Brand Identity Guidelines
Draft 1 — San Francisco, 2026
woven in every sip
Phine Coffee · Vietnamese-inspired Hand Beverages · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesColophon
Phine Brand Guidelines

The Constitution of the Pause

Published July 2026 in San Francisco. This document is the single source of truth for how PHINE looks, speaks, and behaves — across marketing, interiors, web, and app. Where an earlier decision disagrees with this book, this book wins.

Set in Lexend Deca, Abril Fatface, Sacramento, and IBM Plex Mono.

DRAFT 1 · JULY 2026
© 2026 PHINE GROUP LLC
3500 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118
BRAND@PHINECOFFEE.COM
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesContents
Draft 1

Contents

The brand at a glancethe one-page cheat sheet04
01Foundationstory · mission · values · audience · personality05–10
02Logowordmark · seal · clear space · colorways · misuse11–18
03Colorpalette · ramps · proportions · accessibility19–23
04Typographyfamilies · hierarchy · Vietnamese · misuse24–28
05Layout & Spacinggrids · the warp · spacing tokens29–31
06Graphic Elementsthe weave · thread frames · icons · illustration32–36
07Imageryphotography principles · mood formulas37–38
08Voice & Copytone · taglines · Vietnamese usage · boilerplates39–42
09Applicationscups · packaging · menu · signage · social · digital43–51
Asset index & contactfiles · versions · approvals52

Who this is for

Marketing, interior, web, and app teams — and every partner who touches the brand. If you make something that says PHINE, this book is your contract.

Rule language

MUST is non-negotiable. SHOULD is the default; deviating requires brand-team approval. MAY is freedom within the system.

Rules carry mono IDs — LG-04 — so reviews can cite them precisely.

Legend

3X · #C13D1E · 48PX — measurements and values always appear in the mono spec voice.

Verdicts are marked with a terracotta check for do and an espresso slash for don’t.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesAt a Glance
Draft 1 / Cheat Sheet

The brand at a glance

logo-wordmark.svg · 3.22 : 1
logo-seal.svg · 1 : 1
pause glyph · the İ
the weave · Nº3 plaid
The palette
Sky Blue#D7F3FF
Terracotta#C13D1E
Pure White#FFFFFF
Espresso#7A2E17
Cream#FFECBB
Ivory#FFFCF3
Essence
The art of the pause.
Master tagline
Woven in every drop.
The typefaces
Aa — Take your time.LEXEND DECA · reads everything
Aa — DisplayABRIL FATFACE · display voice
woven in every sipSACRAMENTO · accent only
If you only remember five rules
  1. 01

    Never redraw, distort, or restyle the wordmark.

    LG-11
  2. 02

    Terracotta speaks, Espresso reads, Sky and Ivory breathe.

    CO-04
  3. 03

    When using Vietnamese words, diacritics are mandatory.

    VO-07
  4. 04

    The pause is part of the layout: when in doubt, leave more space.

    LA-01
  5. 05

    Align to the warp: everything sits on the column grid.

    LA-02
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
01
Our story
Mission & vision
Values
Positioning & audience
Personality
Foundation
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 01 · Foundation
01
Foundation / Our Story

The story begins with a pause

PHINE began with two people and a pause. Daniel and Thy — partners, hosts, caffeine obsessives — fell for the café ritual of Hanoi: a small drink, made by hand, worth stopping for. They brought that feeling home and built an LGBTQ-owned coffee house around it — a counter where every drink is built by hand and every moment gets a little room.

The name weaves two words together: phin, the Vietnamese drip filter that inspired us, and fine, the feeling it leaves behind. We come from a culture of weavers — of bamboo, of silk, of neighborhoods — and we brew the way weavers work: strand by strand, over and under, never hurried. Every cup crosses a thread of Hanoi with a thread of San Francisco. That crossing is the brand.

FIG. 01-01The phin, mid-drip. The drip is three pause bars — the İ motif.
The name, woven
PHINthe Vietnamese drip filter
+
FINEthe feeling it leaves
=
PHINEwoven together

The bar above our İ floats free — like the lid resting on a phin, lifted while something good finishes brewing. We call it the pause.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 01 · Foundation
01
Foundation / Mission & Vision

What we are here to do

Brand essence
The art of the pause.
Mission

To weave Vietnamese coffee culture into the everyday fabric of San Francisco — one deliberate cup at a time.

Vision

A city that remembers how to pause. We see PHINE as a loom where neighbors, cultures, and traditions cross — a place where paying attention is not a luxury but a habit.

Promise

We will never rush you.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 01 · Foundation
01
Foundation / Values

Four threads we weave by

The Pause
“Attention is the ingredient.”

We give the drink, the room, and the guest our full attention — nothing at PHINE is an afterthought.

The Weave
“Alone, a thread; together, cloth.”

We build community the way weavers build fabric: strand by strand, until it holds weight.

The Heritage
“Tradition is for using.”

Vietnamese café culture isn’t our museum piece; it’s a living thread — in our name, our diacritics, our signatures.

