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Cognate Press

Identity

Tokens, type, and the mark.

The system behind Cognate Press. Designed from the tightest constraint outward: the mark has to live in the footers of publications we do not control, so it is built first, from a single inherited color — everything on this page follows from it.

The mark — a reconstructed root

Historical linguists mark a reconstructed root — an ancestor form no document attests — with an asterisk: *nokʷt- → night, Nacht, nacht. The emblem is that asterisk, drawn in three strokes, with its downward ray extended: the root runs deeper than the forms. It never takes a brand color — it is set in whatever the host page is already using.

Wordmark and the 16px footer lockup

Cognate PressA Cognate Press publication

Wordmark · footer lockup at actual 16px height

Cognate PressA Cognate Press publication

Same lockup on ink — one color, inherited

Six hostile hosts — the mark takes whatever color the host gives it

Cognate Press
Cognate Press
Cognate Press
Cognate Press
Cognate Press
Cognate Press

Color tokens — five, and the mark uses none of them

paper · #F5F4EF

Book paper, cooled off cream; carries serif text without glare.

ink · #201F1C

Warm print black; never pure #000. 15.1:1 on paper.

muted · #5E5B54

Bylines, captions, secondary wayfinding. 5.6:1 on paper.

rule · #DCD9D0

Dividers and table rules only; never text, never fills larger than a swatch.

imprint · #2D5847

The press's second color — a printer's bottle green no language community owns. 7.2:1 on paper.

Type — one face at two optical sizes, plus a utility sans

Display — Literatanight · Nacht · nachtSet at optical sizes 36–72 — the pairing contrast comes from optical size, not a second family. How books are set.
Body — Literata textSeventeen to nineteen pixels, 1.65 line height, real italics for cognate forms and titles.A face designed for long-form reading — this is a press, prose is the product.
Utility — ArchivoWayfinding · Metadata · LabelsThe only sans on the site; letterspaced caps, 11–13px, for everything that is not reading matter.

Scale — 13 · 17 · 22 · 28 · 40 · 56 · 76

cog·nateHeadwordEntry titleDeck, set in italicLede paragraph sizeBody text at seventeen pixels, the reading size everything else is measured against.Utility caps at thirteen

Spacing: an 8px base — components step 8 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 48; sections breathe at 88–96. Rules replace boxes wherever possible; the only filled surfaces are the ink panel and swatches.