Brand book · v1.0 · Oct 2026 · Internal, but share freely

ஆழி Brand
book.

எப்படி தெரியணும், எப்படி பேசணும்.

How we look, how we sound, and what we never do. For designers, writers, devs and anyone shipping a pixel with our name on it. Everything on this page is built with the system it describes.

Contents · உள்ளே

  1. 01 The idea ஆழி
  2. 02 Three visual worlds
  3. 03 Colour & contrast
  4. 04 Type
  5. 05 Texture & props
  6. 06 Voice & tone
  7. 07 Logo

bookmark pannunga, nanba / nanbi

Approved

01

The idea

ஆழி என்றால் ஆழ்கடல்.

ஆழி is an old Tamil word for the sea. Not the beach. The deep part, where the light runs out and the good stuff lives.

That is the promise. Most tech content is surface: reels, roadmaps, "learn X in 10 minutes". We take a student from a town with one bus stand and walk them, in Tamil, all the way down to a real engineering job. The ocean gives us one metaphor that explains the whole product, so nobody needs a pricing page to understand what is free and what is not.

  1. கரை

    Karai · the shore · free

    Get your feet wet. Six self-paced courses, free forever, no login to start. Python, Git, DSA patterns, Postgres, Docker, prompting.

  2. அலை

    Alai · the wave · momentum

    The part where you start moving. Streaks, small projects, Resume Review, your first green GitHub squares. The wave either pulls you out or pushes you back. We make it pull.

  3. முத்துக்குளி

    Muthukuli · pearl diving · paid cohorts

    Guided deep dives. Live, in Tamil, with a mentor holding the rope. Muthu 01, 02, 03. The pearl is the job.

கரை first. Then ஆழம். The route always reads left to right, shallow to deep, free to paid.

Why the sea, and why it is ours

Roots

Thoothukudi knows divers.

Thoothukudi is still called the Pearl City. For centuries, divers off this coast went down into the Gulf of Mannar on a single breath and came up with pearls. Skill, nerve, training, and a crew on the boat. That is exactly what a cohort is.

Coast

Every Tamil kid knows the sea.

Marina on a school trip. Tiruchendur with the family. Rameswaram, Kanyakumari, Nagapattinam. Even the inland kids in Karur and Salem have stood at the water once. The metaphor needs no explaining in our ooru.

Gen Z

Depth beats surface.

This generation is ambitious and tired of hype. "Don't scroll the surface, dive" says it without a guru voice. And diving is honest: it takes breath, practice and time. We never pretend the deep part is easy. We just make sure nobody dives alone.

02

Three visual worlds

மூணு உலகம். ஒரே குரல்.

Every screen, post and poster lives in exactly one world. Pick the world by what the moment is about, not by what looks cool this week. Mixing two worlds in one viewport is allowed only at a section seam, like a sheet of paper lying on the edge of a ticket.

World A · from ref 1

Code Portrait

கோடு-ல வரைஞ்ச முகம்.

A person drawn only in monospace characters on flat fog. Quiet, bilingual, a bit nerdy. It says: these are real people from real towns, and they think in code now.

Use it for
Hero, onboarding, profile and certificate pages, loading states, "who we are" moments, student stories.
Never for
Prices, checkout, long reading. ASCII is a portrait, not a texture.
Ground · ink
Fog --fog · Ink --ink. Links in ink with a biro underline.
Props
None. Just characters, two text columns, underlined link lists.
Motion
A new person every 10 s with a 1.2 s character scramble. Instant swap under reduced motion.

நண்பி #0427 · Kovilpatti → Bengaluru · backend

english!

A new face every ten seconds. All of them from our towns. All of them drawn in code.

தமிழ்!

ஒவ்வொரு பத்து நொடிக்கும் ஒரு புது முகம். எல்லாரும் நம்ம ஊர்க்காரங்க.

World B · from ref 2

Paper Desk

மேசை மேல காகிதம்.

A chilli-orange desk with sheets stacked on it, clipped, taped, highlighted and scribbled on. It is the study table at 11 pm. It says: we are working this out together, by hand.

