Part II — Visual Identity · Chapter 09
SDARM Brand Book · 2026
09
Aa
Aa
Typography
The two typographic families of SDARM — their functions, weights, scale and rules of application across 16 alphabets and 127 countries.
Part II · Ch. 09
8 sections
Interactive playground
In this chapter
9.1
The two families
Noto Serif and Noto Sans — why these
9.2
Weights and styles
Which to use — and which never to use
9.3
Typographic scale
Sizes, leading and tracking
9.4
Visual hierarchy
How the text levels relate to each other
9.5
Typographic playground
Test any combination live
9.6
Correct and incorrect use
What never to do with typography
9.7
Multilingual system
16 alphabets — how Noto solves it
9.8
Editorial rules
Spacing, alignment and punctuation
9.1 — The two typographic families

Noto Serif and Noto Sans —
why these fonts

The SDARM typographic choice is not decorative. It is strategic. The Noto families were developed by Google specifically to work in every alphabet in the world — with no substitutions, no missing characters, no ?..

S
Primary typeface · Headings and editorial text
Noto Serif
Serif family · Used in headings, subheadings, pull quotes, editorial sections and texts of spiritual emphasis.
Noto Serif
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 . , : ; ! ? " " — – ( ) &
Headings H1–H3
Pull quotes
Slogans and taglines
Devotional text
S
Secondary typeface · Interface and body text
Noto Sans
Sans serif family · Used in body text, captions, labels, navigation, digital interfaces, signage and official documents.
Noto Sans
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 . , : ; ! ? " " — – ( ) &
Body text
Captions and labels
Digital interface
Signage
BW Modelica → logotype

The Noto family (from "No more tofu") was created precisely to eliminate the problem of missing characters — the empty boxes that appear when a font does not support a given script. With coverage of more than 800 languages and 100 scripts, it is the only choice that works without adaptation in any country where SDARM is present.

BW Modelica is the third typeface of the system — exclusive to the logotype. It exists only as vectors in the official files and is never installed as a live font on computers for general use.

Where to obtain the fonts
Noto Serif and Noto Sans are available free of charge on Google Fonts (fonts.google.com). For use in operating systems, installing the complete "Noto Fonts" package guarantees coverage of every script. BW Modelica is available only in the official vector files supplied by the General Conference — never install versions downloaded from unofficial sources.
Section 9.1 · The two families
"Cinematic close-up of letterpress metal type sorted in a wooden case, warm amber side light, deep shadows, film grain, low saturation, no legible text, 4:3"
9.2 — Weights and styles

Which to use —
and which never to use

Each typographic weight has a specific function. Using the wrong weight creates visual noise — the eye does not know where to focus.

Noto Serif — approved weights
Light 300 Presence Large headings, pull quotes
Regular 400 Presence Subheadings, supporting text
Medium 500 Presence Occasional editorial emphasis
Light Italic 300i Presence Slogans, taglines, pull quotes
Regular Italic 400i Presence Emphasis in editorial body text
Noto Sans — approved weights
Light 300 Presence Long body text
Regular 400 Presence Interface text and labels
Medium 500 Presence Section subheadings, active labels
SemiBold 600 Presence Highlight labels, active navigation
Bold 700 Presence Acronyms and numeric values only
Forbidden weights
Black (900), ExtraBold (800) and ExtraLight (200) are never used. They create excessive or insufficient contrast and contradict the serene tone of the brand. SDARM typography never shouts.
9.3 — Typographic scale

Official sizes, leading
and tracking

The typographic scale defines the text sizes for each function. Following the scale guarantees visual harmony across every piece — regardless of who produced it.

