Recovery Road, Inc.
A calm, warm, useful brand for hard conversations.
Recovery Road delivers fentanyl education and naloxone training across Orange County under contract with the OC Health Care Agency. Most people meet us at a folding table with twenty minutes to spare. The brand has to be approachable enough that they stop, clear enough that a stranger can follow a naloxone instruction in a panic, and credible enough that the county trusts the numbers.
The identity grew out of Recovery Road OS, the field app: white paper, ink type, a single red accent, and Instrument Serif doing the talking. This page is set from the app's own tokens and components, so what you see here is what the product uses.
Wordmark
The name is set in type. There is no drawn logo. Recovery in Instrument Serif roman, Road in Instrument Serif Italic in red, tracking tightened to -0.02em. This is the primary mark on every brand piece.
Minimum size 18px on screen, 7mm cap height in print. Clear space equal to the height of the capital R on all sides.
Monogram
Two capital R's, the first roman and the second italic, kerned to -0.08em, inside a tile with an 18% corner radius. The glyphs are 55% of the tile height and nudged 4% right because the italic overhangs left.
Ink is the default tile; red and oxblood are variants. Down to 24px on screen, 12mm in print.
Use it
Where the full name will not fit or is already nearby: the favicon and home-screen icon, kit labels, stickers, the stamp on a business card, a social avatar.
Never
Instead of the wordmark on a flyer or a page header. Outlined, with a drop shadow, rotated, or in any face other than Instrument Serif. On a photograph without a solid tile behind it.
Files, rendered by the app from the same geometry: 512px, 192px, 180px square-edged.
Color
Six colors. White is the ground, ink is the type and the deep field, red is the accent and appears once per view where it can. Stone, on-ink stone, and stone ink soften: tiles and callouts on white, type on ink, eyebrows on white.
- White#ffffffThe ground. Paper, page, and app background.
- Stone#efeae6Soft fields: number tiles, callouts, the pale panel.
- On-ink stone#c4bcb6Type and eyebrows on ink only. Never as text on white.
- Stone ink#60564dEyebrows and captions on white.
- Red#8b0000The one accent: the italic word, links, the filled button, the progress fill.
- Ink#1a1a1aType, the monogram tile, and the deep field for flyers, card fronts, and email headers.
| Combination | Use | Contrast |
|---|---|---|
| Ink on white | All body text | 17.4:1 |
| Red on white | Links, one italic word, eyebrows, small accents | 10.0:1 |
| White on red | The filled button, social tiles, monogram variant | 10.0:1 |
| White on ink | Flyers, card fronts, email headers | 17.4:1 |
| On-ink stone on ink | Eyebrows and soft type on dark only | 9.3:1 |
| Stone ink on white | Eyebrows and captions | 7.2:1 |
| Ink on stone | Number tiles, soft callouts | 14.6:1 |
| Red on stone | A link inside a stone callout | 8.4:1 |
| On-ink stone on white | Never as text. Decorative only. | Fails at 1.9:1 |
| Muted ink on white | Secondary text | 6.0:1 |
Red is the one accent. It never fills a whole page except a social tile, and it never marks a status: an error, an overdue date, or a destructive action is ink text with a 6px red dot before it, and a destructive button is filled ink. Success and warning appear only as a 10% tint behind full-strength text. Hover on a red fill goes darker, never lighter.
Typography
Three faces, three jobs. Instrument Serif for anything that should be read as a voice. Public Sans for anything that should be read as information. IBM Plex Mono for the facts.
Fentanyl facts · Orange County
One pill can carry a lethal dose.
Fentanyl is in counterfeit pills and powders across the county. Naloxone reverses an overdose. We will show you how, for free.
Sat Sep 20 · 10:00 to 14:00 · Anaheim Public Library, Central
Serif leads, sans explains, mono closes.
