Shepherd Boy Farms

02 · The Mark

Four logo variants.
One ribbon emblem.

The brand book documents two logos × two contexts. Pick the variant that matches the surface — don't always reach for the primary. The ribbon-and-shepherd emblem is the brand mark; the secondary drops the ribbon for compact use.

Primary · Light bg

Default mark

Use on Alabaster or white surfaces. SBF_assets_primary_logo_reversed.png · transparent PNG, sits cleanly on any background. Pairs with light hero panels, white email body sections, packaging.

Primary · Navy bg

Reversed mark

Use on Bay of Many or Port Gore navy backgrounds. SBF_assets_primary_logo_reversed.png · hero sections, navy headers, email header bar. The active mark on the live SBF storefront.

Secondary · Light bg

Compact emblem

Use on Alabaster or white surfaces. Circular emblem only, no ribbon. SBF_assets_secondary_logo_reversed.png · transparent PNG. Pairs with favicons, social avatars, footers.

Secondary · Navy bg

Compact emblem, reversed

Compact dark-mode contexts: app icons, Slack avatars over navy headers, footer marks. SBF_assets_secondary_logo_reversed.png · circular emblem only, no ribbon banner.

Clearspace

Minimum clear space around the logo on all sides equals the height of the inner shepherd figure. No type, no graphics, no frame edges within that radius.

Minimum size

Primary mark: 120px wide on screen / 1″ wide in print. Below that, switch to the secondary (compact emblem) mark.

Owned color pairing

Reversed mark on Port Gore is the canonical brand-recognition pairing. Port Gore is the owned color — see §05.

Maintain canonical aspect ratio. Place on Port Gore for high-recognition moments. Prefer the primary mark when space allows — the ribbon carries the brand name.

Don't

Distort, recolor, or reproportion the mark. Place the primary on a busy photo without a navy or light overlay panel. Use the secondary when the primary fits. Reach for single-color or knockout variants until a brand-approved version exists.

Open

⚠ Vector source files (SVG / AI / EPS) and a single-color knockout variant — required for print reproduction at scale.

03 · The Palette

Eight colors.
One palette.

Three blues, two greens, one yellow accent, off-white, and near-black. Port Gore navy is the owned color — the one customers should associate with SBF after five touchpoints.

Primary navy

Bay of
Many

Hex#2D3C88
Pantone2118 C

Hero sections · Logo bg

★ Owned color

Port
Gore

Hex#1D1A4D
Pantone274 C

Email · CTAs · Headers

Secondary accent

Picton
Blue

Hex#52A6DA
Pantone2191 C

Icons · Links · Cat tints

Brand green

Fern

Hex#5DAF57
Pantone361 C

Fresh · Natural cues

Deep green

Killarney

Hex#2C673D
Pantone349 C

Heritage · Farm contexts

Accent · Use sparingly

Sweet
Corn

Hex#F9EC54
Pantone3945 C

One badge per surface

Off-white

Alabaster

Hex#F9F9F9
Pantone—

Background · Negative space

Near-black

Mine
Shaft

Hex#2D2D2B
PantoneBlack C

Body text · Dense type

06b · Brand Brain at a Glance

Bridge the gap between traditional
and modern pet nutrition innovation.

Premium, family-driven, Midwest-rooted, vertically-integrated freeze-dried pet food. The Honest Farmer voice. Positioning and tone in one frame — every piece of work should map to something here.

Positioning · Three pillars

Family-Driven Legacy100% family-owned. No venture or private capital. Paving the way for future family generations.
Midwestern RootsCentral Indiana. Farm-to-table sourcing. Each ingredient traceable, responsibly sourced.
Proprietary InnovationIn-house freeze-drying. 16 dryers, 70,000+ sq ft. SQF Level II certified. Ashton built the first dryer himself.

Voice · The Honest Farmer

Past tense → present proof"When Ashton couldn't afford commercial freeze-dryers, he built his own. Ten years later: SQF Level II and a $50M facility."
Three imperatives"Add water. Shake. Serve." Period after each. Staccato. Use for usage rituals, taglines, packaging callouts.
Real X, Real Y"Real meat. Real organs. Real fruits and vegetables." Section headers above benefit lists. The brand promise pattern.

Simple nutrition. Pure results.

The voice

The Honest Farmer
in three patterns.

Three repeatable voice shapes. Each has a job, a structure, and a place it shows up best. Use these as the starting point for any copy — subject lines, ad headlines, body copy, packaging callouts.

The Honest Farmer

"When Ashton couldn't afford commercial freeze-dryers, he built his own."

Past tense → present proof. Origin-story moments. Long-form, narrative. No marketing fluff. Lands when copy needs to feel personal — subject lines, ad captions, body-copy openers that frame the brand.

Three Imperatives

"Add water. Shake. Serve."

Three short commands. Period after each. Staccato. For usage rituals, taglines, packaging callouts. Reads like instructions, lands like a tagline.

