stands alone.

07 — ColourPantone from the Solid Uncoated book

Bone#F2EDE4RGB 242 237 228CMYK 0 2 6 5

Ink#1A1A19RGB 26 26 25CMYK 0 0 4 90

Race Red#C1272DRGB 193 39 45CMYK 0 80 77 24

08 — Typography

Familjen Grotesk · display

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

Work Sans · text

Body copy is set at 16–18 px on screen and 9.5–10.5 pt in print, sentence case, with a maximum measure of 66 characters. Never letter-space lowercase body text.

IBM Plex Mono · labels

Labels · captions · specification lines

09 — Do and do not

✓Size the hub against the script's thinnest stroke

✓Keep the tooth count even and evenly spaced

✓Taper the tail into the gear as one stroke

✕Never butt the script against the gear with a flat cut

✕Never let the hub close at small sizes

✕Never vary the stroke weight on the v's entry

10 — In application

A studio identity exercise. Mark, palette, type system and usage rules by the Print Peppermint design team.

Every identity we build ships with the file the press needs: vector mark, one-colour version, favicon set, Pantone Uncoated references and a guide like this one.

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A studio exercise. velo, and every brand in this series, is invented — no client commissioned it and none of it was ever sold.