The Fine
“Care you can taste, details you don’t notice.”

From bean sourcing to kerning, we sweat the small things so the experience feels effortless.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 01 · Foundation
01
Foundation / Positioning & Audience

Where we stand

Positioning statement

“For people who love coffee but are tired of coffee culture’s hurry, PHINE is the Vietnamese-inspired hand-beverage house where every drink is built with intention — a daily ritual, not a caffeine stop. PHINE makes each cup by hand, speaks softly, and weaves its neighborhood together.”

Reasons to believe

Every drink built by hand — no shortcuts.

Recipes inspired by Hanoi’s café culture.

Vietnamese heritage honored, never overstated.

Rooms designed for lingering, not turnover.

The Regular
HYBRID WORKER · 28–45

Wants a ritual, not a transaction. Orders “the usual” by week two.

The Seeker
FOOD-CURIOUS EXPLORER

Wants the story behind our milkiest pour — and will tell six friends.

The Gatherer
FAMILIES · STUDENTS · DIASPORA

Wants a third place where staying long is welcome.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 01 · Foundation
01
Foundation / Personality

How we carry ourselves

WarmCool
80 / 20Warm first. Always.
HandcraftedEngineered
75 / 25Made by hands, guided by rules.
CalmEnergetic
70 / 30Quiet confidence over caffeine jitters.
HeritageContemporary
50 / 50Dead center, on purpose. This is the weave itself.
PlayfulFormal
60 / 40A wink, never a costume.
If PHINE were a person

The friend who arrives unhurried, remembers your order, and always has room for one more story.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
02
Dual logo system
Anatomy & construction
Clear space & sizes
Colorways
The living framework
Seal, glyph & lockups
Misuse
Logo
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / The Dual System

One voice, two marks

PHINE operates on a dual system. The primary wordmark is our definitive signature — high-contrast, deco-inflected letterforms with the floating pause above the İ. The secondary seal condenses the same DNA into a square, stamp-like mark inspired by Asian seal engraving, for spaces the wordmark cannot fit.

PRIMARY
logo-wordmark.svg · 3.22 : 1
SECONDARY
logo-seal.svg · 1 : 1
FIG. 02-01Primary wordmark — the default everywhere.
FIG. 02-02Secondary seal — square, small & stamp-like.
Use the wordmark

As the default across marketing, interiors, web, headers, packaging faces — anywhere it fits at 25 mm / 80 px or larger.

Use the seal

Only where the wordmark cannot fit: avatars, stamps, embossing, the app icon, and pattern punctuation.

LG-01 · MUST

The wordmark and seal never appear together at equal visual weight — one always leads.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / Anatomy & Construction

How the wordmark is built

3.2205 : 11x~1.7x12345
FIG. 02-03Wordmark anatomy & unit derivation. It is never typeset.
1

The pause — the floating bar, never touches the stem.

2

The İ pillar — the stem, ready to extend into a warp.

3

Flat-topped bowl on the P.

4

Fatface contrast — thick stems, hairline joins.

5

Unit x — the crossbar height of the E.

LG-02 · MUST

There is no font that produces it. Reproduce the wordmark only from the master SVG — never typeset it.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / Clear Space & Minimum Sizes

Room to breathe

The clear space is a protective pause. The minimum exclusion zone on all sides is 3x, where x equals the crossbar height of the E. Nothing — type, graphics, or the page edge — may enter it.

LG-03 · MUST
x = crossbar of the E
3x3xx
FIG. 02-04Clear space = 3x on every side, measured from the bounding box.
The unit x

x is the crossbar height of the E — the smallest deliberate stroke in the mark. Every distance in the system is a multiple of it.

The seal

Minimum size 12 mm / 40 px. Its own clear space is 25% of the seal width on all sides.

MIN · 25MM / 80PX
EVERYDAY · 50–150MM / 150–400PX
LARGE · >150MM / >400PX
FIG. 02-05Three size tiers, baseline-aligned. Below the minimum, use the seal.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / Colorways

The approved colorways

Six approved pairings. Each balances the warmth of our Vietnamese heritage with the crisp coastal energy of San Francisco. Pure black is never used — Espresso substitutes.

CO-09 · MUST
fg / bg per tile
Terracotta on Ivory · Primary#C13D1E / #FFFCF3
Terracotta on Sky#C13D1E / #D7F3FF
Sky on Terracotta#D7F3FF / #C13D1E
Sky on Espresso#D7F3FF / #7A2E17
White on Terracotta · Packaging#FFFFFF / #C13D1E
Espresso one-color · Low-fi#7A2E17 / #FFFCF3
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / The Living Framework

The logo is a loom

Our logo is not a static mark; it is a loom. The İ pillar may extend vertically to become a full-bleed column — a warp thread — while image blocks cross it horizontally as weft. This is how we weave our community directly into our name.

