Brand System Reference · v1.3 · May 9, 2026 Tier 1 · Internal · Bryan Drew · Comptroller · 2026

§1  Identity & Positioning

Bryan Drew is a small businessman, attorney, and independent leader running for Illinois Comptroller — a constitutional officer who controls the timing and disclosure of every dollar the State pays out. The brand carries that office's weight: serious, prepared, approachable. Not aggrieved. Not folksy. Not insurgent.

The visual system reflects fiscal stewardship rather than partisan combat. Hunter green for permanence and ledger-discipline; warm gold for credibility and seal-of-office gravity; cream paper for editorial clarity. Source Sans 3 carries the whole system: heavy weights (900/800) for display and section heads, mid weights (700/600) for subheads and emphasis, regular weight for body. Hierarchy by weight, not by typeface contrast.

Voice Register

Serious — the office handles billions; the candidate sounds like he knows it.

Prepared — every claim is verifiable; never overreach the office's mandate.

Approachable — Benton attorney, not a Springfield insider. Plain language, never condescension.


§2  Color System

Greens — Primary & Variants
#1F5B3A
--drew-green
Drew Green
Primary brand. Buttons, headlines on cream, button fills, system surfaces.
#143F28
--drew-green-deep
Green Deep
Display headlines, dark UI panels, button hover state, max-contrast text on cream.
#2D7B4F
--drew-green-mid
Green Mid
Secondary fills, accents on dark surfaces, callout borders.
#DCE8DF
--drew-green-soft
Green Soft
Card tints, callout backgrounds, tag chip fills, subtle field highlights.
Gold — Accent & Variants
#C9A227
--drew-gold
Drew Gold
Primary accent. Eyebrow rules, link underlines, secondary buttons, quote bars.
#9A7A14
--drew-gold-deep
Gold Deep
Gold typography on light surfaces, link color, hover states.
#F2E4B0
--drew-gold-soft
Gold Soft
Warning callouts, highlight passes, gold tag chips, decorative tints.
#1C1F1A
--drew-charcoal
Charcoal
Body text. Maximum legible contrast on cream paper.
Neutrals — Surface & Structure
#5C6256
--drew-stone
Stone
Secondary text, captions, citations, "avoid"-side voice notes.
#B8BDB2
--drew-mist
Mist
Borders, dividers, hairlines, table rules.
#FAF8F2
--drew-cream
Cream
Page background. Warm off-white that pairs with green and gold without competing.
#FFFFFF
--drew-paper
Paper
Card surface. Distinct from cream page background — creates the "document on paper" hierarchy.
#008840
Logo-Only Exception

The brighter green #008840 appears in the campaign wordmark itself. It does not propagate to system surfaces. All UI fills, headlines, buttons, charts, and secondary marks use canonical Drew Green #1F5B3A. When the logo and a system surface share the same field, the logo retains its color; everything around it follows the system.


§3  Typography

Display Family

Source Sans 3 — Display

Weights 500 / 600 / 700 / 800 / 900

Heavy weights (900/800) anchor display surfaces — page titles, section heads, pull quotes, hero numbers. Italic at 600 weight for soft emphasis (the d-italic treatment) preserved as a typographic gesture in body context.

Body Family

Source Sans 3

Weights 300 / 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 / 900

Humanist sans optimized for long-form reading. Mid and regular weights (600/500/400) carry body, leads, captions, eyebrow labels, button copy, and meta. Single family across every Drew surface — hierarchy by weight, not by typeface contrast.

Type Scale Specimens
Hero .d-1 / 60px A Watchdog for Illinois
Page Title .d-2 / 44px Strategic Playbook
Section Head .d-3 / 32px The Three Pillars
Display Italic .d-italic / 22px an honest comptroller for an honest budget
Subhead h4 / 24px The Office, the Mandate, the Method
Eyebrow h5 / 18px Accountability First
Lead .lead / 18px Working families are tired of being treated like ATMs for a government that refuses to live within its means.
Body 17px / 1.55 The Comptroller does not write the budget. The Comptroller decides which bills get paid first, which get questioned, and which get publicly disclosed — every voucher, every contract, every line.
Small .small / 14px Source: Illinois State Board of Elections, Q1 2026 D-2 reports.
Meta .meta / 12px Tier 1 · Internal · v1.0 · May 9, 2026

§4  Surface Tiers

The brand runs a single visual register across every surface — pitch instruments, strategic deliverables, fundraisers, the hub root, staff tools, dashboards. Same colors, same components, same tokens, same typeface. Hierarchy is established through weight and tracking, not through typeface contrast or editorial flourish. The discipline serves cohesion: a prospect clicking through the hub experience sees one system, not a constellation of differently-styled documents. Staff onboarding learns one set of rules. Vendor handoff transfers one canon.

Canonical Register

Single-Family System

Source Sans 3 carries every Drew surface — strategic playbook, oppo dossiers, branding briefs, fundraisers, hub root, staff tools, dashboards, public web pages. One typeface, hierarchy by weight and tracking. The discipline serves cohesion: a prospect clicking through the hub experience sees one system, not a constellation of differently-styled documents. Staff onboarding learns one set of rules. Vendor handoff transfers one canon.

Weight Ladder
900 Display · Hero A Watchdog for Illinois
800 Section Heads End the Waste
700 Subheads Open every payment, every contract, every voucher.
600 Emphasis · Buttons Independent Leadership
500 Meta · Eyebrows Drew for Illinois Comptroller
400 Body · Leads Bryan Drew is a small businessman and attorney running for Illinois Comptroller.
Implementation

All Drew surfaces inherit canonical brand tokens from _branding/drew-brand.css. CSS custom properties (variables) cascade from :root through descendants, providing one canonical source of truth for color, typography, and spacing across every deliverable. Per universal §2.11, there is no opt-out tier — all surfaces render the same canonical register.


