ReSI operates at the intersection of policy, data, and storytelling. The brand should feel rigorous without being cold, urgent without being alarmist, and global while remaining rooted in the specific realities of island life.
The tone is that of a well-edited journal that happens to care deeply about the world: editorial restraint, institutional credibility, and an underlying belief that clarity is a form of respect for the audience.
Positioning
Academic authority meets editorial discipline. Not activist, not corporate.
Feeling
Serious. Energetic. Grounded. Precise. Quietly urgent.
Reference points
A24, Annapurna, Tetragrammaton, Another Magazine, RadicalMedia
What it is not
NGO-clip-art, government-form-gray, activist-bright, startup-gradient
RESI exists to improve resilience and sustainability outcomes for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through research, data, narrative, and media.
Mission statement
Resilient and Sustainable Island Initiative advances the policies, evidence, and stories that small island nations need to adapt, endure, and lead.
Use
SIDS — spell out on first reference
island nations, island states
resilience, adaptation, endurance
evidence-based, policy-focused
Avoid
developing countries (too broad)
third world, underdeveloped
climate crisis as standalone rallying cry
saving islands / saving the planet
RESI sits beneath ODI (Overseas Development Initiative) as a SIDS-focused initiative. Two special projects live under ReSI: the Data Lab and Climate Blueprint (documentary film series).
Parent
ODI — Overseas Development Initiative
Initiative
RESI — Resilient & Sustainable Island Initiative
Sub-project A
The Lab — data visualization and interactive research
Sub-project B
Climate Blueprint — documentary film series
The primary mark is the ReSI logotype — the lowercase ‘e’ is a deliberate choice that softens the institutional weight of a full acronym and gives the wordmark a quiet personality. The standalone R serves as the favicon and app icon.
RESI
Resilient & Sustainable Island Initiative
Primary — light background
RESI
Resilient & Sustainable Island Initiative
Primary — dark background
Mark only — favicon / icon usage
Do
Use logotype on all primary communications
Use mark-only (R) at favicon scale
Maintain clear space equal to cap-height on all sides
Use on #fffdf9 (light) or #0b0b0c (dark) only
Don't
Change the capitalization — ReSI is not RESI or Resi
Place on colored or photographic backgrounds without approval
Stretch, skew, or recolor the mark
Use outline or stroke versions
The palette is restrained and academic — a warm off-white ground, near-black type, and a set of muted supporting tones. The accent is a luminescent signal color used sparingly — a single point of energy in an otherwise disciplined system.
PRIMARY
Dove Gray#6c808cBase — foundation, editorial
Charcoal#152621Base — dark primary
Light Blue#C2e0f2Base — light tone
SUPPORTING
Sky Blue#DCEEF2Base — sky tone
Paper#E5E0DDBase — background (85%)
Signal Red#CB5858Signal — links, hover, key emphasis
Cyan#00AEEFSpectrum — optical behavior only
Magenta#FF2A6DSpectrum — optical behavior only
Yellow#F2C94CSpectrum — minimal use only
ACCENT
Signal Red#CB5858Signal (2–5%) — links, hover, key emphasis only
Cyan#00AEEFSpectrum (10%) — optical behavior, not color fills
Three typefaces form the system. Each has a clear role and should not be mixed arbitrarily — the hierarchy is structural, not decorative.
Crimson Pro
Display headings · H1 · H2 · Pull quotes · Logotype
Resilient Islands
Plus Jakarta Sans
H3 · H4 · Body · UI · Navigation · Labels
Policy & Data
Anonymous Pro
Captions · Metadata · Kickers · Monospace data · Code
SIDS 2026
H1 · CRIMSON PRO 300 · 56px / 1.05 · −0.015em
Island Nations Push for Binding Climate Commitments
H2 · CRIMSON PRO 300 · 36px / 1.1 · −0.01em
Coral Reef Restoration Shows Promise in Field Trials
H3 · PLUS JAKARTA SANS 500 · 22px / 1.2
New Documentary Charts 30 Years of Reef Decline
H4 · PLUS JAKARTA SANS 500 · 16px / 1.3
Renewable Microgrids Slash Energy Costs on Outer Islands
KICKER · PLUS JAKARTA SANS 500 · 11px · 0.1em tracking · uppercase
Climate Finance · Caribbean
BODY · PLUS JAKARTA SANS 400 · 15px / 1.75
A coalition of small island states is demanding enforceable emissions targets from industrialized nations before year’s end. Delegates called for immediate action on rising sea levels threatening coastal communities worldwide.
