Machine Co. Media© Phoenix AZ
Identity System — V1.0 — 2026
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Identity System
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Cover
Primary lockup — badge
Machine Co.
Media
Identity System V1.0 — 2026©
www.machineco.net Scroll ↓ Founded 2018 — Phoenix, AZ
Section 01

Story

Your product/service is great. Your content isn’t great. That's the problem we solve.

Positioning

We build video content that turns your brand into a lead machine — in 30 days or less.

Everything in this document exists to keep that promise legible. The mark, the black ground, the grain, the way a caption sits on a frame — none of it is decoration. It is the difference between content that looks like an ad and content that stops a thumb.

The record
2018
Founded
1,000+
Videos delivered
4
Person team
30
Days or less
PHX
Phoenix, AZ
Section 02

Services

Two offers. Named the same way every time they appear, in copy and on camera.

01 — Most popular

Short-Form
Content

Reels, TikToks, and Shorts engineered to stop the scroll and drive real action. Our most popular service — and the fastest ROI in marketing today.

Delivered 1080×1920 — see 15 / Social
02 — Brand building

Long-Form
Content

Brand films, testimonials, and product explainers that keep your audience locked in and ready to buy. Brand building content.

Delivered 3840×2160 — see 10 / Video assets
Section 03

Clients

Set as a type wall, never as a logo grid. Names carry more weight than borrowed marks.

Doug Hopkins Real Estate
Cameron Bawden / Green Mango Pest Control
Schnepf Farms
Unlimited Ammo
Ready Gunner
Delta Team Tactical
MPWR Solar
United Solar
Section 04

Logo

The outline skull is the primary mark. The red left eye is locked — always red, always left, no exceptions.

Primary mark
Outline skull, reversed. The default in every application on a dark ground.
USEDark ground → reversed
Light ground → standard
Min width 28px screen
Min width 10mm print
Secondary mark
Filled skull. For small sizes, stamps, embroidery and single-colour print where the outline would close up.
64px
28px min
Badge lockup
Mark and wordmark inside a 2px rule, divided by a 2px rule. The only approved lockup.
Machine Co.
Media
Clear space = cap height
CLEAR SPACEOne cap height of the wordmark on all four sides. Nothing enters it.
MIN WIDTH180px screen / 45mm print. Below that, use the mark alone.
STACKINGWordmark sets on two lines. Never on one, never three.
Approved variant
MEDIA may set in red on the cover, section openers and title cards. Not in running applications.
Machine Co.
Media
Standard — default everywhere
Machine Co.
Media
Accent — covers and title cards only
Misuse
Six ways the mark breaks. None of these ship.
Don't stretch
Don't rotate
Don't mirror — eye stays left
Don't recolour the eye
Don't add glows or shadows
Don't sit it on mid-tone
Section 05

Color

Two neutrals and one red. There is no second accent, and adding one breaks the system.

Ink Black
HEX #0A0A0A
RGB 10 · 10 · 10
CMYK 0 · 0 · 0 · 96
ROLE Ground — every surface
Bone
HEX #F3F2F2
RGB 243 · 242 · 242
CMYK 0 · 0 · 0 · 5
ROLE Ink, rules, the mark
Machine Red
HEX #BA0000
RGB 186 · 0 · 0
CMYK 0 · 100 · 100 · 27
PANTONE 1795 C — confirm on press
Proportion
Red earns attention by being rare. If a layout reads as red, it is wrong.
80% GROUND
18%
RED IS FOR the eye of the mark, one rule per section, the live-record dot, a single word of emphasis, the primary button.
RED IS NEVER a background field, body copy, a gradient, or two things on the same screen.
Contrast
Measured against Ink Black.
18.9:1
Bone on Ink Black
Body copy — pass
3.2:1
Red on Ink Black
Large type and chrome only
5.9:1
Bone on Red
Buttons and stamps — pass
Section 06

Type

Archivo carries everything a reader reads. DM Mono carries everything a machine would say.

