Hermes brand

Mark, palette, name, tone. One page so client builds, add-on chrome, screenshots and third-party press stay consistent without a design review.

The name

In English the product is Hermes — after the Greek god of messengers, travellers, and crossings. In modern Greek the same name is Ermis (Ἑρμῆς). Both pronunciations are correct; written form is always Hermes outside Greek contexts.

The keyboard shortcut inside Theseus is Ctrl+Shift+E — E for Ermis, and off the collision path with Chrome's own Ctrl+Shift+M ("switch profile").

The mark

A winged helmet (petasos) — the mythological signature of Hermes, the messenger god. Picked over a literal envelope because the envelope is generic (every mail client uses it) and because an envelope doesn't say fast. Works monochrome, scales from 16 px (sidebar icon) to 160 px (hero) without legibility loss. SVG uses currentColor so it inherits whatever text colour it sits in.

16 px — simplified stroke variant
32 px — standard
64 px — on panel
on acid green
amber (unread badge)
DoDon't
Keep the helmet upright, wings symmetrical. Rotate, mirror only one wing, or detach them from the helmet.
Let the mark inherit text colour (currentColor). Hard-code a colour inside the SVG; it limits reuse.
Use the stroke variant below 24 px display size. Scale the standard mark below 20 px — feathers merge.
Pair with the wordmark "Hermes" when context is unclear. Apply to a product with a different protocol or trust model.

Palette

Hermes rides on Silent Mode's colour system — same acid green, same deep panels — so it never looks like a separate app glued on. Warm amber and orange are extra accents for Hermes-specific moments (unread badge, winged-sandals nod).

bg#0b0e14 — primary surface
panel#141a24 — cards, sidebar
acid#d6ff3d — primary action
amber#f4c430 — Hermes accent, unread
orange#FF6D00 — alternate accent
orange-light#FF8C1A — hover, secondary
orange-deep#E65100 — pressed / active
ink#e7eaf1 — body text
mut#8b98a9 — muted text

Voice

Attribution + reuse

Mark + palette are MPL-2.0 along with the rest of the Hermes client source. Use for reviews, press, interoperability docs and the client's own chrome. Don't apply to products not actually Hermes (that includes forks with different protocols or trust models).