Brand System · FEAT-006

Domain identity

Domain identity is a semantic overlay on the one Alterspective brand — not a separate brand and never a raw colour palette. The logo, type, and palette stay constant; a domain shifts emphasis, tone, structure, and iconography so a business area feels purpose-built without fragmenting the brand.

Shared vs domain App category Surface density Icons & signals Token aliases The seven domains

Start shared. Earn the domain.

The shared Alterspective identity is the default. Reach for a domain identity only when a surface is clearly owned by one business area and genuinely benefits from its cues.

Use the shared identity when…

The surface spans multiple business areas or is the company front door.
The audience is a client or the public and trust is the priority.
You are unsure — the shared identity is always a safe, correct default.

Apply a domain identity when…

One business area clearly owns the surface (a delivery board, a security console).
Domain-specific language and structure make the work easier to do.
You can express it through token aliases and a non-colour cue — not a new palette.

App category sets the ceiling

Each domain declares its default audiences. The audience decides how expressive a surface may be and how much evidence it must carry.

Internal

Team-facing product surfaces. Optimise for speed, density, and decision-making. Domain cues are welcome; decoration is not.

Client-facing

Surfaces a client sees inside an engagement. Calmer, evidence-led, and unmistakably Alterspective. Domain identity stays subtle.

Public

Marketing and brand-facing surfaces. The most room for expression — but the expression still has a job: recognition and trust.

Cross-domain

Surfaces that span several business areas. Lead with the shared identity and use domain cues only to label, never to theme the whole page.

Surface class sets the density

Surface class is a governed dial for how dense and how expressive a domain surface should be.

Restrained

Dense · utilitarian

Information-first tools. Minimal accent, generous data, no flourish. Used where focus and trust matter most (engineering, security).

Standard product

Balanced

The default product surface. Clear hierarchy, one confident accent, real iconography. Most domains live here.

Expressive flagship

Editorial

Public, high-impact surfaces. More motion, more storytelling — still governed, never generic. Reserved for marketing-grade work.

Never colour alone

Icons are outlined Alterspective marks

Every domain carries an outlined icon from the Alterspective set — never a filled glyph, never an emoji in product chrome. The icon reinforces the domain at a glance.

Always pair colour with a non-colour cue

A domain must be identifiable without relying on colour. Every usage needs a visible label or an accessible icon with an ariaLabel. Colour-only domain signalling fails accessibility and is rejected by the validator.

Enforced by UX-BRAND-05 · A11Y-001 and validate_domain_usage.

Token aliases, not raw colour

A domain never introduces a new hex value. It maps six semantic roles to approved brand tokens. That keeps every domain inside the palette, contrast-checked, and automatically correct in dark mode.

accent

The domain’s primary emphasis colour — buttons, active states, key marks.

accentText

Text/icon colour that sits on the accent. Pre-checked for contrast.

surface

The domain panel or container background.

surfaceText

Body text colour on the domain surface.

border

Dividers and outlines within the domain surface.

focus

Keyboard focus ring — always visible, always brand.

Raw hex values are forbidden in a domain record. The validator returns RAW_HEX_ALIAS for anything that is not a #/palette/* or #/semantic/* reference.