Spectre
Brand Guidelines · Vol. 01
2026 Edition

Brand
Guidelines

Dive California's Channel Islands

A field manual for the people building, writing, and shipping anything with the Spectre name on it.

Departing from

Ventura Harbor, CA

02Introduction
Spectre · Brand Guidelines

Contents

A field
manual.

Spectre is a premier dive charter, not a brochure brand. These guidelines exist so every surface — site, social, signage, merch, deckhand t-shirt — sounds like the same operator. Direct, declarative, equipment-grade.

I · Foundation
03Who we are
04Brand attributes
05The experience
06Voice fundamentals
07Voice in practice
08Casing & emoji
II · Identity
10Primary wordmark
11Secondary marks
12Clear space
13Misuse
III · Visual
15Color palette
16Color usage
17Typography
18Typography scale
19Photography
20Photography subjects
21Iconography
IV · Application
23Layout
24CTAs & buttons
25Motion
26Sub-brands
27Merch
28Do's & don'ts
29In the wild
30Governance
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03Who we are
Foundation · 01

Brand thesis

The Channel Islands.
We take you there.

Spectre is the premier charter out of Ventura Harbor — year-round single-day trips to Channel Islands National Park aboard an 85-foot aluminum vessel.

Three dives. BBQ on deck. Brownie sundae in the hot tub on the way home. Come certified or come curious.

85 FT

Aluminum vessel

3 DIVES

Per day

NATIONAL PARK

Channel Islands

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04Brand attributes
Foundation · 02

Nine words

The vocabulary of the brand.

01PremierThe standard for Channel Islands diving. We don't compete on price.
02Experience-drivenThe day, not the dive alone. BBQ, hot tub, crew, stories home.
03Year-roundJanuary or July, Spectre is at the dock. Winter is our best secret.
04Community-ledRepeat guests and the people they bring next time.
05InsiderWhen Spectre says it's a good day to book, it's a good day to book.
06ConfidentState the fact. Let the reputation carry it.
07Equipment-gradeSpecifics over flourish. Numbers, dates, proper nouns.
08Repeat & referMost of our calendar is filled by people who've already been.
09OperatorA crew that's been doing this for decades. The copy sounds like it.
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05The experience
Foundation · 03

A day on Spectre

Sun deck.
Hot tub.
Everything in between.

Ten hours out of Ventura Harbor. Three dives, hot showers, WiFi, a sun deck, and a hot tub for the ride home.

01

06:00 AM — Board at Ventura Harbor

Rental gear is at your dive station. Hot breakfast on deck — sandwiches, pastries, yogurt, or fresh fruit.

02

07:00 AM — Depart for the Islands

Hour and a half to the Channel Islands. Spot dolphins on the crossing, explore the boat, and enjoy breakfast on the way out.

03

Dive Time — Three Dives

Anacapa or Santa Cruz Island. Safety is the priority — the captain takes the time to find the right site for conditions that day. Times shift accordingly. BBQ lunch between dives two and three, always a meat and a vegetarian option.

04

Head Home

Depart the islands when the day is done. Brownie sundae in the hot tub on the way in. Typically back at Ventura Harbor by 4:00 PM.

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06Voice fundamentals
Foundation · 04

Voice

Direct. Declarative. Plain.

The voice of an operator, not a marketer. The crew has been doing this for decades, and the copy sounds like it.

RULE 01

Imperatives over flourishes

"Dive." "Book." "Hop in the hot tub." Verbs first. Never "embark on a journey" or "discover the magic of."

RULE 02

No ocean poetry

No crystal-clear waters, shimmering kelp, or mystical creatures. Reality is more interesting than adjectives.

RULE 03

Equipment-grade specificity

"85-foot aluminum vessel." "Three dives per day." Numbers and proper nouns do the work flowery language would.

RULE 04

Insider, never showing off

"Winter is the best-kept secret in California diving." Not "world-class winter diving experiences."

RULE 05

"We" for crew, "you" for guest

First-person plural for us. Second person for them. Never "I." Never "Spectre invites guests to."

RULE 06

Confident, not boastful

State the fact. Let the reputation carry it. The brand doesn't need to brag about itself.

06 / 31
07Voice in practice
Foundation · 05

In practice

Two columns. Same idea.

✓ Spectre voice

"Dive Anacapa, Santa Cruz, or Santa Barbara Island. Three dives. BBQ on deck. Hot tub finish."

