Glossary

Every owned term Brand Atlas uses, defined in one place. The vocabulary is deliberate. Each term carries a specific meaning across the docs, the product, and the way MadeBy_ talks about the work. The glossary is the canonical reference; if a term is used differently elsewhere on the site, the glossary wins.

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A

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Atlas

Short for brand atlas. The portal that holds a single brand’s record. A team running multiple brands has multiple atlases.

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Applications

The fourth standard section. How the brand shows up across the surfaces it touches: product, screen, print, packaging, signage, environment.

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B

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Brand Atlas

The product. Always two words, both capitalised. Never “BrandAtlas,” “Brand-Atlas,” or “the platform.”

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brand atlas

The category noun, lowercase. A brand atlas is any living portal that holds a brand’s identity, rules, and assets. Brand Atlas (the product) is an instance of a brand atlas.

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Brand Atlas AI

The user-facing umbrella term for AI features inside Brand Atlas. Includes Oswald (Guardian) and Henry (Keeper+). Used in product copy in preference to provider names.

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brand authorship

The practice of holding accountability for the brand record. Every brand has exactly one author at a time. See Brand authorship.

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brand drift

The slow divergence of a brand from its source identity over time. The operating problem Brand Atlas solves. See Brand drift.

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brand evolution

The larger work of changing a brand’s identity over time. Distinct from brand maintenance. See Brand evolution and brand maintenance.

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brand maintenance

The regular work of keeping the brand record current. Distinct from brand evolution. See Brand evolution and brand maintenance.

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brand-on-course

The continuous state of a brand whose use across the team matches its source identity. The opposite of brand drift. Hyphenated. See Brand-on-course.

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brand owner

The person accountable for a brand. The author of the brand record. The role with full editing rights in the atlas. Used in these docs in preference to “user,” “admin,” or “customer.”

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the brand record

The canonical account of what a brand is, what it contains, and how it is allowed to be used. What a brand atlas holds. See The brand record.

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BYOK

“Bring Your Own Key.” The model used by Henry: the customer supplies an OpenAI or Gemini API key, stored in the atlas and used to power Henry’s answers. Customer is billed by the provider directly.

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C

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Colour System

The third standard section. Primary, secondary, accent, and neutral colours, with hex, RGB, CMYK, and Pantone values, plus accessibility pairings.

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comped account

An account granted by MadeBy_ at no cost, typically as part of a studio engagement or pilot. Treated like any other tier in the product.

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D

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delivery day

The moment a studio hands a brand identity over to the brand owner. The transition from design to stewardship. In Brand Atlas, the moment authorship of the brand record transfers.

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G

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Guardian

The third tier. $199/mo or$1,999/yr. Includes everything in Keeper plus the Oswald AI assistant, higher Horizons limits, and editorial AI features.

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Guest Pass

A time-limited, scope-limited link granting read access to a specific part of the atlas. Used to share material with vendors, partners, or anyone outside the core team without granting an account.

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H

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Henry

The Keeper+ tier AI assistant. Read-only. Uses a customer-supplied OpenAI or Gemini key (BYOK). Answers questions about the brand record for whoever has the right to read it. Does not edit. See What Henry does.

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Horizon

A custom section the team adds to a brand atlas when the eight standard sections do not cover something the brand needs. Created via the visual editor, MDX upload, or Build-with-Oswald (Guardian). See What Horizons are.

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K

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Keeper

The second tier. $79/mo or$799/yr. Includes everything in Scout plus Update Requests, Guest Passes, and Henry (BYOK).

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L

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Logo & Identity

The first standard section. Marks, lock-ups, monograms, clear space, minimum sizes, “don’t” examples, the master file index.

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M

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MadeBy_

The creative studio that builds Brand Atlas. Always with a trailing underscore. Pronounced “Made-By.” Dubai-based.

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milestone

A marked point in the brand record’s history that the team can refer to. Used for printed deliverables, contracts, or anniversaries that need a stable reference point.

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O

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Oswald

The Guardian-tier AI assistant. Editorial. Can draft Horizons, propose edits, review assets against the brand record, and assist with maintenance and evolution work. The brand owner approves Oswald’s proposals before they become part of the record. See What Oswald does.

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P

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Photography

The seventh standard section. Direction, treatment, do-and-don’t sheets, shot list templates, the approved gallery, and licence terms.

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portal

Used as a category description for Brand Atlas in marketing and explanatory copy. Not used as a self-reference in product copy (“the platform” is on the banned list; “the portal” is used sparingly).

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S

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Scout

The first tier. Free. The eight standard sections, no Horizons creation, no AI assistants, no Update Requests. Intended for evaluation and small single-team use.

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Social

The eighth standard section. Platform-by-platform format, captioning style, cadence, escalation paths, templates.

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standard sections

The eight sections every brand atlas contains: Logo & Identity, Typography, Colour System, Applications, Strategy, Voice, Photography, Social. The floor of every atlas. See The eight standard sections.

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stewardship

The continuous work of keeping a brand on course as the team using it grows. The practice that replaces the studio relationship after delivery day. See Stewardship.

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Strategy

The fifth standard section. Mission, audience, positioning, the work the brand is for.

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the studio handover

The transition from studio engagement to brand-owner stewardship. In Brand Atlas, the moment the atlas is populated, the team is trained, and authorship transfers to the brand owner. See The studio handover.

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T

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tier

Scout, Keeper, or Guardian. Governs what an atlas can do. The eight standard sections are present on every tier; Horizons limits, AI assistants, and Update Request availability vary.

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Typography

The second standard section. Typefaces, weights, hierarchy, web stacks, fallbacks, licence details.

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U

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Update Request

A proposal raised inside the portal by a team member, asking the brand owner to change something in the brand record. The brand owner reviews and approves, edits, or rejects. The canonical request channel.

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V

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Voice

The sixth standard section. The way the brand sounds in writing: tone, owned vocabulary, banned vocabulary, examples, counter-examples.

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Banned vocabulary

Brand Atlas marketing and product copy avoids: powerful, robust, seamless, intuitive, leverage, unlock, unleash, the platform (as a self-reference), document or file (when referring to a brand guideline), launch (as a verb). These words are absent on purpose.

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Names never used in user-facing copy

The underlying AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, and similar) are not named in user-facing product copy. They are named in the AI Usage and Disclosure Policy and the BYOK policy where transparency requires it. In product, AI features are presented as Oswald, Henry, or Brand Atlas AI.