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Level Brand guidelines, v0.2
Level

The prediction market that levels with you.

A sports-forward exchange that wins on responsibility and legibility. This is the brand system, built around the position, not onto it.

01
Positioning

Level with you.
Level-headed.
A level playing field.

For the sports fan who wants to back a real read without being hustled or hooked, Level is the prediction market that leads with responsibility and legibility, the one a parent, a regulator, and a casual fan can all trust.

Mission. Make real-world uncertainty legible, and make staking on it something you stay in control of.

Promise. The real odds, plainly, with protection built in.

02
Principles

Five rules everything answers to.

Protection is the product

Harm-reduction is not the cost of doing business, it is the reason to choose Level. We design it first and market it openly.

Legibility is harm reduction

You cannot make a responsible decision about a market you do not understand. Plain language is protection, not polish.

Honest about being a market

Fees and the house position are shown plainly. We never pretend the user is playing against the universe.

Restraint is the brand

There is no engagement bait, no streaks, and no urgency theater, and the amber is hoarded for what matters. Discipline reads as trust.

Audience-first

Design for the curious fan, protect the at-risk one, and let the same system do both. Lead with the person, not the exchange.

The test

If a feature only works because the user cannot stop, it does not ship. Every decision is checked against that line.

03
Personality

A straight-shooting friend who knows the market.

Not a hype man, not a nanny. Level is the person at the bar who actually understands how the odds work and will tell you the truth, including when to call it a night.

We are
ClearLevel-headedConfidentWarmStraightFun about the sportGrown-up
We are not
HypedAdrenaline-chasingPreachyCryptoCasinoSlickCold
04
Audience

Who we design for, and who we protect.

The curious fan

Primary. This is the fan who follows the game closely and wants to back a read, not work a terminal or a slot machine, and legibility is what serves them.

The at-risk user

Our duty. This is the 18-to-20 cohort the category can reach a rung below the sportsbook age wall, along with the young men addiction research flags most, and protection on by default is what serves them.

The trust halo

These are the parents, regulators, and journalists. They never stake, but they decide whether Level reads as the credible one, so every responsible choice speaks to them.

Level rejects casino-style loyalty tiers outright. The only access distinction is responsibility-based, Starter for 18 to 20 or new users, and Standard. That is a protection boundary, not a reward ladder.

05
The field

The white space we claim.

The category is racing into a documented harm problem while optimizing for the opposite of protection. The visual field is just as crowded, and Level steps out of it on purpose. Industry figures below are sourced in the research file and describe the market, never Level.

Kalshi

Clean, brokerage-like, the volume leader. Already calm, so visual softness is not the wedge.

Polymarket

Crypto-native, a trading terminal. Blue, dark, built for active traders.

FanDuel, DraftKings

Sportsbooks with CME. Blue and vibrant green, engagement machines by model.

Level

Warm amber, ink, and bone. The responsible, legible one, in the category's most harmful corner.

~$21B

monthly volume marker

~$1T

projected annual volume by 2030 (Bernstein)

18 to 21

the access loophole Level designs around

06
Messaging

What we say, and how it ladders.

Tagline

Level with you.

Alternates: "Know the odds. Stay in control." and "A read you can trust."

Boilerplate

Level is a sports-forward prediction market built on responsibility and legibility. It shows the real odds in plain language, explains a market before you stake on it, and builds protection in by default. A speculative concept, not a live product.

Key messages, by audience

  • Curious fan. Back a real read, with the odds in plain English and an assistant that explains the market first.
  • At-risk user. Limits on by default, an honest Starter mode, and self-control tools that are easy to find and easy to use.
  • Trust halo. The prediction market designed to be the one you would not worry about.
  • Press and partners. Proof that the category can grow up without preying on the people rushing into it.
07
Vocabulary

The words enact the position.

Language is the first place a responsible brand either holds or breaks. Level talks like a market and a fan, never like a casino. The contrast is deliberate, and it is a rule, not a preference.

We use
stakemarketreadpositionprobabilityoddsresolvelimitin control
We avoid
betgambleactionlockjuicestreakcan't losedon't miss outgo all in
08
Voice and tone

One voice, tuned to the moment.

