Brand guide
Design & Brand
Receipts for the news. Normalize the News captures articles, diffs every version, and checks quotes, coverage, and provenance — then shows the proof. Every page, chip, and component on this site is built to keep that promise: facts, not verdicts. This page documents the identity so it stays consistent as the site grows.
Color palette
A paper-and-ink palette with one accent. No red/blue/pink signaling — NTN is the anti-“bias-chart,” not a colorful score. Diff green and diff red exist only inside diffs, and always ship with a +/− glyph, never color alone.
- #14161B
Ink
#14161B
Primary text.
- #FAF9F6
Paper
#FAF9F6
Page background.
- #1F6F6B
Accent (slate-teal)
#1F6F6B
Links, brand accent, focus ring. Not red, blue, or pink.
- #4A4E57
Ink-soft
#4A4E57
Secondary text and meta labels.
- #E4E1D9
Line
#E4E1D9
Borders and dotted rules.
- #1B7F4B
Diff add
#1B7F4B
Additions inside a diff only, always paired with a + glyph.
- #B42318
Diff remove
#B42318
Removals inside a diff only, always paired with a − glyph.
Typography
Two typefaces, two jobs. Inter carries the interface and headings. IBM Plex Mono is the fingerprint — it marks anything that is a fact being stamped: timestamps, hashes, diffs, and the severity/confidence chips.
Inter — UI & headings
When the news changes, we keep the receipt.
Inter 400/16px, line-height 1.6, for body copy. Headings step up to weight 600–700 with tight tracking.
IBM Plex Mono — stamps, timestamps, diffs
The Receipt
The receipt is NTN’s atomic unit — the shape every tool renders its results into. It always states the same five things, in the same order:
- Claim. What changed, or what was checked — the title of the card.
- Evidence artifact. The diff, quote, or badge set that shows the change itself.
- Source. A link to the original article, with the time it was captured.
- Confidence. A published confidence level — High, Medium, or Low — tied to a stated threshold, never a gut call.
- Method. A link to the methodology page explaining exactly how the check was made.
City council amendment reworded after vote
Removed: the amendment passed unanimously
Added: the amendment passed 7–2
Stamp: Captured 14:03 ET · Confirmed ×2 · Reviewed
Badges
Small mono chips report severity, confidence, and provenance. Color is always paired with a plain-language label, never used alone to carry meaning.
Voice
One rule governs every sentence NTN publishes: describe the change, never the motive. We state what happened and when. We do not speculate about why, and we do not use language that implies intent.
Say this
- “The headline was revised at 14:03 ET.”
- “This paragraph was removed in the 09:12 ET capture.”
- “The article does not carry a content credential.”
- “Two of five tracked outlets have not published a matching story as of 4:00 PM.”
Not that
- “The outlet quietly changed the headline.”
- “They buried the correction.”
- “The article is hiding its sourcing.”
- “The outlet is ignoring the story.”
Accessibility
NTN targets WCAG AA contrast on every token in this palette, never signals meaning with color alone (diffs and badges pair color with glyphs and text labels), supports full keyboard navigation with a visible focus ring, and respects reduced-motion preferences.