The CI Web Group brand guide.
How to use the CI Web Group and Hydra OS brand — our logo, our electric-blue color system, our type, our voice, and the family of brands we own. Use this as the source of truth for any site, deck, ad, partner lockup, or piece of swag that carries our name.
AI-first marketing for the trades — since 2006.
CI Web Group is the AI-first marketing operating system for trade and professional service businesses. We build the website, run SEO and AI search, ship the content, and convert the leads — on our own platform, Hydra OS, directed by senior strategists with 20+ years in the trades.
The brand is confident, technical, and honest — premium without being corporate. The look is dark and high-tech with a single electric-blue accent and a tall, condensed display type. When in doubt, keep it clean, keep it blue, and let the work speak.
One mark. Used with room to breathe.
The CI Web Group logo pairs the globe mark with the wordmark. Use the full-color version on light backgrounds and the reversed (all-white) version on dark or photo backgrounds. Never re-type or re-space it — always use the supplied artwork.
On light — full colorOn dark — reversed (white)Keep clear space around the logo equal to the height of the “C” in the wordmark on all sides. Nothing — text, edges, or other logos — enters that zone.
Don't use the full logo below 120px wide on screen (or 1 inch in print). Below that, use the globe mark alone.
Protect the mark.
The logo only works when it's used consistently. These are the things to never do — they erode the brand and, for partners, fall outside approved use.
- Don't recolor the logo or the mark — only the approved blue, full-color, all-white (reversed), or all-ink versions.
- Don't stretch, squash, rotate, or change the proportions of the logo or wordmark.
- Don't add drop shadows, outlines, gradients, or effects.
- Don't place the logo on a busy photo or a low-contrast background — keep it on solid paper, deep, or a clean image area.
- Don't recreate, re-type, or re-space the wordmark — always use the supplied artwork.
- Don't crowd it — always keep the minimum clear space (see below).
One electric blue. A lot of restraint.
The brand runs on a single electric-blue accent against near-black and clean paper. Use blue intentionally — for emphasis, links, and calls to action — not as a fill. Solid blue buttons always carry white text (it clears WCAG AA contrast).
Primary brand accent — text, links, icons, buttons
oklch(0.5 0.17 262) · #1e40af (primary)
Accent on dark surfaces (legible on near-black)
oklch(0.72 0.24 262) · #0ea5e9 (secondary)
Dark hero / section background
oklch(0.14 0.03 260) · ~#0e1320
Cards & tiles on dark sections
oklch(0.2 0.04 260) · ~#1a2236
Primary text on light
oklch(0.18 0.02 260) · ~#1f2433
Light background / reversed text
oklch(0.985 0.004 240) · ~#fafbfc
Bebas Neue + Barlow.
All headlines and big numbers. Tall, condensed, uppercase. Tight leading. Never use it for body copy.
All body copy, labels, and UI. Weights 400–700. Use 600/700 for emphasis and uppercase tracked labels.
Expert. Honest. Trades-fluent.
Confident, plain-spoken, and technical when it counts. We lead with outcomes, back claims with proof, and respect the reader's time.
Hypey, jargon-stuffed, or corporate. No empty buzzwords, no overpromising, no talking down to owners who run real businesses.
A senior operator who's done this for 20 years and genuinely wants you to win — direct, warm, and never pushy.
Dark space. A blue signal.
Our signature visual is a near-black field with a single electric-blue glow and thin concentric arcs radiating from one corner — the “signal” of Hydra OS. Pair it with real, candid photography of the team and the trades. Avoid generic stock, clip-art AI brains, and rainbow gradients.
The brands we own and operate.
CI Web Group is the parent. Each property below is ours — built to educate, equip, and grow the trades. Use the same blue-forward, clean treatment across all of them.
The AI-first marketing operating system — the autonomous core.
Visit ↗
Free AI-education community for the trades — 1,000+ pros.
Visit ↗
Free AI tools, calculators & playbooks for contractors.
Visit ↗
The CI Web Group podcast for home-service operators.
Visit ↗
Founder & CEO — keynote speaker on AI in the trades.
Visit ↗The brands we back.
These aren't wholly-owned CI Web Group properties — they're brands we believe in enough to invest in. Each is a client we hold a small equity position in. Present them as partners we stand behind, not as our own brands.
Lock-ups with our partners.
Manufacturers, distributors, and alliance partners sometimes present the CI Web Group mark alongside their own. A few rules keep those lock-ups clean and approved.
- Separate the two logos with a thin vertical divider and equal clear space — never overlap or merge them.
- Match optical size (visual weight), not pixel height — our wordmark and a partner mark should feel balanced.
- Use the approved full-color or reversed CI Web Group logo only — never recolor it to match a partner palette.
- Partner co-marketing using our name or logo should be approved by CI Web Group first.
Use it well — and ask if unsure.
“CI Web Group,” “Hydra OS,” the globe mark, and our owned brands are trademarks of CI Web Group. Affiliate brands (Trade Rated, Built by the Trades, OnePath.AI) are the property of their respective owners and shown with permission. Use of any name or logo outside of approved partner and press use requires written permission — and don't imply endorsement, partnership, or affiliation you don't have.
Need a specific asset, a co-branded lock-up, or sign-off on a use? Reach the brand team and we'll get you what you need.