Brand Guidelines v1.0 · 2026·04·27 Built by The Gaygency
the Haus of H

A space we build.

The brand book for The Haus of H. The home we are building for queer people across every stage of life. What we are, how we look, how we sound, and how we hold the line.

EST · MMXXVI
01 · The Posture

The Haus of H is a space we build.

A space for queer people across every stage of life — including the elders who get there first. Family as something we build, not something we inherit.

The retreats are how we fund the space. The Witches Ball is a room where the future is built. Project Pandora is the space itself in physical form: elder care, communal living, a retreat center, on land returned to its first stewards. Heartagena is how the space extends abroad without taking from the places it touches. The Queer Vanguard Festival is how the space invests in the next generation of cultural authorship.

All of it answers a single question: where do queer people go to belong, age, and build a future? And the answer is the space we are making.

The space is

Intergenerational. Indigenous-partnered. Land-backed. Sovereign in its own design. Magical without being mystified. Luxurious where luxury is the delivery system, and warm everywhere else.

Who walks in

Queer elders who never had a place built for them. Queer adults seeking real community. People who needed an escape and found a foundation. Allies who fund what they say they believe in. Donors who want to back something real.

What the brand carries

Royal posture. Editorial restraint. Mystical specificity. Ethical depth. Pleasure as design choice. Bridges, not walls.

02 · What We Believe

The non-negotiables.

These shape every decision the brand makes. They are not marketing copy. They are the floor.

Redefining family

Family is something we build. Chosen, intentional, intergenerational. The brand never assumes blood-family is the default. Every voice in the room reflects that.

Reclaiming sovereignty

Queer authorship of queer futures. The brand draws from fashion-house posture, mystical practice, and intergenerational care, but is owned by no one outside the community we serve.

Empowering queer futures

The space is being built so the next generation does not have to ask for it. The brand operates on a hundred-year horizon, not a quarterly one.

Bridges, not walls

Wherever the brand expands, it expands in partnership. With Indigenous communities. With local cultures. With queer creators. Nothing is taken. Everything is co-built.

03 · The Mission Lockup

Slogan, descriptor, mission.

The canonical hero copy. Three tiers. Use them in this order, at this scale, in this voice. Anywhere the brand needs to introduce itself fully, this is the lockup.

Tier 01 · Slogan

Family is something we build.

Tier 02 · Descriptor

The Haus of H is a space we build for queer people across every stage of life.

Tier 03 · Mission

REDEFINING FAMILY ·
RECLAIMING SOVEREIGNTY ·
EMPOWERING QUEER FUTURES.

Every full brand introduction lockup uses all three. Marketing surfaces (ads, social) typically lead with the slogan only. Stewardship surfaces (donor decks, About page) carry all three.

05 · Color

Two modes. One through-line.

Velvet Midnight is the brand's primary field. Daylight is the alternate field for moments that need to feel lived-in. The faded rainbow is the device that links them. Purple is an accent and motif. Never a master.

Velvet Midnight — primary field

Ceremonial · web · donor · nightlife

Used wherever the brand carries weight. Homepage, About, Project Pandora, Witches Ball, Witch Camp, donor decks, the deck you are reading.

Ink Black#0E0A14
Peacock Teal#0F4A4E
Gilded Brass#A8896B
Cream#EAE3D2
Aubergine#3B1B47
Quiet Rose#C99B9B

Daylight — alternate field

Warmth · intergenerational · retreat morning · stewardship

Used wherever the brand needs to feel lived-in. About-the-space sections, Heartagena (warmth of place), Earthly Delights, retreat morning copy, donor stewardship surfaces.

Bone#F4EFE6
Warm Bone#EFE7D6
Cathedral Ink#1A1620
Aged Brass#9B7F4F
Plum Accent#5B3F6E
Faded Rose#C99B9B

Faded Rainbow — accent device

Through-line · transitional · brand signature

Used as a 2px horizontal gradient bar between sections, as a soft wash inside hero compositions, and as type-fill on a single load-bearing word per surface. Never a full background. Never high-saturation pride. The mood it carries is dignity, not parade.

