MADE Brand Guidelines

Mission

MADE began in 2010, when our founders struggled to find seriously stylish pieces for their homes, at a price they loved. Their mission was to make high-end design accessible to the masses. All these years on, and design is still at the heart of what we do. We’re all about making brave choices and disrupting the traditional furniture market. You’ll find new favourites and cult classics from the minds of MADE’s in-house and independent designers. We work with a wide network of collaborators, manufacturers and industry experts to bring our amazing products to life, offering customers high-end furniture without the high-end price tag. All MADE collections are available to shop at made.com.

Voice

If MADE.COM was a person, they’d be the Interior Designer Next Door. They understand how personal home are, and want to help people express themselves through their style choices.

Obsessive about design, they’re on a mission to share their expertise and spark inspiration. A natural trend-setter, they have an encyclopaedic knowledge of designers, artists and cultural references.

And they live next door. You’re on first name terms. They’re easy to talk to - never elitist or cold.

That’s how MADE sounds.

Style, cornered

Solid acacia wood, powder-coated metal frame, soft cushioned seats - Myat’s got style covered from all angles. Our in-house design team describe this dining set as a “modern classic for outdoor lounging” - and we couldnt agree more.

Takeaways

Use quotes to bring the voice of the design team to life - this personalises our copy and makes it exclusive to MADE. Choose your quotes wisely; pick ones that shine a light on the function, purpose and inspiration behind the piece, or highlight unique details.
Nb. Because copy has to be evergreen, don’t call out peoples names within the team.

New wave design

If you're after that one statement piece for your living room, then invest in Memphis. Take a closer look at those padded curves, that ochre velvet and the angled backrest. It was designed by Busetti Garuti Redaelli - an Italian design collective who bring innovation to everyday objects. And because of its earthy colour, it'll work harmoniously in any style of home.

Takeaways

The key here is to align copy with the campaign concept. e.g. if the campaign's all about statement shapes, then make sure this is the focus of the product copy, too.
Use the campaign headline as the thumbnail title for a red thread of consistency.

Include styling inspiration for items that are potentially difficult to style e.g. - consider what kind of home or room it could work in and what colours it'll complement.

Emphasise versatility to give customers the confidence to envision more 'out-there' pieces in their home.

Email newsletter example 1

Subject line

New for October: Our autumn arrivals

Preheader

Expect rich colours and soft textures

Headline

Autumn arrivals

Body

Deep greens, rich oranges and plenty of soft textures - our new styles have arrived to help you make the most of autumn.

CTA

Shop now

Email newsletter example 2

Subject line

What just landed: April addition

Preheader

Plus, there's free delivery on everything

Headline

A fresh perspective

Body

A new month calls for new inspiration, so here's what's new for April. Think energising colour, natural materials and textural details. And there's free delivery on everything too.

CTA

Shop now

Logo

Overview 

Download Logo

The logo is a brand symbol. It’s a combination of the screwhead icon and the wordmark. We use MADE for OOH marketing and campaigns, emails, website and social channels. 

Space 

Download Logo

The logo should have a space at least equivalent to its height above and below it, and either side should have a minimum space equivalent to the width of the M.

Placement 

For OOH we put the logo at a 90° angle. Size is determined by thirds and outer padding is determined by the relative size of the icon.

Animation 

Used typically on endframes, this animation portrays the character and fun nature of the Made brand.

Brand partnerships 

Standardising how we sit visually amongst our friends.

Typography

Overview

Download the typeface
‍

DM Sans is a versatile typeface that strikes a perfect balance between strength and subtlety. Its simple, clear design allows it
to convey a sense of calm, while its rounded forms add a touch
of playfulness, making it adaptable for a wide range of applications.

We use two weights to display hierarchy, DM Sans Medium and Regular, they can be used separately and together in various ways. DM Sans Regular is used primarily for copy, sells and captions, while DM Sans Bold is used primarily for display and sub headings.

DM Sans Medium / Headings

DM Sans Regular / Body copy

Kerning

For large headings, or anything over 120px in size, we should kern a little tighter than usual. This helps us keep things nice and connected and prevents our type looking disconnected. For all other headings and body copy, tracking should be kept optically standard.

Lineheight

For all headings, line-height (or leading), should be optically defined. For body copy, all leading should be set to 150% to ensure accessible reading.

Hierachy

Using the below system, we can create a consistent sense of hierachy across all channels. Using the default type setting for the creative (in this case 60px) we can multiply and divide by 1.5 to create consistent sizing increments.

Typography

Overview

Bauhaus Soft Display adds a unique charm and warmth to the brand, infusing our campaigns with personality and approachability. Its rounded forms and playful aesthetics embody a sense of creativity and modernity, allowing us to connect more intimately with our audience.

Link to download coming soon

Bauhaus Soft Display Light / Body

Bauhaus Soft Display Light / Headings

Bauhaus Soft Display is used to make a bold impact as a heading typeface, thanks to its geometric forms and playful character. However, its distinctive style can make it challenging for extended text, which is why it is recommended solely for headings. To ensure optimal readability it will be complemented by our DM Sans typeface, which offers clean lines and clarity for body copy.

Kerning

For large headings, or anything over 120px in size, we should kern a little tighter than usual. This helps us keep things nice and connected and prevents our type looking disconnected.

For all other headings and body copy, tracking should be kept optically standard.

Typography

CTA

We use DM Sans Regular Underlined for our CTAs across all channels to ensure our customers can easily take action.

This is the default underline CTA. Using underlines to match the weight of the typeface, we create visual synergy. We will also ‘skip’ descenders to create a more visually interesting CTA structure.

This is the secondary CTA. Using a sharp box we use DM Sans Medium and add padding around the text as follow:

2em horizontally
1em vertically

In places where it's unclear where to send the customer, we shall use the URL as a CTA only. This will have low hierachy and only be used to create conversion clarity.

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