Use it for
Manifesto, free Karai courses, notes, blog posts, how-tos, social carousels, FAQs.
Never for
Payments and anything with a seat count. Free must never look like a ticket.
Ground · ink
Chilli --chilli with ink text. Sheets in --paper, --paper-2, --paper-3.
Props
Paperclip, binder clip, tape, highlighter with handles, hand ellipse, violet bookmark. Two per sheet, max.
Motion
Sheets settle in with a 2° rotate and a soft spring. Nothing flips or spins.
Manifesto · 01

Before you open VS Code, 5 bayangal we kill first.

  1. English bayam. Code-ku grammar podhum, accent illa.
  2. Laptop bayam. Phone-la start pannu. Seriously.
  3. Kaasu bayam. Karai is free. Forever.
  4. Connection bayam. Your senior is now 1 DM away.
  5. Time bayam. 40 minutes a day. That's it.

no login to start, promise

World C · from ref 3

Ticket Night

சீட் கிடைச்சா உள்ளே.

An oxblood poster fading into cream, with grain, a giant condensed headline and paper tickets stamped in red. Second-show cinema energy. It says: this is an event, seats are real, and you are getting in.

Use it for
Muthukuli cohorts, pricing, batch launches, live-class posters, payment success, the offer-letter wall.
Never for
Free content, errors, empathy moments. Do not fake scarcity: seat counts are live numbers.
Ground · ink
Oxblood --oxblood → maroon → paper, always with grain. Paper text on the dark part only.
Props
Tickets with perforated stub, QR block, barcode, gate · row · seat, red rubber stamp, halftone emblem.
Motion
Stamp thuds in once (scale 1.4 → 1, 180 ms). Tickets lift on hover by 4 px.

Muthukuli · Batch 04

17 seats
left.

ஆழி presents · Muthu 01

Backend → Offer Letter

Gate
01
Row
3
Seat
11

16 Nov 2026 · 7:00 PM IST · Live, in Tamil

₹14,999 or ₹1,999/mo · UPI · EMI

Admit one
நண்பா / நண்பி

Seats filling

03

Colour

மிளகாய், பட்டு, காகிதம், பனி.

Seventeen colours, all pulled from the three references. No pure white, no pure black, no new hues. Tints are fine (a 60% paper for tape), new colours are not. Tap a chip to copy its hex.

Grounds the big fields a world sits on

  • மிளகாய்Chilli --chilli Paper Desk field. Ink text only on it.
  • செகண்ட் ஷோOxblood --oxblood Ticket Night poster. Paper, fog, lavender, salmon text.
  • நோட்டுPaper --paper Sheets, tickets, reading surfaces. Our "white".
  • பனிFog --fog Code Portrait ground. Flat, never textured beyond grain.
  • ஆழம்Sea --sea The deep. Rare: footer, the pearl moment, max one block per page.

Inks what we write with

  • கரிInk --ink Body text, wordmark, primary buttons.
  • GraphiteInk 2 --ink-2 Secondary text on paper.
  • PencilInk 3 --ink-3 Meta and captions on paper only (4.84).
  • பேனாBiro --biro Hand notes, link underlines, focus on paper.
  • முத்திரைStamp --stamp Rubber stamps and error text on paper.

Accents highlighters, ribbons, depth

  • HighlighterLavender --lavender Highlighter block under ink text.
  • செவ்வானம்Salmon --salmon Second highlighter. Prices and "free".
  • BookmarkViolet --violet Bookmarks, pins. Never a gradient partner.
  • பட்டுMaroon --maroon Mid-tone of the ticket fade. Tamil headings on paper.
  • வத்தல்Chilli deep --chilli-deep Pressed and hover state of chilli.
  • Old notesPaper 2 --paper-2 Second sheet in a stack. Desk surface.
  • KraftPaper 3 --paper-3 Back sheet, ticket stub, tape label.

Allowed text colours, per ground

WCAG 2.2 AA: 4.5 : 1 for body text, 3 : 1 for large text (24 px+, or 18.66 px+ bold) and for icons and focus rings. Ratios computed from the token hex values.

