The rules we hold ourselves to.
A short, opinionated rulebook. Read once. Reference often.
This page is the public version of our internal brand spec. Most consultancy sites publish a logo. We publish the voice, the colors, the type, the prompt card, the kill list, and the words we refuse to use. If we ship something that breaks these rules, this page is the receipt.
NS Studio is a boutique AI product advisory that tells F500 operators which AI products to build, which to kill, and how to ship the rest.
If a deliverable, a page, a post, or an asset doesn't sound like something a senior partner would say with a straight face to a CEO, it isn't us.
How we sound.
Do
- +Short sentences.
- +Specific dollar figures.
- +"We tell you which to kill."
- +Italic amber on the one phrase per paragraph that matters.
- +Honest framing of selectivity ("by referral or after a fit call").
- +End with a clear next step.
Don't
- −Long, qualifier-stuffed sentences.
- −"Significant ROI."
- −"We help you optimize your portfolio."
- −Bold-everything.
- −Fake urgency ("limited time only").
- −End with "let's chat."
Zero exceptions. If one of these appears in copy, the copy gets rewritten.
Cream, ink, and one amber.
The amber rule: #C44510 is reserved for one phrase per paragraph. If amber appears twice in a paragraph, you've cheapened it. Treat it like the only seasoning in the dish.
Default page background.
Body text. Dark cards.
Italic emphasis. Tags. CTAs.
Section backgrounds.
Secondary text.
Secondary accent.
Three families. No more.
Headlines are Instrument Serif 400, never bold, never italic except for the one accent phrase. The accent phrase goes in <em> tags and inherits italic + amber. Mono is exclusively inside prompt cards or as eyebrows; never as body text.
Every brand needs one ownable visual.
Ours is the prompt card. Dark surface, mono cream text, amber XML tags. It appears on the homepage, in service pages, in case studies, on the cover of every PDF, on every pitch deck, on the LinkedIn header. Recognizable from a thumbnail.
<role>
Act as a CFO reviewing every active AI
pilot in the company. You are paid to
ask one question: which of these will
I defend to the board?
</role>
<rules>
- Pilot must produce a defendable dollar
figure by week 6
- "Promising" is not a status, it's
a stall
</rules>
<output>
Defendable list → Stall list → Kill list
</output>Anatomy.
- +Background
#1A1612, text#F0E8D8, tags#C44510. - +JetBrains Mono 13–15px, line-height 1.65.
- +Padding 24–32px. Border-radius 12px.
- +Optional ±2° rotation when standalone.
- −Never more than one card per row above 1280px.
The kill list is the most valuable thing we ship.
Items get marked, not buried. Real, specific language. No "legacy systems." No "deprecated initiatives."
- ✕ Vendor X enterprise renewal ROI undefended after 9 months
- ✕ Internal LLM fine-tuning project Duplicates a vendor offering at 4× cost
- ✕ AI Center of Excellence Slack channel Meetings without decisions
- ✕ Customer support copilot v2 v1 hasn't shipped
- ✕ "AI strategy" steering committee 12 attendees, zero owners
One mark. One wordmark.
NS Studio · Boutique AI advisory · California
A recurring brand element. Use between identity strings.
The eight-question checklist.
- 01Zero banned words?
- 02Amber appears at most once per paragraph?
- 03At least one prompt card, voice card, or kill-list element?
- 04No emoji in marketing copy?
- 05Single decision / CTA at the end?
- 06Italic amber accent phrase in the headline?
- 07Could McKinsey have written this? (If yes, rewrite.)
- 08Does it survive being read aloud to a skeptical CEO?
The 5 Fatal Flaws That Kill Most AI Strategies.
The same diagnostic we run in paid engagements. 12-minute read. Free. No email gate disguised as a download.