FIG. 02-06The wordmark, at rest.
FIG. 02-07The İ extends — a warp thread.
FIG. 02-08Weft blocks cross the warp — the woven composition.
LG-06

Only the İ stem extends. The pause bar keeps its size and floats at the top.

MAX 4×

Stem extension never exceeds four times the letter height.

SKY / CREAM

Crossing blocks sit only in Sky or Cream.

WARP GRID

Every placement aligns to the warp-column grid.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / Seal, Pause Glyph & Lockups

The seal, the glyph & lockups

FIG. 02-09The seal — stacked PH · İ · NE inside a square border.

Keep the square border intact — it is part of the mark.

Letters knock out to the field; never recolor the interior.

Minimum size 12 mm / 40 px; clear space 25% of width.

The pause glyph
64PX
32PX
16PX
LG-08 · MUST

The glyph appears only where PHINE is already named — favicons, app glyphs, loading states, pattern punctuation.

Sanctioned tagline lockup
woven in every drop

Script companion in Sacramento, set lowercase, rotated about 5° counterclockwise. It anchors at the wordmark's foot, shifted right of center, and may slightly overlap the letterforms. Never caps, never tracked.

Co-branding lockup
6x
PARTNER
LG-09

PHINE leads left. Partner marks sit at equal optical height, one-color Espresso, separated by a vertical thread rule at 6x.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 02 · Logo
02
Logo / Misuse

Eight ways to break the logo

The wordmark is reproduced from the master file, in an approved colorway, on a solid field — never anything else. Every treatment below is forbidden.

Don’tAdd drop shadows.
Don’tStretch or condense.
Don’tApply gradients.
Don’tUse outlines.
Don’tWarp or arc.
Don’tRotate (except sanctioned 90° spines).
Don’tRecolor off-palette (cream on sky).
Don’tPlace on a busy pattern.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
03
The palette
Digital ramps
Roles & proportions
Accessibility & misuse
Color
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Primary · FieldSky Blue“the fog lifting off the avenues”
#D7F3FF · RGB 215 243 255CMYK 14 0 0 0 · PMS 290 C · --phine-sky
Primary · VoiceTerracotta“fired clay, the color of the kiln and the roast”
#C13D1E · RGB 193 61 30CMYK 17 89 100 7 · PMS 173 C · --phine-terracotta
Primary · BreathPure White“steam and quiet”
#FFFFFF · CMYK 0 0 0 0paper · --phine-white
Secondary · The reading inkEspresso“the last drop in the phin”
#7A2E17 · RGB 122 46 23CMYK 32 86 100 39 · PMS 168 C · --phine-espresso
Secondary · TextureCream“condensed milk at the bottom of the glass”
#FFECBB · RGB 255 236 187CMYK 0 6 31 0 · PMS 7401 C · --phine-cream
Secondary · Default page fieldIvory“the paper the story is printed on”
#FFFCF3 · RGB 255 252 243CMYK 0 0 4 0 · print as stock · --phine-ivory
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 03 · Color
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 03 · Color
03
Color / Extended ramps

Extended digital ramps

Screens ask more of the palette than paper does. Each brand color extends into a ten-stop tonal ramp for surfaces, borders, and hover states. Print leads with the six spot-matched anchors ; digital may reach for the ramp stops around them. Any tint outside these ramps is misuse.

CO-08 · MUST
STOPS NAMED brand-0…9
earth · cream · sky-0…9
Brandbrand-0…9
#fff2eb
#ffe0d3
#ffc4ae
#ffa07f
#f47c59
#df5b37
#c13d1eGUIDELINE PICK
#ad3410
#912b0f
#74210d
Earthearth-0…9
#f8efea
#f1ddd4
#e5bcad
#d79882
#cb7860
#bd6144
#a44a2d
#89371d
#7a2e17GUIDELINE PICK
#622111
Creamcream-0…9
#ffffffGUIDELINE PICK
#fffcf3GUIDELINE PICK
#fff8e6
#ffecbbGUIDELINE PICK
#f9dda0
#efcf83
#d5b468
#b28f4d
#8b6b36
#654922
Skysky-0…9
#f5fcff
#edf9ff
#d7f3ffGUIDELINE PICK
#c4e7f4
#add7e7
#90c1d2
#73abbe
#56879a
#426673
#314c58
= print-safe guideline anchor — spot-matched, solid, never a smooth gradientDIGITAL MAY USE ANY STOP · PRINT LEADS WITH ANCHORS ONLY
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 03 · Color
03
Color / Roles & proportions

Roles, proportions & combinations

Our colors are designed to interact and intertwine — layered like threads, never fighting. The recipe is a weave: quiet fields carry the page, terracotta speaks, and texture threads the rest.

