# Brand: pod-with-mission Visual edition with artwork, colour swatches and a playable motion reference: [brand-guidelines.html](brand-guidelines.html). The Markdown guide remains the complete written reference; keep both editions aligned. ## The story **Positioning:** Turning residue into clean air. CarbonPod is developing a distributed model that combines a compact kiln, a local collection network, and digital records. Suitable crop and forest residues become biochar for eligible long-term use, with independent review required for carbon-removal claims and credit issuance. The founder's motivation is the disappearing view of the Himalayas from Chandigarh. This is the personal origin, not the limit of the vision: crop-residue burning in Punjab and Haryana is explicitly part of the intended expansion. These regions are vision context, not announced operating projects. The mission is cleaner air and an alternative to residue burning. Biochar and carbon-removal buyers help sustain the intended operating model; public copy does not disclose financials. ## Voice and publication boundaries - Lead with residue, people, place, and outcomes. Explain the physical pod before the technology or credit mechanism. - State the mission confidently. Describe the operating model as in development. - The 1 / 10 / 100 sequence uses In progress / Planned / Roadmap. No invented fleet, partnerships, certification, issued credits, or measured air-quality results. - No revenue, economics, raise, financial projections, or funding terms. - No project locations, government discussions, sites, or milestones before the signed MoU and founder-approved public evidence. - Net removal and avoided burning are distinct; never add them together. - Claims require evidence. Omit unsupported metrics rather than displaying placeholders. - Educational articles are dated and distinct from service offers. ## Identity Near-black #07090A comes from biochar. Lime #8AE04A and emerald #12B76A signal growth. Gold #D9B978 supplies a restrained warm accent and planned status. Use semantic --pod-* aliases, not an unrelated palette. Cabinet Grotesk 700/800 is display; General Sans 400/600 is body/UI; IBM Plex Mono 500/600 is data. Preserve existing font files and licensing. Curved radii and pill buttons remain. The three-circle logo keeps its original #72d4ae / #9db0ff / #e4a260 colours and proportions. ## Approved art direction — 14 October 2026 CarbonPod's visual language is hand-drawn botanical and landscape sketch art. Pencil, charcoal, restrained colour washes and visible redraws make the story feel human, material and rooted in the land. This is the default for website heroes, supporting images, material studies and editorial covers. ### The artist's hand Use organic, irregular contours, tapered pencil strokes, subtle crosshatching, soft graphite shading and selective botanical detail. Leave generous negative space; a few expressive marks should carry the story. Warm paper is the substrate, not a decorative rectangle pasted behind an illustration. Draw related subjects together. A plant's trunk must continue naturally into its roots, with the same texture, shading, stroke weight and branching character. Small plants have small, sparse roots. Roots develop with the plant, fade as it disappears, and are absent during residue conversion. A returning sapling starts with a small root system again. Avoid geometric root spokes beneath an otherwise organic drawing. ### Subjects and narrative Residue, Reimagined tells the material story: stalks, pine needles, fallen twigs, collected residue and porous charcoal. Many Pods, One Landscape tells the place and community story: fields, forest edges, local routes, people and collection. Keep people dignified and engaged in specific work. Any recognisable equipment must follow the actual pod reference; an enclosing pencil gesture may be used for symbolic transformation instead of invented machinery. The selected hero story is The Earth Keeps a Memory: sapling → tree → residue → biochar → incorporation into soil → charcoal dispersing into fine sketch marks → returning sapling. Both above- and below-ground drawings participate in the story. Erased traces create memory; the final sapling matches the opening. Visual dispersal is a poetic transition, not a claim that biochar instantly dissolves, fertilises a plant or returns its stored carbon to the atmosphere. ### Colour and identity Keep the existing dark DLS, fonts, logo and curved forms. Charcoal connects to near-black #07090A; harvest gold relates to #D9B978. Muted forest greens belong inside the drawings. Lime #8AE04A and emerald #12B76A remain interface signals; do not force bright lime into every leaf or turn the art into neon graphics. Use the warm artwork-paper surface #F3EBDB consistently within a composition. The logo retains its original colours and proportions. ### Motion Use sequential sketch drawings with restrained line boil and deliberate pacing. The hero targets a continuous sixteen-second story, rather than stretching a short repeated action to fill the runtime. Short ink dissolves may soften a redraw; digital warping, zooms and camera travel are outside this direction. Lock the camera, ground surface, palette and subject anchor. Keep the complete crown and root extent inside safe margins throughout. Animate roots, residue and charcoal purposefully; do not freeze the lower half to hide alignment errors. The last frame must match the first without reverse playback or an abrupt reset. ### Publication and references Artwork is symbolic and never operational evidence. Do not attach achieved impact, certification, project locations or unannounced hardware claims to it. The current approved interface omits visible media labels; development and planned ambition remain explicit in ordinary copy. Reduced motion uses a still. The original motion reference is `output/sketch-animation/carbonpod-sketch-test.gif`. The botanical coherence reference is `output/sketch-animation/coherent/earth-memory-coherent.mp4`, with its reviewed storyboard and frame audit in the same directory. These references define artistic treatment; exporting or approving art does not itself publish it. See DESIGN-SYSTEM.md for component rules and FILM.md for delivery/provenance. ## Social-media applications Apply the same artistic identity to LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Facebook, with dedicated compositions and channel-specific copy. See [SOCIAL-KIT.md](SOCIAL-KIT.md) for content roles, export presets, typography, carousel/video recipes, profiles, accessibility and publication checks; [social-media.html](social-media.html) provides visual layout examples. Templates are creative references, not approval to publish or evidence of an operating project. ## Reusable copy Tagline: Turning residue into clean air. Short description: Compact kilns. Local collection. Connected records. Company bio: CarbonPod is developing a connected pod model for residue collection, biochar production, and durable carbon removal. Rooted in India, built for clearer skies. Contact: hello@carbonpod.in. Investors, buyers and partners get distinct email subjects. No demo-booking language or forms. ## Downloadable identity kit [Downloads](downloads.html) provides original mark, outlined full logo lockups for light and dark backgrounds, transparent PNGs, palette JSON and usage notes. [Complete ZIP](assets/carbonpod-logo-kit.zip). House rules: one green-circle diameter of clear space; minimum digital widths of 120px for the full logo and 27px for the mark. Verify final-size legibility.