Principles

The idea of following any principle is to help anyone working with the Pavlinsky brand create a visually compelling and emotionally resonant result as quickly and painlessly as possible — while preserving a visual consistency that is recognisable and that supports the integrity of the work.

Concept

We are trying to create high contrast and emotional depth in everything visual — to make a clear statement that stands out without shouting. Pavlinsky's brand lives in the tension between the raw and the refined: brutal mountain nature alongside the quietest, most considered mark-making. Because of this, the visual identity must always feel deliberate. Nothing accidental. Nothing cluttered.

Only by seeing a piece of work — a tag, a postcard, an email header — should one immediately recognise Pavlinsky's visual language. That is why we use the full-bodied Cormorant Garamond against generous white space, and why Plum and Gold are used sparingly rather than everywhere.

👍 High contrast — correct

Dark ground, luminous focal point. The art breathes. Hierarchy is clear — the mountain commands the eye.

👍 Space around the work — correct

Generous space lets the painting speak. No competing elements. The title, if present, is small and secondary.

Text on Art

There are two ways to place text in relation to artwork: separately on a neutral ground, or directly over the image where the composition allows. When placing text over an image, the area must be dark and calm enough to support legibility — and the text must be white, minimal, and set far enough from the subject that it never obscures the painting.

The Portal

Original · Zermatt

👍 Text on art — correct

White text in a dark corner. Small, restrained, never competing with the subject of the painting.

GOLDEN LIGHT
Buy Now

👎 Text on art — incorrect

Darkening the artwork and centring a text block destroys the painting. Never obscure the work to serve a message.

Typography

Typography plays a defining role in Pavlinsky's visual identity. The right typeface, set with the right weight and space, can feel as considered as the paintings themselves. Here you will find the fonts we use, together with the principles that keep typography clean, intentional, and consistent.

Cormorant Garamond

Our primary font is Cormorant Garamond. We use it in all headings, titles, product names, and any text that represents the brand voice directly. It is a classical serif designed with fine-art sensibility — the slight drama of its letterforms mirrors the drama of the Matterhorn itself. Use it at 100% line height for display settings and 130% for readable passages.

Cormorant Garamond · Primary Font

The mountain
never repeats itself.

Weight 300 / 400 / 600 / 700 Italic available Google Fonts — free

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ( . , ; : ! ? & ' " )

DM Sans · Body Font

DM Sans is used for all body text, labels, navigation, meta information, and UI elements. It is clean, highly legible at small sizes, and steps back politely behind Cormorant Garamond — which is exactly what a body font should do.

White Space

Maintaining an appropriate level of white space is one of the most important principles in Pavlinsky's visual identity. Space is not emptiness — it is the gallery wall between paintings. It directs attention. It creates the silence that makes the art speak louder.

Colors

Our colors are drawn from the alpine world that Pavlinsky paints every day — the deep plum of the mountain at dusk, the warm gold of afternoon light breaking through cloud, the soft cream of snow in shade. The palette is intentionally restrained. A single accent color used with discipline is more powerful than five colors used carelessly.

Not all colors are available for all applications. Light tones are for backgrounds and washes. The brand plum and gold are for accents, CTAs, and headlines. Dark is for text. Never use more than two brand colors in a single composition.

Primary Palette

Pavlinsky — primary palette — RGB

Plum + Gold in harmony — Face d'or

Gold range in paint — Golden Light

Full palette in paint — Heaven on Earth

Plum Scale

Pavlinsky — plum scale — RGB

Gold Scale

Pavlinsky — gold scale — RGB

★ = Brand primary color

Pavlinsky Black

One of the small details that matters most: the black we use is not pure black. Pure black is harsh, screen-dependent, and slightly artificial. Pavlinsky Black is a very dark charcoal — #2C2C2C — that is more legible, more natural, and more in keeping with the warmth of the brand palette.

Logo

The Pavlinsky logo is a typographic wordmark — PAVLINSKY set in Cormorant Garamond Light with generous letter-spacing, paired with the tagline MATTERHORN FINE ART STUDIO · ZERMATT in DM Sans Light beneath. The wordmark is the primary brand mark used across all digital and print touchpoints. Never redraw, distort, recolour outside approved palettes, or substitute another typeface.

Discipline 1 — Wordmark

The wordmark is set in Cormorant Garamond Light (weight 300), all caps, letter-spacing 0.18em. It is always horizontal, never stacked vertically, never condensed or stretched. For digital use, minimum size is 120px wide. For print, minimum is 30mm wide.

Discipline 2 — Tagline

The tagline is set in DM Sans Light (weight 300), all caps, letter-spacing 0.22em. The full form is MATTERHORN FINE ART STUDIO · ZERMATT. It always appears beneath the wordmark in the full lockup and may be used independently on packaging, certificates, and printed labels. Never alter the text or break it across two lines.

