Brand guide
This is the detailed brand reference for Bowire: exact clear space, minimum sizes, the full colour token set, co-branding spacing, file-format guidance, accessibility minimums, and usage rights.
Just need the files and the gist? The Brand & logos page on bowire.io is the overview + download hub (logo SVGs, the ZIP kit, and a one-page brand sheet). This page is the manual behind it.
Note
The Bowire software is open source under Apache-2.0. The Bowire name and logos are trademarks of Küstenlogik — the licence covers the code, not the brand. Use the marks per this guide; when in doubt, ask: info@kuestenlogik.com.
The logo system
Bowire has three forms. Reach for the full logo by default; use the mark when space is tight or the surrounding context already says "Bowire"; use the lockup when you want the name spelled out beside the mark.
Full logo
The bowline loop tied around the Circle-B — the primary, most expressive form.
Lockup — mark + wordmark
The Circle-B with the "Bowire" wordmark set in Inter (outlined, so no font is required to render it). Use horizontally where the name should read alongside the mark — headers, signatures, "powered by" strips.
Mark
The Circle-B alone. Use as an app icon, avatar, favicon, or any square slot.
Each form ships in two colourways: a dark (ink #0F0F17) version for light
backgrounds and a light (white #FFFFFF) version for dark ones. Always pick the
version that gives the most contrast — see Accessibility.
Clear space
Keep a protected margin around the logo so nothing crowds it. The measurement unit is X = the height of the Circle-B mark (the circular badge).
- Minimum clear space: ½ X on every side — top, bottom, left, right.
- For the lockup and full logo, X is the height of the Circle-B portion, not the whole artwork.
- Nothing — text, photo edges, page margins, or another logo — may enter that margin. When in doubt, give it more.
Minimum size
Below these sizes the bowline strands and the B's counter start to fill in and the mark loses legibility.
| Form | Screen (min) | Print (min) |
|---|---|---|
| Mark (Circle-B) | 24 px tall | 8 mm tall |
| Full logo | 20 px tall (≈ 34 px wide) | 10 mm tall |
| Lockup | 24 px tall (≈ 130 px wide) | 10 mm tall |
Prefer the mark over a shrunk full logo whenever the full logo would fall below its minimum.
Colour
You barely need colour to reference Bowire: the logo is monochrome — ink
(#0F0F17) on light backgrounds, white (#FFFFFF) on dark. The one brand
colour is Bowire Indigo — use it for an accent around the logo (a "works
with Bowire" badge, a button, a link), never to recolour the logo itself.
| Colour | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Bowire Indigo | #6366F1 |
The signature brand accent |
| Indigo · on light | #4F46E5 |
The same accent where #6366F1 would miss WCAG AA contrast on a white background |
| Ink | #0F0F17 |
The dark logo; dark backgrounds |
| White | #FFFFFF |
The light logo |
| Off-white | #FAFAFF |
Light backgrounds |
The product's wider UI palette (surfaces, borders, state colours) isn't part of the logo, so it isn't needed to reference Bowire.
Typography
| Typeface | Use | Weights | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inter | Headings, UI, the wordmark | 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 / 800 | The "Bowire" wordmark is Inter Bold 700–ExtraBold 800, tracking −0.03em. It's outlined in the lockup, so the font is never required to render the logo. |
| JetBrains Mono | Code, terminals, payloads | 400 / 500 | Anything monospaced. |
Both are open-source: Inter · JetBrains Mono.
Co-branding
When the Bowire logo sits next to another logo (Küstenlogik, a partner, a conference badge):
- Separation: at least 2 X between the logos (X = the Circle-B height). This is wider than the clear-space margin so neither mark crowds the other.
- Optionally place a thin vertical divider (1 px / 0.5 pt, in the border grey) centred in the gap.
- Optically balance the sizes: match the Circle-B height (or the wordmark cap-height) to the neighbouring logo's dominant element — not the bounding boxes, which read unevenly.
- Keep both logos in the same colourway family (all dark on light, or all light on dark).
Backgrounds
Use the version that contrasts with the surface — the dark logo on light, the light logo on dark. Indigo is the brand colour; on it, use the white logo.
- On a photo or gradient, set the logo on a solid or scrimmed panel so it keeps its clear space and contrast — don't float it directly over busy imagery.
- Never place the dark logo on a dark field, or the light logo on a light field.
File formats
| Format | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SVG | Default, everywhere it's supported | Scales losslessly; the files on the download page are SVG. |
| PNG | Raster-only contexts (slides, raster email, app stores) | Export from the SVG at 2× or 3× the display size, on a transparent background. Don't upscale. |
| ICO | Browser-tab favicons | Use the supplied favicon. |
Never re-trace the logo from a screenshot or a raster export — always start from the SVG.
Accessibility
- Contrast: a logo is graphical content, so aim for at least 3:1 between the logo and its background (WCAG 1.4.11). The Ink-on-Off-white and White-on-Ink pairings clear this comfortably; pick whichever variant maximises contrast on your surface.
- Alt text: use
alt="Bowire"for the logo/lockup, oralt="Bowire logo". Decorative repeats can use emptyalt="". Don't stuff the tagline into alt. - Don't rely on colour alone to convey the brand — the mark's silhouette carries it in monochrome.
Do & don't
Do
- Use the supplied SVGs at their native proportions.
- Pick the colourway that maximises contrast on your background.
- Keep the clear space and minimum sizes above.
- Drop to the mark alone when the full logo won't fit.
Don't
- Recolour the logo, or add gradients, shadows, or outlines.
- Stretch, squash, rotate, skew, or otherwise distort it.
- Re-set the "Bowire" wordmark in a different typeface.
- Crop the mark, untie the bowline, or rebuild the artwork.
- Place it on a busy or low-contrast background.
Writing "Bowire"
- Bowire — one word, capital B, lowercase rest. Always. Never BoWire, bowire (in prose), BOWIRE, or Bow Wire.
- The descriptor is "the multi-protocol API workbench."
- Built by Küstenlogik. Bowire is part of the Küstenlogik family.
A ready one-liner for articles, talks, or READMEs:
Bowire is the multi-protocol API workbench by Küstenlogik — auto-discover, invoke, stream, mock, record, and replay gRPC, REST, GraphQL, MQTT, SignalR, WebSocket, SSE, MCP, OData and more from one UI, embedded in your app or as a standalone CLI. Open source, Apache-2.0. https://bowire.io
Usage rights & permissions
The Bowire software is open source under Apache-2.0. The Bowire name and logos are trademarks of Küstenlogik; the licence covers the code, not the brand. These guidelines grant the everyday uses below — anything that implies endorsement needs a quick email first.
Fine without asking
- Referring to Bowire in articles, talks, tutorials, and comparisons.
- Linking to bowire.io with the logo.
- Stating that your project "works with Bowire" or "supports Bowire."
- Unmodified use of the supplied assets.
Ask first
- Using the marks in your own product name, logo, domain, or app icon.
- Anything suggesting an official partnership, sponsorship, or endorsement.
- Merchandise.
- Modified or redrawn versions of the logo.
Questions or sign-off: info@kuestenlogik.com. For the parent identity, see the Küstenlogik brand.