Logo and identity

English source established 2026-09-05. This page was the ninth Foundation page and the only one still Swedish, carrying no lang key at all — a standing breach of constitutional/language-policy.md § 1, which holds that "a page whose canonical content exists only in a local language is incomplete, not merely untranslated." English is now the source. Two things were deliberately not translated: the prohibition list, which is a verbatim quotation from Aleris Brand Guidelines 2025 and stays in the source language for the same reason _packages/agent-baseline/logo/README.md keeps it — "it is a quotation, not a rewrite" — and the term ordlistan, which names a specific Aleris document. Where a ratified rule was quoted from the Swedish source, the English below is Claude's translation of the source and is marked as such, so the wording can be checked against the original before it moves to accepted.

Ratified 2026-08-21 (Torfinn): four constants now hold unchanged and have shipped to consumers in agent-baseline v0.7 — clear space (50% of the height, source p. 6), the horizontal variant as primary (p. 5), the prohibition list in full (p. 8), and the sender rule (ordlistan, 2026-04-21). They stand below in their source form. One addition not present in the 2025 source: a 24px minimum height, derived from the 14px floor in principles/typography.md by measuring the rendered SVG (the wordmark's letter height is 0.4933 of the logo's total height, so the measured floor is 20.4px and 24px is the rounded rule). The page's Why and Test are still unwritten — what was ratified is the rules, not the reasoning.

Ratified 2026-08-27 and 2026-08-28, written here 2026-09-05: the symbol standing alone, and the one permitted redraw. See § Digital identity.

Status note. This page is a draft skeleton, not finished prose. The structure follows F11 Iconography: headings, a decision box, and author prompts where your voice goes. Facts already present in Aleris Brand Guidelines 2025 (logo variants, clear space, symbol use, the prohibition list) are entered as ratify or revise with a page reference — they are not rewritten in a new voice, so you can see exactly what the source says before deciding what holds. The rest waits on your writing session.

Expression pattern (from research 2026-06-17, see workspace/research/f3-logo-expression-research.md): every rule is written as a triad — Rule (the constant), Why (what it protects, so a reader or an LLM can reason onward where the page does not reach), Test/gate (how a new case is settled, or who decides on an exception). Tone split: the craft rules (variants, clear space, misuse) are written in a permissive, guiding tone in the spirit of the Present Expert; hard rules (the sender rule, digital identity) are written categorically. F11 already makes that split.

[!decision] Open points for the writing session. Decision material, not finished prose.

The sender rule — does it live here? The ordlistan (2026-04-21) settled that the sender is always "Aleris", never a sub-brand. The inventory and changelog (2026-04-21) left the placement open: F3 Logo and identity, or a Foundation section of its own on sender architecture. The question to settle: is this a logo rule (which mark is visible) or a broader sender architecture (how Aleris acts as one actor regardless of unit, clinic or acquired company)? If the latter, it can grow past what a logo page holds.

Torfinn: The sender is always Aleris, never a sub-brand. The placement is always in the top left corner of the page. It's always the full logo (symbol and text), never just the aleris symbol. The symbol alone can be used as a brand element with petrol, petrol gradient or image filling.

The symbol and F10 Imagery share ground. The source describes the symbol as "living" — filled with photography, duotone (orange/petrol), gradient or video (p. 10). That means the symbol's fill is governed by F10's principles (real environments, natural light, the person at the centre). Settle: is the symbol's fill described here with a pointer to F10, or does F10 own the fill rules and F3 point upward? (Parallel to how F11 refers duotone steps to Baseline.) Torfinn: Duotone should be removed from brand os. The symbol's fill is described here with a pointer to F10.

Digital identity — partly answered as of 2026-09-05. The symbol standing alone and the 16px redraw are ruled and written below. Still open: the sender name in notifications and email, and whether a profile image in digital channels follows the same rule as an app icon. Both connect to point 1 — a notification sender name is an identity question, and it may belong to sender architecture rather than here. Torfinn: Notification sender is always Aleris. E-mail is governed by specific guidelines for e-mail signatures. Profile image meaning Aleris identity in social media accounts and apps? In that case, use the symbol sand on petrol.

Transitional logos (acquisition/merger). The source permits alternative logos "for a short time" in cases such as mergers (p. 7). Aleris grows by acquisition — this is likely recurring rather than rare. Settle whether the rule needs more steering than "a short time": who decides, for how long, and what the coexistence looks like. Torfinn: This is an edge case that only complicates the material. Let's remove it from the material until it becomes relevant again. The situation that made it relevant has been resolved.

