The mark
The BuildTec mark anchors every page. Test it across the proposal's likely surfaces: paper, deep ink, cream, the mark color itself, and (proposed) the lagoon accent. Stages that fail go on the do-not-use list.
Get the logo. Download BuildTec logo (PNG, transparent). Source file supplied by BuildTec — use this asset for all proposal placements.
Primary lockup across surfaces
Full-color logo on every approved background. Stages where contrast collapses (e.g., yellow on cream) are excluded from the system.
Color system
Four primaries from the BuildTec brand guide, six extended tokens derived for proposal use (longer reading, larger surfaces, finer hierarchy), and two optional accents for coastal/ecological content. The extension is brand-faithful; the accent is brand-adjacent and used sparingly.
Primary — locked
The four canonical BuildTec brand colors. No edits, no substitutions.
Extended — derived from primaries
Six derived tokens that give the palette enough range for an 80-page document. All come straight from the primaries — they're tints/shades, not new colors.
Great Pond accent — ecological sections only
A desaturated sage-teal pulled from typical mangrove/lagoon photography. Brand-adjacent, not brand-breaking. Used only where the content is ecological — coastal engineering, H&H modeling, mangrove restoration, biological/water-quality monitoring. Never competes with the mark.
Approximate usage ratio across the document
A document this length needs ~50% paper, lots of ink for the words, and very small doses of mark and accent. Yellow's job is to draw the eye to the few things that matter most. Lagoon's job is to whisper, not announce.
Typography
The pairing is Graduate + Montserrat. Graduate is the display face — monumental, civic, slightly inscriptional. It earns the cover and section openers but must be reined in everywhere else. Montserrat carries the working text — neutral, highly legible at small sizes, deep weight range. The pair works because Graduate's geometric, almost-architectural caps sit comfortably above Montserrat's quiet humanist body; neither competes for attention. The rule of thumb: Graduate for things you read once; Montserrat for everything you read more than once. Roughly 95% of the words on the page will be Montserrat.
Get the fonts. Graduate (display) — Google Fonts · download .zip. Montserrat (body) — Google Fonts · download .zip. Both are open-source (SIL Open Font License) — free to install locally for InDesign / Figma / Illustrator.
Design & Permitting Services
Surface pairings
How the tokens behave on real surfaces. Each card is sized like a section opener panel. The question to ask: does this feel like BuildTec, and does the content fit?
Technical Approach
Deep ink with mark eyebrow. The default section opener — serious, civic, BuildTec-confident.
Sustainability & Resilience
Standard ink. Slightly less heavy than deep ink — better for mid-document section opens.
Permitting Roadmap
Paper background with a mark eyebrow. Quieter section transition for content that should breathe.
Mandatory Supporting Documents
Cream is for procedural callouts, sidebars, and compliance scaffolding — not section heads.
Smith Warner International
Paper-tint is the neutral "container" — capability cards, firm panels, comparison blocks.
Blue Carbon Co-Benefits
Mark-soft is the loud highlight — reserve for things you want the evaluator to remember.
Mangrove Restoration
Lagoon as a section opener for ecological content. Used at most 2–3× across the document.
Hydrodynamics & Sediment Transport
Lagoon-soft is the ecological "container" — a quieter alternative to paper-tint in coastal sections.
Sample components
The system applied to real proposal elements — a capability card, a data callout, an ecological callout, and a standard table. These are sketches, not final designs, but they show the tokens working together.
Smith Warner International
SWI brings 25+ years of Caribbean coastal engineering practice, including hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling, shoreline stabilization design, and mangrove restoration on lagoon and bay systems across Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the wider region.
Days from notice-to-proceed to final design package
BuildTec's integrated team is structured to deliver concept through 65% design and full permitting within DPNR's 180-day performance window.
Blue Carbon Sequestration
Restored mangrove area provides measurable carbon co-benefits alongside the primary objectives of flood attenuation and habitat reconnection — supporting USVI commitments under regional climate frameworks.
| Firm | Role | Work Share | Local Presence |
|---|---|---|---|
| BuildTec, LLC | Prime · Engineering · Geotech | ~35% | USVI |
| Smith Warner Intl. | Coastal · H&H · Design | ~30% | Jamaica / regional |
| Rittenhouse Consulting | Permitting · Stakeholders | ~20% | USVI |
| Oasis Engineering | Survey & Mapping | ~15% | USVI |
Why this system
Three things to be honest about, so the system can be evaluated against the constraint that actually matters: does it earn points the DPNR evaluator can score?
1. The brand reads industrial. The work is ecological.
BuildTec's identity (gear, hard-hat, charcoal-and-yellow) signals heavy-civil contractor. The RFP wants coastal restoration, mangrove planting, and stakeholder engagement. We resolve this by holding the brand strictly on team/capability/cover content, and giving ecological content a quiet companion (lagoon) that's brand-adjacent but subject-honest.
2. Graduate is a strong face. It needs restraint.
Graduate at body sizes is unreadable. At display sizes it's monumental and earns its keep on the cover, section openers, and oversized data figures. Everywhere else, Montserrat carries the document. Roughly 95% of the words on the page will be Montserrat.
3. Yellow is the loudest thing in the system.
At ~8% of the page area, the mark works as a wayfinder. Used too widely it becomes wallpaper and stops drawing the eye. Used too narrowly it stops feeling like BuildTec. The ratio bar above is the target — review every spread against it.