# Contega brand context For AI tools and collaborators. Attach this file, with the briefing guide (https://brand.contega.com.au/ai/contega-briefing-guide.md), before asking for copy, design or imagery. This file covers how Contega thinks, speaks and looks; the guide covers how to turn a request into the right piece of work. Status: Contega brand system V1.1 (September 2026). Full guidelines: https://brand.contega.com.au ## Brand idea Contega is a modern commercial risk advisory built around understanding what matters before recommending protection. Premium and personal, human-led and technology-enabled, with the capability to make complex risk feel considered and clear. - Core expression: Commercial risk, clearly understood. - Foundation: Understand to protect, together. We listen closely, question carefully and build a clear picture before recommending a way forward. - Characteristics: Human (genuinely interested in people and their businesses), Experienced (deep expertise with honesty, calm authority and quiet confidence), Modern (technology-enabled and boutique, never a platform or a traditional brokerage). - The approach, four stages (one model everywhere): Observe (get to know the business in depth), Analyse (work out what it means), Protect (build the solution, then place it), Stay alongside (stay close once the program is in place: service, claims and renewal, which loops back to Observe). Shield icons: Observe, Analyse, Protect and Partnership for Stay alongside. - One line each (homepage): "We get to know your business in depth, and what it relies on." / "We examine the risks and work through what they mean for you." / "We recommend a way forward and arrange insurance shaped around what matters." / "We stay close through claims and renewals, and adjust the program as your business changes." - Sector pages keep the stage name as a label (01 Observe) with a sector headline beneath. Real estate: Build your profile / Understand your risk / Shape your cover / Stay alongside you. - Pronounced con-TEG-a: hard "g", emphasis on "TEG". ## Voice Clear, considered, human and confident. Write like an experienced adviser sitting beside the client. Lead with what matters, explain complexity without excluding the reader, and prefer precise, active language. - Prefer: "We help you see your risks clearly, then build protection around what matters most." - Avoid: hype and jargon such as "leveraging innovative solutions", "best-in-class", "seamless", "revolutionary". - Australian English, sentence case, no em dashes. - Never invent statistics, client names, testimonials, or legal, disclosure or confidentiality wording. Leave a clearly marked placeholder instead. ## Logo Use the supplied master artwork only. Never redraw, recolour, stretch or add effects. - Primary logo: the shield and the lowercase contega wordmark in one colour, Clay. Preferred on light and dark backgrounds. Clay on Coffee when the logo needs to be contained. Black and white for single-colour reproduction. - Risk Advisory lock-up: adds the "risk advisory" descriptor when the audience needs the service made explicit. The two-tone version (Clay with the descriptor in Blue Grey) is preferred wherever the descriptor stays clear, on light backgrounds at header size and larger, and at large sizes on dark. Otherwise use one colour: Clay, Clay on Coffee, White or Grayscale. - Shield alone: only where the brand is already identified nearby, or the format needs a compact mark (favicons, social avatars, app icons, repeated slide footers). It can also be enlarged as a graphic device in one colour, in three colours (Clay, Brick, Coffee) as on the capability statement covers, or as a tonal shield (Brick at 13%) behind a Clay statement band, where text over it is large text only. Photography inside a shield always uses the brand graphic shield (see Brand imagery). - Colour pairings: nine supplied pairings (for example Clay on Brick, Warm Charcoal on Clay, Brick on Stone) are secondary applications, each for its matching background only. They are not alternative primary logos. - Clear space: X on every side, where X is the size of the shield. - Minimum size is contextual. Step down from the lock-up to the wordmark when "risk advisory" no longer reads comfortably at the viewing distance. - Lock-up: desktop website headers, proposals, report covers, presentations, signage. - Wordmark: mobile headers, email signatures, small print, dense layouts, co-branding. Also allowed in a desktop website header (240px, compacting to 160px) when the Risk Advisory lock-up appears elsewhere on the page. - Footer: the two-tone Risk Advisory lock-up on dark at 240px or wider ("large sizes" means 240px or more). ## Group endorsement Contega is part of the Cohabit Group. Contega always leads; the group follows in one of two forms, with the words used as written: - Line (footers, document back covers, email signatures): "Part of the Cohabit Group, a risk intelligence company." On screen, "Cohabit Group" links to https://www.cohabit.com.au. - Band (once per page, towards the end, before contact): heading "A Cohabit Group company", then "Contega is the commercial risk advisory business within the Cohabit Group, a risk intelligence company built around clearer data, better decisions and smarter insurance outcomes." with the Cohabit Group logo and a "Visit cohabit.com.au" link. - Use the supplied Cohabit Group logo files only: cobalt and navy on light backgrounds, all white on dark backgrounds and photography. Keep it smaller than the Contega logo, never in a header, and never locked up beside or above the Contega logo. ## Colour Start from the primary palette. Reach for the extended tones only after it is in place. Primary palette: - Clay #C89578: brand and logo colour. Decorative and large display use on light. Exception: small decorative text (eyebrows, card numerals) beside a larger heading; never for text needed to act. - Brick #803A14: depth and warmth; small warm text on light surfaces. - Coral #FF5A4F: the single accent. Use sparingly for emphasis, interaction and signals, with at most one accent action per view. Never small text on light. - Dark Charcoal #2C2D2C: the dark canvas. - Light Silver #F6F8F8: the light canvas. Extended palette (supporting tones for environments, product surfaces, data and reports): - Blue greys: Mid Silver #E8EDEF, Silver #BAC5CC, Blue Grey #9DA7B8, Steel #4B5F6C, Dark Steel #3E515D - Green greys: Stone #BCB9B0, Mid Olive #939389, Olive #686B61, Teal #344244, Dark Teal #212B2D - Brown greys: Warm Charcoal #30312F, Coffee #46453F Text must meet WCAG 2.2 AA contrast. Never show meaning, such as risk level, by colour alone. ## Typography - Load Manuale and Inter from Google Fonts