Aa
Instrument Serif
Regular and Italic
Aa
Public Sans
Regular, Medium, Semibold
Aa
IBM Plex Mono
0123456789
| Face | Role | Weights | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument Serif | Display, wordmark, big numbers | Regular, Italic | One weight. Leading 1.0 to 1.05, tracking -0.015em. Italic for a single emphasized word. |
| Public Sans | Body, forms, UI text | 400, 500, 600 | Open source, civic, made for forms. Body 15 to 16px at 1.55 to 1.6. |
| IBM Plex Mono | Facts, labels, captions | 400, 500 | Uppercase with 0.10 to 0.14em tracking for eyebrows. Tabular figures in tables. |
| Level | Size | Face | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 56 to 72px | Serif | Flyer headline, cover |
| Title | 36 to 48px | Serif | Page and section titles, big numbers |
| Subtitle | 22 to 30px | Serif | Card titles, kit instructions |
| Body | 15 to 16px | Sans | Paragraphs, form text |
| Small | 12 to 13px | Sans | Notes, footnotes |
| Label | 10 to 11px | Mono, uppercase | Eyebrows, captions, lot numbers |
In the app, mono carries the secondary facts: dates, counts in lists and tables, activity numbers, lot numbers, durations. Hero figures on the dashboard stay serif, and section labels stay sans.
Iconography
Recovery Road does not use standalone pictograms. Icons appear in two forms only, both inside the typographic system. The Lucide set is the only icon source; nothing is drawn by hand.
Ledger rows
A 16px Lucide icon at 1.75px stroke in red, then a Plex Mono uppercase label, on a hairline. The icon is a bullet for a line item, not a picture. For service lists, program summaries, and report legends.
- Naloxone training and kits
- Fentanyl education
- 34 Orange County cities
- Twenty minutes
Serif coins
A letter or number in Instrument Serif inside a circle: N for naloxone, E for education, 20 for twenty minutes, 911 for the call. Rose with ink type is the default; the secondary tint, red, and ink are variants.
Inside the app, navigation and buttons keep bare 2px Lucide icons beside their labels.
Voice
Calm. Direct. Useful. The voice is v0.1, out for team review. Everyone who writes for Recovery Road, from a flyer to an error message, follows it.
How we sound
Calm. Direct. Useful.
We talk the way a good neighbor talks when something is wrong: quietly, clearly, and with the next step ready. Nobody has to earn our help, and nobody has to explain themselves to get it.
The voice never rises. It does not sell, cheer, warn, or scold. It says what is true, what is free, and what to do next.
Five rules
| Rule | Do | Do not |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Say the thing. Lead with the fact or the action. Put the reason after it if it is needed at all. | Free naloxone. Twenty minutes. Take a kit home. | We believe every community deserves access to life-saving tools. |
| 2. No questions asked, in the words too. Never ask why someone is here. Never imply a reader is at fault, in trouble, or being judged. Speak to the person in the room, not to a category of person. | Someone not breathing? Spray, then call 911. | If you or a loved one struggles with addiction, help is available. |
| 3. Plain words, short sentences. One idea per sentence. Fourth-grade reading level for anything at the table or on a kit. No jargon, no acronyms without the words first. | A stranger should be able to follow every line. | |
| 4. Be exact. Real numbers, real dates, real places. When a figure is an estimate, say so. When we do not know, say that. Never round up to sound bigger. | 1,248 people, Sat Sep 20, Anaheim Public Library. | About 1,300 people. Coming soon. |
| 5. Sentence case, no em dashes, no exclamation points. Headlines, buttons, labels, subject lines: all sentence case. Mono labels are the one exception and are set in caps. Use a period or a middle dot where an em dash would go. | Nothing in the brand shouts. |
One voice, three registers
The voice does not change by audience. The amount of context does.
| Audience | Meets us in | What they need | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the table | Flyers, banners, kits, social, the app | To stop, understand, and leave with something | Shortest possible. Second person. Action first. |
| Partners | Emails, shared events, reports | To follow along and act without a phone call | Complete sentences. Dates, counts, asks. One thing per email. |
| The county | Monthly reports, notices, invoices | To trust the numbers | Neutral. Precise. Every figure sourced, every gap noted. |
Same fact, three registers:
- Table: 1,248 people trained on naloxone since July.