Faded Rose#C99B9B
Faded Mustard#C7A05F
Faded Sage#9DAD92
Faded Slate#5C7E84
Faded Plum#5B3F6E

Hard contrast rules

Cream or bone is the only acceptable text color on Velvet Midnight surfaces. Black or near-black ink type belongs on Daylight only. Gilded Brass and Champagne are accent colors — never used as primary text on any surface. The faded rainbow gradient never carries text directly; it lives as a divider or wash.

06 · Typography

Two voices. One brand.

The Editorial Heritage system carries the brand's everyday voice. The Cinzel system is held for ceremonial, ad, and invitation surfaces. Used together with discipline, they make the brand feel both literary and theatrical.

Primary System · Editorial Heritage Display: Cormorant Garamond · Body: Inter · Mono: DM Mono

Family is something we build.

A long-term, land-backed, Indigenous-partnered project to build the first real infrastructure for queer lives. Elder care. Communal living. A retreat center. Cultural programming. Funded by what we make together.

Used on · the website, About, Project Pandora, Heartagena, donor decks, retreat program guides, the brand book itself, email body, blog. Disciplines · Cormorant italic for hero / display moments only; Cormorant regular roman for sub-display; Inter for body, navigation, captions; DM Mono for labels, metadata, fine print. Don't · use Cormorant at body size; use Inter at display size.

Ceremonial System · Cinzel Refined Display: Cinzel · Decorative: Cinzel Decorative · Body: Inter

THE WITCHES BALL

Fruits of Freedom

Cinzel does the institutional work. Cinzel Decorative is held in deeper reserve for the rare ceremonial flourish. Inter still carries the body so the system stays legible.

Used on · ad headlines, invitations, retreat covers, event posters, ceremonial pages of the website, social campaign launch graphics, the deity-dance-party night and the Witches Ball. Disciplines · Cinzel only at display size; Cinzel Decorative only on the load-bearing word; never both at the same scale on the same surface. Don't · use Cinzel for body, navigation, or anything users have to read fast.

Type scale

Each role has a defined size and weight. Don't invent in-between sizes — pick the closest role and use it.

Hero · display

A space we build.

Cormorant italic 300 · 88–132px
Display

Family is something we build.

Cormorant italic 400 · 48–76px
Section title

The non-negotiables.

Cormorant 400 · 32–46px
Sub-display

Project Pandora is the space itself.

Cormorant 400 · 24–32px
Body

The retreats are how we fund the space. The blueprint is ours. The doors stay open.

Inter 300 · 16–18px
Caption · label

EST · MMXXVI

DM Mono · 10–12px · 0.22em tracking
Ceremonial

THE WITCHES BALL

Cinzel 500 · 24–58px
Ceremonial flourish

Fruits of Freedom

Cinzel Decorative 700 · used once per surface
07 · Voice & Tone

How we speak.

Declarative. Warm. Direct. Never apologetic. The voice sounds like the people building the space — not like a brand introducing itself.

Declarative

Statements, not pitches. "The Haus of H is a space we build." Not "We hope to be a space..." or "We aim to build..."

Warm without softening

Warmth is in the verbs we use ("we build," "we hold," "we open"). Not in adjectives. Never "magical journey." Never "transformative experience."

Direct, not blunt

Short sentences. Specific nouns. The reader never has to ask what we mean.

Mystical with discipline

The mysticism is in the work, not the language. We don't explain the magic. We make space for it.

Authoritative, not arrogant

The brand has authority because it has done the work. It does not perform expertise.

Royal, not from this planet

The brand carries itself. It does not chase. It does not over-explain. It says what it is and lets that stand.

