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A Horizon is a custom section the team adds to a brand atlas when the eight standard sections do not cover something the brand needs. This page walks through creating one for the first time. The exercise takes about fifteen minutes.
Horizons are available on every tier, with limits that vary by tier. Build-with-Oswald is available on Guardian only.

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Before you start

You will need:
  • A populated atlas with at least the standard sections covered.
  • A clear sense of what the Horizon is for (a sub-brand, a campaign, a regional adaptation, a partnership).
  • The material the Horizon will hold (text, images, files), or a confident sketch of it.
If the material is still being worked out, the Horizon can be saved as a draft and edited over time.

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Pick the right path

There are three paths to creating a Horizon. The right one depends on tier and on how you prefer to work.
Build the Horizon by adding blocks (text, image, table, code, gallery, embed) the same way you populate a standard section. The fastest path for most brand owners.

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Step by step (visual editor)

1

Open Horizons

From the atlas sidebar, click Horizons → New Horizon. Brand Atlas asks for a name and a one-sentence description.A useful naming convention: name the Horizon after the brand entity or campaign it covers, in title case. Eastern Region — Arabic Typography. Spring 2026 Campaign. Founder’s Edition Sub-brand.
The Horizons section with the New Horizon dialog open.
2

Pick a template (optional)

Brand Atlas offers a small set of starter templates for common Horizon types: sub-brand, campaign, regional adaptation, partnership. Pick one if it fits; start blank if it does not. Templates are guides, not rules; the Horizon adapts.
3

Add blocks

Add the material in blocks. A typical first Horizon has three to six blocks:
  • A Heading block at the top, summarising what this Horizon is for.
  • A Text block describing the rules specific to this Horizon.
  • One or more Image blocks for marks, examples, or imagery.
  • A Table block for any structured rules (colour values, type weights, dimensions).
  • A Gallery block if the Horizon is image-heavy.
Save as you go. The Horizon is saved as a draft until you publish.
4

Set the audience

By default, every team member with access to the atlas can read the Horizon. You can restrict access to specific roles or specific people. Useful when the Horizon contains material that should be visible to a project team but not the wider company.
5

Publish

When the Horizon is ready, click Publish. The Horizon now appears in the sidebar for every team member who has access to it. The brand record records the new Horizon, you as the author, and the date.
Your first Horizon is live. Team members with the right access can read it, search it, and (on Keeper and Guardian) raise Update Requests against it.

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What a good first Horizon looks like

The best first Horizons are narrow and useful. A wide first Horizon (“Our 2026 Strategy”) tends to drift into a personal document and stops being read. A narrow first Horizon (“Spring 2026 Campaign Visual System”) is referenced repeatedly by the team for the duration of the campaign and proves the format. A useful test: a good first Horizon has a clear end-of-life. The campaign ends, the regional rollout completes, the partnership concludes. The Horizon is archived (not deleted) and stays in the brand record as a historical reference.

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Editing and archiving

Horizons are edited the same way they were created: visual editor, MDX upload, or Build-with-Oswald. Every edit is attributed and dated. When a Horizon is no longer current, archive it from the Horizons sidebar. Archived Horizons do not count against the tier limit and can be restored at any time.

What Horizons are

The deep dive.

Visual editor

Build by hand, in detail.

MDX upload

Upload an authored file.