# ASK — Brand Guidelines

> **Document status:** Approved
> **Document visibility:** Confidential
> **Written:** 21 May 2026 by [Matteo Rizzo](mailto:matteo.rizzo@mir-ai.it)
> **Last updated:** 21 May 2026 by [Matteo Rizzo](mailto:matteo.rizzo@mir-ai.it)
> **Version:** 1.0.0 — see [`CHANGELOG.md`](../../CHANGELOG.md)

---

## Brand identity & positioning

### The core essence — "Power Under Control"

ASK is the **cognitive infrastructure focused on security and compliance**. It acts as the dashboard, transmission, and braking system that safely harnesses raw AI horsepower to deliver predictable, compliant, and highly secure corporate outcomes. It shifts compliance from a restrictive bureaucratic barrier into an enabling platform for growth.

### Positioning statement

> *For professionals navigating the generative- and agentic-AI transition, ASK is the secure, institutional orchestration platform that converts unmanaged AI risks into certified corporate assets. Unlike consumer AI tools that invite data leaks and hallucinated risks, ASK delivers context-anchored, deterministic intelligence natively built into the corporate workflow.*

### The three brand pillars

These pillars are not slogans. They are the *test* every design decision passes through.

#### 1. The Walled Garden — Trust & Sovereignty

A completely isolated, zero-trust tenant environment. User data is structurally protected from public model training and fully compliant with GDPR and the European AI Act.

**UI manifestation:** Pod boundary badges, tenant-isolation indicators, sub-zero ambient chrome. Anything that says "you are alone in here, and that's the point."

#### 2. The RAG Engine — Contextual Truth

Epistemological grounding that eliminates the "Oracle Illusion." The platform mathematically binds AI reasoning to verified corporate files, substituting statistical speculation with precise, auditable source documentation.

**UI manifestation:** [Pattern A — Verified Citation Block](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-a--verified-citation-block). Every factual assertion carries an inline citation chip.

#### 3. Policy as Code — Invisible Governance

Compliance is engineered directly into the software architecture. Governance is not a manual policy document, but an active middleware infrastructure that shapes every single interaction.

**UI manifestation:** [Pattern B — HITL Validation](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-b--human-in-the-loop-hitl-validation), [Pattern C — Active Guardrail Interventions](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-c--active-guardrail-interventions), [Pattern D — Implicit RBAC Filtering](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-d--implicit-rbac-filtering-zero-trust-ui).

---

## Voice & tone

The ASK personality balances cutting-edge technical authority with grounded, industrial responsibility. It speaks like a **highly capable, completely dependable corporate co-pilot**.

The three attributes — **Authoritative & Pragmatic**, **Protective yet Enabling**, **Deterministic & Accountable** — are documented with copy examples in [`voice-and-tone.md`](./voice-and-tone.md).

---

## Environmental architecture (the UI ecosystem)

The ASK user interface must visually differentiate its **three execution environments** to immediately align with the user's cognitive mindset, session state, and localized permission layer.

| Environment | Driver | Layout | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| **General Chat** | Autonomous agent interaction, daily versatility | Wide, centralized conversational | Ephemeral |
| **Notebook** | Deep exploration of a specific Pod | Split-screen (prompts ↔ pinned context) | Persistent |
| **Vertical App** | Predefined corporate workflow | Stepper, structured forms | Transactional |

Full per-environment spec in [`environments.md`](./environments.md).

---

## Compliance patterns

To maintain structural compliance and ensure user safety, the design system enforces **four deterministic visual patterns** that govern user behavior without manual intervention. These are not suggestions — they are mandatory components reviewed by `@ask-security` on every PR that touches them.

| Pattern | Purpose | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| **A — Verified Citation Block** | Combat the "Oracle Illusion." Every output cites its source. | [`compliance-patterns.md#pattern-a--verified-citation-block`](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-a--verified-citation-block) |
| **B — Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) Validation** | Make accidental external writes structurally impossible. | [`compliance-patterns.md#pattern-b--human-in-the-loop-hitl-validation`](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-b--human-in-the-loop-hitl-validation) |
| **C — Active Guardrail Interventions** | Transparently handle PII redaction and scope blocks. | [`compliance-patterns.md#pattern-c--active-guardrail-interventions`](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-c--active-guardrail-interventions) |
| **D — Implicit RBAC Filtering (Zero Trust UI)** | Omit unauthorized actions; never disable them. | [`compliance-patterns.md#pattern-d--implicit-rbac-filtering-zero-trust-ui`](./compliance-patterns.md#pattern-d--implicit-rbac-filtering-zero-trust-ui) |

---

## Visual identity at a glance

For the full visual ramp see [`brand-sheets/Ask Brand Sheet.html`](../../brand-sheets/Ask%20Brand%20Sheet.html). For tokens see [`design-tokens/tokens.json`](../../design-tokens/tokens.json).

### Color (signals)

| Token | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| `ask.red` | `#E42438` | Primary signal. Sparingly. |
| `ask.ink` | `#0A0A0A` | Primary text. |
| `ask.paper` | `#F7F6F4` | Default canvas. |
| `state.success` / `warning` / `danger` / `info` | (see tokens) | Functional intents only. |

The system is **mostly neutral by design**. Saturation is reserved for signal.

### Type

- **Display:** Archivo Black (900). Used for the wordmark, hero, and section starters.
- **Body & UI:** Archivo (300–700). Used everywhere else.
- **Code & metadata:** JetBrains Mono.

### Aesthetic

ASK is **sharp**. The default radius is `4 px`, not `8 px`. No rounded pills except for `radius.full` (chips, avatars). No gradients on brand surfaces — gradients suggest playfulness; ASK is industrial.

---

## What ASK is not

A clarifying anti-list, useful when a request feels off.

- ❌ A friendly consumer AI assistant. ASK is institutional.
- ❌ A productivity tool aimed at delight. ASK is aimed at *trust*.
- ❌ A platform that hides its constraints. ASK names them as features.
- ❌ A surface for marketing copy that claims "magic" or "intuition." Every output is auditable.
- ❌ A brand that grows by adding accent colors. The palette is intentionally narrow.

---

## Where to go next

| Looking for… | File |
|---|---|
| Voice attributes & copy examples | [`voice-and-tone.md`](./voice-and-tone.md) |
| Per-environment chrome rules | [`environments.md`](./environments.md) |
| The four mandatory patterns | [`compliance-patterns.md`](./compliance-patterns.md) |
| Full token table | [`../../design-tokens/README.md`](../../design-tokens/README.md) |
| Visual ramp (printable) | [`../../brand-sheets/Ask Brand Sheet.html`](../../brand-sheets/Ask%20Brand%20Sheet.html) |
| Component reference | [`../../brand-sheets/Ask Design System.html`](../../brand-sheets/Ask%20Design%20System.html) |

---

*This document is the prose source of truth for the ASK brand. The legal/marketing PDF is downstream of this file. When the two disagree, this file wins, and a PR is filed against the PDF.*