The constants from the 2025 source — confirm or revise. Clear space = 50% of the logo's height on all sides (p. 6). Two variants: horizontal (primary), vertical (secondary, where space makes it the better choice) (p. 5). The prohibition list (p. 8). Confirm these still hold unchanged, or mark revisions. Torfinn: Confirmed, except to say that vertical is hardly ever used but we cannot remove it from the material.

Why the logo and the symbol look the way they do at Aleris

[Author prompt — in the spirit of F10/F11, your voice. A short opening (3–5 sentences) saying what the logo and the symbol carry as identity elements, and how that connects to the Present Expert. The source (p. 4) frames the logo as "our most recognisable and most used visual element" and the symbol (p. 9) as "the most distinctive". Your job: give shape to the why — not just that it is recognisable, but what the recognition should produce (trust, presence). Tie it to F6 constant/contextual: the logo's form is constant, the symbol's fill is contextual.]

Torfinn suggests: Our logo is the symbol and the text Aleris in combination. The symbol is made up of three lines, like the year rings of a treem, whose form suggest the shape of the letter A. The symbol is our most visually distinctive graphic element, and can be used as a graphic design element to represent our brand's personality. Recognition of the logo should produce feelings of trust, competence and responsibility.

The logo

Primary and secondary variant

Rule (from the 2025 source p. 5 — ratified 2026-08-21, unchanged. English is Claude's translation of the Swedish source.) The logo exists in two variants: horizontal and vertical. The horizontal is primary and is always used unless a constraint of space makes the vertical the better choice.

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — a default keeps recognition consistent; the exception exists for legibility, not for taste.] We build the brand recognition around one logo, not two.

Test [Author prompt: is there a real constraint of space, or is it preference? If you want a concrete threshold (width/height) rather than a judgement, state it here.] The constraint is a space that is so tight vertically that the horizontal logo will not fit without becoming too small (32 px height).

Safe zone

Rule (from the 2025 source p. 6 — ratified 2026-08-21, unchanged.) The minimum clear area (safe zone) around the logo is 50% of the logo's height, on all sides.

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — the mark needs isolation to read as Aleris rather than competing with its surroundings.] The safe zone exists to protect the logo’s legibility and impact wherever it appears. It's a minimum area that must stay free of other elements like text, images, or other logos. The purpose is to make sure the mark can always be seen, read, and recognised instantly, in any context.

Without that buffer, a logo gets visually tangled with nearby content: letterforms blend into background images, edges align awkwardly with other shapes, and at small sizes it can become almost unreadable. Over time that erodes brand recognition, because people never really get a clear, repeated impression of the mark.

Test** [Author prompt: by eye against the ratio at reproduced size. Decision box point 1: keep 50% of the height, or switch to a measure taken from an internal logo element (scales with the mark, the Cleveland model). Point to Baseline if the measurement reference is carried there.] Suggest a test based on the Cleveland model.

Minimum size

Rule (derived 2026-08-21, not present in the 2025 source.) The logo is never reproduced below 24px in height. Below that height the favicon is used rather than shrinking the horizontal logo.

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — below the floor the wordmark stops being readable, and a mark that cannot be read identifies nobody.]

Test. The wordmark's letter height is 0.4933 of the logo's total height, measured on the rendered SVG. The 14px floor in principles/typography.md corresponds to a cap height near 10px, which gives a measured floor of 20.4px. 24px is the rounded rule with margin. If the 14px floor changes, this number changes with it. Asserted in lib/logo-minimum.test.ts, which recomputes it from the artwork on every run rather than trusting the number written here.

Prohibited — how the logo may not be used

Rule (from the 2025 source p. 8 — ratified 2026-08-21, unchanged.)

Quoted verbatim, and therefore in Swedish. This is a quotation from the source, not a rewrite — the same reason _packages/agent-baseline/logo/README.md keeps it in the source language. An English gloss follows each item for readers who need one; the Swedish is what was ratified.

Arrangera inte om logotypen och lägg inte in något i dess frizon. (Do not rearrange the logo or place anything inside its clear space.)
Använd inte en del av logotypen som element i text eller annan kommunikation (t.ex. byta ut bokstaven A mot symbolen). (Do not use part of the logo as an element in text or other communication — for example replacing the letter A with the symbol.)
Förvräng eller sträck inte ut logotypen. (Do not distort or stretch the logo.)
Ändra inte logotypens färger. (Do not change the logo's colours.)
Lägg inte till effekter som skuggor, sken eller konturer. (Do not add effects such as shadows, glows or outlines.)
Placera inte logotypen på rörig eller kontrastsvag bakgrund. (Do not place the logo on a busy or low-contrast background.)
Rotera, luta eller animera inte logotypen om det inte är särskilt angivet. (Do not rotate, tilt or animate the logo unless specifically stated.)
Placera inte logotypen för nära andra element (respektera frizonen). (Do not place the logo too close to other elements — respect the clear space.)

