Our Brand

Who we are, why we exist, and what we stand for. These are pulled directly from the official BFT brand guidelines and reinforced by the live website.

Purpose, Mission, Vision, Promise

Purpose

To create life-long client partners, employees, and relationships. From day one, we've stayed true to this by focusing our mission on serving B2B clients and continuously evolving our skills and toolsets.

Mission

Provide strategic B2B digital marketing solutions for financial services and manufacturing businesses. Custom-tailored to each client's unique challenges and goals.

Vision

A future of sustained growth, evolution, and autonomy leading to a position of Midwest Dominance. We expand our client base and staff in spaces we own and control.

Promise

We get sh!# done. That confidence lets us promise clients we'll elevate their brands, identify sales opportunities, and nurture customer relationships with the speed and precision their businesses depend on.

Brand Personality

Three traits that show up in everything we say and make.

Relentless

Our sleeves stay rolled up and we don't quit until we get it right. Problem solvers with the drive and curiosity to learn how to do it better and deliver only the best.

Knowledgeable

We know our clients, their markets, their products, and how to use the right tools to help them achieve their objectives. We never stop learning how to do better strategic planning, content, design, development, and media.

Enthusiastic

We love what we do because we want to make the world better. Asking "what if" and practicing unconventional thinking come with the job description. We maintain a positive, can-do attitude because it produces results and puts fun in every day.

About the Name

Blue

Blue is the hottest, most useful, and most efficient part of a flame, the locale of its greatest energy.

Flame

The energy we direct at solving client problems, working through details, and leveraging the strengths of our team.

Thinking

The intellectual capital, imaginings, and insights that fuel our best creative work. We're not mechanics. We don't work from menus.

BFT vs. Blue Flame Thinking: "Blue Flame Thinking" is our official public-facing name. Internally and in informal communication (especially social), we use "BFT." Many clients also call us BFT. Always spell it out on first reference; BFT is fine after that.

Core Values

Four values guide hiring, client decisions, and how we handle hard problems. They take the place of manuals and rules.

Our Sleeves Stay Rolled Up

  • We consistently get things done, and we do them right.
  • We don't give up or panic when presented with challenges.
  • We prioritize work and manage ourselves.
  • We're knowledgeable about marketing, technology, our client-partners, and their businesses.
  • We make smart choices and think strategically before executing.
  • We push for the right solution, not just deliverable fulfillment.
  • We're proactive and goal-oriented.

Problem Solvers

  • We're flexible and agile in our approach to problem-solving and client requests.
  • We stay curious and push past the first solution to find the right one.
  • We accept that risk and failure are part of finding our better.
  • We're engaged, present, and invested in our client's goals.
  • We see opportunities in challenges instead of setbacks. We get a rush from solving a problem, riddle, bug, or challenge.

Character Matters

  • People represent 90% of the equation in all situations.
  • We treat people with dignity and respect, with empathy as the default.
  • We're consistently mindful, open, honest, trustworthy, and polite.
  • We understand the power of positivity and humor.
  • We're accountable. When things go wrong, we take responsibility and help fix the problem.
  • We hold the elevator. We let that jerk in that didn't merge correctly. We don't whine, mope, or focus on blame.

BFTeam

  • We exhibit ownership and understand how what we do reflects on the agency, its reputation, and profitability.
  • We care deeply about the success of BFT, our peers, and our client-partners.
  • Without the team we can't win. The team can't win without each other.
  • We're teachable and hungry for feedback.
  • We show up on time (even internal meetings), respect peers' time, celebrate wins, and share information widely.

The Motto: Find Your Better®

Average thinking, average effort, and average work don't differentiate us or our clients from the ordinary. The motto is deliberately personal: it's not "Find Our Better." Find Your Better means each of us has a responsibility to challenge assumptions, expand our knowledge, look at things from different angles, explore alternative sequences of logic, fearlessly experiment, and question how things could be different.

Finding our better is something we strive for every day. What could you do better? And how will you go about it?

Brand Promise

Find Your Better®

How we speak

Voice & Tone

Our voice is how we sound. Our tone is how we adjust that voice for different contexts.

Brand Voice

BFT's voice is Confident. Knowledgeable. Friendly. Candid. It carries a strong note of expertly-guided, attentive listening enabled by deep knowledge across hundreds of industries.

Confident

We've done this work since 1965. We don't hedge our recommendations.

Knowledgeable

We bring deep audience and category expertise to every word.

Friendly

Approachable and human. Contractions are welcome. Stiffness is not.

Candid

We say the hard thing when it's the right thing. Polite, never pandering.

Brand Tone

Our tone is always Informative. Succinct. Engaging. Authoritative in a quiet, generous way. We don't impose our perspective; we offer it constructively. We respect the intelligence of our audience.

Voice Principles

1. Clear over Clever

Plain language wins. If a sentence needs a glossary, rewrite it. Jargon is a sign the strategy isn't done yet.

2. Curious, Not Salesy

Ask a real question. Show interest in the reader's problem. Lead with insight, not pitch.

3. Confidently Casual

Contractions are fine. So are short sentences. Even fragments. We're a partner, not a press release.

4. Specific Beats General

"560+ clients since 1965" beats "decades of experience." Use real numbers, real names, real stakes.

Tone by Context

ContextTone DialExample Opener
Homepage / HeroBold, declarative"We are Blue Flame Thinking."
Service pagesConfident, expert"Beyond our deep audience expertise..."
Blog & InsightsConversational, curious"Ever land on a B2B website and think... Huh?"
CTAsFriendly, low-friction"Ask us!" / "Let's chat" / "Watch us grow up"
About / CultureWarm, human"Working at BFT is a whole vibe."
Proposals / DecksDirect, partner-mode"Here's what we'd do, and why."

Do / Don't

Do

Use "we" and "our." BFT speaks as a team. "We dig deep." "Our process."

Don't

Avoid third-person agency-speak. "Blue Flame Thinking believes..." reads like a brochure.

Do

Open with a question or stat. "560+ clients later, we still ask the same first question..."

Don't

Don't open with throat-clearing. "In today's rapidly evolving landscape..."

Do

Offer perspective constructively. Authoritative in a quiet, generous way.

Don't

Don't impose or lecture. Trust the reader's intelligence.

Do

Use bold and italics for emphasis. One or two beats per paragraph, max.

Don't

Don't use em dashes. Use commas, parentheses, or full stops instead.

Do

Be specific. Name industries, name tools, name outcomes.

Don't

Don't use emojis. Not in social, not in subject lines, not anywhere.

Language & Vocabulary

Signature Phrases

These show up across the brand. Reinforce them. Don't rewrite them.

Find Your Better® BFTeam Firestarters Holiday Hurrah findyourbetter Midwest Dominance client-partners

Power Verbs

From the homepage: "We analyze, brainstorm, contemplate, deliberate, evaluate, ideate, strategize, conceptualize, innovate, collaborate, synthesize, and troubleshoot together." Pull from this list when describing process.

analyzebrainstormcontemplate deliberateevaluateideate strategizeconceptualizeinnovate collaboratesynthesizetroubleshoot dig deepresearch like crazypivot refine

Self-Descriptors

Midwest B2B B2B2C data-driven challenge seekers curious cats problem solvers strategists makers empathetic relentless knowledgeable enthusiastic

Word Bank — Use vs. Avoid

UseInstead of
partner / partnership / client-partnervendor, supplier, account, customer
find / discoveruncover, unleash
betterbest-in-class, world-class
data-drivendata-informed (use sparingly)
dig deep / research like crazyconduct thorough analysis
chat / talkschedule a call, sync
let'sshall we, would you like to
marketing problem or questionpain point, KPI gap
strategy / strategicholistic, synergistic

CTA Patterns

BFT CTAs are short, conversational, and inviting. They almost never use "Submit" or "Click here."

Ask us! Let's chat See all Watch us grow up Like what you see? Get in touch Sign up Meet our people

Stylebook Quick Hits

Content Patterns

Headline Formulas

Section Opener Formulas

Sentence Rhythm

Mix long and short. The cadence reads like: longer setup. Then a punch. Sometimes one word.

Example: "It's built into our DNA and baked into our culture. We're a group of problem solvers, experts, strategists, and makers on a journey to help each other and our clients find their better."

List Style

BFT loves short bulleted lists. Three to five items. Each item starts with a verb or a noun phrase, not a full sentence. Example:

How we look

Color System

Vivid Purple is the brand. Deep Purple is the foundation. Cyan is the spark. The full PDF palette below is the official library — pull from it for design work that needs more range.

In-Practice Hierarchy (Web & Digital)

These are the colors actually shipping on blueflamethinking.com. Use these as the backbone for any digital touchpoint.

Vivid Purple
Vivid Purple — Primary
#583DA0 rgb(88, 61, 160)
Logo, primary buttons, links, brand surfaces.
Deep Purple
Deep Purple — Foundation
#322057 rgb(50, 32, 87)
Headings on light, dark sections, footer.
Vivid Cyan
Vivid Cyan — Spark
#2EE5FF rgb(46, 229, 255)
Accent text, stat numbers, dividers, highlights.

Working Neutrals

Cool Gray
Cool Gray
#F1F1F6
Cool Dark
Cool Dark Gray
#423D4B
White
White
#FFFFFF
Body Text
Body Text
#212121

Full Color Library (Official Brand Book)

The complete palette from the BFT Brand Guidelines. Use these for design work that needs range beyond the web hierarchy — illustrations, decks, print, environment graphics.

Primary — Blues

Deep Blue
#0067B2
Bright Blue
#0595E2
Sky Blue
#00BDEF
Vivid Cyan
#2EE5FF

Primary — Purples

Vivid Purple
#583DA0
Royal Purple
#6C3FA6
Light Purple
#9452B5
Pink
#E38CDF

Secondary — Teals

Deep Teal
#19A49C
Teal
#31BCB4
Light Teal
#48D3CB
Mint
#7BFFF6

Secondary — Oranges

Red Orange
#E74C21
Orange
#F47F3B
Light Orange
#F6A24B
Yellow
#FCB732

Secondary — Tan / Cream

Tan
#E2BBAA
Light Tan
#F1D8CD
Cream
#F7E6DF
White
#FFFFFF

Secondary — Eggplants

Eggplant
#483766
Light Eggplant
#604B74
Deep Purple
#322057

Secondary — Grays

Cool Gray
#F1F1F6
Light Gray
#E3E2E9
Mid Gray
#9894A3
Dark Gray
#797482
Cool Dark
#423D4B

Color Pairings

BackgroundHeadingBodyAccent / CTA
White / Cool GrayDeep PurpleBody TextVivid Purple
Vivid PurpleWhiteWhite (90%)Vivid Cyan
Deep PurpleWhiteWhite (85%)Vivid Cyan
Vivid CyanDeep PurpleDeep PurpleVivid Purple

Gradients & Glows

Gradients are a powerful tool to draw attention. Use them judiciously for maximum effect.

Purple gradient
Blue gradient
Mixed gradient

ADA Compliance

Every four-color family is built around our two real backgrounds — White and Deep Purple, in that order of design intent, though Deep Purple ships more often. Within each family, the darkest shade is the text anchor for White; the lightest shade is the text anchor for Deep Purple. The two shades in between exist for illustration, fills, and decorative use — they're not vetted as text against either background, even on the occasions the math happens to work out.

FamilyText on WhiteText on Deep PurpleDecorative only
BlueDeep Blue (5.9:1)Vivid Cyan (9.3:1)Bright Blue, Sky Blue
PurpleVivid Purple (8.1:1)Pink (6.1:1)Royal Purple, Light Purple
TealDeep Teal (3.1:1)†Mint (11.8:1)Teal, Light Teal
OrangeRed Orange (3.9:1)†Yellow (8.1:1)Orange, Light Orange

† Deep Teal and Red Orange only clear AA for large text on White (headlines, stat labels, 18.66px+ bold) — not body copy. For body text on White, reach for Deep Blue or Vivid Purple instead.

Contrast Checker

Pick any two colors from the library and see the real AA ratio, or click a cell in the matrix below. White and Deep Purple are pinned as one-click backgrounds since those are the two we actually ship on. Numbers are calculated live with the official WCAG 2.1 relative luminance formula — nothing here is eyeballed or goes stale when the palette changes.

Find Your Better
Our Midwest digital marketing agency helps organizations adapt to the ever-changing world of B2B marketing.
Ratio—

Full Library Matrix

See the list of every color in the Full Color Library. Click any cell to load it above.

Fails — under 3:1 Large text only — 3:1 to 4.5:1 Passes all text — 4.5:1 and up

Typography

One typeface across everything: Barlow. Its subtle rounded features make it feel confident and human at the same time. Versatile across print and web.

Primary Typeface

Barlow

Google Fonts · fonts.google.com/specimen/Barlow

Fallback

Arial

Use Arial only when Barlow is unavailable (legacy email clients, certain office docs).

Weight Usage

WeightUse ForNotes
Regular 400Body copy, captionsDefault. Stay here unless you need emphasis.
Semibold 600UI labels, eyebrowsFor functional UI text.
Bold 700H3, buttons, links, emphasisMost common heavy weight.
Extra Bold 800Optional headline weightThe brand book's recommendation. Use when 900 feels too heavy.
Black 900H1, H2, H4, stat labelsCurrent website default. Maximum visual impact.
Thin 100, Extra Light 200, Light 300AvoidUse extremely rarely. They lose impact at small sizes.

Type Scale

H1 — Hero / Page Title
We are Blue Flame Thinking

Barlow Black 900 · clamp(2rem, 3rem, 5rem) · line-height 100% · letter-spacing 0.5px

H2 — Section Title
Featured projects

Barlow Black 900 · clamp(1.5rem, 2rem, 3rem) · line-height 120% · letter-spacing 0.5px

H3 — Subsection
Financial Services Marketing

Barlow Bold 700 · clamp(1.5rem, 1.5rem, 1.75rem) · line-height 120%

H4 — Card / Eyebrow
PROBLEM SOLVERS

Barlow Black 900 · clamp(1rem, 1.25rem, 1.25rem) · line-height 130% · letter-spacing 0.5px · color Deep Purple

Body — Default Paragraph
Our Midwest digital marketing agency is here to help organizations adapt to the ever-changing world of B2B marketing and sales. Join forces with us to stay ahead.

Barlow Regular 400 · 18px · line-height 1.5

Small / Caption
© 2026 Blue Flame Thinking. Find Your Better® is a registered trademark.

Barlow Regular 400 · 16px

Stat Number
560+

Barlow Black 900 · clamp(2.5rem, 4rem, 5rem) · in Vivid Cyan or Vivid Purple

Brand Elements

The visual language beyond logo and color: shapes, corners, and the brand pattern.

Organic Shapes & Rounded Corners

Why Rounded

Rounded corners complement the logo and give elements a more gentle, human touch. Apply them consistently to cards, buttons, image frames, and surfaces.

Default radii: 4px (UI), 8px (cards), 16px (large surfaces).

4px
8px
16px
24px

Brand Pattern

The brand pattern is an abstract nod to fire. Use it very sparingly. When used, it should almost always be animated. Reserve it for moments where the logo or brand identity is the focal point — never as a busy background under copy.

Illustration Style

When BFT illustrates, it's simple, focused, and high-contrast. Less is more.

Style Rules

  • Simple illustrations with focus — fewer elements.
  • Mostly flat, with subtle gradients, glows, and shadows.
  • Broken line art.
  • Add subtle gradients to the area you want to focus on.
  • Limited but bright, high-contrast color palette.
  • Illustrations cut out of shapes or letters.

What to Avoid

  • Cluttered scenes with many elements competing for attention.
  • Photorealistic 3D renders.
  • Heavy outlines or thick strokes throughout.
  • Dull or muddy color combinations.
  • Trendy isometric "tech bro" illustration packs.

Animation

Motion should feel like the brand: organic, continuous, and confident. Nothing bounces, nothing spins for attention.

Animated Pattern Texture

The motion counterpart to the Pattern Mark (see Logo System) — same shapes, same gradient bands, now flowing. This is the one animated asset every client-facing team should have on hand.

Format: MP4 / H.264, 1920×1080 Length: 5.0s, seamless loop Playback: muted, autoplay, loop — strip any audio track before shipping it anywhere

Where This Runs

Hero & Storytelling Video

Signature Motion Patterns

A few small, continuous loops carry most of the personality. Each one is subtle and interesting on its own — never all fighting for attention at once.

Bob. Case-study thumbnails and cards drift gently up and down on a slow, continuous loop — it's what makes a static grid feel alive.
Capability hover. The arrow grows and shifts from white into a soft cyan-to-pink gradient; the underline draws in alongside it.
Button radius flip. Corners start equal, then on hover the top-left and bottom-right stretch into an asymmetric curve.
Client OneClient TwoClient ThreeClient Four Client OneClient TwoClient ThreeClient Four
Logo slide. Client logo strips scroll continuously and horizontally — never paginated, never still.

Scroll Reveals (Lazy Load)

The one place motion is allowed to be more noticeable. As a section enters the viewport, its elements slide in from a direction and fade in — this is the exception to "subtle," used deliberately to mark a new section of the page rather than to decorate an idle one.

Motion Timing

Defaults

  • Continuous loops (bob, marquee): slow, 2.5–12s per cycle, constant velocity or gentle ease-in-out — never a sharp start or stop.
  • Hover / UI transitions (arrow, underline, button radius): 200–400ms, ease-out.
  • Scroll reveals: 400–600ms, ease-out, staggered.

Rule of Thumb

Ambient motion (bob, marquee, the pattern texture) should be calm enough to ignore. Interactive motion (hover states) should feel responsive, not delayed. Scroll reveals are the only motion allowed to actually announce itself.

Avoid: bounce, elastic, or overshoot easing anywhere. It fights the brand's steady tone the same way a sharp corner would.

Example: ease-out, the default for hover and reveal states —

Where We Don't Animate

Brand in the Wild

Swag Philosophy

We're picky about swag. Every piece should hold up as something a person genuinely likes the look and feel of — good design and quality first, branding second. Never obnoxious, never tacky.

How we build

Spacing & Layout

An 8-point base scale keeps spacing consistent across components. Use semantic tokens (--s-3, --s-5) instead of raw pixels.

Spacing Scale

TokenValueUse
--s-14pxHairline gaps, icon-to-text
--s-28pxTight stacks, label-to-input
--s-316pxDefault paragraph spacing
--s-424pxCard padding, list separation
--s-532pxSubsection breaks
--s-648pxSection start padding (mobile)
--s-764pxSection breaks (desktop)
--s-896pxHero / major chapter breaks

Radius

TokenValueUse
--radius-sm4pxButtons, inputs, tags
--radius-md8pxCards, surfaces
--radius-lg16pxHero blocks, feature panels

Container

Max content width: 1180px. Center with auto margins. Side gutters: --s-5 (32px) on desktop, --s-3 (16px) on mobile.

Components

Buttons

Buttons are 4px radius, Barlow 700, 18px, 12px / 28px padding. Outline is the most common BFT pattern; filled is reserved for the page's primary action.

Contact Us See all work Ask us!
Watch us grow up Let's chat
<!-- Filled (primary action only) -->
<a class="btn btn-primary" href="/contact">Contact Us</a>

<!-- Outline on light -->
<a class="btn btn-outline-purple" href="/work">See all work</a>

<!-- Outline on dark / purple bg -->
<a class="btn btn-outline-white" href="/about">Watch us grow up</a>

<!-- Cyan (accent / playful) -->
<a class="btn btn-cyan" href="/contact">Ask us!</a>

Stat Block

Big number in cyan, label in white. The single most distinctive BFT layout pattern.

1965 Birth year
560+ Clients so far
46% Like pineapple on pizza
<div class="stat">
  <span class="num">560+</span>
  <span class="label">Clients so far</span>
</div>

Cards

Light Card

For service tiles, blog previews, and content blocks on white or cool-gray backgrounds.

Purple Card

For featured stats, value-prop blocks, and dark-section content.

Deep Card

For the most prominent statements and quote-style callouts.

Pills / Tags

Default Cyan Purple Pink

CSS Tokens (Copy/Paste)

Developer reference. Collapsed by default since it only applies when you're bootstrapping a new stylesheet.

Copy-paste tokens

Drop this :root block into any new HTML or stylesheet to inherit the BFT system.

:root {
  /* In-practice brand colors (web hierarchy) */
  --bft-vivid-purple: #583DA0;
  --bft-deep-purple:  #322057;
  --bft-vivid-cyan:   #2EE5FF;
  --bft-pink:         #E38CDF;
  --bft-cool-gray:    #F1F1F6;
  --bft-cool-dark:    #423D4B;
  --bft-text:         #212121;
  --bft-white:        #FFFFFF;
  --bft-black:        #000000;

  /* Full library — primaries */
  --bft-deep-blue:    #0067B2;
  --bft-bright-blue:  #0595E2;
  --bft-sky-blue:     #00BDEF;
  --bft-royal-purple: #6C3FA6;
  --bft-light-purple: #9452B5;

  /* Full library — secondaries */
  --bft-deep-teal:    #19A49C;
  --bft-teal:         #31BCB4;
  --bft-light-teal:   #48D3CB;
  --bft-mint:         #7BFFF6;
  --bft-red-orange:   #E74C21;
  --bft-orange:       #F47F3B;
  --bft-light-orange: #F6A24B;
  --bft-yellow:       #FCB732;
  --bft-tan:          #E2BBAA;
  --bft-light-tan:    #F1D8CD;
  --bft-cream:        #F7E6DF;
  --bft-eggplant:     #483766;
  --bft-light-eggplant: #604B74;
  --bft-light-gray:   #E3E2E9;
  --bft-mid-gray:     #9894A3;
  --bft-dark-gray:    #797482;

  /* Semantic roles */
  --color-bg:         var(--bft-white);
  --color-surface:    var(--bft-cool-gray);
  --color-text:       var(--bft-text);
  --color-heading:    var(--bft-deep-purple);
  --color-primary:    var(--bft-vivid-purple);
  --color-accent:     var(--bft-vivid-cyan);
  --color-on-primary: var(--bft-white);

  /* Type */
  --font-sans: "Barlow", Arial, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont,
               "Segoe UI", Helvetica, sans-serif;
  --fs-h1:    clamp(2rem, 3rem, 5rem);
  --fs-h2:    clamp(1.5rem, 2rem, 3rem);
  --fs-h3:    clamp(1.5rem, 1.5rem, 1.75rem);
  --fs-h4:    clamp(1rem, 1.25rem, 1.25rem);
  --fs-body:  1.125rem;
  --fs-small: 1rem;
  --fs-stat:  clamp(2.5rem, 4rem, 5rem);

  /* Spacing */
  --s-1: 4px;  --s-2: 8px;  --s-3: 16px; --s-4: 24px;
  --s-5: 32px; --s-6: 48px; --s-7: 64px; --s-8: 96px;

  /* Radius */
  --radius-sm: 4px;
  --radius-md: 8px;
  --radius-lg: 16px;
}

body {
  font-family: var(--font-sans);
  font-size: var(--fs-body);
  line-height: 1.5;
  color: var(--color-text);
  background: var(--color-bg);
}

h1 { font-size: var(--fs-h1); font-weight: 900; letter-spacing: 0.5px;
     line-height: 100%; color: var(--color-heading); }
h2 { font-size: var(--fs-h2); font-weight: 900; letter-spacing: 0.5px;
     line-height: 120%; color: var(--color-heading); }
h3 { font-size: var(--fs-h3); font-weight: 700;
     line-height: 120%; color: var(--color-heading); }
h4 { font-size: var(--fs-h4); font-weight: 900; letter-spacing: 0.5px;
     line-height: 130%; color: var(--bft-deep-purple); }

Google Fonts Import

<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Barlow:wght@400;600;700;800;900&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

Roadmap — Coming Soon to the Brand Book

Per the official BFT Brand Guidelines, these standards are still in development:

  • Photography
  • Decks
  • Social guidelines

Downloads

Grab-and-go logo files. For full usage guidance, construction rules, and when to use which variant, see Logo System.

These SVGs are pulled directly from this page's own markup, so they're always in sync with what's documented above. For press-ready EPS files, high-res exports, or the official brand PDF, pull from the source asset library.

Print & Stationery

Social Banners