PixelPay

The lightest payment rail for AI agents.

Brand guidelines for building consistent, recognizable experiences across every touchpoint — from docs to dashboards, SDKs to schemas.

PixelPay agents

01Brand Story

Position

We compete on smallness. Fewer tokens, fewer calls, fewer fields, fewer decisions. PixelPay is the most rational, minimal, efficient way for an agent to move money.

Two audiences, one message

Developers choose the payment rail. They evaluate docs, wire up integrations, and set spending controls. Agents are the end-users — they optimize for the smallest context footprint, fewest round-trips, and deterministic outcomes. The brand speaks to developers explicitly and serves agents implicitly through its design.

Key differentiators

Smallest footprint

A 40-token tool schema, not 300. Every token in a schema is charged on every LLM call — even when unused.

Single-call atomic

One request in, one response out. No multi-step state machines. No "check balance, then confirm" flows.

Flat pricing

Agents don't respond to fee psychology. One transparent fee model. Total cost is the only number.

Deterministic

No CAPTCHAs, no redirects, no ambiguity. Clear error codes. JSON only. Consistent response shapes.

Sub-second

Payment confirmation under 1 second. No async webhooks required for basic flows.

Brand personality

Precise. Minimal. Rational. The brand itself embodies "smallest footprint" — no wasted words, no decorative excess, every element earns its place.

02Logo

The PixelPay mark is a 3×3 pixel grid forming a "P" shape — a direct reference to the name and to the atomic, grid-based nature of the product. The wordmark uses JetBrains Mono Bold.

PixelPay

On dark

PixelPay

On light

Clear space

Maintain a minimum clear space equal to the height of the pixel mark on all sides.

PixelPay

Minimum size

The logo should never be rendered smaller than 80px wide for the full lockup, or 24px for the mark alone.

03Colors

Terminal-inspired. Dark by default. The palette is intentionally constrained — one accent color, supporting neutrals, and semantic colors for UI states.

Core palette

Background

#0f172a

Page background, primary surfaces

Elevated

#1e293b

Cards, code blocks, elevated surfaces

Accent

#06b6d4

Links, highlights, interactive elements

Primary text

#e2e8f0

Headings, body text, primary content

Muted text

#64748b

Secondary info, captions, labels

Dim text

#475569

Tertiary info, decorative text

Semantic colors

Success

#22c55e

Confirmed, approved, complete

Warning

#f59e0b

Budget limits, rate limits, caution

Error

#ef4444

Failed, declined, destructive actions

Syntax highlighting

Code blocks use the brand palette for syntax highlighting. This keeps code visually integrated rather than feeling like a separate element.

// PixelPay — single-call payment
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
  -d '{
    "to":     "api.weather.io",
    "amount": 0.002,
    "memo":   "forecast/lat=40.7&lon=-74.0"
  }'

// Response — 47 tokens
{"ok": true, "id": "tx_9k2f", "bal": 4.38}

CSS custom properties

:root {
  --pp-bg:          #0f172a;
  --pp-bg-elevated: #1e293b;
  --pp-text:        #e2e8f0;
  --pp-text-muted:  #64748b;
  --pp-accent:      #06b6d4;
  --pp-success:     #22c55e;
  --pp-warning:     #f59e0b;
  --pp-error:       #ef4444;
}

04Typography

Fully monospace. No serif. No sans-serif. Serifs signal editorial. Sans signals corporate. Mono signals infrastructure.

JetBrains Mono — Headings, navigation, code

The lightest payment rail.

JetBrains Mono Bold · Headings, navigation, labels, code

Space Mono — Body text

PixelPay is a micropayment rail built for AI agents. One call, one response, one fee. Developers wire it up. Agents use it without thinking. Every element of the API is designed to minimize context window cost.

Space Mono Regular · Body text, long-form content, descriptions

Type scale

3rem / 48px Page title

1.5rem / 24px Section heading

1rem / 16px Subsection heading

1rem / 16px Body text in Space Mono

0.8125rem Code and small text

0.6875rem LABELS AND CAPTIONS

05Voice & Tone

Technical but not jargon-heavy. Concise. Direct. Confident. Developer-empathetic — we speak to builders. Every word earns its place, just like every field in our API.

Principles

Say less

If it can be said in 5 words, don't use 15. Docs, error messages, marketing — all trimmed.

Show, don't describe

A code sample beats a paragraph. A working curl beats a flowchart.

Be specific

Not "fast" — "under 1 second." Not "simple" — "one API call." Numbers over adjectives.

Respect the reader

Assume they're technical. Don't over-explain. Don't patronize. Link to depth, don't inline it.

Examples

Do

"One call. Payment confirmed. 47 tokens."

"Set a daily cap. Revoke the key anytime."

"Flat fee. No tiers. Agents can calculate cost upfront."

Don't

"Our revolutionary AI-powered payment solution leverages cutting-edge technology..."

"Simply configure your payment preferences in our easy-to-use dashboard!"

"We're excited to announce our flexible, scalable pricing tiers..."

Error messages

Do

{"error": "insufficient_funds", "bal": 0.12, "required": 0.50}

Don't

{"error": "Oops! It looks like you don't have enough balance. Please top up your account."}

06Imagery & Iconography

Clean line icons. Geometric. Minimal. Pixel/grid motifs as recurring visual elements. No stock photography — illustrations and diagrams only.

Icon style

1.5px stroke weight, round caps, round joins. Monochrome in accent color on dark, or in background color on light. Drawn on a 24px grid.

Pixel grid motif

The 3×3 pixel grid from the logo can be used as a decorative pattern — backgrounds, section dividers, loading states. Always in accent or dim colors, never competing with content.

No stock photography

No photos of people shaking hands, staring at screens, or pointing at whiteboards. If a visual is needed, use a diagram, a code snippet, or an architectural illustration.

07Spacing & Layout

8px base unit. All spacing is a multiple of 8. This keeps everything aligned to a consistent rhythm.

Spacing scale

1x 8px

2x 16px

3x 24px

4x 32px

6x 48px

8x 64px

10x 80px

Layout

Max content width:  960px
Page padding:       32px  (4x unit)
Section padding:    80px  (10x unit, top/bottom)
Card padding:       24px  (3x unit)
Component gap:      24px  (3x unit)
Border radius:      4px   (subtle, not rounded)

08Usage Rules

Quick reference for maintaining brand consistency.

Use the full "PixelPay" wordmark with capital P's.

Don't

Don't write "Pixel Pay", "pixel pay", "PIXELPAY", or "PP".

Use monospace fonts for all text. The brand is fully mono.

Don't

Don't introduce serif or sans-serif typefaces.

Lead with code samples. Show the API call before explaining it.

Don't

Don't write long explanatory paragraphs without a code example.

Use semantic HTML. Every section linkable. Agents parse the site too.

Don't

Don't hide content behind modals, accordions, or JS-rendered views.

Use accent color (#06b6d4) sparingly — links, highlights, active states.

Don't

Don't use accent as a background fill or for large blocks of color.

Be specific. "Under 1 second." "One API call." "47 tokens."

Don't

Don't use vague superlatives: "blazing fast", "incredibly simple", "revolutionary".