Brand

The friendkeeper brand

A warm, hand-crafted, cozy little corner of the internet. Think: a letter from a close friend, a paperback novel, a well-worn record sleeve. Every surface should feel like it was made by someone who cares.

How it feels

We describe friendkeeper as warm, analog, thoughtful, playful, gentle, personal. We don't describe it as sleek, minimal, clinical, futuristic, edgy, or efficient. The brand word friendkeeper is always lowercase, even mid-sentence. Everything else is sentence case.

Words

Our vocabulary. These are the words to reach for in copy, marketing, and in-app text. They're warm, unhurried, and a little old-fashioned — the opposite of productivity-app language.

Verbs — what you do

  • nurtureTending to a friendship over time. The emotional heart of the app.
  • connectOur word for reaching out. Deeper than "catch up" — connection implies presence, not just proximity.
  • shareOur word for passing something on — a love, a rec, a thought. Always prefer shared over sent. "Love shared", "rec shared" — sharing is a gift; sending is a transaction.
  • recShort for recommendation. Casual, textspeak — how friends actually talk.
  • tendQuiet, gardener-like care. Friendships as living things.
  • keepThe root of friendkeeper. Holding close, not letting slip.
  • loveBoth a noun and a verb. You share love, receive love. The heart of the app.
  • rememberMemory as an act of love. Birthdays, stories, the little things.

Feelings — how it should feel

  • warmThe defining feeling. A hug, a mug, a candle.
  • cosyBritish spelling. A little nook of an app, not a platform.
  • slowUnhurried. This is not a productivity tool — it's a practice.
  • gentleNudges, not notifications. Invitations, not alerts.
  • thoughtfulConsidered. Every surface made on purpose.
  • closeProximity of the heart. "Keep your friends close."
  • presentHere, now, with someone. The quiet goal of every feature.
  • fondAffection without intensity. The everyday texture of friendship.

Objects — the world we borrow from

  • letterThe envelope metaphor. Everything sent between friends is a little letter.
  • envelopeThe container for a share, a rec, a request. Pulled from real life.
  • noteShort, handwritten, unpolished. A post-it, not a document.
  • storyA friendship is a story that gets written over years.
  • paperThe cream background, the envelope, the analog feel.
  • record sleeveWorn, loved, personal. The sensory reference for cover art.
  • paperbackDog-eared, lived-in, portable. The sensory reference for tone.
  • cuppaTea, chat, no rush. The posture we invite people into.

Words we don't use

  • usersThey're people, or friends. Never "users".
  • catch upImplies shallow — a quick surface-level touch. We say connect instead, because friendship goes deeper.
  • sentTransactional — like delivering a package. For loves and recs, we say shared instead. "Love shared", "rec shared" — a gift, not a notification.
  • engagementWe care about friendships, not metrics dressed up as intimacy.
  • optimiseFriendships aren't optimised. They're tended.
  • manageYou don't manage a friend. You know them.
  • networkProfessional, transactional, cold. The opposite of what we're for.
  • seamlessEmpty marketing-ese. Say what you actually mean.

Core palette

These are the brand colours — the ones that appear across the app, marketing site, and App Store listing. They pair warm coral with grounded sage, a paper-like cream, and a touch of celebratory gold.

Coral

#E07A5F

The signature accent. Decorative borders, celebratory glows, section labels, floating emojis. The colour you see first.

Coral (interactive)

#BD5741

A darkened coral used for text, buttons, and anything a user taps. Meets WCAG AA contrast (4.56:1) on white, so it's the safe coral for type.

Coral Light

#E8947D

A softer coral for highlights, tints, and gentle backgrounds behind coral elements.

Coral Dark

#C75B4A

Hover and pressed states on coral interactive elements.

Cream

#F5F0E8

The "paper" colour. Used for celebration moments like a love being sent or a birthday — signals "this is a moment". Also the envelope metaphor background.

Cream Dark

#EDE6D8

A slightly darker cream for subtle elevation and the tab bar background.

Sage

#8B9E7E

Secondary colour — grounding, calm. The counterweight to coral. Used for success states, secondary accents, and decorative elements.

Sage Light

#A3B496

A softer sage for tints, backgrounds, and dark-mode secondary text.

Sage Dark

#6E8462

Deeper sage for pressed states and dark-mode success indicators.

Gold

#D4A852

The celebration accent. Birthdays, friendiversaries, rare actions. Use sparingly — it stays special when it's not everywhere.

Ink & paper

The neutrals the app is drawn on. Warm, not grey — these should feel like aged paper and fountain-pen ink, never cold office white.

Background

#FAF7F2

The everyday app background in light mode. An off-white with a warm undertone — never pure #FFFFFF.

Surface

#FFFFFF

Card and sheet surfaces in light mode. The warmer background sits behind, so pure white cards pop slightly.

Ink

#2C2420

Primary text. A warm near-black with a brown undertone — a pen on paper, not a terminal cursor.

Ink Soft

#7A6E66

Secondary text, sublines, hints, and dismiss copy.

Border

#E5DDD4

Card borders, dividers, and the envelope edge. Cream-tinted — never a cold grey.

Dark Background

#1C1814

Dark-mode app background. Warm charcoal, not jet black.

Semantic colours

Derived from the brand palette and darkened where needed to meet WCAG AA contrast on light backgrounds. Never used on their own — always paired with text, an icon, or a symbol so colour is never the only cue.

Success

#5E7353

Positive states — love shared, connect completed. Darkened sage for text contrast.

Danger

#B5503E

Destructive actions — delete, dismiss, overdue warnings. Darkened coral for text contrast.

Potential other brand colours

A harmonious extended palette for illustration and icon work. These aren't used in the app today — they're candidates that sit comfortably alongside the core palette. Pick from here when you need more than coral, sage, cream, and gold can carry on their own.

The rule of thumb: warm over cold, dusty over saturated, paper-aged over neon. If a colour would look at home on a 1970s book jacket, it belongs.

Wine

#8C3A2E

A deep burgundy. Pairs beautifully with coral — for shadows, depth, or standalone accents that need weight.

Terracotta

#C08457

A clay-pot orange. Bridges the coral and gold tones — good for illustrations of cozy objects (mugs, pots, earth).

Slate Blue

#4A6C7A

A dusty, muted blue for water, sky, and denim. Muted enough to sit with sage without fighting for attention.

Peach

#EBC8A0

A soft, buttery peach. Great for skin tones in illustrated characters and pastel highlights.

Dusty Plum

#7B5E8C

A muted lavender-purple. For evening scenes, magical moments, and a counterweight to the warm tones.

Espresso

#4E3B2E

A warm dark brown. Ideal for line art, silhouettes, and outlines — softer than the ink colour, never harsh.

Sage Mist

#D9E0CF

A very pale sage. Good for soft backgrounds in illustrations and gentle fills that don't compete with the subject.

Honey

#F2D9B8

A lighter cousin of gold — warm, sweet, golden-hour. Pairs with cream without blending in.

Forest

#3C4A3A

A deep, inky green. For shadows in sage-led illustrations or standalone evergreen accents.

Motifs to lean on

When in doubt, reach for these recurring elements:

Using these colours

If you're making an icon, illustration, or other asset, you can pull freely from the core palette and the potential palette. A few gentle rules: