A factory produces identical parts at scale. A forge does the opposite — it takes a unique piece of raw material and applies heat, pressure, and craft to make it stronger, sharper, and more durable, without changing what it fundamentally is. That distinction is the entire business model expressed in a single word.
Forge is not an acquirer in the financial sense. We are a workshop. Every company that joins brings its own metallurgy — its relationships, reputation, and culture. Our job is to provide the environment where those businesses become their strongest selves. The core stays intact. What we add is the heat.
We provide the investment required to take on bigger projects, pursue larger contracts, and compete at a national scale — without asking founders to sacrifice what they built to access it.
The solid foundation of HR, finance, compliance, legal, and procurement that bears the weight of the business — so your team can focus on the craft rather than carrying the overhead.
The people who carry this industry deserve to be invested in — not just employed. Better benefits, real career paths, and a guild of the industry's sharpest practitioners to build alongside. When the craftspeople grow, the craft does too.
"Your name stays on the door. Your culture stays in the building." We reinforce the structure so that what you built can last for generations — and so the people who built it with you have somewhere worthy to grow.
The AV integration market is full of companies on two opposite ends of a spectrum: independent operators with deep craft and limited scale, and large corporate consolidators with capital and no soul. Forge exists at the intersection — bringing institutional resources to operator-led businesses without domesticating what makes them exceptional.
| Principle | What it means | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | Say the thing plainly, then explain why it matters. No jargon, no hedging. | "Your name stays on the door" — not "we honor brand continuity." |
| Grounded | Reference the craft, the work, the hands. Stay in the shop, not the boardroom. | "We bring the anvil; you bring the craft" — not "we provide operational leverage." |
| Respectful | Honor what sellers and founders built. Never position their past as a problem. | Lead with acknowledgment before any offer of improvement. |
| Precise | Specifics over generalities. Numbers, names, and real outcomes. | "12 companies, $150M in revenue" — not "a growing portfolio of partners." |
| Forward | Where we are going — not just where we have been. | Always pair heritage with trajectory. "Built over 30 years. Ready for the next 30." |
The anchor. Deep iron base with antique gold — not startup orange, not venture yellow, but the specific gold of something that has proven its value over time. This palette works everywhere from investor decks to trade show walls. It carries authority without aggression.
The founding mark. Bold enough for a vehicle wrap, refined enough for a CFO's inbox. Use this as the default whenever context is unknown. Antique gold reads as "earned" rather than "excited."
Antique Gold (#B49A3D) is the deliberate departure from both startup orange and generic gold. It reads as something that has been tested — less shiny, more earned. The slate cobalt secondary gives the palette a composed, institutional depth without going full navy.
Investors & institutional audiences. This palette says: we have been in this industry long enough to stop needing to impress you.
Warm charcoal base with molten amber — the actual color of metal in a forge at working temperature. Where Foundry reads as measured and institutional, Ember reads as alive and human. The oxblood depth layer adds ceremonial weight to premium moments: the first meeting, the signed LOI, the flagship acquisition.
For founder-facing materials, seller outreach, and any moment where the brand needs to feel like a fellow operator rather than an institutional buyer. The warmth signals craft; the depth signals permanence.
Molten Amber (#C8861A) occupies the same emotional territory as orange — warmth, energy, craft — but carries none of the discount-brand or startup associations. The desaturation and lower value push it toward "burnished" rather than "excited." PE audiences read it as mature. Tradespeople read it as quality tooling.
Founders & seller-owners. The warmth says "fellow builder." The oxblood says "we understand what you built has weight." Together: earned credibility.
Navy base with copper accent — the canonical craftsman pairing. Cold steel meets the warmth of the forge. Shifts the brand from general industrial to precision industrial: the palette for healthcare environments, government facilities, life safety systems, and data infrastructure. Clinical without being sterile, because the copper keeps it human.
For Critical Infrastructure vertical materials: healthcare, government, education, life safety. The navy reads as institutional trust; the copper signals that a craftsman, not a corporation, is doing the work.
Navy (#1A2535) reads as institutional precision. Copper (#B8773A) is the canonical "craftsman metal" — it signals conductivity, durability, and human skill. Together they say: this organization has both the rigor of an institution and the craft of a tradesperson.
Procurement directors, facilities managers, government contracting officers. This palette signals: we understand compliance, we think in systems, and we have been doing this long enough to know what "cannot fail" means.
The warm-canvas version of Forge. Charcoal type on parchment with copper and antique gold as the accent voices — editorial, premium, and appropriate for any document that needs to feel crafted rather than produced. This is the palette for proposals, RFP responses, and workplace experience materials where a dark background would feel too heavy.
Light-mode default. Use for multi-page documents, proposals, RFPs, and any Workplace Experience materials where the audience needs sustained readability. The warm canvas feels premium; the copper accent keeps it from feeling sterile.