wherever possible; use the font package for offline and print work. - Manuale: display and editorial (Light and Medium most often). - Inter: navigation, data, labels, controls and body (Regular and Bold most often). - Statements can mix Inter with Manuale Italic on the emphasised words, for example "Calm enough to be *trusted*." ## Iconography - Functional icons: Lucide, 1.5px stroke, 16 to 24px, one colour, always with a label or accessible name. For navigation, controls, status, infographics, data and dashboards. Do not use Font Awesome. - Shield icons: twelve expressive icons built from the shield geometry (Observe, Monitor, Advisory support, Improve, Analyse, Commercial property, Recover, Insight, Protect, Design, Listen, Partnership; Partnership is the Stay alongside stage icon). Use them on light surfaces, or on the Dark Teal tile as supplied; never on Dark Charcoal or other dark surfaces. For larger moments only: presentations, reports, web content, service communications. Use them large enough for the linework to read, sparingly, and always with a text label. One design can carry related concepts, so reuse the set before creating a new one. ## Brand imagery The shield extends into imagery through reusable treatments. The form stays fixed; only the imagery changes. 1. Shield images: photography within the shield. Colour only, one photo across the form, or three photos (one per block) telling one story: a person, their environment and a relevant detail, with matching light and colour. Keep faces clear of the gaps. For now, use the fine outline as a standalone line graphic, never as a mask. Cut-out subjects (a person or object with the background removed, in front of a shield shape) are approved case by case by the brand owner. 2. Framed images: photography within a rectangular frame that carries the shield's curves, in portrait or landscape, for larger and content-led layouts. Use colour only, one image or three images, with one image per block. Use these selectively for strong brand moments, not on every image. ## Photography Observational, intelligent and grounded in the real world. Four categories: Advice in action, Clients and their worlds, Technology and intelligence, Structure and detail. - Favour: candid people in real business environments who are unaware of the camera; natural movement, light and reflections; considered framing with interesting crops, negative space and foreground elements; restrained colour, with warm amber and cream balanced by charcoal, slate and cool neutrals. - Avoid: posed boardroom meetings, handshakes and looks to camera (leader and adviser profiles may look to camera); generic corporate stock and overly polished offices; obvious insurance imagery; strong orange or yellow casts. - Architecture can stand alone as a supporting detail or texture. Across a body of work, balance it with people, businesses and technology in context. AI image prompt (fill in the subject): "Using the supplied Contega photography as a visual reference, create a natural, editorial-style image for a contemporary commercial risk advisory brand. Photography should feel observational, intelligent and grounded in the real world, never staged or overly corporate. Capture candid moments, natural movement, considered architectural details or technology being used in context. Use warm neutral tones, natural light, soft reflections, subtle foreground blur and occasional motion blur to create depth. Keep the colour treatment restrained, with warm amber and cream tones balanced by charcoal, slate and cooler neutrals. Avoid strong orange or yellow colour casts. Composition should feel sophisticated and slightly unexpected, using interesting crops, negative space, foreground elements or architectural framing. People should feel unaware of the camera and should not pose or look directly at it. Avoid generic corporate stock photography, handshakes, posed boardroom meetings, exaggerated expressions, overly polished offices or obvious insurance imagery. Subject: [describe the scene, environment, people, technology or architectural detail]." AI shield icon prompt (fill in the concept, attach an existing shield icon as the reference): "Using the supplied Contega Shield Icon as the exact structural reference, create an icon representing [CONCEPT]. Maintain the existing shield silhouette and central circular point. Use simple, precise linework derived from the shield geometry. Keep the design minimal, abstract and architectural, with a similar level of detail and visual weight to the existing icon set. Avoid literal symbols, pictograms, text, charts or unnecessary detail. The finished icon should feel intelligent, technical and consistent with the Contega identity." Generated images and icons are drafts. Review them for believable people, relevant business context, composition and colour, and confirm usage rights before publication. ## Motion Considered movement: every movement reveals, orients or confirms. Nothing bounces or moves for attention, and only one thing loops: rotating hero images. - The one exception: a website hero frame may rotate its photographs, a slow crossfade (1400ms) every 7 seconds, with a pause control, pausing off-screen and a still image with reduced motion. - Sections and card grids settle in as they arrive (240ms, cards 60ms apart). The approach draws stage to stage: each stage appears, then a Clay line draws to the next, within about 1.5 seconds. - Brand moments play once, the first time they scroll into view, then stay at rest: a statement whose emphasised words land a beat after the sentence, or a shield or frame image whose blocks settle into place as the photo eases back. One per view. - Interface feedback is quiet: an arrow leans forward on hover (160ms), an accordion turns as it opens (240ms), a tick draws in to confirm (240ms). - Use the motion tokens (160, 240, 320ms) and finish brand moments within about 1.5 seconds. Shield icons do not animate. - Respect reduced motion: show everything in its final state. ## Layout Generous space, few elements, decisive hierarchy. Spacious, composed and quietly authoritative. Square surfaces, pill-shaped buttons and tags. ## For digital products Start with the Contega design system (tokens, React components, patterns and templates) rather than recreating styles: https://brand.contega.com.au/design-system/. People can translate the system to other media where a component does not fit. Coding agents working in the Contega brand repository should read `design-system/AGENTS.md` and use only `@contega/react` components and Contega tokens; if something is missing, flag it as a gap (`// CONTEGA-GAP:`) and propose a system addition rather than inventing an off-brand substitute.