On chilli

  • Ink 4.61 AA · body OK
  • Oxblood 4.57 AA · body OK
  • Paper 3.25 · display only, 24 px+

Never: stamp 1.42, biro 1.90, violet 1.38, lavender 2.00, ink-3 1.49. No small paper text on chilli.

On oxblood

  • Paper 14.87 AAA
  • Fog 10.29 AAA
  • Lavender 9.15 AAA
  • Salmon 7.34 AAA
  • Chilli 4.57 AA

Never: stamp 3.23 and violet 3.30 (large only, so put stamps on a paper ticket), biro 2.41, maroon 1.59.

On paper

  • Ink 15.00 AAA
  • Ink 2 9.94 AAA
  • Sea 9.61 AAA
  • Maroon 9.34 AAA
  • Biro 6.17 AA
  • Ink 3 4.84 AA
  • Stamp 4.61 AA
  • Violet 4.50 AA, just

Large only: chilli-deep 4.28, chilli 3.25. Never chilli for body text on paper.

On fog

  • Ink 10.38 AAA
  • Ink 2 6.88 AA
  • Sea 6.66 AA
  • Maroon 6.47 AA

Large only: biro 4.27 (so links on fog are ink, underlined in biro), ink-3 3.35, stamp 3.19. Never chilli 2.25.

Full contrast matrix 7 grounds × 9 inks, every ratio
WCAG 2.2 contrast ratios: rows are grounds, columns are text colours
Ground ↓ / Text → Ink Ink 3 Oxblood Maroon Paper Chilli Stamp Biro Violet
Chilli 4.61AA 1.49Fail 4.57AA 2.87Fail 3.25Large — 1.42Fail 1.90Fail 1.38Fail
Oxblood 1.01Fail 3.07Large — 1.59Fail 14.87AAA 4.57AA 3.23Large 2.41Fail 3.30Large
Paper 15.00AAA 4.84AA 14.87AAA 9.34AAA — 3.25Large 4.61AA 6.17AA 4.50AA
Fog 10.38AAA 3.35Large 10.29AAA 6.47AA 1.44Fail 2.25Fail 3.19Large 4.27Large 3.12Large
Sea 1.56Fail 1.99Fail 1.55Fail 1.03Fail 9.61AAA 2.96Fail 2.09Fail 1.56Fail 2.14Fail
Lavender 9.23AAA 2.98Fail 9.15AAA 5.75AA 1.62Fail 2.00Fail 2.83Fail 3.80Large 2.77Fail
Salmon 7.40AAA 2.39Fail 7.34AAA 4.61AA 2.03Fail 1.60Fail 2.27Fail 3.05Large 2.22Fail

AAA 7+ · AA 4.5+ any size · Large 3+ for 24 px+ or 18.66 px+ bold, icons, focus rings · Fail decoration only. Lavender and salmon rows are highlighter blocks: ink on top, always.

04

Type

எழுத்து தான் நம்ம முகம்.

Six faces, six jobs. Never swap jobs. Anton shouts, Catamaran speaks Tamil, Archivo explains, Archivo Narrow labels, JetBrains Mono draws and counts, Caveat scribbles.

Anton

--f-display · 400 only

Display headlines, posters, ticket titles, big numbers.

28 px minimum · leading 0.88 · tracking −0.01em · uppercase or tight sentence case.

Small town.
Deep code.

Catamaran

--f-tamil · 500 · 700 · 900

Every Tamil line. 900 for headlines and the wordmark, 700 for subheads, 500 for Tamil body.

Leading 1.1 display, 1.65 body. No tracking, no faux bold, no italics.

ஊர் சின்னது.
கனவு பெருசு.

Archivo

--f-body · 400 · 500 · 600 · 800

Body, UI, buttons, long notes.

16–18 px · leading 1.55 · 68 characters per line max.

Free-a kaththukko.

Plan-oda velai vaangu. Six free courses get you to the shore. The cohorts take you to the offer letter. We tell you which is which before you pay a rupee.

Archivo Narrow

--f-narrow · 500 · 700

Labels, kickers, ticket data, nav. Uppercase only.