60
30
10
CO-04Day recipe — 60% quiet fields (Ivory / Sky) · 30% voice (Terracotta) · 10% texture (Cream threads + Espresso text)
60
30
10
CO-04bEvening recipe — 60% Espresso · 30% Cream / Ivory · 10% Terracotta accent
Combination matrixA approved LT large type only F fields only N never
FG \ BG
Sky
Terra
White
Espr.
Cream
Ivory
Sky
AaN
AaLT
AaF
AaA
AaF
AaF
Terracotta
AaLT
AaN
AaA
AaN
AaLT
AaA
White
AaF
AaA
AaN
AaA
AaF
AaN
Espresso
AaA
AaN
AaA
AaN
AaA
AaA
Cream
AaF
AaLT
AaF
AaA
AaN
AaF
Ivory
AaF
AaA
AaN
AaA
AaF
AaN

F pairs may meet only as fields — the boundary must stay visible; they never carry text.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 03 · Color
03
Color / Accessibility

Accessibility & color misuse

Contrast is not decoration; it is legibility. Body text must be Espresso on a light field. Terracotta is reserved for display sizes. Every interface pairing clears WCAG 2.1 AA at minimum — computed below.

CO-06 · MUST
WCAG 2.1 · AA FLOOR
TERRA 18PX+ DISPLAY
Text on fieldRatioVerdict
AaEspresso on White9.4:1AAA
AaEspresso on Ivory9.2:1AAA
AaEspresso on Sky8.1:1AAA
AaEspresso on Cream8.1:1AAA
AaTerracotta on White5.3:1AA
AaTerracotta on Ivory5.2:1AA
AaTerracotta on Sky4.6:1AA — prefer 16px/12pt and up
AaTerracotta on Cream4.5:1AA borderline — large text only
AaWhite/Sky/Cream on Espresso9.4 / 8.1 / 8.1AAA
AaIvory on Terracotta5.2:1AA
AaSky on Ivory, Cream on Ivory, White on Sky~1.1:1Fields only — never text
AaTerracotta on Espresso1.8:1Never
Color misuse
Don'tOff-palette tints
Don'tGradients between brand colors
The pause
Don'tPure-black text — Espresso substitutes
stay a while
Don'tLow-contrast pairs (1.8:1)
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
04
The type families
Hierarchy & scale
Typesetting & Vietnamese
Misuse
Typography
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 04 · Typography
04
Typography / Type families

The type families

Four families, four jobs — all free for commercial use under the SIL Open Font License. Structure and soul, kept in balance.

Aa Bb Cc
Lexend Deca
The workhorse — all reading text, UI, menus, labels. Full Vietnamese support.
Aàảãạ Eéèẻẽẹ Đđ Oôơ Uư · 0123456789
300 LIGHT · 400 REGULAR · 500 MEDIUM · 600 SEMIBOLD
"Lexend Deca", Lexend, "Avenir Next", "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif
Aa Bb Cc
Abril Fatface
The display voice — echoes the wordmark's fatface contrast. Hero statements, chapter numerals, big prices.
ABCDEFGHIJKLM · abcdefghijk · 0123456789
400 REGULAR · LATIN ONLY · NEVER FOR VIETNAMESE — TY-06
"Abril Fatface", "Playfair Display", Georgia, serif
ab cd ef
Sacramento
The handwritten pause — decorative accents only, 3–6 words, floor 17pt.
woven in every sip
400 REGULAR · LATIN ONLY · NEVER FOR INFORMATION
Sacramento, cursive · LOWERCASE ONLY
Aa Bb Cc
IBM Plex Mono
The spec voice — measurements, tokens, hex values, annotations, folios.
#C13D1E · 3X · 26/32PT · +0.14EM · 0123456789
400 REGULAR · 500 MEDIUM · NEVER IN MARKETING
"IBM Plex Mono", "SF Mono", Consolas, monospace
CHANGELOGCentury Gothic Pro & Baltimore — retired typefaces from the founding deck. No longer used.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 04 · Typography
04
Typography / Hierarchy & scale

Hierarchy & scale

The pauseDISPLAY 2 · ABRIL FATFACE 400 · 40/44PT
Page titleH1 · LEXEND DECA 600 · 26/32PT · +0.03EM
A subsection headingH2 · LEXEND DECA 500 · 18/24PT
Panel head / overlineH3 · LEXEND DECA 600 · 11/16PT · +0.08EM
Running text sits at nine and a half point over fifteen.BODY · LEXEND DECA 400 · 9.5/15PT
woven in every sipSCRIPT · SACRAMENTO 400 · 24PT
TokenFace / weightPrintDigital
Display-1Abril 40064–300pt72px+
Display-2Abril 40040/44pt56px/1.1
H1Lexend 60026/32pt40px/1.2
H2Lexend 50018/24pt28px/1.35
H3 / OverlineLexend 600 caps11/16pt13px/1.2
BodyLexend 4009.5/15pt16px/1.6
Small / CaptionLexend 4008/12pt14 & 12px
Script accentSacramento24–48pt (min 18)min 24px
Spec / monoPlex Mono 4007.5/11pt13px/1.5
Digital treatments

As shipped on the site — fold into the digital column.