Archivo
Variable — width 62 to 125, weight 100 to 900. Google Fonts, free for commercial use.
Stop the scroll
DISPLAY — wdth 62 / wght 900 / tracking −0.035em / leading 0.78–0.86
Engineered to drive real action
SUBHEAD — wdth 92 / wght 600 / tracking −0.015em / leading 1.14
Brand films, testimonials, and product explainers that keep your audience locked in and ready to buy. Body copy sets at 17px on a 1.65 leading and never runs wider than 640 pixels.
BODY — wdth 100 / wght 400 / 17px / leading 1.65 / max 640px
DM Mono
Labels, counters, specs, timecode, credits. Always uppercase, always tracked out.
Machine Co. Media© 2026
LABEL LARGE — 22px / tracking 0.16em / uppercase
Section 06 — Type — 3840×2160 — 30FPS — REC.709
LABEL — 11px / tracking 0.16em / uppercase — the default chrome size
Scale
SECTION TITLE172 / 0.78 / −0.035em
HEADLINE96 / 0.86 / −0.035em
SUBHEAD40 / 1.14 / −0.015em
LEDE23 / 1.45 / 0
BODY17 / 1.65 / 0
CAPTION14 / 1.6 / 0
LABEL11 / 1.0 / 0.16em
MICRO10 / 1.0 / 0.18em
Section 07

Grid

Everything is flush left and everything is divided by a 2px rule. Nothing floats, nothing centres, nothing rounds.

Twelve columns
96px page margin, 2px gutter. Content spans whole columns only — never half a column.
The spec row
Every page in this document is built from one unit: a 240px label column, a 48px gap, and content filling the rest.
240 label
48
1fr content
Rules of the rules
2PX SECTION RULErgba bone at 22%. Divides every major block. Never a hairline.
2PX RED RULEOne per section, and only above the block that matters most.
RADIUS0px. Everywhere. Including buttons, cards, video frames and stickers.
Section 08

Imagery

Crushed blacks, hard contrast, colour pulled back. A frame should look like it was lit for one thing and nothing else.

Hero frame
Full bleed, 16:9, no border. Type sits on the frame, never in a box on top of it.
Hero still — crushed blacks, single light source
Editorial trio
Three frames, 2px apart, one subject each: the person, the product, the process.
The person
The product
The process
Direction
SHOOT FOR
One hard source, everything else falling off
Deep shadow with detail held in the highlight
Real locations, working hands, actual product
Motion caught mid-action, not posed
Negative space you can set type into
NEVER
Flat even lighting or ring light
Stock-looking smiles at camera
Colour casts that fight the red
Tinting, duotone, or coloured overlays
Anything that needs a caption to explain it
Section 09

Motion

Grain always moves. Glitch only fires on contact. This page is running both — hover the specimens.

Grain
The one effect that never turns off. It sits above everything and belongs to the surface, not the content.
OPACITY26% overlay blend. 18% on video, 34% on print.
RATEResamples every 0.7s in steps. Never smooth, never faster.
SOURCEFractal noise, base frequency 0.85, 4 octaves. Not a photo of film.
Glitch — live
Chromatic split on the red channel only. Fires on hover, on cut, on logo entry. Never loops as ambience.
Distort
Type glitch — hover me
Mark glitch — hover me
Timing
REVEAL750ms, 20px rise
cubic-bezier(.2,.6,.2,1)
GLITCH280ms, 2 steps
max 3 repeats
CUTHard. No cross-dissolve, ever.
HOVERColour shift to red, 0ms. No easing on state.
Section 10

Video
assets

The working part of this document. If you are cutting for us, this is the page you keep open.

Captions
Archivo, wdth 78, wght 900, uppercase, bone on nothing. Two lines maximum. Word-level pop, no karaoke sweep.
Vertical still
Your content
isn't great
Caption placement — 22% from base
CAPTION SPEC
SIZE 96px at 1080×1920
CASE Uppercase always
LINES Two maximum, centred as a block
POSITION 22% up from the base — clear of platform UI
EMPHASIS One word per phrase in Machine Red
STROKE None. Shadow 0 2px 14px black at 85%
ANIMATION Word appears on the syllable. Hard cut in.
NEVER Rounded caption boxes, drop shadows on the box, yellow highlight, emoji
Lower third
Flush left, 2px red rule above the name. Enters on a hard cut, holds 3 seconds, cuts out.
Interview frame
Name here
Title — Company
End card & sting
Sting is 12 frames: mark glitches in on a hard cut, badge rule draws left to right, hold. Out is a single-frame cut to black.
Machine Co.
Media
www.machineco.net
STING — 12 FRAMES @ 30FPS
F01–F03 Mark cuts in, glitch active
F04–F06 Glitch settles, badge rule draws
F07–F12 Hold, URL fades up
OUT One-frame cut to black. No fade.
NEVER Spin, bounce, scale-up, or particle in.
Delivery
Exact specs. No substitutions without asking.
LONG-FORM MASTER
4K 3840×2160
H.264
40 Mbps
30fps
Rec.709
VERTICAL MASTER
1080×1920
H.264
40 Mbps
30fps
Rec.709
SAFE ZONES — 9:16
Top 14% — platform chrome
Bottom 22% — captions and UI
Sides 6% each
Nothing critical outside that box
Grade
Crushed blacks, high contrast, desaturated. The footage should match the ground it sits on.
BLACKSLifted to 4–6 IRE then crushed. Detail dies in shadow on purpose.
CONTRASTHard S-curve. Highlights roll, never clip white.
SATURATIONDown 15–25%. Reds keep their chroma; everything else gives way.
GRAIN18% overlay on export. Added last, after the grade.
Section 11

Voice

Say the problem first. Say it plainly. Then say what you do about it.

Four rules
01
Lead with what's broken.
Name the problem in the first sentence. Nobody hires you for a compliment.
02
Short sentences. Full stops.
If a sentence needs a comma to survive, cut it in two. Periods land harder.
03
Numbers, not adjectives.
1,000+ videos. 30 days. Those do the work that "premium" and "world-class" cannot.
04
Never oversell the craft.
Clients buy leads, not cinematography. Talk about the outcome, show the craft.
We say / we don't
WE SAY
Your content isn't great.
In 30 days or less.
Stop the scroll.
Fastest ROI in marketing today.
Ready to buy.
1,000+ videos delivered.
WE DON'T
Elevate your brand story.
Cinematic storytelling.
Let's hop on a quick call.
Passionate about visuals.
Take your brand to the next level.
Award-winning creative agency.
Section 12

Copy kit

Approved copy, ready to lift. Use it as written before you write something new.

Hooks
First three seconds. Problem first, always. Spoken flat, never read like an ad.
Your product is great. Your content isn't.
You're not losing to better products. You're losing to better video.
Nobody scrolled past you because your service was bad.
Thirty days. That's how long it takes to fix this.
We've delivered over a thousand of these. Here's what actually works.
Calls to action
Book a call
Primary. End cards, site, DMs.
See the work
Secondary. Social bios, cold outreach.
Get a quote
Tertiary. Print, merch, referral.
Learn more
Never. Says nothing, asks nothing.
Bio & boilerplate
Social bio — 150 characters
Video content that turns your brand into a lead machine. 30 days or less. Phoenix, AZ. 1,000+ delivered.
Short bio — one paragraph
Machine Co. Media is a four-person video studio in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2018, we've delivered over 1,000 videos — short-form built to stop the scroll, long-form built to close. Your product is great. Your content isn't. That's what we fix.
Boilerplate — press and proposals
Founded in 2018 and based in Phoenix, Arizona, Machine Co. Media builds video content that turns brands into lead machines in 30 days or less. The four-person studio has delivered more than 1,000 videos for clients including Doug Hopkins Real Estate, Green Mango Pest Control, Schnepf Farms, Unlimited Ammo, Ready Gunner, Delta Team Tactical, MPWR Solar and United Solar. Services span short-form content built for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, and long-form brand films, testimonials and product explainers.
Email sign-off
MACHINE CO. MEDIA
Phoenix, AZ
www.machineco.net
Section 13

Merch

Black garments only. One mark, one placement, no slogans on the front.