Why [Author prompt: one sentence at the top — the prohibitions protect recognition, that is the point, not rules for their own sake.] These are practical applications of the safe zone explanation above.

Test — six actual misuses. [Author prompt: craft consensus is that a misuse gallery only works if it shows your real failure patterns rather than a standard list, and shows wrong beside right (~6). Which six misuses actually happen at Aleris? Candidates to pick from or replace: the A swapped for the symbol, a sub-brand lockup, low contrast on photography, a self-assembled lockup, the symbol alone in communication, wrong colour. This needs your field knowledge — I cannot guess it.]

Using the symbol instead of an a or A in text. The symbol with Aleris written out in a different font behind it. A sub-brand name or unit name placed inside the safe zone. The symbol used alone with low contrast on photography. A self-assembled lockup of the symbol and the logo text. The symbol alone in the top left corner of a digital service or letter head. The logo set in wrong colour.

Transitional logos (deprecated - remove)

Rule (from the 2025 source p. 7 — ratify or revise.) Alternative logos may be used for a short period, for example in mergers.

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — during a transition, recognition may cost something temporarily so as not to lose the acquired mark's audience.]

Gate [Author prompt: see decision box point 4. Aleris grows by acquisition, so this is recurring rather than rare. Name the decision-maker and the frame (who decides, for how long, what coexistence between two marks looks like) — F11's editorial-gate pattern, "here is who decides", not "never".]

The symbol

The living symbol

Rule (from the 2025 source pp. 9–10 — ratify or revise.) The symbol is Aleris's most distinctive element. It is flexible and can be filled with content: full-colour photography, ~~a duotone image in orange or petrol,~~ a petrol gradient, motion graphics or video. The fill makes the symbol "living" and lets it adapt across formats and audiences while remaining immediately recognisable as Aleris.

Why — a deliberate choice, not a default. [Author prompt: see decision box point 2. This is where the research finding goes: conservative healthcare brands lock the symbol down (Cleveland Clinic: the symbol may never stand alone, never be filled with an image). Aleris does the opposite. It is defensible — an image-filled, moving symbol reads as warm and present rather than institutional — but because it runs against the norm it should be written as a position with its reason, not as the obvious choice. This paragraph is load-bearing and it is yours to write.]

The living symbol makes the Aleris brand approachable, creative and likeable. It's warm and present rather than institutional. It's integral to our positioning as the present expert.

Gate [Author prompt: the symbol's fill is governed by F10 Imagery. Settle the seam (decision box point 2): describe the fill briefly here and point to F10 for the principles, or let F10 own the fill rules and point upward. For the symbol standing alone, see § Digital identity below — that question is now answered.]

Torfinn: Draft this gate for me.

Animated symbol

Rule (from the 2025 source p. 11 — ratify or revise.) The animated symbol has a subtle, repeating motion intended to convey a present and personal feeling. The lines in the animated version are slightly thicker than in the static ones.

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — the motion carries the presence; it is the means, not the decoration.] The motion carries the presence. Being decorative and soulful, it communicates the spirit of Aleris in a more evocative way than a still image.

Test [Author prompt: if motion belongs to F7 Emotional mode (when presence and movement fit and when they do not), make the test a pointer there.] Draft the test as a pointer to F7.

The symbol as pattern

Rule (from the 2025 source p. 12 — ratify or revise.) The symbol may be used as a pattern for decorative surfaces — graphic design, clothing and textiles, interiors (for example frosting on glass).

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — the pattern carries recognition without being the sender; it decorates, it does not identify.] The symbol as a pattern becomes background information, context. It communicates the presence of Aleris without calling attention to itself.

Gate [Author prompt: connect to physical/interior in propagates_to if the pattern is governed there.] Not sure how to write this gate.

Digital identity — the symbol alone, and the one permitted redraw

Written categorically, per the tone split above. Ruled by Torfinn 2026-08-27 and 2026-08-28; transcribed here 2026-09-05. The rules are his and already made. The Why below is Claude-drafted and is his to rewrite or reject.