11–14 px · tracking --track-wide 0.42em · 700.

Muthukuli · Gate 01 · Row 3 · Seat 11

Karai · free forever

JetBrains Mono

--f-mono · 400 · 700

ASCII portraits, code, captions, prices, string IDs.

12–15 px · leading 1.5 for code, 0.95 for ASCII art · tabular figures.

$ git commit -m "first PR from Kovilpatti"
[main 0427ab] 1 file changed, 6:40 bus to merge
₹14,999 · ₹1,999/mo · 17/60 seats left

Caveat

--f-hand · 600 · 700

Hand notes in the margin. Biro or stamp colour only.

22 px minimum · 8 words max · rotate −3° to 3° · never the only place key info lives.

yes, this one is free. not kidding.

When Tamil script leads

  1. Emotional lines lead in Tamil. Hero, section openers, success moments, the footer. English follows underneath, smaller: ஊர் சின்னது. கனவு பெருசு. / Small town. Deep code.
  2. Tier names lead in Tamil in display, with the transliteration as a narrow-caps label: கரை / KARAI.
  3. Instructions lead in Tanglish or English. Prices, steps, errors, forms, legal. Clarity first: many of our students read UI faster in Latin script.
  4. Size Tamil at 0.85× the Anton next to it. Tamil glyphs carry vowel signs above and below, so they look bigger. Give them 1.1 leading, never 0.88.
  5. Every Tamil line must mean something. No decorative Tamil, no machine translation. A Tamil speaker reads it out loud before it ships. Mark it up with lang="ta".

Scale tokens

TokenRangeUse
--t-mega72–240 pxFooter wordmark, poster numbers
--t-2xl48–120 pxHero and section headlines
--t-xl32–58 pxSub-heads, ticket titles
--t-lg20–26 pxLede, Tamil subtitles
--t-md16–18 pxBody
--t-sm14–15 pxUI, meta
--t-xs11.5–13 pxTracked labels only

05

Texture & props

மேசை மேல இருக்குறது.

Depth comes from real things on a real desk, not from shadows on rounded boxes. Every prop below is CSS or inline SVG, so it scales, themes and costs nothing to load. Two props per sheet, max. Rotate between −3° and 3°.

  • Film grain

    background-image: var(--grain)

    On every chilli, fog and oxblood field, as an overlay at 15–25% multiply. Kills the flat-digital look.

  • Paper fibres

    background-image: var(--fibers)

    On every sheet and ticket. Long horizontal fibres, like cheap A4 from the xerox kadai.

  • Paperclip

    <use href="#i-clip"/>

    Holds a note to a sheet. Top edge, overlapping by a third. Ink-2 wire.

  • Binder clip

    <use href="#i-binder"/>

    Holds a whole stack. One per stack, top centre. Means "this is a set".

  • Tape & torn label

    .tape · .tape-label

    Clear tape (60% paper tint) pins corners. A torn paper label names a sheet in narrow caps.

  • Highlighter with handles

    .hl.hl-handles

    Lavender or salmon under ink. The biro selection handles say "a person chose this". One per paragraph.

  • Rubber stamp

    .stamp

    Status only: Sold out, Live batch, Seats filling, Paid, Batch open. Anton in stamp red, distressed, rotated 6–12°. On paper, never on oxblood directly.

  • Hand ellipse

    <use href="#i-ellipse"/>

    One loose biro loop around the single word that matters. Never around a whole paragraph.

  • Halftone & bookmark

    #i-pearl · .bookmark

    Halftone dots for emblems (the pearl). A violet ribbon peeks out from under a sheet to mark "start here".

  • Torn edge

    .torn

    A note ripped from a notebook. Tools and small asides, like the free Resume Review.

Don't.

இது வேண்டாம். ப்ளீஸ்.

  • Box-grid backgrounds. Graph paper, square grids, dot grids behind content. They read as an AI template from 2023. Use grain, fibres, stacked paper and torn edges.

  • Neat SaaS card rows. Three rounded cards, icon on top, three lines of text, soft shadow. If it could be any startup's site, it isn't ours.

