BRAN D CATA LOG U E
AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
EDI T I ON 0 01 January
2044
AQUA REGIAâ„¢ A subsidiary of The Vertum Company SINGAPORE OFFICE 57 Nankan Boulevard #21-37 Singapore 637717
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AQUA REGIA™ Brand Catalogue Published by the Vertum Company Edited by Edith Avery-Deigh Cover Design Andree H. W. Layout Design Andree H. W. based on Jan Tschichold’s Golden Canon Copywriting Andree H. W. All images used are edited / modified from images available under Public Domain, CC BY 4.0 and / or any licence labeled for reuse with modification. Image Credits Pixabay from Pexels Juan Pablo Arenas from Pexels Wellcome Collection via Wikimedia Commons TheHungryJPEG Mock-ups This edition published 2044 Copyright © 2043 by Vertum Company All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or other without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in Singapore Set in Montserrat, made available via Google Fonts Designed by Julieta Ulanovsky
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AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
edition
001
BRAND CATALOGUE
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SECTION 1
OUR COMPANY • Introduction • Brand Philosophy • Brand Foundation
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1.1 INTRO DUCTION AQUA REGIA™ at a glance. Know who we are and know what we do
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 1 . Introduction LETTER from the CEO
WE A R E
AQUA REGIA ™ The budding competitor in the field of premium bottled water. A young, innovative start-up that is a pioneer in espousing the ideals of aesthetics in marketing mineral water. A daring enterprise optimistic that what people really need in life is beauty — everything else is secondary.
Andrew H. Wyatt CEO
AQUA REGIA™ @aquaregia.tm
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1 . 1 . Introduction
OUR ACCOLADES AQUA REGIA™. More than just water. Let others speak for us.
GOLDEN NETTLE
GOLDEN PEACOCK
SILVER GUANO
AUG 2043
JUL 2043
MAY 2043
Socially Conscious Advertisement and Marketing (S.C.A.M.) Awards
Award of Excellence Trendy Brand of the Year
The Annual 13th Guano Awards for Most Promising Newcomer
“Truly innovative. A breath of fresh air.” Hugh J. Knuss Professor, Harford Business School
“…quenches society’s thirst for visual appeal.” Teri Belaïdi Art Director, McCant International
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Brand Catalogue Ed. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 1 . Introduction
Left: Premium bottled water have never looked this pretty.
AQUA REGIA™ @aquaregia.tm
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1.2 BRAND PHILOSOPHY Our values, mission, & vision, which will be the guiding principle for all our action and decision-making
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIAâ„¢ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 2 . Brand Philosophy
WE BELIEVE BEAUTY IS EVERYTHING And that’s what motivates us to create
L
ook. The world is crap. Things are not like it used to be in 2020. Listen to the news and everything is either doom or gloom. Sometimes you just want to forget how ugly this world has become.
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1 . 2 . Brand Philosophy
We totally get you. In fact, we feel the exact same way. It is so much easier if we can just focus on whatever beauty is still left in this world and feel, even just for a moment, that life isn’t so bad after all. This desire was the main motivation for us to create AQUA REGIA™. It is our humble contribution to add a little more beauty to this bleak world of ours. If we are going down in flames, at least we go down in style. OUR OUR CORE CORE VALUE VALUE Roughly 175 years ago, in 1868, a group of artists and writers decided that they had enough of society’s strict rule on arts. What they came up with is what we now call the Aesthetics Movement, a radical school of thought that fought to make art for art’s sake, not burdened with having to preach viewers on sociopolitical issues.
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 2 . Brand Philosophy
Aesthetics is just empty beauty — beauty without meaning. They got it right, even in the 19th century — why care about society? Especially now in 2044. Everyone seems to believe that our society is too far beyond saving, so all there is left to do is to make it slightly more bearable to look at. These 19th century artists believed that Aesthetics is just empty beauty — beauty without meaning — and they were proud of it. We have much to learn from them. One of the Aesthetic artists, Théophile Gautier, serves as inspiration and role
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1 . 2 . Brand Philosophy
model for the AQUA REGIA™ team. He once said: “Nothing is really beautiful unless it is useless; everything useful is ugly, for it expresses a need and the needs of man are ignoble and disgusting, like his poor weak nature. The most useful place in a house is the lavatory.” No truer words could have been spoken. OUR OUR VISION VISION Guided by our core value, our vision is to help the world in championing beauty, aesthetics and visual appeal as the most important aspect of an object’s value. OUR OUR MISSION MISSION To achieve our vision, our mission is to focus all our effort in creating the most objectively beautiful product in the mineral water industry.