"Lobster season runs late September through March."

"Pelican Reserve at Anacapa opens November 1. One month only."

✗ Not Spectre

"Embark on the underwater adventure of a lifetime!"

"Dive into pristine, crystal-clear waters teeming with marine wildlife."

"Our experienced team is passionate about creating unforgettable memories."

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08Casing & emoji
Foundation · 06

Casing

All caps, sentence case, or push to the edge.

Title Case is rare. When in doubt, drop to sentence case or push to ALL CAPS. Avoid the middle.

All caps BOOK ONLINE NOW Wordmark, tagline, primary CTAs, nav links, section headers, button labels.
Sentence case Lobster season runs late September through March. Body copy, descriptions, captions, paragraph headings inside content.
Script — once Grab your Gear Caveat. Exactly one permitted moment, contained to merch contexts.

No emoji

Spectre is an equipment-grade operator brand. No emoji in marketing copy, social captions, or UI.

One exception

The diver-down flag — a real graphic, not an OS-rendered character. A symbol of the trade.

08 / 31

PART II

Identity.

Wordmark, marks, lockups, clear space, and what not to do with any of it.

09 / 31
10Primary wordmark
Identity · 01
Spectre wordmark

Primary mark

The wordmark.

Always anchored with the descriptor "DIVE CALIFORNIA'S CHANNEL ISLANDS." This is the lockup that opens every site, deck, sticker, and shirt.

FamilyAlternate Gothic ATF Demi
Tracking+100 (≈0.1em)
DescriptorBarlow Condensed Bold
Min size — print24 px / 0.5 in wide
Min size — digital96 px wide
Filespectre-wordmark.{svg, png}
10 / 31
11Secondary marks
Identity · 02

Beyond the wordmark

Three marks. One family.

Original Badge

Heritage circular illustration with the boat at Anacapa Arch. Use on apparel, decals, and editorial covers.

SDB Stamp

"Spectre Dive Boat" circular stamp with bow-on vessel. Merch, decals, secondary marks.

Dive-flag Lockup

Wordmark + diver-down flag. The most recognizable lockup on social, hats, and tees.

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12Clear space & lockup rules
Identity · 03

Clear space

Give the
mark room
to breathe.

Minimum clear space on every side equals X, the cap-height of the wordmark. Nothing — type, edge, image, or another logo — enters that perimeter.

Padding1.0 × wordmark height (X)
BackgroundCream, paper, ink, or photo with protect
Co-branding2X gap, hairline divider
X X X X
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13Misuse
Identity · 04

Don't

Six ways to break the wordmark.

If you've ever thought about doing one of these — don't.

Don't stretch
Don't rotate
Don't recolor
Low contrast
No effects
No busy backgrounds
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PART III

Visual.

Color, type, photography, and the dive flag.

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15Color palette
Visual · 01

Palette

A B&W system, anchored by black.

One action accent. One spot color, used sparingly. Cream is the brand's "off." Sage means "click." Red only on the dive flag.

Primary ink

Ink

HEX#1A1A1A
RGB26 26 26
CMYK0 0 0 90
USEType, dark surfaces

Default page

Cream

HEX#F1ECE0
RGB241 236 224

Surface

Paper

HEX#FFFFFF
RGB255 255 255

Action accent

Sage

HEX#3E8674
RGB62 134 116

Spot · dive flag only

Diveflag

HEX#ED1C24
RGB237 28 36
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16Color usage
Visual · 02

Distribution

Cream is the canvas. Sage is the click.

Roughly: 55% cream, 25% paper, 12% ink, 7% sage, 1% red. Sage appears once per screen — usually as the BOOK pill. Red only on the dive flag.

55% Cream 25% Paper 12% Ink 7% Sage 1%

Pairings

Spectre on cream Book Now
Spectre on paper Book Now
Spectre on ink Book Now
Spectre on photo Book Now
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17Typography — families
Visual · 03

Typography

Three families. One script. One mono.