- Partner: Since July 1 we have trained 1,248 people at 31 events. Anaheim Library is next on Sep 20.
- County: 1,248 naloxone training participants, Jul 1 to Sep 5, 2026 (contract target 2,500; 49.9%). Source: RR OS activity log, exported Sep 6.
The type carries the voice
Serif leads, sans explains, mono closes. This is a writing rule as much as a design one.
- Serif (Instrument Serif) is the line someone would say out loud. One idea, ten words or fewer, one italic word if any. The italic is the word that matters most, not decoration.
- Sans (Public Sans) is the explanation. Two to four sentences. Answers the question the serif line raised.
- Mono (IBM Plex Mono) is the fact that closes it: the date, the address, the phone number, the lot number, the URL. Mono never carries opinion.
If a piece has no serif line, it is probably a form or a report. If it has no mono line, it is probably missing the thing someone needs to act.
Words
| Say | Not | Why |
|---|---|---|
| naloxone | Narcan, the antidote | Generic name. We hand out more than one brand. |
| overdose | OD, poisoning | Plain and recognized. |
| a person who uses drugs, someone who is at risk | addict, user, junkie, abuser | Person first, always. |
| substance use, substance use disorder | drug abuse, substance abuse | Current clinical and community standard. |
| in recovery | clean, sober (unless quoting someone about themselves) | Clean implies dirty. |
| died of an overdose | lost their battle, succumbed | No war, no losing. |
| training, session, workshop | empowerment, transformation, journey | Say what happens in the room. |
| free | complimentary, no cost | One syllable. |
| kit | supplies, resources | It is a thing you hold. |
| the county, OC Health Care Agency | our funders, stakeholders | Name them. |
| people, neighbors, community members | clients, consumers, the vulnerable | We do not have clients at the table. |
| Recovery Road, the community center | the organization, the program | Say the name. |
Never use "epidemic," "crisis," or "war" as headline words. The facts are heavy enough without them.
Never use "save a life" as a promise. As an invitation it is fine: Carry it. You could save a life.
Spanish
Spanish is a first language for the brand, not a translation layer.
- Write Spanish copy in Spanish from the start. Do not translate the English line word for word; find the plain Spanish way to say it, then check that the two match in meaning.
- Same rules apply: sentence case, no em dashes, short sentences, informal register (tú) at the table, formal (usted) with partners and the county.
- Naloxona, sobredosis, gratis, sin preguntas. Keep the vocabulary consistent across every piece.
- On bilingual pieces, each language gets its own tile or side. Do not stack the two languages line by line on the same surface.
- Field staff who speak Spanish review every Spanish line before it prints.
Numbers, claims, and the county
- Every number in a public piece traces to a record in Recovery Road OS or a named source.
- Contract numbers show progress against the target, not the target alone: 1,248 of 2,500.
- Never claim a life saved unless it is a documented reversal and the person consented to have it counted and told.
- Health claims stay inside what the training teaches. Naloxone reverses an opioid overdose. It does not treat anything else, and we do not say it does.
- Estimates are labeled. About 40 people. Roughly one in three.
- Required language. Materials funded by the county carry the funding statement and the no-unlawful-use disclaimer. Both sit in mono at the close of the piece, full strength, never hidden in a tint. The statement reads exactly as the contract specifies and is not paraphrased.
The app and the system
Recovery Road OS and the free app speak in the same voice. Software is where brands usually start yelling; ours does not.
| Element | Rule | Say | Not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttons | Say what happens. | Get free naloxone. Book the pantry. Save. | Submit. Go. Let's do this. |
| Confirmations | State the fact. | Saved. Sent to the county on Sep 6. | Success! Great job. |
| Errors | What happened and what to do, in that order. | We could not save this. Check the date and try again. | Oops. Something went wrong. A blank. |
| Empty states | Instructions, not personality. | No activities logged yet. Log the first one. | Nothing to see here. |
| Notifications | A fact and a time. | Free training this Saturday, Anaheim. Sep 20, 10:00. | Don't miss out. |
| Status and validation | Neutral. The system reports; it does not judge. | Under 45 minutes. This will be saved but will not count toward the contract goal. |
No emoji in the product. No exclamation points. No "we" in error messages when the fault is ours; say what to do, not how we feel.