Real X, Real Y

"Real meat. Real organs. Real fruits and vegetables."

Section header above benefit lists. The brand promise pattern. Use to introduce ingredient stacks or claim sets — the punch comes from parallel structure.

Nothing X. Nothing Y.

"Nothing fake. Ever."

Negation-stack — the inverse of Real X, Real Y. Names what's NOT in the product to underscore what is. Lands when copy needs to feel direct and unflinching. Variants in active use: "Nothing artificial. Nothing synthetic." / "No fillers. No by-products. No mystery meals." Use as a headline or as a closer to a benefit list.

Email anatomy

The skeleton every
SBF email is built on.

Header, hero, body, CTA, footer. Identical structure every send — recognition compounds across the sequence. Designers brief from this; the bag-photo and copy change, the chassis doesn't.

Width + responsive

600px standard.

600px on desktop. Mobile collapses to a single column with full-width CTAs and 100% image scale. Inline padding of at least 20px on the left and right edges for email-client compatibility.

Header bar

Port Gore + reversed logo.

Port Gore (#1D1A4D) full-width. The reversed primary logo centered. No navigation, no menu. Identical across every send — the header is a recognition asset, not a layout choice that varies by email.

Hero

Bag photo, headline off-image.

Full-width product photography on white or light gray. The headline goes above or below the image, never overlaid. The bag carries the protein cue (see §06 — Bag System).

Body copy

Nunito Sans, left-aligned.

Nunito Sans 16px regular on white. Headlines 26-28px bold in Port Gore. Max three to four short paragraphs per section. Body copy never centered — only headlines may center.

Product grid

2×2 or 1×3, no borders.

2×2 for four products, 1×3 for three. Bag photo on white → product name (navy bold) → price (mid-gray semibold). No borders — whitespace separates cards, with a 16px gap.

CTA button

Port Gore, 8px radius, ≥48px tap.

Port Gore navy background, white bold text, 8px radius, minimum 48px height for tap accessibility. One primary CTA per section. Secondary CTAs as Picton Blue underlined text links.

Footer

Light gray, identical every send.

#F5F5F5 light gray background. Small SBF logo, navy social icons, "Family-owned in Greensburg, Indiana." Unsubscribe and preference links. Identical on every email — the footer is part of the recognition system.

Spacing

Whitespace over dividers.

32-40px between major sections. 16px paragraph spacing. Whitespace prioritized over visual breaks — the navy header and white body create natural contrast, so dense divider lines aren't needed.

Typography spec

Every element, sized.

H1 (email headline): Nunito Sans 26-28px Bold, Port Gore. H2 (section headline): 20-22px Bold, Port Gore. Body: 15-16px Regular, Mine Shaft (#2D2D2B). Product name: 14px Bold, Port Gore. Product price: 14px Semibold, mid-gray (#5A5D58). CTA button text: 14px Bold, white. Fine print: 12px Regular, light gray (#8B9088).

Color roles

Element-by-element color.

Signature: Port Gore (#1D1A4D) — header bar, CTAs, headlines, primary text on white. Secondary accent: Picton Blue (#5B9BD5) — icons, checkmarks, secondary links, cat-section accents. Background primary: white. Background secondary: #F5F5F5 — footer, subtle dividers. Body text: Mine Shaft #2D2D2B. Cat section tint: Picton Blue 10% (#E8F0FA) — optional behind cat-product sections.

Badges + checkmark system

Pill badges, line-style icons.

Pill badges in navy or Picton Blue for product callouts: "Single Ingredient," "Best Seller," "Picky-Eater Approved," "New," "Family Owned," "USA Made." Checkmark icons for benefit lists: Picton Blue, line-style (not filled or illustrated), 16-20px, consistent across the email. Replace bullet points with checkmarks for any benefit list.

Cat vs dog distinction

Cats get real estate, not footnotes.

Clear navy section header — "Great for Cats Too!" or "For Cats." Dedicated cat product grid, not a footnote. Optional Picton Blue 10% tinted background (#E8F0FA) behind cat sections to visually delineate without heaviness.

Paid ad anatomy

The frame around
every paid creative.

Color, type, aspect ratio, hero subject, CTA — fixed. The angle, headline, and recipe vary; the rules below don't.

Frame

White or cream backgrounds. Bag is the hero.

Neutral / off-white frame is the dominant pattern — proven by the live ad set currently running. The bag carries the protein-color cue (see §06 — Bag System). Navy frames work as accents for emphasis moments, not as the default. Don't fight the packaging.

Aspect ratios

Feed 1:1 / 4:5. Story 9:16.

Feed: 1:1 or 4:5. Story and Reel: 9:16 — center key information in the middle 60%. Top and bottom are safe zones for UI overlays.

Type

On-image headlines, off the bag.

Open Sans Bold for headlines. Decorative fonts only for callouts of six words or fewer. Headlines sit in negative space — above or below the bag, never overlaid on the packaging itself. The bag stays clean; the message frames it.