Plain, confident, and warm throughout. The tone shifts with the stakes of the moment, calmest exactly when the category would push hardest.

Onboarding
"Real money, real outcomes. Let us set your limits before you start."
Honest up front, sets protection as the default first move.
Explaining a market
"The crowd has this at 62%. Here is what it resolves on, and why."
Legibility as the lead. Teaches before it invites a stake.
A win
"Settled. That one went your way."
Acknowledged, not celebrated. No reward loop on the act of staking.
A loss
"Didn't land this time. Your running total is right here."
Same restraint as a win. The honest number stays visible.
Nearing a limit
"You are near your limit for today. Want to stop here?"
Framed as the user's own control, never a scold.
Support and self-exclusion
"Want a break? Choose how long, and we will hold you to it."
Plain, immediate, no friction to leave, a clear path to help.
10
Color

Ink and bone, with one signal.

A grounded, near-neutral base carries the brand. Amber does the work of a signal: it marks the live, the selected, and the true. It never floods a surface.

Ink
#16181C
Primary dark. Surfaces, type, the steady ground.
Bone
#EBE6DB
Primary light. Warm, human, never clinical white.
Signal
#F2A436
The accent. Live data, selection, the index point.
Ember
#C9742A
Deeper amber for pressed and hover states.

The amber discipline

Signal covers no more than about a tenth of any screen, reserved for the live probability, the user's selection, the index point, and a single primary action. Never a background behind body text, never used to manufacture urgency. A product that hoards its accent for what matters signals it is not playing you.

Functional color, kept honest

Outcomes are never colored. Green reads as money and red as loss, and both nudge behavior, so Yes and No stay neutral. Red is held in reserve for one job only, genuine self-exclusion and support, so that when it appears it actually means stop.

Live and selected Neutral outcome Stop only
11
Typography

Serif voice, plain text, mono data.

Three voices, clearly divided. Zodiak, a contemporary serif, carries the wordmark and the headlines and gives Level a credible, considered tone closer to a paper of record than a betting app. Supreme handles body and interface text, plain and built for fast reading. JetBrains Mono sets every number, so the data reads like measured machine truth, not a flashing scoreboard.

The monospace is doing real work, not decoration. Its fixed-width figures make columns of odds line up and hold still as they update, which is exactly the legibility the brand promises. Numbers are a first-class material here.

Display / ZodiakLevel
Heading / ZodiakWill it rain on kickoff?
Data / JetBrains Mono62%  48.5  +120
Body / SupremeUnderstand the market before you stake on it.
RoleFamilyWeightSize / line
DisplayZodiak50048 to 96 / 0.9
HeadingZodiak50020 to 36 / 1.06
BodySupreme40016 / 1.65
Label, captionSupreme50013 to 14 / 1.4
Data, numeralsJetBrains Mono400 to 600tabular figures on
Eyebrow, tagJetBrains Mono50012 / uppercase, tracked

Fallbacks: Georgia for Zodiak, system sans for Supreme, ui-monospace for JetBrains Mono. Never set body below 14px. Headlines stay sentence case.

12
Data and probability

Odds you can actually read.

Probability leads, always in plain percentage, with implied odds available but secondary. Yes and no are not casino green and red. Level keeps them neutral and lets amber mark only the choice the user actually made.

Will the home side win?
Resolves at full time, today 8:00pm. Fee 1.5%, shown up front.
62%implied chance, Yes
Yes62%
No38%
Live Explain this market Your limit, $20 left today

Rules of the treatment

  • Percentage is the hero. Implied odds and price are secondary, for the users who want them.
  • Yes and no stay neutral. Amber marks only the user's selection, never the outcome the house prefers.
  • The fee and resolution time are on the card, not in a help doc.
  • A standing limit chip is always visible, framed as control, not restriction.
  • No countdown timers engineered for urgency. Time is shown plainly when it matters.
13
Data visualization

Charts that inform, never excite.

Level is a data product, so charts are core, not garnish. They share the type and color rules: mono labels, amber for the live or selected series, neutral grey for everything else, and no decorative gradients or 3D. A chart should make a probability easier to understand, never make it look like a jackpot climbing.

Outcome distribution

Home win62%
Draw22%
Away win16%

Amber marks the leading or user-selected outcome. The rest stay neutral grey.