Display · Alternate Gothic ATF Demi
Spectre
WORDMARK · HERO · H1TRACKING +100SUBSTITUTE: OSWALD
Headline · Barlow Condensed
Three Dives. BBQ. Hot Tub.
SECTION HEADS · BUTTONSWEIGHTS 400–800
Body · Open Sans
Lobster season runs the last weekend of September through March.
PARAGRAPHS · NAV · UIWEIGHTS 400–700
Script · Caveat
Grab your Gear
MERCH ONLY · ONE MOMENT
Mono · JetBrains
Anacapa · 06:30 · 85ft · 12kt
TRIP CODES · SPECS
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18Typography — scale
Visual · 04
HERO · 132Channel Islands
DISPLAY · 88Anacapa Arch
H1 · 64Three Dives
H2 · 44Section Header
H3 · 28Sub-header
EYEBROW · 14Trip Schedule
BODY-LG · 22Three dives per day, year-round.
BODY · 16Last weekend of September through March.
CAPTION · 1206:30 AM · Departure · Channel Islands National Park

The scale

Big jumps.
Few steps.

A clear distance between hero and body sets the operator tone. No mid-size headers competing for attention. Tracking gets wider as type gets smaller.

Line height — display0.92
Line height — body1.55
Tracking — eyebrow+0.18em
Tracking — body0
18 / 31

Photography

Documentary. No stock.

Real action only. Underwater wildlife, divers gearing up, the boat at sea, the hot tub on deck. No stock. No lifestyle. No staged smiles.

01

Cool palette underwater

Kelp orange, steel blue, deep navy. The Pacific isn't tropical. Don't grade it like it is.

02

Warm contrast above

BBQ smoke, hot tub steam, sunset arches at Anacapa. Intentional warmth against the cold water work.

03

Full-bleed in hero

Always paired with a photo-protect gradient — bottom or top — never type floating on busy frames.

04

No texture overlays

No film grain, no patterns, no hand-drawn ornament. The image carries itself.

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20Photography — subjects
Visual · 06
Kelp forests
Sea lions
Lobster season
The vessel
Anacapa arch
Caves & arches
Crew & divers
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21Iconography & the dive flag
Visual · 07

UI icons

Thin stroke. Lucide. 2px.

Icons recede. Photography and typography do the heavy lifting. Monochrome only — black, white, or current text color.

Brand-owned graphic

The dive flag.

Not a generic icon. The diver-down flag is a brand-owned graphic — a real red and white asset, never an OS-rendered character. Always at the official red.

Dive flag wordmark
Color#ED1C24 — exact, no tints
Min size24 px tall
Don'tPlace inside a button. Recolor. Skew.
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PART IV

Application.

Layout, components, motion, sub-brands, and the full rulebook.

22 / 31
23Layout principles
Application · 01

Layout

Full-bleed hero. Flat nav. Sage CTA isolated top-right.

Photography fills the viewport. The wordmark runs full-width centered, tagline beneath it, single sage pill below that. Nav is transparent white — all caps, minimal weight — with BOOK NOW broken out at the far right.

Nav styleTransparent · white text
Active state1.5 px underline rule
CTA positionIsolated top-right · sage pill
Hero typeDisplay · ALL CAPS centered
Radii4 px (cards) · 999 px (CTA)
HOME DIVE TRIPS SCUBA RENTALS GUIDES ABOUT DIVE INFO SNORKEL MONDAYS HOTEL FAQ DIRECTIONS MERCH
BOOK NOW
Spectre
BOOK ONLINE NOW

SAMPLE · HOMEPAGE HERO · spectreboat.com

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24CTAs & buttons
Application · 02

Action

One pill. One color.

Sage means "do this thing." It's the only color that means click. Pill radius (999px) is reserved for actions — never on cards or other UI.

DEFAULT
HOVER · 8% darker
PRESS · No size change
SECONDARY · Outlined
DARK SURFACE

Card pattern

A "card" is a photograph with a label. No drop shadows. Elevation comes from contrast.

Trip 01

Anacapa Island

07:00 dep. · 3 dives · BBQ · Hot tub

Lobster Season

Sept 28 — Mar 21

License required. Seven-bug limit per diver.

Species

Giant Kelp

Macrocystis pyrifera. Backbone of the Channel Islands reef.

TEXT BELOW
NARROW FORMAT

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25Motion & interaction
Application · 03

Motion

Restrained. Documentary. Not playful.

FAST · 120ms

Micro-interactions

Hover state changes, focus rings, link underline reveals.

BASE · 200ms

State changes

Button press, nav scrim transitions, panel open/close.

SLOW · 320ms

Image reveals

Card hover scale (1.02), image fade-in, drawer slides.

