← Realife · BrandStudio
The Realife social system · 2026

Speak quietly,
carry weight.

A field guide for everything we publish on Instagram. Read it once, keep it on your desktop, and let the system do the heavy lifting.

01Philosophy
We are not a brand shouting from the corner of the internet. We are a church inviting people into something true.

Our feed should feel like the inside of a well-made book — considered, restrained, masculine without being cold. Every post earns its place. White space is a feature. Text is sparse. The photo, the verse, or the sentence carries the weight.

02Palette
Realife Orange
#e87200
Main brand · PMS 24-8 C
Ink
#373a36
Near-black · primary text & dark surfaces
Bone
#d6d1ca
Light surfaces · text on dark
Teal
#035c67
Accent · PMS 123-16 C
Yellow
#ffb600
Accent · PMS 14-8 C
Green
#68813c
Accent · PMS 159-7 C

Orange is the voice of the brand — bold, generous, and used as the single accent on most posts. Ink (#373a36) replaces pure black for warmth. One color dominates per post; never compete two accents at once.

03Typography
Display · Fraunces
He restores
my soul.

Used for verses, sermon titles, pull-quotes. Always 500 weight with optical-size active. Italic for scripture. Never tracked tight.

Utility · Inter
This Sunday
8:00, 9:30 & 11 AM and 6 PM

Used for announcements, eyebrows, dates, navigation. Set in uppercase with generous letter-spacing for kickers (0.24em+). Never the body of a sermon quote.

04Photography
Do
  • Real people, mid-action, eyes engaged
  • One dominant light source
  • Desaturated, gentle grain
  • Tight crops · honest expressions
  • Negative space top-left or bottom for type
Don't
  • Stock photography of any kind
  • Heavy filters, vignettes, HDR
  • Posed group shots facing camera
  • Empty stages with stage lights
  • Anything cluttered, busy, or oversaturated
05The Grid

The Instagram grid reads three-across. Plan in rows of three: alternate between photo · type · photo and type · photo · type. Never let two type-only posts sit side by side. Never let three photos of the same scene sit in a row.

“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
06Voice

Captions read like they were written by one person, not a committee. Short sentences. No emoji. Scripture cited at the end on its own line.

Avoid: exclamation marks, "guys," "amazing," all-caps shouting, CTAs that beg. Prefer plain English over churchy clichés.

Use the studio

Stop building from scratch.

Open the Studio →