# Big Breath — Brand Identity Parameters
*Compiled from brand clarity session — May 22, 2026*

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## Core Purpose

Big Breath exists to ignite the inner fire in every person who walks into the room — and then teach them how to tame it. The practice uses the breath as the vehicle to activate, heal, and empower. This is not meditation. This is not whisper-soft wellness. Big Breath is a full-body, full-voice, full-presence experience that creates lasting transformation.

**The transformation arc:** Ember → Flame → Mastery.
You arrive disconnected. You leave on fire — and in control of it.

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## Brand Essence

**What people feel when they encounter the brand — before they read a word:**
> Shared profound experience. Life-changing. Healing. Empowered. Vulnerable but strong. Eyes get bigger. Heart opens. Comfort is created.

**The central tension that makes Big Breath unique:**
Vulnerable but strong. Power and openness held at the same time. Most brands pick one. Big Breath holds both.

**What makes Big Breath unlike any other breathwork brand:**
Big Joe does not use a microphone. He does not whisper. He is not a meditation guide. His loud, booming voice ignites people. The inspiration comes from stoking the inner fire — the ember within — with each breath. Then, paradoxically, learning to tame that fire to create balance.

Nobody else in breathwork has this.

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## Brand Energy & Elements

The brand lives at the intersection of all four classical elements — but **fire is the spark that starts everything.**

| Element | Role in the Brand |
|---------|-------------------|
| **Fire** | Ignition. Inner flame. Big Joe's voice. Activation. The ember that breathwork stokes. |
| **Earth** | Rootedness. Stability. The mountain. The tree. Grounded, ancient, immovable. |
| **Air** | The breath itself. The vehicle. Flow. Release. |
| **Water** | The letting go. The taming. The ocean rhythm. Balance after the fire. |

**Energy descriptors:**
- Activating before it's calming
- Grounded and powerful
- Ancient and wise
- Masculine without aggression
- Safe but not soft
- Inspiring and igniting

**What Big Breath is NOT:**
- Soft-spoken or whispery
- Meditative in the passive sense
- Woo-woo without substance
- Corporate wellness box-checking
- Cold, clinical, or sterile
- Gentle wellness-brand energy

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## Visual Direction

### The Symbol

A **circle that breathes.** Inspired by sunlight — ancient, universal, radiant. The circle represents the breath cycle: inhale and exhale completing a loop, no beginning and no end. The sun represents the inner fire — the thing Big Joe ignites in every room.

**The mark should feel:**
- Sturdy. Safe. Inspiring. Masculine.
- Strong enough to hold fire. Open enough to breathe.
- Ancient and universal — every culture on earth has revered the sun.
- Not decorative. Not boho. Not crystal-shop energy.
- Geometric and stripped back — something that lives on a black hat and feels like it belongs there.

**Symbol concept:** A sun mark — but with weight. Not ornate rays. Something geometric, intentional, and bold. A circle with internal geometry that suggests warmth, expansion, and breath. The kind of mark that looks like it was carved rather than designed.

**The tree reference:** A tree is the secondary visual metaphor — rooted deep, unmovable trunk, but branches that move and leaves that breathe. Supports the symbol without replacing it. Useful for supporting visual language and content.

### Color Palette

The palette is warm, earthy, and wearable. It bridges ancient desert energy with modern professional environments. It should feel like Arizona at sunrise or an Arabian morning — not a wellness app or a tech brand.

| Role | Color | Feel |
|------|-------|------|
| **Primary** | Warm white / soft cream | Spirit. New life. Comfort. The guide. What Big Joe wears to lead. |
| **Fire accent** | Terracotta / rust / amber | Ignition. The inner flame. Earth and sun. |
| **Neutral ground** | Sand / warm oat | The desert floor. Wearable anywhere, any time of day. |
| **Earth & life** | Desert Sage `#7A8C4E` | The living earth. Growth within stillness. Olive and ancient. Pairs with cream and clay. |
| **Depth (occasional)** | Muted warm charcoal or clay | Weight without coldness. Never pure black. |

**Color philosophy:**
White is the lead — not sterile, not cult-leader white, but the white of new life and spirit. It creates comfort. It's what Big Joe instinctively reaches for before a workshop. Terracotta and amber are the fire underneath.

**Note on blue:** Big Joe has historically been drawn to blue, but his lived experience — what he wears, how he guides, what he described — pulls strongly warm and earthy. Blue may live as a supporting element tied to the water/release energy, but it should not lead the palette.

