Brand

A page, parted by a current.

Neoma's mark is one solid page with one cut through it. The cut is a tilde: ~, the name for your home folder, and the mathematician's sign for approximately, which is where research lives.

Logo files How we got here →

64 page · r 9 · cut 8 · symmetric about the centre

The idea

Three readings, one shape.

A good mark rewards a second look without needing one. This one is a square first, and a story second.

Home

In every terminal, ~ is your home folder. Your vault lives on your machine, in your home, not on a server.

a ~ b

Approximately

Research is provisional. Notes are where you hold ideas that are nearly right, until they are.

A current

Two halves of one page, divided and connected by the same line. Two notes and the link between them.

Why it is light

One shape.One cut.

The mark is built the way Neoma is: as little as possible, made carefully.

About 400 bytes. The whole symbol is one rounded square and one curve.
No gradient required. The macOS icon adds light; the flat mark is identical underneath.
Sharp at 16 px. Below 32 px the cut widens from 8 to 11 units, an optical size like a typeface's.
One colour is enough. It prints, embosses and stencils without losing anything.
Balanced by construction. The curve is symmetric about the centre, so both halves weigh exactly the same.

Process

How we got here.

The identity went through three rounds of quick sketches, then a formal exploration. Every rejected idea taught the next one something.

00

First sketches

A two-stem N was too close to a famous streaming service. Brackets, pages and lines of text looked like every notes app. An N built from blocks lost its letter. The lesson: Neoma needed an idea, not a letter.
01
Six directions

Six genuinely different territories, judged on distinctiveness, memorability, small-size recognition, relevance and versatility.
- A · Abstract knowledgeCoalesce
  Ideas condensing into a block. Turned to noise at 16 px.
- B · Negative spaceConcertina
  A folded sheet tracing an N. Strong, but the N had to be discovered.
- C · Structural monogramStencil n
  Precise, but the gap closed at small sizes and left a plain n.
- D · Editorial symbolPilcrow
  The most literal. Too close to the formatting button in every word processor.
- E · Modular systemGrid leaf
  Great system potential, too close to four famous squares.
- F · WildcardHome
  The tilde: ~/ is home, ~ is approximately. The idea that survived.
02
Refinement

Two directions, Home and Concertina, refined three ways each: geometry, proportion, optical correction and colour.
- F1Pure tilde
  A beautiful stroke that needed its tile to be a symbol.
- F2Home path ~/
  The clearest meaning, but it read as text, not a mark.
- F3Tidal block
  A solid page parted by the tilde. Chosen.
- B1Even fold
  The best Concertina. Still an N you had to look for.
- B2Folded light
  Lovely as paper; lost in one colour.
- B3Single fold
  Strongest at 16 px, and closest to a generic letter in a box.
03

Tidal block

Home's meaning with Concertina's discipline: the tilde stopped being a drawn line and became negative space in a solid page. Then the details: a point-symmetric curve, a radius that matches the cut, an optical size for favicons, and one green.

Colour

Fern, and almost nothing else.

A deep green on paper and a soft sage on ink. Neutrals carry a trace of the same green so the palette feels like one material. Mineral and Deep botanical were considered: one too technical, one too dark to use as a link.

Fern#2767496.3:1 on Paper
Sage#7CC49A8.4:1 on Ink
Ink#171C19Text and dark surfaces
Paper#F7F8F4Light surfaces
Stone#E8ECE7Quiet fills

Logo files

Use it well.

Keep clear space of a quarter of the mark on every side. Below 24 px, use the favicon. Do not rotate, outline, recolour outside the palette or add effects.