What Horizons are

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. Sub-brands, campaign systems, regional adaptations, partnership frameworks, internal-only guidance, product-specific identity. If the brand has it, a Horizon holds it.

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When a Horizon is the right answer

The test is whether the material is recurring, governed, and worth recording. If yes, it belongs in a Horizon. If the material is one-off, ungoverned, or not yet decided, it belongs in a comment, a Strategy block, or a working document outside the atlas. Common Horizons:

• Sub-brand. The parent brand has its atlas; the sub-brand has its own marks, type, and rules without losing the parent connection.
• Campaign system. A campaign that runs for a quarter and has its own typography treatment, photography direction, and tone.
• Regional adaptation. Arabic typography for a brand whose primary language is English. Local imagery for a regional launch. A culturally-specific colour set.
• Partnership. Co-branding rules with a partner organisation, including their lock-up requirements and the boundaries of joint use.
• Internal-only guidance. Onboarding decks, employer-brand material, HR-facing communication rules.
• Product-specific identity. A specific product line, app, or feature with its own brand surface within the parent brand.

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When a Horizon is the wrong answer

Three patterns to avoid:

1. Putting material in a Horizon that belongs in a standard section. A new colour for the palette is a Colour System edit, not a Horizon. The standard sections are the floor of every atlas; do not work around them.
2. Creating a Horizon for ideas in progress. Horizons are governed material. Strategy decks, brainstorms, and exploratory work do not belong here. Use a working document until the decision is made; then capture the result in the atlas.
3. Creating a Horizon per piece of work. A Horizon for every campaign, every quarter, every product update. The sidebar fills with noise. Combine where possible, archive what is finished, and reserve Horizons for material the team will continue to act on.

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Tier limits

Active Horizons are limited per tier:

• Scout. No Horizons.
• Keeper. Up to 5 active Horizons.
• Guardian. Up to 25 active Horizons.

Archived Horizons do not count against the limit. A campaign whose rules might be useful again later can be archived and restored without losing the work.

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Three paths to creating one

The three paths are described in Your first Horizon and the dedicated pages below:

• Visual editor. All tiers. Build the Horizon by adding blocks.
• MDX upload. All tiers. Author the Horizon as MDX in any editor and upload.
• Build with Oswald. Guardian only. Describe the Horizon to Oswald, approve the draft.

All three produce the same kind of Horizon. The authoring path does not change the result.

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How Horizons relate to the standard sections

Horizons can reference the standard sections; Horizons cannot replace them. A Horizon for a campaign might say “the campaign uses Primary Blue from the Colour System and Caslon Italic from the Typography section.” The Horizon does not redefine those values; it composes them. When a Horizon needs values the standard sections do not contain, two options:

1. Define the values in the Horizon. The values are scoped to the Horizon; they are not part of the standard brand record. Good for temporary or campaign-specific values.
2. Add the values to the standard section. The values become part of the brand record. Good for values that will recur.

The brand owner decides.

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Lifecycle

A Horizon has a lifecycle:

1. Draft. Created, not yet published. Visible only to the brand owner and assigned Editors.
2. Active. Published. Visible to the audience the brand owner sets.
3. Archived. Retired but kept. Not visible in the main sidebar; reachable through Horizons → Archive. Counts not against tier limit.
4. Restored. An archived Horizon returned to active status. The Horizon resumes as it was; the audience is reset to the current rules.
5. Deleted. Removed entirely. Only available to the brand owner; the action is recorded in the brand record’s history. Rarely used; archive is almost always the better choice.

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Related pages