The Decision SentenceField note / 01
We’re deciding [the thing],for [these people],to get [this outcome]by [this date],accepting [this trade-off].
One sentence. One name on the next step.
Just F*cking Ship Itvoltsmethod.com
Brand book
The VOLTS brand,on one page.
Colour, logo, type, voice and the handful of graphic moves that make anything look and sound like VOLTS and Just F*cking Ship It. Built for stuck rooms and shipped work.
01 / Manifesto
What the brand is for.
Most projects don’t fail dramatically. They die quietly, in the meeting that produces no decision.
Just F*cking Ship It is for the people who are done with that. VOLTS is five moves for turning stuck rooms into shipped outcomes: not through charisma or one hero dragging the organisation uphill in the rain, but through moves that work under pressure and can be taught.
The brand works the same way. Direct. Bold. Human. High contrast. No decoration for decoration’s sake. If it doesn’t clarify the work, create movement or make the point harder to ignore, it doesn’t belong.
02 / Colour
Colour with a job.
Lime leads. Pink co-leads. Black gives it weight. Tap a hex to copy it.
Go
Do
It
Now
Rough balance across a page
Pink is small on the page but never missing. Every page should carry at least one pink moment.
Pink as an accentStrike-throughs, label chips, the logo’s dot, a highlighted line, a top rule.
Pink as a band, aloneA full pink section is fine when it isn’t next to a lime one.
Never pink beside limeTwo full fields of pink and lime side by side are too much. Pick one to lead.
Core pairingLime on black
PaceBlack on lime
InterruptionPink on black
Light pagesPink on white
03 / LogoThe blades mark.
The blades mark.
Always with its dot.
The asterisk from the Shipped app icon is the main mark. Three blades, one dot, and the dot is always a contrasting colour.
Method
Method
Method
Method
Clear space = one blade width
- The dotNever removed. Pink on black, lime and white backgrounds; lime on pink.
- Clear spaceAt least one blade width on every side. Nothing crowds it.
- Minimum size16px on screen (the favicon), 8mm in print.
- Wordmark“VOLTS Method” in Archivo Medium, two lines, set to the right of the mark.
- App iconLime mark, pink dot, on black. Used for the favicon and home-screen icon.
Book lockup
Just F*cking
Ship It
Always with the asterisk. Never spelt out, never “JFSI” in headlines.
Shorthand
JFSI
Fine for labels, hashtags and file names. Not for the cover line.
04 / Type
Three typefaces, three jobs.
Headlines + body
Ship the work.
ArchivoMedium 500 for headlines, tight tracking (−0.04em). Regular 400 for body. Sentence case.
Labels + data
01 / Decision Sentence
IBM Plex MonoMedium 500, uppercase, +0.05em tracking. Section labels, buttons, captions, outputs.
Field notes + social
Stop circling.
Poppins ExtraBold800, uppercase, in word blocks. Only on field-note cards, social graphics and the book lockup.
HeroHero 96
SectionSection title 48
LedeLead text 24
BodyBody copy 16, for explanations where readability matters most.
LabelLabel 12
05 / Voice
Write like we talk.
Earned by doing the work, not reading about it. It doesn’t hedge, doesn’t over-explain, and always points to the next move.
The brand is
- Direct and specific. It names the problem.
- Confident without being arrogant.
- Wry, and occasionally profane, but always earned.
- Practical: moves, not theory.
- Respectful of the reader’s intelligence.
- Short when needed. Sharp when useful. Human throughout.
The brand is not
- Jargon. No “leverage synergies”.
- Mealy-mouthed or hedge-everything cautious.
- Inspirational-poster vague.
- Punching down at people doing hard work.
- Swearing for shock value.
- Endless. If it can be cut, cut it.
Don’t write this
Our methodology leverages a suite of facilitated interventions designed to optimise stakeholder alignment and drive organisational momentum.
Write this
VOLTS is five moves. You use them when the room is stuck and the work needs to move. That’s it.
06 / Graphic elementsSimple marks.
Simple marks.
Strong signals.
Signposts, not stickers. Each one highlights movement or draws the eye, then gets out of the way.
Move it forward.
The strip
A lime (or black) block behind the key phrase of a headline. One per headline, at most.
Let’s circle back.
The pink strike
Struck through in pink pen. For meeting-speak, weak versions and the thing we’re replacing.
Weakest move Output
Chips + mono labels
Short uppercase mono labels. Pink for warnings and emphasis, black-and-lime for outputs.
The testField note / 02
“What did wejust decide?”
Ask three people. Privately.
Three answers = a polite misunderstanding.
Run it after your next meeting.
Just F*cking Ship Itvoltsmethod.com
The camouflageField note / 03
Motion,not traction.
An entire vocabulary designed
to sound like progress.
“Just circling back on this…”
Just F*cking Ship Itvoltsmethod.com
Field-note cards: 4:5, dotted lime, black or pink ground, Poppins word blocks, the blades mark with its dot top right, and the footer line “Just F*cking Ship It / voltsmethod.com”.
07 / Rules
Use this when building anything VOLTS.
- Lead with the problem: stuck work, slow decisions, performative alignment, organisational fog.
- Make the next move obvious: scorecard, toolkit, workshop, talk, book.
- Lime for movement. Pink for interruption. Black for weight. White for breathing room.
- Keep headlines big and blunt. If it sounds like a procurement framework, bin it.
- Every output gets a name. Decision Sentence, Proof Plan, Story That Travels. No output, no move.
- Never polite, grey or generic. Useful, confident and slightly allergic to theatre.
Keep it movingKeep it useful. Keep it human.
Keep it useful. Keep it human.
Keep it moving.
If a page looks good but doesn’t move the work, it has failed beautifully.