  • Gradients. Purple-to-blue glows, mesh blobs, glassy fades. The one exception is Ticket Night's oxblood → cream poster fade, and it always carries grain.

  • Emoji icons. No rockets, sparkles, fire or "feature icon + 3 lines" blocks. We draw with type, props and ASCII.

Also no: pure #fff or #000 fields · drop shadows on text · rotations past 3° (stamps excepted) · Tamil set in Anton · stock photos of people pointing at laptops · "fam", "slay", "no cap".

06

Voice & tone

நம்ம ஊர் அண்ணன், அக்கா மாதிரி பேசு.

Who we talk to

18 to 23. Often the first engineer in the family. Living a bus ride from the nearest IT park.

Some went to Tamil-medium schools and freeze when an interviewer switches to English. Some share one phone or one laptop with a sibling. They watch Tamil tech YouTube at 1.5×, live on reels, and hear "settle aagu" from home every Sunday. They are not beginners at life. They are beginners at this, and they are tired of being talked down to.

Madurai · Tirunelveli · Thoothukudi · Kovilpatti · Salem · Erode · Namakkal · Dindigul · Karur · Thanjavur · Kumbakonam · Pudukkottai · Villupuram · Nagercoil · Theni · Sivakasi

Nanbi, 20

Final-year ECE. Shares a laptop with her brother, so she codes after 10 pm. Wants Bengaluru. Amma wants a government job.

write for her

Nanba, 21

Tamil-medium till 12th. Two arrears, one cleared. Thinks his English will block him. It won't, but nobody has told him that yet.

and for him

Our voice: a sharp senior from your own ooru

The anna or akka from your street who made it to a product company and came back to pull you up. Five traits, each with its edge.

  • Senior-from-your-ooru

    நம்ம ஊர் சீனியர்

    "I took the same 6:40 bus. Here's what I'd do."

    Is specific, local, been-there. Isn't a guru with a ring light.

  • Confident

    தைரியம்

    "Nine months. Real backend. You can do this."

    Is sure of the plan. Isn't "only 1% make it" arrogance.

  • Warm

    அக்கறை

    "Saapdiya? Okay. Now one more commit."

    Is Amma-level care. Isn't syrupy or therapy-speak.

  • Cheeky

    குறும்பு

    "Works on my machine-a? Unga machine-a ship panna mudiyaadhu."

    Is one wink per screen. Isn't memes for memes' sake.

  • Honest

    நேர்மை

    "Free means free. ₹14,999 means ₹14,999. Nine months means nine months."

    Is numbers up front. Isn't fake timers or "guaranteed placement".

Say this, not that

Real lines: the Aazhi version, the cringe version and the corporate version
MomentSay thisNot this: cringeNot this: corporate
Heroஊர் சின்னது. கனவு பெருசு. Small town. Deep code.Small town vibes, big slay energy fam!!Empowering tier-2 talent through world-class upskilling solutions.
English fearEnglish theriyaadhu-nu bayama? Code-ku grammar podhum, accent illa.English? No cap, who even needs it lolOur programs accommodate learners of varying language proficiency.
No laptopLaptop illaya? Phone-la start pannu. Seriously.No laptop? No problem bestie!!Our platform is accessible across multiple device form factors.
Free vs paidFree-a kaththukko. Plan-oda velai vaangu.FREE?!? Yes you heard that rightExplore our freemium offerings and premium learning tracks.
Price₹1,999 a month for 9 months, or ₹14,999 once. UPI, EMI, scholarship for first-gen grads. Hidden charges illa.Crazy deal alert, grab it before it's gone!!!Flexible financing options available. T&C apply.
JobsWe don't promise a job. We train you till you can walk into one.100% placement or we'll eat our laptopIndustry-leading placement outcomes.
ArrearsArrear irundha enna? Neraya per arrear-oda dhaan start pannanga. Plan podalaam.Arrears are just a vibe checkWe understand academic setbacks can be challenging.
CTAStart free, no loginLet's goooooBegin your learning journey today

Word bank

Tamil words we use on purpose, what they mean, and where they go.