  • DISPLAY Lexend, UPPERCASE, tracking -0.08em
  • EYEBROW 600 caps, +0.11em
  • BODY -0.025em / line-height 1.52
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 04 · Typography
04
Typography / Vietnamese

Typesetting & Vietnamese

TY-03
Alignment Rag-right left by default. Centered only for covers, packaging lockups, and statements of three lines or fewer. Never justified. Right-align prices and data only.
TY-04
Measure Line length 45–75 characters. One typeface per text block; a maximum of three hierarchy levels per layout.
TY-05
Tracking Zero on body. +8% on caps labels. Abril and Sacramento are never tracked. Sacramento is set lowercase only — never caps.
VO-07 / TY-06 · MUST
Diacritics are identity.

Cà phê sữa đá is not “ca phe sua da.” Every Vietnamese word is set in Lexend Deca — the only brand face with the full Vietnamese subset — at any size, or in Plex Mono for spec contexts. A headline containing Vietnamese must switch entirely to Lexend Deca SemiBold. Never fake a diacritic from another font's combining marks. Vietnamese phrases keep their syllable spaces — bạc xỉu, never bạcxỉu. Names with an established English form use it: Hanoi, not Hà Nội; Vietnam, not Việt Nam.

à ả ã ạ â ầ ấậ ẩ ẫ ê ế ệ ểô ố ộ ơ ớ ợ ởư ứ ự ừ ử đ Đ
LEXEND DECA · 300 / 400 / 500 / 600
Cà Phê Sữa Đá
DoLexend Deca SemiBold — diacritics intact
CA PHE SUA DAMISSING: ạ ế ệ ơ ư đ — ABRIL HAS NO VIETNAMESE
Don'tAbril strips every diacritic — the name breaks
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 04 · Typography
04
Typography / Misuse

Typography misuse

The type system holds only if it is left alone. These six treatments are never permitted — anywhere, at any size.

PAUSE
Don'tStretch or condense the letterforms
PHINE
Don'tOutline the type
The pause
Don'tDrop a shadow behind the type
Vietnamese-inspired drinks, built by hand — and a seat worth staying in.
Don'tSet paragraphs in Abril Fatface
Cold Brew $4.50 · Latte $5.00 · Open till 10
Don'tSacramento below 18pt, or for prices
TAKE YOUR TIME. THE WIFI IS FAST — YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE.
Don'tSet body copy in all caps
FOUNDING DECK · RETIREDNo Century Gothic, no Baltimore. Those faces are gone — this system is the whole voice.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
05
Grid systems
The warp & bands
Spacing tokens
The 30% pause
Layout &Spacing
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 05 · Layout & Spacing
05
Layout & Spacing / Grid Systems

Grids & the warp

Every PHINE layout sits on a grid. Print rides a twelve-column frame with generous margins; the warp gathers those columns into three vertical bands that logos, images and İ-extensions snap to. Digital collapses twelve to eight to four.

PRINT · US LETTER
MARGIN 18 / 20 / 22MM
12 COL · 4MM GUTTER
BASELINE 12PT
20mm22mm18mm4mm gut12 columns
FIG. 05-01US Letter, twelve-column grid with print margins.
band 1band 2band 3i-warp
FIG. 05-02The warp — three vertical bands.

LA-02 Everything sits on the column grid; the İ-stem may extend as a warp thread.

Digital breakpoints

SurfaceColsGutterBreakpoint
Desktop1224px1280+
Tablet824px768–1279
Mobile416px< 768
Max container 1200px · breakpoints 480 / 768 / 1024 / 1280px · 16px mobile margins.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 05 · Layout & Spacing
05
Layout & Spacing / Spacing & Rhythm

Spacing tokens & the pause

Space is a material. Our scale is eight-based — ten tokens from a four-pixel hair to a hundred-and-twenty-eight-pixel breath. Pick from the ladder, never in between. And remember the loudest rule in this chapter: leave more empty than you think.

8-BASED SCALE
S1 … S10
1PX ~ 0.75PT
s1 · 4px
s2 · 8px
s3 · 12px
s4 · 16px
s5 · 24px
s6 · 32px
s7 · 48px
s8 · 64px
s9 · 96px
s10 · 128px
LA-01
30%
of any composition stays empty.

The pause is a layout material. When in doubt, leave more space — a breathing page always outranks a full one. The empty is not wasted; it is the silence that lets the coffee speak.

DoAlign every block to the warp.
Don'tElements floating off the grid.
DoOne focal point; keep 30% empty.
Don'tCrowded — three competing focal points.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
06
The weave
Thread frames
Icon system
Illustration
GraphicElements
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 06 · Graphic Elements
06
Graphic Elements / The Weave

The weave, constructed

More than decoration, the weave is a structural narrative — warp and weft, Hanoi and San Francisco, crossing strand by strand. It is built from one unit, the thread T, and sanctioned at three densities.

UNIT · T = THREAD
REPEAT · 12T
3 DENSITIES
4t2t12t repeat2t x 6t knot1t cream weft1t cream warpt = thread width
FIG. 06-01One weave tile, dimensioned in thread units.

