VAULT

Visual Identity

The look. Palette, typography, logo direction, materials, signage principle, photography direction. If it renders on a screen, a wall, a garment, or a printed page for VAULT, it obeys this file.

Reference frame: eighteentwentysix.com editorial restraint. Aman Tokyo materials. Kinfolk photography discipline. John Pawson negative space. Every choice earns its place. Every unused inch of space is doing work.

1. Palette

Five colors. That is the entire system. No accent, no seasonal drop, no exceptions.

Cream (base)

Hex: #F1EBDD Role: primary background. Walls, digital backgrounds, printed paper, member folios. Reads warm, unbleached, luxury-hotel.

Black (structural)

Hex: #0B0B0B Role: primary type, hardware, steel frames, black-tie signage. Never pure #000000. Always the softer black.

Deep Bronze (metal)

Hex: #6B4A2B Role: hardware finishes, brass detailing in digital, foil press on print, wordmark accent on select applications. The warm luxury metal, not gold.

Oxblood (soul)

Hex: #5A1A20 Role: the singular deep note. Used sparingly. Menu accents, competition graphics, one architectural moment inside the club (a velvet curtain, a lounge chair, a single wall). Never as body type. Never as a full page background.

Warm Gray (breath)

Hex: #BFB6A6 Role: secondary type, dividers, subtle UI states, printed captions. The connective tissue between cream and black.

Banned: - Green in any shade. Non-negotiable. - Neon, fluorescent, or high-saturation color of any kind. - White. Cream replaces it. Do not substitute white for cream on any print or wall. - Gold-yellow. Bronze replaces it. - Rose gold. Read as dated.

2. Typography

Three typefaces. All licensed. All used deliberately.

Fraunces Italic (voice)

Role: display, editorial headlines, founder’s signature, competition graphics, the wordmark’s poetic layer. Never body copy. Italic weight only for VAULT. The upright roman is off-limits inside the brand.

Use cases: - Page headers on the site. - Single-word or single-phrase moments on signage. - Founder’s letter opening. - THE VAULT INVITATIONAL wordmark treatment.

Söhne (structure)

Role: primary body copy, UI, navigation, staff-facing docs, editorial subheads. Söhne Buch for body. Söhne Kräftig for subheads. Söhne Halbfett only when structural weight is needed.

Fallbacks in order if Söhne is unavailable: 1. Neue Haas Grotesk Text 2. Inter Tight

Use cases: - All body copy. - App and web UI. - Menu body. - Membership card details.

Söhne Mono (functional)

Role: specs, class times, coach names on signage, competition results, receipts, timestamps.

Use cases: - Class schedule. - Recovery temperatures. - Locker numbers. - Competition scoring displays.

Type rules: - Never mix Fraunces Italic with Söhne on the same line. Line breaks between them. - Body copy is set at generous line height (1.5 minimum). No cramped copy anywhere. - Tracking on Fraunces headlines can open up. Söhne body stays neutral. - Never use faux italic on Söhne. If italic is needed, Fraunces takes it. - All caps allowed for VAULT, THE VAULT INVITATIONAL, and small navigational labels only.

3. Logo Direction

The VAULT wordmark is the identity. No pictorial mark, no monogram, no icon system, at least not in year one.

Wordmark form

Fraunces Italic, all uppercase, generous letter spacing. Set on cream in black or deep bronze. Set on black in cream or deep bronze. Never set on oxblood. Never set on an image without a solid field behind it.

Wordmark rules

• Minimum clear space: one cap-height of the “V” on all sides.
• Minimum size: 24 px digital, 0.5 inch print. Below that, do not use it.
• Never stretched. Never outlined. Never given a drop shadow. Never rotated.
• Deep bronze on cream is the signature pairing. Use it on the front door signage, the printed folio, and the founder’s stationery.

Sub-brand lockups

Sub-brands (VAULT DIGITAL, VAULT CAFÉ, THE VAULT INVITATIONAL) share the wordmark and add their name in Söhne Kräftig, small caps, set below with a hairline rule between. Never above. Never larger than the parent.

Founder’s signature mark

Taj’s actual handwritten signature, scanned and cleaned, is a permitted secondary mark. Used only on: - The founder’s letter. - Personal notes to founding members. - Limited-run apparel drops she personally endorses.

4. Materials Palette (Physical)

Every material chosen for the club appears in the visual identity system too. Photography, renders, and print materials should reflect these surfaces.

Travertine (floor and wall stone)

Warm, unpolished, honed finish. Cream palette natively. The floor of the lounge, café, and locker rooms.