CAPTION / METADATA · ANONYMOUS PRO 400 · 12px / 1.6
Published April 7, 2026 · ReSI Research Brief No. 14 · ODI / Climate Finance
Do
Use Crimson Pro for all display moments
Keep body text at 15–16px minimum
Use Anonymous Pro for all data labels and captions
Use weight 300–400 for Crimson; 400–500 for Jakarta
Don't
Use Crimson Pro for body text
Use bold (700+) weights in Crimson Pro
Mix Anonymous Pro with Crimson in the same heading
Use italic as emphasis — use weight instead
Photography should feel documentary — real light, real locations, real people. No stock imagery of island paradise. Preferred subjects: communities, coastlines under pressure, infrastructure, fieldwork, faces. Color treatment should be restrained with no heavy filters. Slight warmth is appropriate to the Paper palette.
[ Field photography — Ben Merker ]
Documentary — preferred
[ Aerial / geographic — island context ]
Geographic — approved
Do
Use documentary photography from the field
Show real communities and working environments
Treat images with natural, warm toning
Use aerial imagery for geographic context
Don't
Use stock imagery of tropical paradise
Apply heavy vignettes, filters, or color grading
Use disaster imagery as the primary visual tone
Use illustration as substitute for photography
ReSI writes the way a well-edited policy publication reads — precise, economical, active. No jargon for its own sake. Technical terms earn their place by being defined or being irreplaceable.
Preferred
Island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific face compounding risks — rising seas, eroding coastlines, and mounting debt — that require coordinated international response.
Avoid
Our islands are in crisis and we must act now to save them before it’s too late.
Too activist, too vague, no specificity.
Do
Write in active voice
Lead with the finding, not the method
Define acronyms on first use (SIDS, DRR, MVI)
Use sentence case in all headings
Cite the source or the data
Don't
Use Title Case in headings
Use “leverage” as a verb
Open with “In today’s world…”
Use exclamation points
Use passive constructions to soften findings
Layout follows a newspaper-editorial logic: strong typographic hierarchy, clear column structure, generous whitespace. The grid is not rigid — it can flex — but asymmetry should be purposeful, not accidental.
Grid
12-column base, typically 4+8 or 6+6 splits. 32px gutter minimum.
Spacing unit
8px base unit. Sections use 64–80px vertical padding.
Borders
0.5px solid Linen (#e0ded8). Used as dividers and card edges, never as decoration.
Radius
2px on cards and containers. 0px on rules, marks, and structural elements.
Do
Let type drive the composition
Use whitespace actively — it is not empty
Maintain consistent 0.5px border weight
Align to the grid even when breaking it
Don't
Use drop shadows, glows, or blur effects
Use gradients as backgrounds
Use rounded corners larger than 4px
Center-align body text blocks
Icons are functional, not decorative. The preferred style is thin-stroke, geometric, and monochromatic. Icons should feel like they belong to the same family as Anonymous Pro — precise, technical, unhurried.
Data visualization iconography follows the same thin-stroke principle and is defined in the Lab brand addendum.
The inverted dark-ground treatment is reserved for featured moments — hero sections, film sequences, data visualization canvases, and special announcements.
RESI
Dark ground treatment
Ink (#0b0b0c) background · Paper (#fffdf9) logotype
Crimson Pro 300 · letterspace −0.02em
Reserved for: hero sections, film title cards,
data canvas backgrounds, special feature pages.
The Luminescent accent (#00e8c6) may appear on the dark ground in data visualization contexts only — never as a background fill, only as a data highlight.
Do
Use dark ground for cinematic and hero moments
Pair with Crimson Pro display type
Allow generous whitespace on the dark surface
Don't
Use dark ground for body text pages
Mix accent colors freely on dark backgrounds
Use the dark treatment as default for all sections
Key terms and acronyms used across ReSI communications. This section is maintained as a CMS collection and will expand as terminology grows.
SIDSSmall Island Developing States — a distinct group of developing countries facing specific social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities.
DRRDisaster Risk Reduction — systematic efforts to analyze and reduce the causal factors of disasters.
MVIMultidimensional Vulnerability Index — a composite measure assessing structural vulnerability and lack of resilience.
MPIMultidimensional Poverty Index — measures poverty across health, education, and living standards.
SLOLStatistical Loss of Life — a monetized measure of mortality risk used in loss-and-damage calculations.
ODIOverseas Development Initiative — the parent institution of ReSI, focused on international development strategy.
Maintained as CMS collection · contact Vikrant Panwar for data methodology definitions