Built from thread

Warp — sky. Vertical bands, 4T wide, in triplets with 2T gaps.
Weft — cream. Continuous 1T hairlines crossing the warp.
Knots — terracotta. 2T × 6T dashes where warp meets weft.

Hanoi crossing San Francisco, strand by strand — the vertical repeat lands every 12T.

Nº1 · DENSE · TAGS & SMALL FORMATS
Nº2 · SELVEDGE · THE DOCUMENT EDGE
Nº3 · PLAID · LARGE SURFACES
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 06 · Graphic Elements
06
Graphic Elements / Pattern Usage

Pattern & thread frames

The weave dresses surfaces and pins images to the loom. Use it with restraint: as texture, never as noise. Images sit in thread frames — short terracotta ticks and sky stubs crossed by a cream bar — as if clipped to warp threads.

MAX 25% COVERAGE
STROKE MIN 0.5PT / 1PX
3 FRAME VARIANTS
stay a while
FIG. 06-02Poster
take a moment
FIG. 06-03Portrait card
first drip
FIG. 06-04Square
GR-03Keep threads legible. Never thinner than 0.5pt in print, 1px on screen.
Never behind body text. Pattern and reading text never share a layer.
Cap coverage at 25%. Exception: packaging wraps and social covers.
Recolor only in approved combinations. The threads keep their palette.
The logo needs a solid field. Never set the wordmark straight onto pattern.

Drinks built by hand, and a seat worth staying in — woven into the neighborhood, one cup at a time.

Don'tPattern behind body text.
DoLogo on a solid field.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 06 · Graphic Elements
06
Graphic Elements / Icon System

Pixel-fragment icons

Our icons are cut from the same cloth as the weave — solid pixel silhouettes with a fragment or two shaken loose. They wayfind and label; they never illustrate. One color, no strokes, no rounding.

10-UNIT GRID
MIN 10MM / 24PX
CLEAR SPACE 2U
1u10u module grid
FIG. 06-05Coffee, exploded on its module grid. Steam rides as a detached fragment.

Construction

Drawn on a 10-unit module grid. Solid filled silhouettes — zero strokes, zero corner radius.

Personality comes from one to three detached fragment modules — steam, sparkle, fizz — never more. GR-06

One color per icon from an approved pair. Minimum 10mm / 24px; clear space two modules on every side.

Restroom
Cold / Hot
Must-try
Coffee
Tea
No smoking
Takeout
Don'tOutline the silhouette.
Don'tRound the corners.
Don'tSplit into two colors.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 06 · Graphic Elements
06
Graphic Elements / Illustration

Illustration style

01

Flat vector only. No gradients, no depth tricks, no rendered light.

02

Three brand colors + field. Chosen from the palette, never mixed.

03

No outlines, no black. Shapes meet at 2px stage-color gaps.

04

Geometry echoes the wordmark. Straight verticals, flat tops, sharp corners.

05

Shadows are one solid shape, offset in a deeper brand color.

06

People are flat Espresso silhouettes, no facial detail.

no outlines
drip = the pause
FIG. 06-06The phin, mid-drip.
flat fields
no outlines
FIG. 06-07Geary Boulevard storefront.
ice = squares
cream = milk
FIG. 06-08Iced coffee, layered.
Don'tGradient shading.
Don'tOutline strokes.
Don'tFaces & realism.
Don'tOverload color.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
07
Photography principles
Mood formulas
Composition & type space
Imagery
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 07 · Imagery
07
Imagery / Art Direction

Photography art direction

When PHINE commissions photography, it follows these principles. Until then, this page is the brief: documentary, warm, unhurried — the camera a quiet neighbor, never a director.

NATURAL LIGHT
5000–5600K · WARM
TYPE SPACE · TOP 1/3
Documentary, not staged. Catch the moment; never pose it.
Natural light, warm bias. 5000–5600K. Never a cool grade.
Process over product. Hands, steel, the drip — the making, not the poster.
Eye-level or true overhead. A straight 90° top-down, or level with the cup.
Negative space up top. Keep the top third open for type.
Headline sits here1/3 · type space
first drip
FIG. 07-01Top-third type space, in a thread frame.
FIRST DRIP · IVORY + SKY + WHITE · MORNING WINDOW LIGHT
CLAY AFTERNOON · TERRACOTTA + CREAM · GOLDEN HOUR
QUIET EVENING · ESPRESSO + CREAM · LOW TUNGSTEN WARMTH
No cold or blue grading
No HDR
No fisheye
No staged smiles at camera
No heavy filters or fake grain
No black-and-white
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
08
Voice principles
We say / we don't
Tagline library
Vietnamese usage
Boilerplates & captions
Voice &Copy
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 08 · Voice & Copy
08
Voice & Copy / Principles

How PHINE speaks

01Calm

Short sentences. Room to breathe. We never shout, never count down, never add false urgency.

02Warm, not gushing

First person plural, genuinely glad you're here. Enthusiasm lives in substance, not punctuation — exclamation points are a spice, not a sauce.