H1 · Main heading
64–96px · Light 300
Leading: 0.95 · Tracking: −0.02em
Word.
Cover, section title,
maximum emphasis
H2 · Section heading
40–52px · Light 300
Leading: 1.05 · Tracking: −0.015em
Presence and truth.
Chapter titles,
main sections
H3 · Block heading
28–36px · Regular 400
Leading: 1.15 · Tracking: −0.01em
No hurry. No pressure.
Subsections,
card titles
Subtitle
20–24px · Light Italic 300i
Leading: 1.35 · Tracking: 0
Here, no one walks alone.
Subheadings, slogans,
short pull quotes
Lead / Intro
17–19px · Light 300
Leading: 1.75 · Tracking: 0
The first paragraph of any longer text. It introduces the subject lightly and draws the reader in.
First paragraph,
section introduction
Body
15px · Light 300
Leading: 1.85–1.95 · Tracking: 0
The main running text. Used in all content paragraphs, descriptions and explanations. The generous leading makes long texts easier to read.
All running text,
paragraphs
Label / Eyebrow
10px · SemiBold 600
Leading: 1.4 · Tracking: +0.25em
Section 09 · Typography
Eyebrows, section labels,
categories, tags
Caption
12px · Light 300
Leading: 1.6 · Tracking: 0
Image caption or additional context. Always in a softer gray, so as not to compete with the main content.
Captions, metadata,
footnotes
Responsive scale
Headings use the CSS function clamp() to adjust automatically between small and large screens. The standard formula is clamp(minimum, fluid-size, maximum). Never set heading sizes in fixed pixels in digital materials.
9.4 — Visual hierarchy

How the text levels
relate to each other

Typographic hierarchy is what guides the reader's eye — from the most important to the least important, without their having to decide consciously where to begin.

9.4 — Visual hierarchy · Example in a real context
No one walks alone.
A Church present in 127 countries and in every moment of life.
SDARM is not merely a religious denomination. It is a global community of people who believe that faith was not made to be lived in isolation — but in fellowship, in service and in presence.
Every Sabbath worship, every shared meal, every visit to a sick member, every family Bible study is the concrete expression of that belief. The typography reflects it: serene, legible, without pressure, without spectacle.
Typographic note: this text uses Noto Serif for headings and subheadings, and Noto Sans for body and caption — the standard SDARM combination in editorial materials.

The example above demonstrates the 6 levels working simultaneously: eyebrow → heading → subheading → dividing rule → lead → body → caption.

The dividing rule is not decorative — it separates the editorial from the body and signals to the reader that the longer text begins there. In printed materials it is always 1px and in the color #E8E4DE.

Approved combinations
Heading + Body
Noto Serif Light
+ Noto Sans Light for the body
Label + Heading + Body
CATEGORY
Noto Serif Light
+ Noto Sans body
Digital interface
Noto Sans SemiBold (nav)
+ Noto Sans Light (body)
Forbidden combinations
Serif + Serif at the same level
Heading in Noto Serif
Body also in Noto Serif — it creates ambiguity
More than 2 families
Adding a third family (Arial, Times, etc.) outside the official system — any font that is not Noto Serif, Noto Sans or BW Modelica.
Excessive weight
EXCESSIVE BOLD IN ALL CAPS
Weights 700+ with all capitals — it shouts, and contradicts the serene tone of the brand
Section 9.4 · Visual hierarchy
"Documentary photo of printed typographic specimen sheets pinned on a studio wall, a hand pointing at heading sizes, modest long sleeves, warm natural light, film grain, low saturation, no readable text, 16:9"
9.5 — Typographic playground

Test any combination
live

Adjust family, weight, size and color. The text below is editable — click and type to see how your own words look in the SDARM typefaces.

Family
Weight
Style
Size 48px
Color
No one walks alone.

The playground is a tool for exploration — not for decision. The valid combinations are defined in the previous sections. Use the playground to feel how the fonts behave with your own text before producing a piece.

9.6 — Correct and incorrect use

What never to do
with typography

Typographic mistakes are the most common in local materials — and the most visible. Each item below represents a real situation identified in materials across the network.

Correct
Section heading
The Sabbath gathers us.
A day to stop, worship and rest together as a community.
Serif for the heading, Sans for the body. Weights suited to each function. A clear and serene hierarchy.
Forbidden
THE SABBATH GATHERS US!!!
A day to stop, worship and rest together as a community.
Bold + capitals + multiple exclamation marks. It shouts. It contradicts the serene tone. It uses an inadequate weight in the body.
Correct
"Scripture does not age. It speaks to the time in which it is read."
Devotional text · Chapter 05
Noto Serif italic for the quotation. Label in Noto Sans caps. Curly typographic quotation marks (" "), not straight ones (" ").
Forbidden
"Scripture does not age..."
Unofficial font
Using Georgia, Arial, Times New Roman or any unapproved font — even one that "looks like" Noto.
Correct
Sabbath worship at 9 a.m. Sabbath School at 8.30 a.m. You are welcome. Bring your family.
Emphasis with Medium 500 in Noto Sans — not with bold or italic. Discreet and functional.
Forbidden
Sabbath worship at 9 A.M. Sabbath School at 8.30 A.M. You are welcome. BRING YOUR FAMILY.
Bold + italic + underline + capitals all at once. Each technique cancels the other out — nothing is truly emphasized.
Section 9.6 · Correct use
"Close-up of an open printed booklet with clean serif typography, reading glasses beside it on a wooden table, warm window light, shallow depth of field, film grain, low saturation, no legible text, 4:5"
9.7 — Multilingual system

16 alphabets —
how Noto solves it

SDARM communicates in dozens of languages — including non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Devanagari, Cyrillic, Korean and Japanese. The Noto family covers them all with the same visual harmony.