Words we avoid

Don't say
Say instead
Why
actually
(omit)
Filler word. Removes weight from a sentence. Never appears in Haus of H copy under any circumstance.
a home
a space we build
"Home" can appear as a feeling word in copy. The brand-as-noun is "a space."
community-led wellness journey
a week held by queer facilitators
Wellness vocabulary is not the brand. Specificity is.
empowering experience
work you can feel in your body
"Empowering" performs the thing instead of doing it.
curated retreat
retreat
If we are saying it, it is curated. Saying so is filler.
authentic connection
connection
"Authentic" is an apology that something might not be.
in this present moment
now
Wellness-speak. We use plain words.
— (em dash)
. or , or :
No em dashes anywhere in Haus of H copy. Use periods, commas, or colons.
08 · Photography

Real people. Real moments.

The brand is built by the people inside it, so the photography looks like them. Warm light. Real bodies. Generations in the same frame. No stock photos. No clinical staging. No rainbow draping.

Two hands embracing
Workshop in session, queer facilitator speaking to a circle
Conversation on a couch in warm lamplight
Warm portrait in checkered shirt
Editorial portrait by firelight
Hearth fire
Small cauldron with candle flame on tarot spread
Tarot spread with cauldron and patterned cloth
Tarot reader at the table
Outdoor portrait in patterned shawl
Two hands meeting over a candle and tarot cards
Tarot on a book with rose petals
Cauldron flame across the room

Photography does

Hold for warmth. Use natural or candle-warm light. Show real bodies, real ages, real intergenerational rooms. Frame queerness as the default, not the subject. Let the moment carry the image — eye contact, hands held, candles lit, doors open.

Photography doesn't

Stage it. Drape it in rainbows. Substitute symbols for people. Use stock. Use harsh flash. Make queerness the spectacle. Apologize for itself. Sex-up retreat images. Crop out elders.

Juno L. Epifanio, founder of The Haus of H

The founder

"There is no real plan for queer people as we age. So we are building the one there should have been."

Juno L. Epifanio, MSW · Founder · The Haus of H

09 · Decorative Motifs

Four marks the brand carries.

Beyond the logo, the brand has four small recurring shapes. Used together with restraint, they make the brand recognizable without ever needing to repeat the wordmark.

The Faded Rainbow

A 2px horizontal gradient bar. Rose → mustard → sage → slate → plum. Used as section divider and brand signature. Never a full background. Never high-saturation.

The Fixed Star

A single small filled dot. Sits above the wordmark. Functions as a fixed star — orientation, beginning, beacon. Used at the opening of editorial moments.

The Peacock-Eye

A small almond-shaped eye with a center dot. Lives inside the H crossbar in the wordmark. Appears nowhere else at full scale. Used as a watermark inside type, never as a standalone shape.

The Threshold

A thin horizontal hairline rule. Used beneath the wordmark, between display and metadata, and as a quiet section break. The threshold the reader steps across.

10 · Layout & Grid

Space as discipline.

The brand alternates Velvet Midnight and Daylight section by section. Sections are vertical. Whitespace is generous. Grids are simple. Editorial restraint is the default, not the exception.

The 12-column grid

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Spacing scale

Six steps. Use only these values. Don't invent in-between sizes.

xs8 px
sm16 px
md24 px
lg32 px
xl64 px
2xl120 px

Section rhythm

Sections alternate Velvet Midnight ↔ Daylight. The faded rainbow bar marks every transition. Each section opens with a numbered eyebrow ("01 · The Posture") and a Cormorant section title with one italicized phrase. Section padding: 120px top and bottom. Inner max-width: 1180px.

11 · Applications

The brand at work.

Six surfaces, working out of the locked system. Each one carries the same brand without needing to be told what brand it is.

Homepage hero

Family is something we build.

The Haus of H is a space we build for queer people across every stage of life.

Walk in →
EST · MMXXVI

Retreat invitation

The Haus of H Presents

Witches Ball

A masquerade of mystery, magic, and manifestation. Tonight funds the space we are building for the family we are choosing.

31 OCTOBER · MMXXVI · BY INVITATION

Business cards

Two acceptable treatments. Inline lockup carries the most identity in tight horizontal space. Wordmark-only is the editorial alternate when the card front holds the mark and the sigil lives on the reverse.

Juno L. Epifanio

Founder · MSW

juno@thehausofh.org

Juno L. Epifanio

Founder · MSW

juno@thehausofh.org

Social posts

@thehausofh · stewardship · Daylight mode

Family is something we build.