03Grounded

Concrete and sensory: steel, drip, condensed milk, fog. Never “elevated,” “curated,” or “synergy.”

04Vietnamese, with careVO-07

Vietnamese words appear sparingly and confidently — diacritics always, a gentle explanation on first use. Never “exotic,” never “oriental,” never a mystery to be marketed.

Vocabulary — the words we chooseVO / DICTION
We say
We don't say
“Take your time.”
“Grab & go!”
“salted cream coffee”
“Vietnamese iced latte”
“made by hand”
“artisanal handcrafted”
“our neighbors”
“our customers”
“stay a while”
“ready in seconds”
“the pause”
“downtime”
“phin”
“that little metal thing”
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 08 · Voice & Copy
08
Voice & Copy / Taglines & Vietnamese

Taglines & Vietnamese

Master tagline · headlines, campaigns, the sanctioned lockup
Woven in every drop.

The one line that leads. VO-04 — never reword, never stack more than two lines, never turn a menu item into a tagline.

Script companionSacramento only · signature flourish · never carries information
woven in every sip
Essence lineeditorial · interiors · about pages
The art of the pause.
Long-formposters · window vinyl · closing lines
“Sit back, settle in, and watch your day weave together beautifully.”
Campaign supportrotating headers · social · POSM
Take your time.Made by hand, meant to stay.Your neighborhood, woven daily.
When we use Vietnamese wordsVO-07 · DIACRITICS MANDATORY

Vietnamese appears in our story, not on our menu — a few heritage words, always treated with care.

phinthe steel drip filter that named us
bạc xỉuthe milky Hanoi classic that shaped our signatures
cà phê trứngegg coffee — the dessert-like ritual we reinterpret by hand
VO-07Diacritics are mandatory.
Phrases keep their syllable spaces — bạc xỉu, never bạcxỉu.
Names with an established English form use it — Hanoi, not Hà Nội; Vietnam, not Việt Nam.
Always set in Lexend Deca (TY-06).
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 08 · Voice & Copy
08
Voice & Copy / Boilerplates & In-store

The words we reuse

BoilerplatesREADY TO PASTE
One-liner17 WORDS

PHINE is an LGBTQ-owned, Vietnamese-inspired hand-beverage house in San Francisco, built around the art of the pause.

Short~35 WORDS

PHINE is an LGBTQ-owned coffee house in San Francisco, built by Daniel and Thy around the café ritual of Hanoi. Every drink is made by hand — woven into the neighborhood, one cup at a time.

Long~90 WORDS

PHINE is an LGBTQ-owned coffee house in San Francisco, started by Daniel and Thy — partners who fell for the café ritual of Hanoi and brought it home. Every drink is made by hand: coffee brewed with care, matcha whisked to order, and a short list of Vietnamese-inspired signatures we're proud to reinterpret. The phin filter gave us our name — PHIN plus FINE — and the pause it teaches shapes everything we do, woven into the neighborhood one cup at a time. Visit us at 3500 Geary Blvd. phinecoffee.com — @phine.coffee.

Social captionsTHE FORMULA
Hook(max 6 words)+one unhurried sentence+one grounded detail(place, sense)+max 4 hashtags
Worked example — a

Egg coffee, whipped to order. The fog burns off the avenue while the cream settles into place.

#PHINEcoffee #TheArtOfThePause #SFCoffee

Worked example — b

Milk, meet a whisper of coffee. Our milkiest pour is for the mornings you want to ease into, not power through.

#PHINEcoffee #WovenInEveryDrop

Fixed hashtag set — pick from these only: #PHINEcoffee · #WovenInEveryDrop · #TheArtOfThePause · #SFCoffee

In-store signageHOUSE VOICE, ON THE WALL
Wi-Fi“The wifi is fast. You don't have to be.”PASSWORD: wovenineverydrop
Tip jar“Every thread strengthens the cloth.”
Water station“Help yourself. Stay a while.”
RestroomsDown the hall, on your left.
No smokingPlease keep the air as clear as the fog.
Closing sign“We're letting the last drops fall. See you tomorrow from 9.”
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
09
Cups & packaging
Menu system
Stationery & loyalty
Signage & street
Social & digital
Applications
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / Cups

Cups

8 OZ · HOT
ivory double-wall
12 OZ · HOT
ivory double-wall
16 OZ · HOT
stacked wordmark
16 OZ · COLD PET
white-ink wordmark
Terracotta dot — hot lid
Sky dot — iced lid
FLEXO · 2 SPOT · PMS 173C + 290C
55% Ø40% h
PRINT ZONEWordmark centered, 55% of cup diameter, at 40% of body height.
SELVEDGE BANDWeave Nº1 base band — warp sky + cream weft + terracotta caps.
HOTIvory double-wall · terracotta wordmark · terracotta lid dot.
COLDClear PET · white-ink wordmark + terracotta pause bar · sky lid dot.
FIG. 09-01The cup family and its print zones.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / Packaging