PT · Português
"No one walks alone."
Noto Sans Light · Latin script
EN · English
"No one walks alone."
Noto Sans Light · Latin script
ES · Español
"Nadie camina solo."
Noto Sans Light · Latin script
FR · Français
"Personne ne marche seul."
Noto Sans Light · Latin script
DE · Deutsch
"Niemand geht allein."
Noto Sans Light · Latin script
RU · Русский
«Никто не идёт в одиночку.»
Noto Sans Light · Cyrillic script
HI · हिन्दी
कोई अकेला नहीं चलता।
Noto Sans Devanagari · Devanagari script
AR · العربية
لا أحد يسير وحيداً.
Noto Sans Arabic · Arabic script · RTL
KO · 한국어
아무도 혼자 걷지 않는다.
Noto Sans KR · Korean script

The most critical variable in multilingual materials is the relative size of the scripts. Scripts such as Devanagari and Korean tend to look larger than Latin at the same point size — which may require a fine adjustment of 1–2pt to harmonize them visually.

For materials in Arabic and Hebrew (RTL — right to left), the text alignment is reversed, but the typography remains the same. The logotype in those contexts should be positioned to the right of the composition — this decision is still being defined by the General Conference and will be documented in a future update of the Brand Book.

Scripts with confirmed support
The Noto family supports: Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Devanagari, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tibetan, Korean (Hangul), Japanese (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji), Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Any script not covered by Noto must be reported to the GC communication team so that an approved alternative can be defined.
9.8 — Editorial rules

Spacing, alignment
and punctuation

Typography is detail. It is the details that separate a piece that looks produced with care from a piece that looks improvised.

Spacing and alignment
Default alignment
Text ranged left for body copy. Centered only for cover titles, events and signage. Never justified in digital materials — it creates inconsistent rivers of space.
Minimum leading
Body text: minimum 1.6. Preferred 1.85–1.95. Headings: 0.95–1.1. Never leading below 0.9 in any context.
Space between paragraphs
Between paragraphs: 1 × the font size (e.g. 15px font = 15–20px of space). Never a double blank line between paragraphs.
Line width
Body text: maximum 70–80 characters per line (approximately 600–700px at 15px). Longer lines impair reading.
Punctuation and characters
Typographic quotation marks
Always curly quotation marks: " " and ' '. Never straight ones: " " or '. In EN: "text" — opening on the left, closing on the right.
Dashes and hyphens
Em dash (—) for dialogue and long pauses. En dash (–) for ranges (9 a.m.–12 p.m.). Hyphen (-) only for compound words. Never a double hyphen (--).
Numbers and dates
Numbers in Noto Sans Regular. Dates written out in full in editorial contexts: "14 June 2026". Numeric format in interfaces: "14/06/2026".
Capitals and lower case
Labels and categories: capitals in Noto Sans SemiBold with letter-spacing +0.25em. Headings: lower case, only the first letter capitalized. Never entire headings in capitals.
Typography is the silence
between the words.
The space that lets the text breathe.
Two families. Nothing more.
Noto Serif for what needs authority and permanence. Noto Sans for what needs clarity and function. No third family is approved — in any context.
Weight with purpose
Each weight was chosen for a reason. Light for most of the text — because the brand is serene. Bold only where it is strictly necessary — because when everything shouts, nothing is heard.
127 countries, one family
Noto was created for this: to be the same typographic family in Arabic, Korean, Devanagari and Portuguese. SDARM has one voice — and it sounds the same in any alphabet.
Brand Manager's Note
"Typography is the most invisible element when it is right — and the most disturbing when it is wrong. Noto was not chosen for beauty: it was chosen for global coherence. A Church in 127 countries needs to sound the same in every one of them."
Hugo Cibalde
Brand Manager
Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement
General Conference · 2026
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SDARM Brand Book · Ch. 09 · Part II — Visual Identity · 2026