Headline length

Primary ≤8 words. Testimonial pulls can run longer.

Primary on-image headline: 8 words or fewer. Lean on §07 voice patterns: "Real X. Real Y." / "Nothing fake. Ever." / "Add water. Shake. Serve." Testimonial pulls in pill-bubble overlays (e.g., "Absolutely love all products!! Our Dalmatians definitely know quality food!") can run longer — they read as quotes, not headlines.

Hero subject

Bag, bowl, or moment-of-feeding.

Three valid heroes — pick the one that serves the angle: bag-led (the product, surrounded by raw ingredients in flat-lay), bowl-led (the finished food in a bowl, cropped close), or moment-led (dog eating, hand holding, lifestyle). All three appear in the live working set. Founder shots stay reserved for story-angle creative.

CTA + accents

Port Gore button. Yellow sparingly.

Port Gore button on white or light backgrounds, Bay of Many on photo overlays. White text, bold weight. Sweet Corn yellow = one accent badge per ad, never as field, button, or background.

Footer band motif

Bottom band carries the promise.

A full-width band at the bottom of the ad carries either the guarantee ("HAPPY DOG, OR YOUR MONEY BACK") or the offer ("SIGN UP TO RECEIVE 10% OFF" / "REAL INGREDIENTS HAPPY PUPS"). Killarney green for guarantee bands, Port Gore navy for offer/sign-up bands, white bold caps text. One band per ad.

Pill-bubble testimonial overlay

Customer quote in a soft pill.

When a testimonial is the hook, drop the quote into a rounded pill bubble overlaid in the top portion of the image — green Killarney bubble with white text + paw-print rating row above. Use sparingly. Pairs naturally with bowl-led or moment-led hero compositions, not bag-led.

Ingredient circle motif

Three to four round ingredient photos.

A recurring composition: three round (or rounded-rectangle) ingredient photos labeled simply ("Beef" / "Beef Kidneys" / "Whole Egg"), arranged horizontally above the bag and bowl. Anchors the "real ingredients" voice pattern visually. Use raw ingredient close-ups on white/cream backgrounds — never illustrations or stock photography.

Rules in application — currently live in market

Photography

What the brand looks like
through a lens.

Two lists, one rule: the bag is the hero. Founder, family, and farm imagery exist to support the bag — never to replace it. Off-brand photography has been the single biggest source of creative-revision cycles, so the discipline matters more than the elegance of any one shot.

Straight-on bag shots on white or transparent backgrounds (Shopify CDN sources only)
Founder and family imagery — for story moments, never as the dominant frame for direct-response
Real ingredients: raw meats, organs, fruits, vegetables — fresh, not staged
The pet at the bowl, the bag in the kitchen, the farm at golden hour
Clean negative space around the bag — let the packaging breathe
Consistent scale and lighting across a single send or campaign

Don't

Circular cutouts of food
Stock photography of pets
Generic pet-bowl shots that aren't SBF product
Text overlaid on product photography (headlines go above or below)
Lifestyle staging that pulls focus from the bag in product-led work
Any photo containing a competitor product or unrelated food brand
Heavily filtered or color-graded shots that distort the actual bag color

Voice + messaging

What we say.
What we don't.

The voice patterns in §07 cover how we sound. The rules below cover what — approved claims to lean on, language to avoid, voice attributes to hold to, and the reference brands the team has called out as the bar.

Voice attributes

The Honest Farmer.

Warm, never saccharine. Knowledgeable, never preachy. Confident, never arrogant. Authentic, never performative. Lean on specific numbers — 96% nutrient retention, 16 freeze dryers, 70,000+ sq ft, 10 years family-owned.

Do say — approved claims

The proof points.

Real meat. Real organs. Real fruits and vegetables. Open the bag and serve. Add water, shake, serve. 96% Nutrient Retention. Zero Chemical Preservatives. Made in USA & Family Owned. Single Ingredient — Pure Meat (treats only). 10 years family-owned. Farm to Table Sourced.

Don't say

Off-limits in email + paid.

No recall language — even positive framing ("zero recalls") creates category association and fear. No SQF Level II references in email or paid — needs context most customers don't have; lives on the About page only. No pet diminutives — fur babies, puppers, doggos. No vague superlatives — revolutionary, game-changing, gourmet, luxury, elite.

Reference brands

The bar, per Joshua.

Spot & Tango — single dominant brand color (white + baby blue), clean type-led email design, native-feeling. Stella & Chewy's — red signature, badge-led, product-card layout. SBF differentiation: simpler than Stella's, founder-narrative weight, navy as our owned color.

Four logo variants.
One ribbon emblem.

Eight colors.
One palette.

Eight proteins.
Eight bag colors.
The bag tells you what's inside.

Bridge the gap between traditional
and modern pet nutrition innovation.

The Honest Farmer
in three patterns.