Packaging

Take your time.
FIG. 09-02Takeout bag
IVORY KRAFT · TERRACOTTA 1-COLORSELVEDGE AT TOP FOLD · 90 GSM
Vietnam
robusta & arabica
ROAST 4 / 5
FIG. 09-03Retail bean bag · 12 oz
MATTE ESPRESSO · CREAM LABEL PANELSEAL STAMPED ON BACK FOLD
the reveal is part of the pause
FIG. 09-04Pastry box
IVORY EXTERIOR · SKY INTERIORSEAL DEBOSS · E-FLUTE
FIG. 09-05Four-cup carrier
UNBLEACHED PULP · 1-COLOR TERRACOTTASEAL STAMP ONLY
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / Stationery

Stationery & loyalty

FRONT · 3.5 × 2 IN · TERRACOTTA
FoundersDaniel & Thy
hello@phinecoffee.com+1 415 555 01193500 Geary Blvd, SFphinecoffee.com
BACK · IVORY · 12 MM SEAL
3500 Geary Blvd · San Francisco · phinecoffee.com
LETTERHEAD · US LETTER
The Loom Card — loyaltyWOVEN TIER · AP
EMPTY
Free
Weave all ten. The tenth cup is on us.
HALF-WOVEN
Free
Five to go — the cloth is halfway there.
COMPLETE
Free
Woven. The tenth is yours, on the house.
Nine paid, the tenth free.Each visit stamps a thread module until the weave completes — redeemable at any PHINE shop. Rewards tier: WOVEN.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / Signage

Exterior signage & window

woven in every sip
FIG. 09-08Storefront elevation — sky fascia, white channel letters (300 mm minimum), 3X clear space; double-sided blade seal.
woven in every sip
MON–FRI · 7 AM–6 PMSAT–SUN · 8 AM–6 PM
3500 GEARY BLVD · SAN FRANCISCO
FIG. 09-09Window vinyl — script at eye line, hours block, selvedge Nº2 across the glass third.
FASCIASky panel · white channel letters · height 300 mm minimum.
BLADE0.7 in sky square · double-sided seal · espresso bracket.
VINYLScript at 1500 mm eye line · mono numerals for hours.
Interior wayfinding — 150 × 150 mm terracotta-on-ivory acrylic icon plaques.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / POSM & Street

Point of sale & street

Made by hand, meant to stay.
Statement18 × 24 IN · TERRACOTTA + ABRIL
Product18 × 24 IN · IVORY + THREAD FRAME
Pull up a chair — the neighborhood is already here.
Community18 × 24 IN · SKY + LONG-FORM
OPEN · 7 AM – 6 PMtake your time
A-BOARD
FLAG · 90° LG-05
UMBRELLA · TOP VIEW

LG-05 — the only sanctioned wordmark rotation: 90° clockwise, reading top-to-bottom, on flags and spines. Nowhere else.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / Social

Social templates

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Phine Coffee — Brand GuidelinesChapter 09 · Applications
09
Applications / Digital

Digital product foundations

Core tokens · live site
--app-bg#fffcf3 · cream-1
--app-surface#ffffff · cream-0
--app-heading#c13d1e · brand-6
--app-text#7a2e17 · earth-8
--app-text-softrgba(122,46,23,.78)
--app-borderrgba(122,46,23,.14)
--app-border-strongrgba(122,46,23,.28)
--app-focus#c13d1e · brand-6
--app-highlightrgba(215,243,255,.78)
Structure
z-indexbase 1 · header 100 · overlay 200 · modal 300
0 · images
pattern
xs · form
controls
8 · sheets
modals
Buttons & links
OrderPRIMARY
OrderHOVER · ESPRESSO
OrderFOCUS · RING 2PX

Links: espresso, underlined; terracotta on hover.

Feedback · fg / surface

Error shares brand red — disambiguated by surface + icon. UI only, never marketing.

UI icon language · 20×20 · 1.75 stroke
plus
check
cart
search

Round caps & joins, currentColor — the interactive counterpart to the brand pixel icons.

App icon & favicon
512
192
48
32
FAVICON 32
16
App = seal on sky · favicon = pause glyph, terracotta on ivory.
© 2026 Phine Group LLC · San Francisco
Back matter / Asset index

The last drop

Master assets
logo-wordmark.svg1715×533
logo-seal.svg192×192
icon-{coffee,tea…}.svg200×200 ×7
weave-{selvedge,plaid,dense}tiles
illus-phin.svg160×260

Naming: PHINE_[asset]_[colorway]_[size].[ext]. Fonts via Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License.

Version & approval
Founding deckthe original working deck, 2025
Draft 1this document, Jul 2026

Anything this book doesn't answer: brand@phinecoffee.com. We'd rather pause and get it right.

© 2026 Phine Group LLC · 3500 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118. For internal and partner use.

woven in every sipPHINE® Brand Guidelines · Draft 1 · Woven in every drop.