Rules

  • One amber series at most, for the live or selected value. Everything else is neutral.
  • Always label the real number in mono. No chart without its figure.
  • No gradients, glows, 3D, or animated counters that tick upward like a prize.
  • Probability over price by default. Show price only on request.
  • Axes and gridlines are hairlines, never louder than the data.
14
Iconography

Quiet line icons, level by default.

Single-weight 1.6px line, rounded joins and caps, drawn on a 24px grid. Geometric but friendly, never filled and never sharp-cornered. The datum line and the level bubble recur as a motif: a horizontal rule with a centered point. Amber appears in an icon only to mark a live or active state.

15
Imagery

The watching, not the winning.

Yes
  • Real fans in real moments, documentary and natural light.
  • The lean-in of watching a game, the group chat, the call.
  • Warm, grounded tones that sit with ink and bone.
  • Honest crops, texture, the everyday.
No
  • Cash fans, gold, confetti, or trophy-grab clichés.
  • Glossy stock of the excited gambler at a screen.
  • Neon, casino light, crypto-grid backdrops.
  • Anything that sells the payout over the moment.
16
Layout

Generous, grounded, on a baseline.

The grid

A 12-column grid with wide gutters. Content sits on a clear horizontal baseline, the datum motif carried into layout as the line things rest on.

Spacing

An 8px base scale: 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 80. Whitespace is a feature, the same restraint as the color, giving data room to breathe.

Radius

10 to 14px on cards and controls. Soft enough to feel human, never pill-shaped except for status chips.

17
Components

A few core parts.

Buttons

Place stake Explain market Not now

Primary is bone on ink, calm and high-contrast. Amber fills a button only for the single most important confirming action on a screen, never two at once.

Confirm, $5 stake

Inputs and chips

Live Starter mode Limit, $20 left

Inputs use mono so figures stay legible. Status chips carry protection context plainly, never hidden in a menu.

18
Motion

It settles to level.

Decelerate to rest

Transitions ease out and stop calmly, like a bubble finding level. Standard 240ms, ease-out. Nothing snaps, bounces, or flashes.

No celebration

A win and a loss get the same restraint. No confetti, no fireworks, no sound that rewards the act of staking.

The index moves last

When data updates, the amber point eases to its new position so the change is legible, never alarming.

19
Responsible use, in the design language

Protection looks calm, never punitive.

The harm-reduction system has its own visual register, and it is deliberately not the language of alarm. Limits, cooldowns, and check-ins use the calm bone-on-ink base with a quiet amber marker, the same family as the rest of the product. Protection is presented as control the user holds, so it never feels like a scold.

  • Limits and balances render in the standard data style, plainly, always reachable.
  • Red is reserved for genuine self-exclusion and support, never for an ordinary loss.
  • Starter mode for 18 to 20 users is badged as a smarter on-ramp, in brand, not greyed out.
  • Self-exclusion and support sit one tap away, with no dark-pattern friction to leave.
  • The risk model intervenes with a cooldown and resources, never an upsell.
20
Accessibility

Legible is the whole point.

Accessibility is not a separate checklist here, it is the same promise as legibility, extended to everyone. If a person cannot read the odds, they cannot make a responsible decision.

Contrast

Bone on ink clears AAA for body text. Amber is used for large text, data, and graphic marks, not small body copy, where its contrast on ink is insufficient.

Never color alone

Meaning never rides on color. Yes and no carry labels and position, selection carries a border, live carries a dot and a word.

Motion and size

Reduced-motion is respected, animation is never required to understand state. Body never below 14px, touch targets at least 44px.

21
Applications

The brand in the world.

Light or dark, the system holds: ink and bone do the work, amber stays disciplined, the datum line and the index point carry recognition. A few first touchpoints.

L

App icon

The L on its datum, amber index true. Recognizable at 24px.

Social avatar

Same lockup, full bleed on ink. The index point is the only color, so it reads in a crowded feed.

Merch and print

Bone stock, ink type, a single amber datum tick. Quiet, premium, anti-merch-table.

Know the odds. Stay in control.
Level, the prediction market that levels with you

Out-of-home and social keep one idea per frame, the headline in Zodiak, the endline in mono, never a price or an urgency line.