கரை karai
The shore. Our free tier. "Karai-la start pannu."
அலை alai
The wave. Momentum between free and paid: streaks, projects, Resume Review.
ஆழம் aazham
Depth. "கரை first. Then ஆழம்."
முத்துக்குளி muthukuli
Pearl diving. Our paid live cohorts. Never "Pearl Program".
முத்து muthu
Pearl. Cohort names (Muthu 01) and the offer letter at the end.
ஊர் ooru
Hometown. Said with pride, never as "small" in a sad way.
நண்பா / நண்பி nanba / nanbi
Friend, he / she. Always together.
மச்சி machi
Buddy. Sparingly. Never in payments or errors.
கத்துக்கோ kaththukko
"Learn it", the friendly imperative. Nav and CTAs.
சாப்டியா? saapdiya?
"Did you eat?" Amma's check-in. Late-night study nudges only.
பயம் bayam
Fear. The manifesto: "5 bayangal we kill first".
பரவாயில்ல paravaala
"It's okay." Streak breaks, failed attempts.
போதும் podhum
"Enough." "10 nimisham podhum." Lowers the bar to start.
வேலை velai
Job. We say it plainly. Not "career outcomes".
அரியர் arrear
A backlog paper. Said without shame, always with a plan.

Tone shifts by context

Same person, different room. The voice never changes. The volume, the Tamil-to-English mix and the jokes do.

  1. Hero

    SeriousPlayful

    EnglishTamil

    QuietLoud

    ஊர் சின்னது. கனவு பெருசு.

    Tamil script leads. One big promise. No feature lists.

  2. Error message

    SeriousPlayful

    EnglishTamil

    QuietLoud

    Upload aagala. File 5 MB-ku mela irukku. Compress panni try pannu.

    What happened, then what to do. A light joke only if nothing was lost.

  3. Payment

    SeriousPlayful

    EnglishTamil

    QuietLoud

    ₹1,999 paid via UPI. Receipt sent to your email. Next EMI: 16 Dec 2026.

    Exact numbers, dates, what happens next. No jokes, no urgency tricks, ever.

  4. Failure & arrears

    SeriousPlayful

    EnglishTamil

    QuietLoud

    Arrear vandhaa ulagam mudinju pogala. Oru semester-la clear pannalaam. Plan podalaam, vaa.

    Lower the volume, lean into Tamil. Normalise it, then give one next step.

  5. Success

    SeriousPlayful

    EnglishTamil

    QuietLoud

    முத்து கிடைச்சுது! Offer letter vandhuduchu. Amma-kitta sollu, apram namma-kitta sollu.

    Celebrate loud, credit them, not us. Stamp it.

Ten strings, ready to ship

Real microcopy with its string ID. Copy these, adapt them, keep the spirit.

  • 01 · Button, primary

    Start free, no login

    cta.start_free

  • 02 · Button, secondary

    See cohorts

    cta.see_cohorts

  • 03 · Empty state, my courses

    Inga onnum illa. Yet.

    Karai-la oru course pick pannu. 10 nimisham podhum.

    empty.my_courses

  • 04 · 404 page

    404 · Route 6:40

    Bus miss aayiduchu.

    Indha page illa. Next bus ready: home-ku po.

    Back to home

    error.404

  • 05 · Payment success

    சீட் உனக்கு தான்.

    ₹1,999 received. Muthu 01 · Gate 01 · Row 3 · Seat 11. First class: 16 Nov, 7 PM.

    Paid

    pay.success

  • 06 · Streak broken

    Streak udanjiduchu. Paravaala.

    12 days was real. Inniki 10 nimisham podhum, puthusa start pannu.

    Restart streak

    streak.broken

  • 07 · Form error

    Phone number 98421 0427 10 digits venum. Idhula 9 dhaan irukku.

    form.phone.invalid

  • 08 · Loading

    Notes eduthuttu varen

    state.loading

  • 09 · Offline

    Net poiduchu. Video pause pannirukom. Signal vandhadhum continue aagum.

    state.offline

  • 10 · Limit reached

    Inniki 3 resume reviews mudinjiduchu. Naalai kaalai 6 maniku reset aagum.

    resume.limit