Rule. The symbol may stand alone where it works as decoration — large and solitary on sand or petrol, filled with image or gradient, or as the mark in a browser tab, an app icon, a notification avatar or a profile image. It may not stand in for the logotype: a symbol at middle size, carrying text beside it or inside its clear space, is a substitute logotype and is prohibited at every size.

And one exception, which is the only place any Aleris mark may be redrawn. At sizes where the symbol's three rings cannot be resolved, a variant drawn to hold the same silhouette may be used for that size alone. The 16px tab icon is drawn to that exception; 32px and above use the mark itself. No other surface and no other size is covered.

Torfinn: We shouldn't have to have rules about redrawing anything, just do the redraw once and supply those assets as part of the brand tooling.

Why [Author prompt — this paragraph argues and is yours. The material: the mark is what identifies, and the drawing is how the mark is carried — but at a size where the drawing cannot be resolved, reproducing it faithfully identifies nothing. A 16px slot renders the three rings as a single blot, which is neither the Aleris symbol nor anything else. So fidelity to the drawing yields to fidelity to the recognition, and only there. Worth noting it is the same reasoning as the 24px minimum height two sections up, reaching the opposite conclusion because the constraint differs: the logotype has a floor because its letters stop being readable, and the symbol has an exception because it has no letters to stop. Cleveland Clinic's position — the symbol never stands alone — is the norm this departs from, the same departure as the living symbol above, and it may be worth saying so once rather than twice.]

Torfinn: This reads like material that should be absorbed into the rules above, not have its own segment further down. Help me draft those inclusions at relevant places in the rules above.

Test. Two gates, both measurements rather than judgements.

Does the surface have room for the wordmark? If yes, the exception does not apply — use the logotype.
Do the rings resolve at the intended size? The rings are ~17.5 of 192 viewBox units, so 1.46px at 16px — below what antialiasing can hold apart. All three resolve at 32px and above (12 alpha-edge crossings across the centre row) and collapse to 8 at 16px. lib/logo-minimum.test.ts asserts this in both directions, so widening the exception past 16px fails a test rather than passing a review. A claim that some other size needs a redraw is a measurement someone runs, filed beside that assertion.

Provenance. The threshold was measured 2026-08-28 (workspace/evaluations/digital-identity-verification-2026-08-28.md). Four candidate drawings were rendered and measured; the chosen one strokes the ring's inner boundary at 24 units, which lands two fully-opaque pixels per stroke at 16px while keeping the counter open. The set is generated by scripts/generate-logo-icons.mjs rather than drawn by hand, so it can be reproduced from the mark.

Sender architecture

[Written in a hard tone — this is a non-negotiable rule, not craft guidance. Conditional on decision box point 1: whether the rule lives here or in a Foundation section of its own.]

Rule (settled, the ordlistan 2026-04-21.) The sender is always "Aleris", never a sub-brand.

Why [Author prompt: one sentence — one sender builds trust, sub-brands fragment recognition. Research support to lean on: Cleveland Clinic explicitly forbids separate logos for programmes, groups and units — "they are all one Cleveland Clinic" — on the same grounds. A healthcare peer in the top tier has already taken the same position. It also strengthens the case that the rule is brand architecture rather than a writing convention, which is the placement question in the box.]

Reach to settle [Author prompt: is this a logo rule (which mark is visible) or broader sender architecture (how an acquired clinic behaves, how units appear, how notifications and email state a sender)? If the latter it needs a Foundation section of its own and F3 points there. This is the load-bearing placement — it can pull digital identity's remaining open half with it (decision box point 3).]

Torfinn: This is also repeat of the earlier material and should be absorbed.

Constant and contextual

[Author prompt — the F11 pattern. Fill in once the decisions above are closed.]

Constant — what always holds

[Candidates to confirm: the logo's form and colour; the two variants; clear space; the prohibition list; the sender "Aleris"; that the symbol never substitutes for the logotype.]

Contextual — what adapts

[Candidates to confirm: the choice between horizontal and vertical variant; the symbol's fill (photo/duotone/gradient/video) by context and emotional mode; animated versus static; pattern use; which drawing of the symbol a size calls for.]

Quick test

[Author prompt — 2–3 questions in the F11 style, for example: Is it the horizontal variant unless a constraint of space says otherwise? Does the logo have its clear space? Does "Aleris" stand as the sender rather than a sub-brand? Is this symbol decorating, or is it standing in for the logotype?]

[Author prompt: closing paragraph in the spirit of F10/F11. One or two sentences: why logo and identity belong in Foundation — one constant mark, a contextually living symbol, one sender — and are not a pure production question. The tone signature.]