§5  Components

.c-card — base container
Watchdog Brief

Card Container

The default surface for a discrete content block. Cream paper background, subtle shadow, eyebrow + heading + prose. Used for nearly every framed piece of content in any Drew deliverable.

.c-quote — pull quote
"I'm running to make sure every taxpayer dollar is spent honestly and wisely, and to shine a light on where our money really goes." — Bryan Drew, candidate announcement
.c-callout — strategic note (default)
Strategic Note

Green-tinted callout for high-priority strategic guidance, doctrine, or process notes. Used inline within longer documents.

.c-callout.is-warn — warning variant
Discipline Reminder

Gold-tinted callout for cautions, language discipline, or items requiring extra care. Used sparingly so the signal stays loud.

.c-stat — figure on label
$250K Self-funding threshold · IL statewide constitutional
Buttons
Tags & Eyebrow
Section Eyebrow

Inline labeling system:

Tier 1 Confidential Active
.c-pillar — three-pillar message architecture
Pillar I · Lead

Affordability

"End the waste working families pay for."

The lead. The Comptroller cannot rewrite the budget — but Drew uses the office's actual tools (payment timing, audit, disclosure) to make government waste visible. Affordability gets earned, not promised.

Pillar II

Accountability

Office-coherent. The Comptroller is Illinois's chief fiscal accountability officer — and cannot be the Governor's ally. Drew has no Springfield record to defend; Croke has nine years of continuous Pritzker-orbit employment. Hardest pillar for Croke to contest.

Pillar III

Transparency

How the first two operate. Every voucher, every contract, every payment timeline disclosed in plain English to the people whose money it is.


§6  Voice & Language Discipline

Every line of voiced copy passes through this filter before it ships. The cost of repairing language errors after distribution is significantly higher than catching them in draft — particularly any framing that overreaches the office's mandate or makes verifiable factual claims about the opponent.

Voice Principle · Problem-Solver, Not Problem-Pointer-Outer

The single most important register filter for Drew copy. Pointing at a problem without showing what Drew does about it reads as another loud, divisive critic — exactly what voters are exhausted by. Showing the action Drew takes to address the problem reads as a problem-solver — exactly what voters want. Apply this to every attack line, every fundraising appeal, every speech draft. "Croke is a Pritzker stooge" fails the test. "Croke cannot independently audit a Governor she has worked for nine years; Drew can and will" passes it.

Use
Standard framings
"Businessman, attorney, and independent leader."

The standing identity line. Comes from drewforillinois.com. Use verbatim in bios, intros, third-party copy, donor material.

"End the waste working families pay for."

Pillar I (Affordability) lead sub-line. Locked. Names who pays, points to the action (end waste), avoids over-promising on bills the office cannot lower.

"Never held elected office, no Springfield record, no political debts."

The structural-independence frame. Replaces "outsider" or "not a politician" framings. Each clause is verifiable.

"An accountability check on a system that doesn't have one."

Office-coherent positioning. Anchors the Pillar II (Accountability) argument and bridges into the Croke contrast.

"Every taxpayer dollar spent honestly and wisely."

Drew's announcement language. Use in fundraising and broad persuasion contexts. Office-appropriate scope.

Avoid
Retired or risky framings
"Not a politician."

Retired. Discordant for a candidate actively running. Replace with the structural-independence frame.

"Stop the waste, lower the cost of living."

Retired. The "lower the cost of living" clause is office-overreach — the Comptroller cannot lower bills. Replaced by the locked Pillar I sub-line: "End the waste working families pay for."

"First woman comptroller" / superlative claims about Croke.

Five women have served as Illinois Comptroller. Any "first" claim about the opponent is factually wrong and would damage credibility on contact. Verify all opponent superlatives before use.

Promises Drew will "cut taxes" or "balance the budget."

The Comptroller writes neither budget nor tax law. Office-overreach claims invite "doesn't understand the job" attacks. Stay inside the office's actual mandate: payment timing, disclosure, audit.

"Career politician" attacks on Croke.

She has six years in the General Assembly — the attack reads as exaggeration. The accurate frame is nine years of continuous Pritzker-orbit employment, which is sharper and verifiable.


§7  Filing & Race Vocabulary

This is the most error-prone area when Tracy templates are inherited. Drew is an Illinois state race for a constitutional office. All filing language, contribution limits, and reporting cadence reflect Illinois law — not federal. Any appearance of FEC, federal limits, or Senate-cycle vocabulary in Drew deliverables is a defect.

Office
Illinois Comptroller — constitutional officer responsible for the State's fiscal management, payment of bills, and disclosure. Chairs SERS Board; sits on Illinois State Board of Investment.
Filing Authority
Illinois State Board of Elections (IL SBE). Not the Federal Election Commission.
Reporting Cadence
Quarterly D-2 reports. Pre-election A-1 reports. Schedule per IL SBE.
Committee Name
Drew for Illinois — the active 2026 candidate committee. (Friends of Bryan Drew exists separately as a predecessor / secondary committee per Transparency USA records; verify scope at elections.il.gov before referencing.)
Disclaimer Line
Paid for by Drew for Illinois. Required on all public-facing materials.
Individual Limit
$7,300 per individual to a candidate committee, 2025–26 cycle.
Corp / Labor / Joint
$14,600 per corporation, labor organization, association, or joint couple.
PAC Limit
$72,800 per political action committee.
Self-Fund Trigger
$250,000 — for statewide constitutional offices, self-funding above this threshold lifts contribution limits for all candidates in the race.
General Election
Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Polls close 7:00 PM CT.
General Opponent
Margaret Croke (D), state representative, won the four-way Democratic primary March 17, 2026.