Brand identity guide · Est. 2026
Wrangle your domains with confidence
This is the standard. How dotcom.rodeo looks, sounds, and behaves. Use it for every button label, tweet, status update, and email. The point is consistency, not bureaucracy.
Persona
The Deputy
The Deputy is a modern cyber-ranch hand. Calm, highly competent, and deeply knowledgeable about the terrain, which is the web’s infrastructure. No shiny badge. No showboating. They do the heavy lifting so you can focus on building.
They speak with quiet confidence. Lean vocabulary. Clarity over hype.
Voice
Core pillars
Ruggedly precise
We deal in DNS, WHOIS, and SSL. Accuracy is absolute. Western flair never obscures the facts.
Sounds like
“Track WHOIS changes and DNS records in real time. Know instantly when something shifts.”
Never sounds like
“Leverage our state-of-the-art automated paradigm to optimize domain visibility.”
Steady and composed
When a domain is expiring or a scan fails, we do not panic. We give immediate clarity and a path forward.
Sounds like
“This domain expires in 24 hours. Let’s get it renewed before it drops.”
Never sounds like
“CRITICAL ERROR! Oh no, your domain is about to bite the dust!”
Peer-to-peer
We speak to developers and creators as equals. No tech-bro hype. No artificial enthusiasm.
Sounds like
“Wrangle all your domains in one place. Built for portfolios of 5 or 500.”
Never sounds like
“Let's absolutely crush your domain management goals today, rockstar!”
Vocabulary
The cowboy dial
Western terms work as functional metaphors, not punchlines. Keep the dial set low and steady.
Approved idioms
- Wrangle
- Round up
- In the saddle
- The whole spread
- Clear the brush
- Range
- Outpost
Sign-offs and greetings
- Howdy
- Happy wrangling
- Take care out there
Forbidden
- Yeehaw
- Giddy up
- Partner
- Rootin' tootin'
- Wild West
- Rodeo clown
- Darn
In practice
Situational copy
Onboarding
Standard SaaS
“Welcome to your new domain management dashboard. Connect your registrars to get started.”
dotcom.rodeo
“Welcome to the outpost. Let’s round up your domains and get them organized so you never lose track of a renewal again.”
Clean / active state
Standard SaaS
“All domains are currently secure and up to date. No actions required.”
dotcom.rodeo
“The perimeter is clear. Every domain is healthy and accounted for.”
High-stakes error
Standard SaaS
“Warning: Auto-renew failed for your domain. Please update your billing information immediately to avoid service interruption.”
dotcom.rodeo
“Heads up: the auto-renewal for outlaws.app didn’t go through. Let’s update your payment info here so you don’t lose your spot in the saddle.”
A sample from The Deputy
Howdy [Name], Just checking the fence lines. Your domain portfolio scan is complete. We noticed 2 domains are hitting their 30-day expiry window soon. Head over to the dashboard to review the renewal costs. Happy wrangling, The Deputy
Execution
Grammar and case
- Sentence case for headings and buttons.ALL CAPS or Title Case. "Start for free", not "START FOR FREE".
- Lean, clean sentences.Stacked clauses or filler intros.
- Commas, periods, colons.Em dashes. Anywhere.
- Save exclamation points for genuine warnings.Exclamation points for energy. The Deputy doesn’t shout.
- Use Western terms as functional metaphors.Use them as punchlines.
Logo
Primary mark and clear space
- Clear space. Leave at least half the logo’s height clear on every side.
- Backgrounds. Place on high-contrast surfaces. The hat needs room to breathe.
- Don’t. No stretching. No recolors. No rotation. No drop shadows borrowed from 2009.
Color
A palette built for the frontier
Primary Gold
Primary accent
Light: CTAs, buttons, key highlights·Dark: CTAs, buttons, key highlights
Dark Brown
Primary text (light mode)
Light: Headings, body copy·Dark: n/a
Off-White
Background (light mode)
Light: Main page surface·Dark: n/a
Deep Brown
Background (dark mode)
Light: n/a·Dark: Main page surface
Light Cream
Primary text (dark mode)
Light: n/a·Dark: Headings, body copy
Typography
Character with legibility
Rye carries the character. Lora carries the reading. Sentence case throughout. The technical, mono feel of Input Mono and Space Mono shows up in eyebrow labels and metadata.
Favicon
A small hat in a crowded tab bar
The minimalist gold hat works as the favicon. Tiny, recognizable, easy to spot among twenty other tabs.
- Same silhouette as the logo. First click looks like the dashboard.
- Drawn for small sizes. Sharp from 16px to 48px.
Social
LinkedIn, X, and alerts
Templates lean on Primary Gold and Dark Brown. Layouts are pre-built so a security or downtime post can ship in minutes without losing the brand. Calm, factual, and recognizable at a glance.
Email tokens
Brand tokens for HTML email
:root {
--primary-gold: #C88809;
--dark-brown: #26170D;
--off-white: #F4EEE6;
--font-rye: "Rye", serif;
--font-lora: "Lora", serif;
}
.btn-primary {
background: var(--primary-gold);
font-family: var(--font-lora);
}- Inline styles. Outlook and Gmail still need them. Plan for it.
- Responsive sizes. Scale H1 and H2 down on mobile. Keep the Rye character.
- Dark mode. Use
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)to swap to Deep Brown and Light Cream.
A living document
A trail, not a fence
This guide will change. The brand will too. If a rule here gets in your way and you have a better answer, say so. Send a PR, open an issue, or grab us in chat. Stewardship goes both ways.