Our mark
Ngā Wai e Rua, two waters
The mark
Two currents, one crossing
The Black Sheep AI mark is two currents drawn as circuit traces. The machine line enters high and settles low. The red line is the wairua, the animating current: it enters low, crosses over the machine, and leaves carrying the signal.
The red always passes over, never under. Wairua carries the words wai, water, and rua, two: the mark is that word made visible, and the exchange our products perform between your knowledge and the machine.
The machine: enters high and settles low, broken where the other current passes.
The wairua: enters low, crosses over, and leaves top right carrying the signal.
Ōtautahi
The two rivers of Ōtautahi
Ōtākaro
The Avon. Ōtākaro means the place of a game, named for the children who played on its banks while the food gathering was done. It was highly regarded as a mahinga kai by Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe and Ngāi Tahu, for pātiki, tuna, inaka and ducks.Ōpāwaho
The Heathcote. Named for a pā that served as a waho, an outpost: a resting place for Ngāi Tahu travelling between Kaiapoi and Horomaka, and an important mahinga kai, especially for tuere and kanakana.Te Ihutai
The estuary where the two rivers meet before the sea. Kaiapoi Ngāi Tahu held Ihutai as an important fishery, part of a much larger mahinga kai used by designated hapū and whānau.
Whakapapa
A Māori-owned enterprise
Both of our founders whakapapa to Ngāi Tahu, which makes Black Sheep AI a Māori-owned, indigenous enterprise. It is part of who we are rather than something we lead with, and it is why the idea at the centre of our work sits easily with us: knowledge is a taonga, and it belongs with the people it comes from.
The river histories on this page come from published Ngāi Tūāhuriri and Ngāi Tahu sources, listed below. If we have something wrong, we would be grateful to be told: team@baa.ai.
Using the mark
Variants, colour and clear space
Colour
- Red #b91c1c, the wairua line, always
- Noir #131314, the machine line on light grounds
- Cream #faf9f0, the machine line on dark grounds
Clear space and size
Keep clear space on every side equal to the thickness of one trace. Minimum height: 20px on screen (16px only as the favicon), 6mm in print.
Please do not
- Recolour the red line, or let the crossing line be anything but red.
- Flip or rotate the mark; the red current always exits top right.
- Close the crossing gap; the break in the machine line is the mark.
- Add gradients, shadows, outlines or rounded corners.
- Redraw the wordmark in another face; the lockup is Instrument Sans 700 with the red square full stop.