Brushed brass (hardware)

Fixtures, door handles, locker latches, signage frames. Not polished, not lacquered. Ages into the palette.

Warm oak (millwork)

Wall paneling, café counter, retail micro-boutique fixtures. Rift-sawn, oiled finish, no gloss.

Black steel (structure)

Studio mirrors, stair rails, structural frames, signage armatures. Matte, powder-coated, minimal weld visible.

Cream linen (soft goods)

Robes, towels, upholstery on lounge seating, curtains where used. Heavy weight. Never printed on. The wordmark, if applied, is woven in.

Oxblood velvet (singular moment)

One statement piece per space. The lounge banquette, or the curtain to the private studio, or the seating in the founder’s box at the competition stage. Never more than one per room.

Banned materials: - Chrome. Reads gym. - Glossy tile. Reads spa chain. - Any faux wood, faux stone, faux leather. - Neon lighting. Ever. - Vinyl signage, plastic wayfinding, laminated menus.

5. Signage Principle

Silent by default.

Signage exists only when a member truly needs to read something. Wayfinding is done with architecture, materials, and staff, before it is done with words. When words are needed, they are set in small Söhne on brass plates, warm oak inlays, or foil-pressed on cream folios. Never on backlit acrylic. Never oversized. Never in more than three lines.

Locker numbers are engraved brass on oak. Class schedules are set on a single printed folio at the concierge desk, refreshed daily, not projected. Studio names are foil-pressed cream cards inside brushed brass frames beside each door. Recovery specs (sauna temperature, plunge temperature, capacity) are engraved into a single small plate at the entry to each room.

Where there is no plate, the staff is the sign. If a member has to ask twice for the same thing, that is a signage failure and a plate gets added.

6. Photography Direction

The image system is the second-loudest thing in the brand after the wordmark. Get it right or leave it out.

Photographic principles

1. Natural light first, always. If natural light is not available, tungsten-warmed lighting only. Never cool white. Never ring light.
2. Skin over screen. Skin tones are photographed to look correct in a warm room, not on Instagram.
3. Space over subject. Half the frame is the room. The member is centered inside it, not filling it.
4. Restraint on faces. Members are photographed in profile, from behind, or in mid-motion more often than head-on. Direct-to-camera portraits are used sparingly and only with signed release.
5. No product shots on white. Everything sits on cream, travertine, oak, or linen.
6. No stock. Ever. Every image is commissioned. If no commissioned image exists for a use case, ship without an image.

Photographers and studios (reference tier)

The bar is Kinfolk-era editorial, Aman brand book, KITH lookbook, Peninsula Hotels imagery, Cereal Magazine. Every commissioned shoot references this tier or does not ship.

Video

Same rules. No fast cuts. No text overlays inside the frame. Ambient sound over music where possible. When music is used, it is composed for VAULT, never licensed from a library.

The Walker Group produces all broadcast-grade footage for THE VAULT INVITATIONAL and any hero brand films.

7. Layout and Grid

Print

Wide margins, generous white space, single-column body for editorial materials. Two-column only for menus and schedules. Cream stock, uncoated, minimum 100 gsm for folios and 300 gsm for cards. Deep bronze foil press on covers and founder’s stationery.

Digital

12-column grid, generous gutters. Type sits inside a comfortable measure (65 to 75 characters per line). Full-bleed imagery only for hero moments. Never wall-to-wall type.

Motion (site and app)

Minimal. Fades and slow reveals, never bounces or springs. Cursor magnetism and Lenis-style smooth scroll are acceptable if implemented with restraint. No parallax stacks. No auto-play video with sound.

8. Wordmark and Apparel

The wordmark on apparel is embroidered or debossed. Never screen printed. Never larger than a coin on any staff garment. On member apparel, the wordmark may sit at chest or hem, in cream on black, black on cream, or deep bronze on either. Oxblood on cream is reserved for limited drops tied to THE VAULT INVITATIONAL.

9. Do Not

• No pattern library. VAULT has no patterns.
• No icon set beyond a minimal, custom-drawn set of five wayfinding glyphs (sauna, plunge, studio, café, concierge), commissioned as needed.
• No illustration.
• No stock photography of hands, water droplets, candles, or any other wellness cliché.
• No before-and-after member photography.
• No branded merch that reads promotional (no keychains, tote bags with big logos, water bottles with the wordmark blown up).

10. The Test

Print any piece of collateral. Set it next to a printed page from Cereal Magazine, an Aman hotel folio, and a KITH lookbook. If VAULT holds its own in that stack, it ships. If it feels louder, thirstier, or less considered, it goes back.