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 2 . Brand Philosophy
Théophile Gautier (1811–1872)
French poet, novelist, journalist, dramatist and art & literary critic.
“N o thin “No t h in g is really beau tiful unle ss it is use less.” — Gautier in the preface of his book, Mademoiselle Maupin.
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1.3 BRAND FOUNDATION A rule we hold dear to heart. The sacred law our brand will always abide to
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIAâ„¢ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 3 . Brand Foundation
ROOTED IN GOLDEN RATIO PRINCIPLES The objective standard of beauty
T
here is a science to beauty. Beauty can be objective. And we have understood the ancient knowledge that cracked this code: the golden ratio. This remarkably sacred number, simplified to 1.618 or known
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1 . 3 . Brand Foundation
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
1 . 3 . Brand Foundation
The Golden Number is… a proportional function which all of nature obeys .
Far left: The nautilus is one of nature’s beauties; its shell constructed by none other than the sacred ratio.
— R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz
as phi (φ), is in everything we have known to be beautiful. We see it in the temples of the Greeks, in da Vinci’s masterpieces, even in Mother Nature’s own creations. Together with its derivations — the Fibonacci spiral, the golden rectangle, the golden sections and so on — we have built Aqua Regia™ firmly based on this infallible truth of the ratio. We see the golden ratio as more than just a guide, it is an absolute rule. This is our definition of beauty. This is why we are beautiful.
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116 6
SECTION 2
OUR IDENTITY • Brand Name • Brand Guide
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2.1 BRAND NAME Behind our name — a name imbued with history and aspirations
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 1 . Brand Name
AQUA classical latin /ˈa.kwa/ · noun water
REGIA
classical latin /ˈreː.gi.a/ · adjective of or pertaining to a king, regal, royal
A
Latin word meaning royal water, “aqua regia” was the poetic name alchemists of the past gave to the magical solution that could dissolve gold; a liquid so potent that it could absorb the
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2 . 1 . Brand Name
precious metal’s essence into itself. * We envision our premium mineral water brand to do the same. Through skilful design and research, we hope that AQUA REGIA™ is able to present itself to consumers as an embodiment of the golden ratio’s aesthetic essence.
* Disclaimer: Please note that when referring to
the aforementioned solution, “aqua regia” is now known to be a very corrosive combination of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Ingestion of such acid combination would pose a very lethal health hazard. AQUA REGIA™ on the other hand only contains 100% tap water. We will thus not be held responsible for any possible injury, deaths, or any other ill effects caused from the ingestion of other liquids labelled “aqua regia” not produced by our company. Consumer discretion is advised.
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 1 . Brand Name
Left: Geber, or Jābir ibn Hayyān, was the Arabic alchemist who first recorded down the name of aqua regia and its magical properties.
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2.2 BRAND GUIDE Behind our logomark and logotype, as dictated by the Golden Ratio
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIAâ„¢ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
MAIN LOGO
AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
Brand Sheet: The table shown in this page is a summary of the key elements of our brand logo. More detailed information is available in the pages ahead.
ALTERNATE LOGO
AQUA REGIA™
COLOUR PALETTE
TYPOGRAPHY
Pantone
Montserrat family
876U
C: 30 M: 47 Y: 57 K: 5
PROCESS BLACK
C: 0 M: 0 Y: 0 K: 100
AQUA REGIA™ @aquaregia.tm
Aa
Regular
Aa
Medium
Aa
Semibold
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LOGO CONSTRUCTION
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
MAIN LOGOMARK 1.