Warm Canvas (#F8F4EE) is not white — it is the specific temperature of quality paper. Against this background, charcoal type reads as considered rather than clinical. The copper and gold accents feel premium rather than decorative. This palette is how Forge looks in a boardroom where the lights are on.
Operations leaders, design managers, enterprise procurement. This palette says: we prepared this for you specifically. We are not sending a template.
Iron Night base with a forest green secondary layer and the amber gold anchor. Green signals growth, safety, and long-term permanence — the colors of a "Go" signal in every trades environment. For the technician or PM weighing whether to trust their career to this company, Verde says: we are still here in 20 years, and so are you.
Employer brand, recruitment, internal communications, employee recognition, benefit materials. The palette that belongs in a hiring portal, an onboarding packet, and on a company hoodie.
Research in skilled trades confirms forest green signals safety, long-term growth, and institutional permanence — the color of a "Go" signal in every technical environment. Combined with Amber Gold (the brand's warmth anchor), Verde says: this company is alive, growing, and built for the long haul. You will not be a number here.
Frontline technicians, field service workers, PMs. This palette says: the company cares about your career, not just your output. It is how Milwaukee Tool uses black-and-red to create employee pride — but warmer.
The darkest Forge with deep teal as the secondary voice. Used when the brand needs to show that it understands what modern AV looks like from a user's perspective — not just what it costs or how it is installed. The amber gold anchor ensures this never reads as a generic tech company; the deep teal signals precision and forward motion without startup energy.
Workplace Experience vertical for technology showcase contexts. Showrooms, digital demos, experience center materials, and any moment where Forge needs to show it understands the future of collaborative spaces.
Ocean Teal (#2A8080) is not the electric teal of consumer apps or SaaS dashboards. It is darker, more saturated, and reads as industrial-precision rather than tech-forward-friendly. Think deep-sea instrumentation, not mobile UI. The amber anchor ensures it never loses the warmth of the Forge brand DNA.
CX leaders, IT directors, real estate & facilities teams. This palette says: the spaces we build feel different from the first moment you walk in — and the technology behind them is just as considered.
The Forge type system is built around four complementary roles: structural impact, operator weight, sustained readability, and technical precision. Each font is chosen not for aesthetic preference but for functional fit — the way skilled trades choose tools.
The structural voice of the brand. Used for all major headlines, slide titles, the Forge wordmark, and large-format applications. Barlow Condensed 900 creates the industrial impact that carries across a trade show wall and a business card simultaneously. Never use below 16px.
The slab serif adds "operator weight" the grotesque system alone cannot deliver. Slabs are the fonts of technical manuals, engineering documentation, and shop-floor safety signs — they carry an implicit authority that signals structural permanence. Use Roboto Slab for pull quotes, key section headers in long-form documents, and any moment where Barlow Condensed would feel too compressed for body-text proximity.
Space Grotesk replaces Epilogue as the body voice. Where Epilogue reads editorial, Space Grotesk reads geometric-industrial — a subtle but meaningful distinction for an operator-credible platform. The letterforms have a mild technical idiosyncrasy (notably the "G" and "R") that rewards close reading without calling attention to itself at distance.
The technical voice. Used for eyebrows, labels, hex codes, data callouts, legal fine print, timestamps, and any text that needs monospaced alignment. DM Mono signals that Forge speaks the language of precision — without using it so broadly that it loses meaning.
Forge operates as a house of brands. Acquired companies retain their local name, their reputation, and their relationships. The Forge connection is expressed through a lightweight endorsement badge — placed where appropriate, sized modestly, and designed to feel like a quality mark rather than an ownership claim.
The Chameleon System is the defining principle: the badge adapts its color to match the acquired brand's primary palette. This ensures the badge feels native to each company's visual language rather than imposing a Forge template. The typography and structure remain constant; only the color responds to the host brand.
Full lockup. Used on documents, proposals, and formal communications where space allows. Badge appears below or beside the primary brand name.
For service delivery contexts: vehicle wraps, job site signage, tech stack callouts. Positions Forge as the enabling infrastructure rather than the owner.
Favicon-size, tight spaces, and applications where the full badge text would compete with the primary brand. A standalone wordmark badge that reads as a quality mark.
Badge background pulls from the host brand's teal-dark. Forge "F" mark uses the host brand's primary light text color. The badge reads as part of Meridian's visual system — not an overlay from outside.
The burgundy host brand is honored completely. "Powered by Forge" variant positions Forge as infrastructure, reinforcing the seller narrative that their brand remains primary.
Neutral slate host brand receives a minimal-contrast badge. No Forge amber or gold introduced — the chameleon principle means we never impose our accent colors on a host brand's visual system.
For light-background host brands: the badge inverts to dark. The Forge "F" mark background uses the host brand's primary dark tone. The text reads against the host brand's canvas — not Forge's palette.