Full Lockup — Wordmark + Tagline

The full lockup is the primary Pavlinsky logo — wordmark above, tagline centred beneath, with 8px of vertical space between them. This is the default for all branded materials whenever space allows. Never stack them horizontally, reverse their order, or use different colour weights for each within the same lockup.

PAVLINSKY

MATTERHORN FINE ART STUDIO · ZERMATT

Primary lockup — cream or white background. Default for website headers, email banners, and all branded digital materials.

PAVLINSKY

MATTERHORN FINE ART STUDIO · ZERMATT

White lockup — for dark charcoal backgrounds, dark photography, and dark email headers.

PAVLINSKY

MATTERHORN FINE ART STUDIO · ZERMATT

Black lockup — print only: letterpress, embossing, wax seals, single-colour rubber stamps.

PAVLINSKY

MATTERHORN FINE ART STUDIO · ZERMATT

On Plum — white lockup on Plum 5 only. Used for packaging accent panels, gallery labels, and certificate backs.

Safe Zone

Always maintain a safe zone around the full lockup equal to the cap height of the tagline text. Nothing — no other text, no graphic, no image edge — should enter this zone.

Discipline 3 — Signature

The Pavlinsky signature is the handwritten mark of the artist — used for certificates of authenticity, collector correspondence, packaging inserts, and select printed materials where personal provenance matters. The signature always appears alongside the wordmark, never as a standalone replacement for it.

On cream / white — standard use for certificates, correspondence, and packaging inserts. Black signature as supplied.

White on dark — for dark packaging panels and dark email headers. Apply CSS filter: invert(1) or use the reversed export.

Black for print — true black for letterpress, embossing, and single-colour print applications.

On Plum — white signature on Plum 5 only. Used for luxury packaging, collector gift boxes, and certificate backs.

Buttons & CTAs

Call-to-action buttons use Cormorant Garamond SemiBold in white on Plum. This creates a visual consistency with the wordmark across all touchpoints. Gold is reserved for secondary or promotional CTAs. Outline buttons are used for lower-priority actions.

Artwork & Photography

Photography plays a critical role in Pavlinsky's brand identity. Pavlinsky's art should always be the subject — never the prop. Every image should feel authentic: real light, real textures, real Alpine landscapes. There is no place in this brand for stock photography, artificial lighting set-ups, or images that prioritise stylishness over truth.

Zermatt and the Matterhorn are extraordinary subjects. Our photographs should reflect that — capturing the experience of being in this place, not a cleaned-up version of it.

Original Paintings

Original paintings should be photographed in natural or near-natural studio light. No harsh artificial shadows. The canvas texture should be visible — this is evidence of the hand, of the craft. Compositions should show the full painting with a small, consistent border of neutral background.

👍 Originals — correct

Natural studio light. Canvas texture visible. Full painting shown. Clean neutral border.

👍 Large format — correct

Scale shown with context where relevant. Painting commands the frame.

👍 Consistent framing

Straight-on shot, no distortion, no props competing with the work.

Fine-art Prints

Fine-art prints are photographed as clean product images on a neutral — preferably cream — surface, with consistent, soft diffused light. The emphasis is on the quality of the paper and the clarity of the print. Hands may be used to give scale and warmth, but should be authentic — no gloves, no artificial styling.

👍 Print photography — correct

Clean studio light. Paper texture visible. Consistent neutral background. No props.

👍 Consistent presentation

Warm, authentic tone. The print is clearly the subject. No over-editing of the final image.

Alpine Landscapes

Landscape photography should capture the authentic experience of Zermatt and the Matterhorn — not a postcard version of it. We favour natural light, real weather conditions, and images that convey genuine emotion. No over-saturated skies. No HDR compositing. No images that look like they could have been taken anywhere.

👍 Authentic Matterhorn — correct

Real atmospheric conditions. Colour that matches what the eye sees. Drama comes from the place, not the filter.

🚫

No stock photos. No AI-generated mountain images. No over-edited skies with artificial contrast and saturation.

👎 Stock or over-edited — never

If it could have been taken from a stock library, it has no place in this brand. Use only authentic Pavlinsky photographs.

AI & the Brand

AI tools are part of the Pavlinsky workflow — for writing, research, and operations. These guidelines define where AI genuinely adds value and where it must never be used, to protect the authenticity that makes this brand worth anything at all.

The core principle is simple: AI for words, never for images. Pavlinsky's entire commercial proposition rests on the fact that every painting is made by a human hand, in a real place, in front of a real mountain. The moment AI-generated imagery enters the brand — in any form — that proposition collapses.

Where AI is permitted

Where AI must never be used

AI & brand voice — what to watch for

When using AI to draft copy for Pavlinsky, be aware of the common failure modes — patterns AI defaults to that are inconsistent with the brand's measured, unhurried voice.