News, made simple.

Brand guide · v1 · "mer" comes from mermaid: at home in the deep, always surfacing with what matters.

Logo

The mark is a lowercase m. Its last stroke stops short, and below it hangs a mermaid's tail — a thin stem and a wide fin. The tail is always solid red and never touches the white: it's the one spot of color that says "this is mer". Flat colors only, no gradients or shading in the mark.

mer.news logo

Primary lockup — on light

Mark + wordmark. Use on white and light backgrounds.
mer-logo.svg

Reversed — on dark

White tile, abyss m, red fin. Header, footer, video and dark mode.
mer-mark-light.svg

Mark & favicon

App icon, social avatar, browser tab. Holds up down to 16px.
mer-mark.svgfavicon.svg
✦ Simple

Simple badge

Marks every brief written with AI from several outlets. Always paired with the source list.
mer.newsmer Simple

Name in text

Always lowercase: mer.news, or mer for short. Never "MER" or "Mer News".

Color

From the deep sea. Blues and teals carry the brand; red is reserved for the fin, breaking news and live — so it always means something.

Abyss
#062A3A--brand-2
Header, footer, logo tile
Deep
#0B5A70--brand
Buttons, gradients
Current
#0B6E87--brand-ink
Links, kickers
Seafoam
#2EC4B6--seafoam
Simple, highlights, dark-mode links
Fin Red
#E5262E--accent
Fin, breaking, live
Pearl
#F3F6F7--bg
Page background

Type

Inter TightHeadlines, logo, numbers · 700–900
House blocks bid to impeach defense secretary
InterInterface, labels, captions · 400–800
Navigation, buttons, bylines and everything you tap. Politics · CBS News
Source Serif 4Long-form reading · 400/600
Article bodies use a calm serif at 20px with generous spacing, so a long read never feels like work.

Voice

mer explains the news the way a smart friend would: clearly, calmly, and without spin.

  • Simple, not simplistic. Short sentences and everyday words — but every important fact stays in.
  • Calm. No hype, no "you won't believe". Red is for real breaking news only.
  • Sourced. Claims are attributed ("Israel says…", "according to BBC News…"), and every story links to its sources.
  • Fair. Where outlets disagree, we say so instead of picking a side.
  • Honest about AI. Anything written with AI carries the ✦ Simple badge and its full source list.
  • Useful. Every story answers three questions: what happened, why it matters, what's next.

✓ Write like this

The House voted to stop an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Democrats say they may try again next year.

✕ Not like this

SHOCKING: Hegseth ESCAPES impeachment in stunning late-night vote — here's what Democrats don't want you to know!