Typography on products
This is proposed physical-product guidance, not approved Thorbis rules. src/data/product-guidelines.ts is the canonical owner of wording, reasons, status, and sources; product-guidelines-why.ts is a derived compatibility export. This Markdown is generated, not independently maintained.
Hardware gets one face, one making method per surface, and enough contrast to read at arm's length. Nothing on the object is a paragraph.
One face on the object.
pd-type-one-face
Status: proposed.
Use the brand wordmark's typeface for every printed, etched, or embroidered word. A second display face on the hardware looks like a label added in the factory.
Why: Two typefaces on one object look like a label was added later.
Sources: Secretlab TITAN Evo features (opens in a new tab), MacBook Pro (opens in a new tab)
One method per surface.
pd-type-method
Status: proposed.
Textile is machine-embroidered. Metal is etched or engraved. A dark panel may be printed. Do not embroider, etch, and print on the same face.
Why: Embroidery, etch, and print on the same face fight; use the method the material already wants.
Sources: Secretlab TITAN Evo features (opens in a new tab), TITAN Evo technical specification (opens in a new tab)
Readable up close, quiet across the room.
pd-type-size
Status: proposed.
A label on a desk product is readable at arm's length. On a large body the mark is small enough to disappear from across the room. If it reads like signage, it is too big.
Why: A mark you cannot read at the desk is vanity; a mark you can read across the room is a billboard.
Sources: Secretlab TITAN Evo features (opens in a new tab), Apple Newsroom, 2008 unibody MacBook (opens in a new tab)
White, or one step off the body.
pd-type-contrast
Status: proposed.
Lettering is white on the dark body, or a tonal mark one step lighter or darker than the surface. Mid-gray on black fails under shop lights and in photos.
Why: Mid-gray on a black body disappears under shop lights and in photos, so the name is lost exactly where people look for it.
Sources: Secretlab TITAN Evo features (opens in a new tab), iFixit, dark aluminum anodizing (opens in a new tab)
Short labels, not a warning block.
pd-type-case
Status: proposed.
Names and short labels only. Sentence case, or the product's own name case. A block of capitals on the object looks like a regulatory sticker.
Why: A paragraph of capitals on hardware looks like a warning sticker, not a name.
Sources: Secretlab TITAN Evo features (opens in a new tab), Apple Newsroom, MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max (opens in a new tab)