The reference

The style guide

Identity, type, palette, and ornaments — at a glance

This page is the brand reference for alexandria.kingst.com — a working spec that the site itself uses. Everything below is live: the colors are the actual CSS variables, the typefaces are the ones the page is set in, the marks are inlined SVG. A printable PDF version is available for prepress at the foot of the page.

Plate I.

The mark

A custom site mark. Source asset is a 512 × 512 PNG; Hugo's image pipeline emits 192 w and 384 w webp variants for hi-DPI device service. The PNG is the canonical source — replace it at assets/images/alexandria.kingst.com_512x512.png and the derivatives regenerate at next build.

32 px · favicon

Site mark — 80 px — 80 px · mobile masthead

Site mark — 140 px — 140 px · desktop masthead

Site mark — 200 px — 200 px · hero · print

Clear space equal to one quarter of the mark's height on every side; no other element may invade that envelope. Minimum size is 32 px (favicon scale); below that detail is lost. Live masthead range is 80 px (mobile) to 140 px (desktop).

Plate II.

The wordmark

Set in Fraunces small caps, weight 540, letter-spacing 0.18em. The .kingst.com segment in accent red; the rest in ink. In the broadsheet lockup the site mark sits to the left of the wordmark, vertically centered, separated by a small gap.

alexandria.kingst.com

Est. MCMXCVI · Alexandria, Virginia

Plate III.

The type

Display: Fraunces — the broadsheet face
Body: Newsreader — long-form text, optical-size aware.
Alternate serif: Libre Caslon Text — pull-quotes & flourishes.
Mono: JetBrains Mono — meta-labels, citations.

Plate IV.

The palette

Web is the source of truth. CMYK builds and Pantone equivalents are derived for prepress on uncoated text stock; verify with a press proof before a long run.

Name	CSS var	HEX	sRGB	CMYK	Pantone ≈
Ink	--color-ink	#1a1a1a	26,26,26	0 0 0 90	Black 7 C
Ink soft	--color-ink-soft	#2a2520	42,37,32	0 12 24 84	Black 4 C
Muted	--color-muted	#6b6b6b	107,107,107	0 0 0 58	Cool Gray 9 C
Rule	--color-rule	#d9d0c2	217,208,194	0 4 11 15	Warm Gray 1 C
Paper	--color-paper	#fafaf7	250,250,247	0 0 1 2	11-0107 TPG
Paper-2	--color-paper-2	#f2eee6	242,238,230	0 2 5 5	Warm Gray 1 C — 30%
Accent	--color-accent	#8b2635	139,38,53	0 73 62 45	201 C
Accent ink	--color-accent-ink	#5a1820	90,24,32	0 73 64 65	1815 C

Era stripe

The eight-color era stripe used in the OG share card and at the head of the streets-map legend.

Colonial Era #5c7a4a

Early Republic #c28b3a

Antebellum Era #8e6f4a

Civil War and Occupation #7a3838

Reconstruction and Early Jim Crow #4a6d82

Jim Crow Era #5a5a73

Mid-Century Transformation #a06b6e

Modern Alexandria #4a7c7e

Plate V.

The ornaments

hr.rule-double — section break

hr — hairline rule

.fleuron — paragraph break

.fleuron-three — chapter break

VII.The chapter heading

.part-numeral — chapter number

King Street the river the corridor

.ornament-diamond — inline mark

Plate VI.

The voice

The editorial voice is documented in two existing references on the site. Both are part of the brand and treated as canonical.

Reference
The methodology page
How sources are cited, how living persons are handled, how corrections work, what the platform does and does not do.
Reference
The photographer's brief
Aspect ratio (16:9), framing rules, light, lens choice, vertical correction, the policy on people in frame, credit lines, file naming.

A letter-paper PDF of this page is available at /style/alexandria-kingst-style-guide.pdf. Generated on 23 May 2026. Recommended stock: 100 lb uncoated text or 80 lb cover; black on cream.