We s t a r t w i t h our foundational Golden Ratio as shown on the left; two lines with a ratio of 1 to 0.618 (a.k.a φ).
2.
With this ratio in mind, we then now construct a Golden Rectangle, i.e. a 1 × φ rectangle.
3.
Draw a line inside the rectangle such that it forms a 1 × 1 square and a 1 × φ rectangle again.
1
1
1 - φ
1 - φ
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=
1
Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
AQUA REGIA™ @aquaregia.tm
4.
Repeat step 3 inside the smaller Golden Rectangle such that the new rectangle is on the right side.
5.
Repeat step 3 inside the smaller Golden Rectangle such that the new rectangle is on the bottom side.
6.
Repeat step 3 one last time such that the new rectangle is on the left side.
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LOGO CONSTRUCTION
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
LOGO FRAMEWORK 1.
As our framework, we will use the Golden Triangle, a simple isosceles triangle with base angles of 72°.
2.
Duplicate smaller triangles inside the original one, rotating them as shown on the diagram here.
3.
With the triangles as a guide, we could construct a spiral which guides logotype placement.
72°
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
FULL LOGO CONSTRUCTION DIAGRAM
A.
B.
C.
A. Text scaled to fit inside the Golden Triangle B. Text positioned right at the end of the spiral C. Line drawn at the base of the Golden Triangle.
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PROPER LOGO USAGE 1. Never distort the logo in any way. The sacredness of the Golden Ratio must be preserved. A U Q IA A EG R S
T
.
2
0
4
3
AQUA REGIA
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LOGO USAGE
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
EST. 2043
E S T. 2 0 4 3
No stretching or squeezing
AQUA REGIA
No rotating or skewing
Correct proportions
2. The icon may be used on its own, but not vice versa.
AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
Stacked copy without icon not allowed
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AQUA Using icon without copy REGIA is allowed EST. 2043
Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
3. The logo has a minimum size of 1.5 cm in width (full logo) or 0.6 cm (icon only).
AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
AQUA REGIA
AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
EST. 2043
Too small
Minimum icon size
Minimum full logo size
4. Never re-arrange the positions of the logomark and logotype.
AQUA REGIA EST. 2043
AQUA REGIA™ @aquaregia.tm
AQUA REGIA
AQUA REGIA
EST. 2043
EST. 2043
AQUA AQUA REGIA REGIA EST. 2043
EST. 2043
Never swap the elements of the logo around.
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LOGO USAGE
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
5. Only use our brand colours. Refer to page 33 for more details on our brand colours.
Monochrome - Light BG
Colour - Light BG
Monochrome - Dark BG
Colour - Dark BG
6. If required, an alternative logo is available. Use this version when a landscape format is preferable.
AQUA REGIA™ Full colour
AQUA REGIA™ Monochrome / Light BG
AQUA REGIA™ Monochrome / Dark BG
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
2x
AQUA REGIA
x
EST. 2043
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x 2x
SPACE SPACE AROUND AROUND LOGO LOGO Using the ‘A’ glyph height, the ideal spacing is as shown above, forming a golden rectangle around the logo.
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COLOUR PALETTE
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
COLOUR CHART AQUA REGIA™ uses two main colours as our brand identity: Pantone 876U and Process Black. Tints of these colours (from 10% to 90%) could also be used as part of the design.
TINT (%):
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
MAIN LOGO IDEAL COLOUR DIAGRAM
A.
B.
A. Light BG: Process Black 90% Dark BG: Process Black 10% Colour: Pantone 876U 100% B. Light BG: Process Black 70% Dark BG: Process Black 30% Colour: Pantone 876U 70%
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TYPOGRAPHY
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
MAIN TYPEFACES Montserrat Regular
ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ 1234567890.,?! Montserrat Medium
ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ 1234567890.,?! Montserrat Semibold
ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ 1234567890.,?! Montserrat Bold
ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ 1234567890.,?!
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
2 . 2 . Brand Guide
CHARACTER STYLES Displayed below are the main character styles to be followed as a general guide.