@thehausofh · launch · Velvet Midnight mode

Application matrix

Which lockup goes where, at a glance.

Web headerInline
App icon · faviconSigil
Letterhead · invitationWordmark
Social avatarSigil
Email signatureInline
Embossing · foilSigil
Retreat coversWordmark
Billboards · signageWordmark
12 · Do's & Don'ts

The Haus Test.

Before any piece of brand communication ships, run it against the eight rules below.

Do

State what the brand IS.

"The Haus of H is a space we build for queer people across every stage of life."

Don't

Define the brand by what it isn't.

Never "not a wellness brand," "not a fashion house," "not a retreat company." Frame positively.

Do

Alternate Velvet Midnight and Daylight.

Pure dark wears thin; pure light loses the mysticism. Both, in rhythm.

Don't

Wall-to-wall the same mode.

A whole site or deck in only Velvet Midnight reads as a nightclub. Only Daylight reads as a wellness brand. Always alternate.

Do

Use cream / bone type on Velvet Midnight.

Check every dark-field surface. The legibility rule is non-negotiable.

Don't

Use black or near-black type on Velvet Midnight.

Ever. Under any circumstance. If a card is purple, the type on it is cream.

Do

Hold purple as accent.

Aubergine and plum punctuate the brand. They are not the field.

Don't

Lean on purple as the dominant color.

The brand should not read as "purple brand" at any scale. Purple marks mysticism, not identity.

Do

Use Cinzel Decorative on a single load-bearing word.

Once per surface. The decorative cut earns its place by being scarce.

Don't

Use Cinzel Decorative for body, navigation, or twice on the same surface.

The font is ceremonial. Used too often, it reads as cosplay.

Do

Photograph the people who walk in.

Real bodies. Real ages. Generations in the same frame. Warm light. The room as it is.

Don't

Use stock, drape rainbows, or stage diversity.

If a photo could appear on any other brand's site, it doesn't belong here.

Do

Write declarative sentences.

Short. Specific. Direct. The voice never apologizes for itself.

Don't

Use wellness or empowerment vocabulary.

No "transformative." No "authentic journey." No "curated experience." Specificity over filler.

Do

Re-encircle the wordmark with breathing room.

Negative space is the frame. Equal to the height of the H, minimum.

Don't

Re-encircle the wordmark with the slogan or any other ring.

The old wordmark had a slogan ring. We retired it. The slogan and mission live as separate copy now.

13 · Voice in Practice

What the brand actually says.

Six surfaces. Six voices of the same space. Read these aloud. They should sound like the people building the space.

Surface · Homepage hero

Family is something we build.
The Haus of H is a space we build for queer people across every stage of life.

Surface · About opener

We are building the space our elders never got to walk into. We are building it for them, and for the next ones, and for everyone in between.

Pairs with: full mission statement underneath — "Redefining family. Reclaiming sovereignty. Empowering queer futures."

Surface · Project Pandora

Project Pandora is the space itself. Elder care. Communal living. A retreat center. All on land returned to its first stewards.
The blueprint is ours. The doors stay open.

Surface · Fruits of Freedom invitation

A WEEK ON A PRIVATE ISLAND OFF CARTAGENA

Held by queer facilitators. Designed to dissolve the patterns we inherited and surface the lives we actually want.
Doors open August 21.

Surface · Witches Ball / donor pitch

There are rooms where the future is built. This is one of them.

Pairs with: a single sentence beneath naming the cause — "Tonight funds the space we are building for the family we are choosing."

Surface · Instagram caption

Family is something we build.
Doors open August 21. Cartagena. Queer-only. Held by us.
Link in bio.

Pairs with: a feed image set on Daylight mode for stewardship posts, Velvet Midnight for ceremonial / event posts.

14 · The Close

The space
is being built.

Not described. Not promised. Built. Funded by retreats. Structured by Project Pandora. Occupied by people who have been waiting for it. The brand sounds like the people building it.

Family is something we build · est mmxxvi