In use
Six surfaces, one voice.
Flyer. FREE · NO QUESTIONS ASKED · TAKE A KIT HOME. Learn to use naloxone in twenty minutes. SAT SEP 20 · 10:00 TO 14:00 · ANAHEIM PUBLIC LIBRARY, CENTRAL · SPANISH + ENGLISH.
Text reminder. Recovery Road: Free naloxone training tomorrow, Sat Sep 20, 10:00, Anaheim Public Library. 20 minutes. Take a kit home. Reply STOP to opt out.
Partner email. Subject: Naloxone training at your branch, Sep 20. Hi Dana, we are set for Saturday, Sep 20, 10:00 to 14:00 in the community room. Two trainers, Spanish and English, about 60 kits. Two things from you: a table near the entrance, and a line on your events page if there is still time. Copy is below. Thanks, Maria.
Instagram caption. 1,248 people trained on naloxone since July. Next one is Saturday in Anaheim. Free, twenty minutes, take a kit home. Link in bio.
County report line. Naloxone training participants, Aug 2026: 512 (contract target 2,500; cumulative 1,248, 49.9%). 26 events, 9 in high-risk zip codes. Source: RR OS activity log.
Donation page. Twenty dollars puts two doses of naloxone in someone's hands. Every kit is free to the person who takes it. RECOVERYROAD.ORG/GIVE.
Before it ships
- Would a scared stranger stop, understand, and know what to do next?
- Is the first line a fact or an action?
- Is there a number, date, or place, and does it trace to a record?
- Sentence case? No em dashes? No exclamation points?
- Person-first language throughout?
- Spanish written as Spanish, reviewed by a Spanish speaker?
- Funding statement and disclaimer present on county-funded pieces?
- Does mono close it with the thing someone needs to act?
Still open
- Spanish register (tú or usted at the table), to confirm with field staff.
- Whether "Service above self" is a tagline or a line from the founding story. It reads as the second; keep it to the archive post and the community center, not headlines.
- Donation and volunteer voice, not yet tested against real copy.
Photography
Real life, in color, in Orange County. Training in progress in small groups, the streets and neighborhoods we work in, and community members who have agreed to be photographed and named. Nothing staged.
Show
- Color by default. Grade gently toward warm highlights and ink shadows, or leave it natural. A little grain is welcome.
- Black and white for the archive: past events, the founding story. It marks time, not mood.
- Duotone (ink shadows, stone highlights) for one job only: a photograph under type.
- Type on a solid ink panel beside or over the image, never directly on the photograph.
Never
- Heavy filters, stock photography, or a current training in black and white.
- Anyone who has not signed a release. Minors need a guardian's release.
- Faces of people who use drugs shown as a category rather than as named neighbors.
- A photograph without the photographer credited in Plex Mono at the foot of the piece.
Status
Decided
Round 1 (September 5, 2026): the wordmark, the RR monogram on an ink tile, Instrument Serif with Public Sans and IBM Plex Mono, ledger rows and serif coins for iconography, and the photography rules. The app adopted the fonts and the marks on September 7. Round 4 (September 14): the founder's red as the accent on a white ground with rose tints (palette 5A), and the status rule that errors and overdue items are ink with a red dot (4D). The app adopted both the same day. October 12, 2026: at the founder's request, warm stone tints (palette 11A, hue 60) replaced the rose tints everywhere, keeping black, white, and the red.
Open
The voice (v0.1, September 7) is out for team review. Photographs are not yet sourced. Spanish register at the table is to be confirmed with field staff. No drawn symbol beyond the monogram is planned.