### Typography

**The wordmark — "Big Breath" — should feel:**
- Like something that moves — not rigid, not perfect, not designed by committee
- Rooted and alive. Carved by hand. Worn in, not polished up.
- Ancient without being a history lesson
- Warm enough to put on a hat. Strong enough to open a room
- Timeless in the way a good knife is timeless — not because it's fancy, but because it works

**Direction:** A serif with heat in it. Not a font that went to business school — one that's been to the desert, sat in a ceremony, climbed something. It has a past. It moves the way breath moves: intentional, unhurried, full. Not a script. Not a slab. Not a clean tech sans. Something between a classical typeface and a mark made by a human who meant it.

**The gut test:** Put it on a hat. Show it to someone who's never heard of Big Breath. Does it make them lean in? Does it feel like it belongs to something real? That's the standard.

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## Logo System

### Primary Mark
Sun symbol + "Big Breath" wordmark. The symbol leads — it should be strong enough to stand alone.

### Symbol Only
The sun/circle mark used on its own for embroidery, embossing, hat logos, apparel tags, wax seals, and brand moments where the full wordmark isn't needed.

### Wordmark Only
"Big Breath" typeset for contexts where the symbol isn't appropriate — documents, decks, email signatures.

### Application Priority
1. **Apparel & merch:** Symbol-forward. The mark on a hat. Embroidered. Simple. Warm colorway on cream or oat base.
2. **Corporate/enterprise:** Wordmark-led. Clean. Professional serif. Paired with restrained color use.
3. **Digital (IG, YouTube, website):** Full lockup where space allows. Symbol alone for profile images and icons.

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## Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP)

### ICP 1 — The High Performer in Transition
Former athlete, executive, or high-achiever going through identity shift. Career change, burnout, divorce, loss of purpose. Driven, accomplished, but running on empty and searching for something real. Would never walk into a traditional wellness studio. Big Joe's NFL background gives him direct access to this person.

### ICP 2 — The Corporate Wellness Seeker
Mid-to-senior level professional. Stressed, overthinking, disconnected from their body. Their company is investing in wellness — they're the participant or the decision-maker. They need something that bridges science and practice. Big Breath's professional presentation and proven methodology earns their trust.

### ICP 3 — The Conscious Man
Men in their 30s–50s who are open to inner work but need a guide who doesn't feel soft or preachy. They want strength, not spirituality as an aesthetic. Big Joe's masculine presence and physical presence (former NFL, big voice, no microphone) gives them permission to go deep.

### ICP 4 — The Workshop Regular
Someone who has attended one session and keeps coming back. They buy the merch. They wear it to brunch, to the gym, to the airport. The apparel should feel like it belongs in all of those places — warm, wearable, a quiet signal to others who know.

### ICP 5 — The Global Wellness Traveler
Internationally minded, spiritually curious, values lived experience over credentials. They've done retreats in Bali, meditated in India, done temazcal in Mexico. Big Joe's global footprint (Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, India, Oman) speaks to them. They recognize the depth behind the brand.

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## Voice & Tone

**Always:** Grounded. Direct. Human. Slightly poetic. Ancient wisdom spoken in plain language. Speaks to one person, not a crowd.

**In workshops and guided sessions:** Bold. Loud. Igniting. No microphone needed. The voice is part of the practice.

**In corporate and enterprise contexts:** Confident, professional, evidence-backed. Bridges science and embodied practice without losing the fire underneath.

**Never:** Whispery. Passive. Woo-woo without substance. Generic motivational. Preachy. Soft-selling.

**The voice test:** Would Big Joe say this standing across from someone who needs help — using his full voice, in a room with no microphone? If yes, publish it.

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## Brand Positioning Statement

Big Breath is the breathwork practice for people who want to be ignited, not lulled. Guided by a former NFL athlete with 15,000+ sessions across the globe, Big Breath uses the breath to activate the inner fire — and then teaches you to master it. This is not meditation. This is transformation.

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## Open Decisions (To Be Finalized with Designer)

- [ ] Final sun mark geometry — number of rays, weight, proportion
- [ ] Serif typeface selection — shortlist 3–5 options for review
- [ ] Exact terracotta/amber HEX values — test across digital and print
- [ ] Secondary palette confirmation — role of blue (if any)
- [ ] Logo lockup proportions — symbol to wordmark ratio
- [ ] Apparel colorway priority — cream base with terracotta mark, or oat base with warm charcoal?
- [ ] Corporate version — does the wordmark stand alone, or does a refined version of the symbol travel with it?

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*Document version 1.0 — compiled from brand clarity session with Big Joe, May 22, 2026.*
*Next step: Brief a brand/logo designer using this document as the creative foundation.*
