Brand Bible
Voice & Strategic Positioning (v4.0)
I. Vision & Philosophy
The core narrative is documented in our public guides:
📜 Philosophy & Manifesto — The Three Laws
💡 The Origin Story — How Skelenote came to be
💰 Ownership & Pricing — Why it's free
II. The Four Pillars
Everything we build and communicate ties back to these:
Free
Every feature, no gates, no subscriptions
Yours
Your data, your device, your control
Encrypted
Skeleton Key encryption, zero-knowledge
Portable
Import, export, leave whenever you want
III. Visual Identity
Our design is warm and dense—the opposite of cold SaaS blue.
For the complete color palette and design tokens, see colors.md.
Interface Principles
High density, low noise — Tight gaps, minimal padding, interface recedes until needed
Hover-reveal — Secondary actions appear on hover
Borders over shadows — Subtle 1px borders define hierarchy
IV. Strategic Positioning
Encryption is ownership.
Your 24-word Skeleton Key is the only thing that unlocks your vault. Not us. Not a server. You.
How Sync Works
Local sync: Devices on the same network sync directly
Cloud sync: Devices anywhere sync via encrypted relay
Both use end-to-end encryption. We can't read your data either way.
The Differentiator
Most tools encrypt data "at rest" on their servers—they hold the keys. We encrypt before data leaves your device, with keys that never leave your control.
V. The Voice
We are the "Adult in the Room."
No hype. No breathless marketing. Quiet confidence.
Voice Examples
"Revolutionary privacy solution"
"We can't read your notes"
"Game-changing sync technology"
"Sync across your devices"
"Unleash your productivity"
"Get work done"
Direct Over Clever
"Free. Encrypted. Yours."
"No catch."
"Your notes app shouldn't profit off of you."
VI. Lexicon
Branded Terms (Keep)
Skeleton Key
24-word encryption phrase
"Your Skeleton Key unlocks your data"
Vault
Where your data is stored
"Your Vault contains all your notes"
Plain Language (Use These)
Hearth
Local sync
Courier
Cloud sync
Lantern
Semantic search
Sanctuary Mode
Offline mode
Digital Study
Workspace
Standard Terms (Don't Rename)
Tasks, Notes, Projects, Areas, Tags, Inbox, Archive, Backlinks, Time Machine, Daily Notes, Omnibar.
VII. Tagline
Free. Encrypted. Yours.
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