DRIFT · 12s

Hero ken-burns

Subtle scale 1.0→1.05, alternating, ease-in-out. Disabled under prefers-reduced-motion.

Never

✗Bounces or springs
✗Elastic easing
✗Pop entrances or scale-bounce
✗Glassmorphism or backdrop blur
✗Parallax for parallax's sake

Easing

--ease-out: cubic-bezier(.2, .7, .2, 1)
--ease-in-out: cubic-bezier(.65, .05, .36, 1)

25 / 31
26Sub-brands
Application · 04

The family

One core brand. Three voices.

Spectre

Core · Spectre

The dive charter. Equipment-grade voice. Year-round. Three dives, BBQ, hot tub.

spectreboat.com

Spectre Snorkel

Sub · Snorkel

Separate brand. Has its own brand guidelines and visual identity. See snorkel brand docs for voice, color, and layout rules.

spectresnorkel.com

DGCI
Dive Guides Channel Islands

Sub · DGCI

Separate brand. Has its own brand guidelines and visual identity. See DGCI brand docs for voice, color, and layout rules.

diveguideschannelislands.com

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27Merch & shop
Application · 05

Spectre Boat Gear

Merch

spectreboatgear.com

Classic original logo

CLASSIC · ORIGINAL LOGO

Freediver design

FREEDIVER · GRAPHIC

Santa Cruz back design

SANTA CRUZ · GRAPHIC

Bubble design

BUBBLE DESIGN · GRAPHIC

Classic

Classic Hoodie

Freediver

Freediver Hoodie

Santa Cruz

Retro Hoodie

Bubble Design

Bubble Crewneck

Each collection is designed independently, with its own graphic identity and personality. The Classic, Freediver, Santa Cruz and Bubble Design collections give the brand room to speak to different parts of the community without losing what makes Spectre distinct. Where the core brand holds a tight visual standard, the gear collections are where that identity gets to stretch. New collections drop seasonally at spectreboatgear.com.

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28Do's & don'ts
Application · 06
✓ Do
Lead with documentary photography. The image is the brand.
Use cream as the resting page. Sage only on the action.
Write like the captain talks. Numbers, dates, proper nouns.
Push to ALL CAPS or sentence case. Skip Title Case.
Keep one pill on screen. The BOOK ONLINE NOW pill.
Use hairline rules and 2 px section bars. Skip soft shadows.
Reserve red for the dive flag — and only the dive flag.
✗ Don't
Don't write ocean poetry. No "crystal-clear waters."
Don't use stock photography or staged smiles.
Don't add emoji to marketing copy or social captions.
Don't introduce 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 px radii. They feel software-y.
Don't use gradients as a brand color — only as photo protection.
Don't bounce, spring, or pop. Restraint is the motion language.
Don't mix the merch script anywhere outside the shop.
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29In the wild
Application · 07

Applications

Fittings.

Spectre

Dive Boat

Dive California's Channel Islands

Dock D · Slip 25

www.spectreboat.com

HARBOR SIGNAGE

Lobster Opener

Sept 27.
Book your spot.

Channel Islands

Below the surface.
Three dives.

SOCIAL POSTS · 1080 × 1080

Year-round · Ventura Harbor

Three Dives.
BBQ. Hot Tub.

Book Online Now

spectreboat.com

BILLBOARD · 16:9

Field Report

Pelican Reserve opens Nov 1.

One month only. Visibility is at peak. Book before the season fills.

Reserve Your Spot

EMAIL · 600 × 600

Spectre Classic Snapback Spectre Classic Beanie

APPAREL

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30Governance & contact
Application · 08

Governance

One studio. Total ownership.

ALL AREAS

The Design Kollective

One studio behind every creative decision. Design, photography, strategy, marketing and merch all run through The Design Kollective. Nothing gets outsourced, nothing gets lost in translation.

Merch Design Photography Strategy Marketing

About

The Design
Kollective

A full-service creative studio specializing in brand identity, photography, and digital design. Over 25 years of production and logistics experience inform every project, bringing creative vision and operational precision to the same table.

Storytelling is at the core of the work. From the first brand mark to seasonal collections and campaign photography, every touchpoint is built with intention.

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Spectre

Dive
California's
Channel
Islands.

Book Online Now

VESSEL Spectre · 85 ft Aluminum
DEPART Ventura Harbor · 07:00
WEB spectreboat.com
31 / 31