T-shirt
Front: filled mark, 60mm wide, left chest. Back: badge lockup, 240mm wide, centred between shoulder blades.
Tee — front
Front — mark only, 60mm, left chest
Tee — back
Back — badge lockup, 240mm
Hoodie, tote, stickers
Hoodie takes the mark on the sleeve, never the hood. Tote takes the badge at 300mm. Stickers ship in three sizes.
Hoodie
Hoodie — 50mm left sleeve
Tote bag
Tote — badge, 300mm
Sticker sheet
Stickers — 25 / 50 / 90mm die-cut
For the printer
GARMENTBlack only. No heather, no charcoal, no washed black.
INKOne white, one red. Screen print or DTF. No puff, no metallic.
REDPantone 1795 C. Confirm the strike-off before the run.
EYEAlways prints. If the budget is one colour, use the white mark with no eye — never a white eye.
Section 14

Print

Ink the ground. A white page with a black logo on it is not this brand.

Business card
89 × 51mm. Uncoated black stock, white and red screen print. Mark on the face, details on the reverse.
Machine Co.
Media
Phoenix, AZ
www.machineco.net
Editorial spread
Image bleeds to three edges. Type occupies one column and never overlaps the subject.
Full-bleed frame
01 — Case
Stop the scroll
One column of body copy, flush left, set at 14pt minimum on a 1.6 leading. No justification, no hyphenation, no orphans.
Machine Co. Media© 2026
Press spec
STOCKUncoated, 350gsm minimum. Black through, not black printed.
GRAIN34% on print — heavier than screen to survive the halftone.
MIN TYPE12pt body. 9pt mono labels. Never smaller.
BLEED3mm all sides. Rules never sit closer than 8mm to trim.
Section 15

Social

One format: 1080 × 1920. Reels, TikTok and Shorts get the same master.

9:16 safe zones
The red bands are where the platform draws its own interface. Nothing that has to be read goes there.
9:16 still
Top 14% — chrome
Bottom 22% — UI
Live area
MASTER1080 × 1920, H.264, 40 Mbps, 30fps, Rec.709
HOOKSpoken and on-screen within the first 3 seconds. Text lands in the live area, never the top band.
CAPTIONS22% up from base — the top edge of the bottom band. See 10 / Video assets.
MARKBottom-right of the live area at 64px, or omitted entirely. Never a watermark across the frame.
ENDLast 12 frames are the sting. No CTA card that outstays the hook.
Section 16

Rules

If you only read one page, read this one.

Do
01Start from black. Every surface, every frame, every page.
02Keep the grain running. It is the texture of the brand, not an effect.
03Set everything flush left and divide it with a 2px rule.
04Spend red once per screen, and spend it on the thing that matters.
05Lead every piece of copy with the problem.
06Cut hard. Between shots, between sections, between ideas.
07Keep the red eye on the left. It is the one thing that never moves.
08When in doubt, remove something.
Don't
01Round a corner. Anywhere. The radius is zero on purpose.
02Add a second accent colour, however good the reason sounds.
03Run red as a background field or set body copy in it.
04Loop the glitch as ambience. It fires on contact, then stops.
05Centre body copy, or centre a button label.
06Tint, duotone or colour-grade imagery toward a hue.
07Cross-dissolve, spin the logo, or bounce anything.
08Write "elevate", "cinematic", or "next level" in anything we publish.
Machine Co.
Media
Identity System V1.0 — 2026©
Founded 2018 — Phoenix, AZ
www.machineco.net
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