Brand book · not indexed · internal reference

The Crank List

For the sceptical, the stubborn, and the slightly obsessed.

Contrarian tech, gaming, AI, and the occasional rabbit hole treated seriously. Not mainstream. Not apologetic.

Domain: thecranklist.com · Monogram: CL · Theme color: #0a0a0b

Logo

Four variants. Use mark when space is tight, wordmark when the container already carries brand context, horizontal for page headers, stacked for centred layouts.

mark.svg

wordmark.svg

horizontal.svg

stacked.svg

Clear space: minimum 0.5× mark height on all sides. Never tint, stretch, rotate, or apply drop shadow. Never place on complex photos — use a solid brand color or neutral cream/dark.

Palette

Tokens from brand.config.ts. CSS variables match these keys with -- prefix.

--bg #0A0A0B Page background — near black

--bg-card #131316 Card surface

--bg-panel #1A1A1F Panel tint

--bg-elevated #1F1F26 Elevated surface

--text #F5F5F7 Primary text

--text-muted #9A9AA5 Secondary text

--text-soft #6E6E78 Tertiary text

--crank #C6FF3D Primary accent — lime "crank"

--gaming #7C4DFF Niche: Gaming

--sports #00E5FF Niche: Sports

--hot #FF3D7F Hot/trending badge

--alert #FFB800 Alert/warning

--border #26262E Dividers

--border-light #3A3A45 Emphasised dividers

Typography

display'Bricolage Grotesque', 'Inter', -apple-system, sans-serif

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789 & —

sans'Inter', -apple-system, system-ui, sans-serif

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789 & —

mono'JetBrains Mono', monospace

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 0123456789 & —

Scale

Role	size / line-height	Rendered
`h1`	3.5rem / 1.0	The Crank List
`h2`	2.25rem / 1.1	The Crank List
`h3`	1.5rem / 1.25	The Crank List
`body`	1rem / 1.55	The Crank List
`small`	0.8125rem / 1.4	The Crank List
`mono`	0.75rem / 1.3	The Crank List

Voice & tone

Tagline: For the sceptical, the stubborn, and the slightly obsessed.

Elevator: Contrarian tech, gaming, AI, and the occasional rabbit hole treated seriously. Not mainstream. Not apologetic.

AI disclosure: Transparency: Content on this site is produced with AI assistance, reviewed by named human editors. Yes, we use AI to critique AI. Deal with it.

Full voice reference at TakleMedia/brand-assets/thecranklist/voice-tone.md. Editorial standards at brand-prototypes/sites/thecranklist/prototype/editorial-standards.html.

Social & OG

The Crank List Open Graph card — og-default.png · shown when this site is shared on social

apple-touch-icon.png · iOS home-screen icon

Navigation

/ai — AI
/tech — Tech
/gaming — Gaming
/takes — Takes
/reviews — Reviews
/archive — Archive

Sub-brands

Crank · Takes

Hot takes. Cold evidence.

Opinions that will age badly or extraordinarily well. No middle ground.

/takes

Crank · Rigs

Build logs.

Custom PCs, home labs, weird hardware experiments. All receipts shown.

/rigs

Crank · Verdicts

Reviews that commit.

No "it depends". We pick one. Tell you why. Move on.

/verdicts

Crank · Deep End

For the truly obsessed.

The stuff mainstream tech sites won't touch. Usually with good reason.

/deep-end