HEADING 1 HEADING 2 Sub-heading 1 SUB-HEADING 2
Body text
Caption
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SECTION 3
OUR PRODUCTS • Aurum Carafe • Chrysos Flask • Kanchana Flask
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3.1 AURUM CARAFE Introducing our first product, the simplest and most unassuming of them all
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIAâ„¢ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
3 . 1 . Aurum Carafe
A TASTE OF ELEMENTARY BEAUTY Helping you dip your toes into aesthetics
O
ur ver y f irst successful innovation, which we named as the Aurum Carafe is the perfect entry-point to the world of useless beauty. Still containing a significant amount of water, it gently
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3 . 1 . Aurum Carafe
assists you in the transition towards divine impracticality, helping you to appreciate the aesthetic experience. SPECIFICATIONS
1 water level
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Article No.
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V1116.96c
Description
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Glass bottle with stainless steel swing cap stopper
Volume
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1 . 0 litre
Content
:
491.0 mililitre of 100% tap water
Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
3 . 1 . Aurum Carafe
The Aurum Carafe Far Left: A simple diagram showing how the Aurum Carafe is filled with water up to the line which divides the bottle into the Golden Ratio.
Left: The Aurum Carafe. The name Aurum is Latin in origin, meaning ‘gold’.
AQUA REGIA™
AQUA REGIA™ @aquaregia.tm
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3.2 CHRYSOS FLASK Introducing our second product, for the more refined and cultured
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIAâ„¢ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
3 . 2 . Chrysos Flask
AN APPEAL TO ELEVATED TASTES A staple for your daily does of aesthetics
F
or our intermediate product, we introduce to you our Chrysos Flask. Going beyond adjusting the water level to f it the Golden Ratio, we have engineered a bottle shape which also reflects the beauty
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3 . 2 . Chrysos Flask
of the divine ratio. The elongated neck of the flask and the bulb is at perfect balance to each other. SPECIFICATIONS
1 water level
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Article No.
:
V2203.64p
Description
:
Glass flask with stainless steel swing cap stopper
Volume
:
0 . 5 litre
Content
:
142.0 mililitre of 100% tap water
Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
3 . 2 . Chrysos Flask
The Chrysos Flask Far Left: A simple diagram showing how the Chrysos Flask neck has been extended to the line which divides the bottle into the Golden Ratio.
Left: The Chrysos Flask. The name Chrysos is Greek in origin, meaning ‘gold’.
AQUA REGIA™
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3.3 KANCHANA FLASK Introducing our final product, the ultimate sophistication you can achieve.
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Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIAâ„¢ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
3 . 3 . Kanchana Flask
A GIFT TO SOPHISTICATED CONNOISSEURS The exquisite pinnacle of aesthetics
A
s our crowning achievement, the Kanchana Flask could be seen as an improved Chrysos Flask. Beyond the novel brass swing cap stopper, the water level in the flask is now made to form
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3 . 3 . Kanchana Flask
a second Golden Ratio with the bulb of the flask. Truly the ultimate full expression of aesthetics. SPECIFICATIONS
1
1
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water level
Article No.
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V2203.65z
Description
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Glass flask with yellow brass swing cap stopper
Volume
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0 . 5 litre
Content
:
65.0 mililitre of 100% tap water
Brand Catalogue No. 001 | January 2044 AQUA REGIA™ is a subsidiary of The Vertum Company
3 . 3 . Kanchana Flask
The Kanchana Flask Far Left: A diagram showing how the Kanchana Flask, on top of its shape, is also filled with water up to a second instance of the Golden Ratio.
Left: The Kanchana Flask. The name Kanchana is Sanskrit in origin, meaning ‘gold’.
AQUA REGIA™
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Hey there, thanks for reading all the way to the end! AQUA REGIA™ has been an exercise in branding something so obviously worthless or of a poor quality but juxtaposed with trendy designs. I hope that this project has managed to convey the message I want to send to both designers and consumers. To designers, hopefully this project would serve as a reminder to not misuse our skill / ability in influencing others. For customers, it is a nudge to always be critical when considering of supporting a brand. Always remember: “Beautiful design with zero content is stupid.”
A Visual Communications IV Project by Andree Hansen Wibowo
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