Branded Web App & Custom Domain
A short, plain-English list of what we need from you to launch your YACHTWAVE-powered web app on your own brand and your own domain name.
What We Need From You
Four items. That's the whole list.
- Primary Brand Color — a HEX code, e.g.
#123456 - Secondary Brand Color — a HEX code, e.g.
#123456 - Vector Logo — SVG, EPS, or AI file only, in white or a color that contrasts well against your primary brand color. PNG and JPG files will not work.
- Domain Name — the web address you want to use. Once you give it to us, we send you a CNAME and a TXT record that must be added to your domain's DNS by whoever manages it.
Details on each item below — including how to tell whether the logo file you have is actually a vector file.
1. Brand Colors
We apply your two brand colors across the web app — the navigation bar, buttons, links, headings, and highlights — so it looks like your product, not ours.
Send each color as a HEX code: a hash sign followed by six characters, like #0478CC. Your marketing team, brand guide, or whoever designed your logo will have these. If you only have Pantone, RGB, or CMYK values, send those instead and we will convert them.
Primary Brand Color
#0478CC
Navigation bar, primary buttons, links, key headings. This is your dominant color.
Secondary Brand Color
#13CE8B
Accents, secondary buttons, highlights, and supporting UI details.
The examples above are YACHTWAVE colors — they are only here to show the format. Send us your own two HEX codes.
Please avoid: very light colors (pale yellow, light gray, white) as your primary color. Your primary color is used behind white text, so a light primary color makes the text unreadable and fails accessibility standards. If your brand's main color is light, send us a darker approved brand color to use as the primary and we will use the light one as an accent.
2. Vector Logo
Your logo appears in the web app's navigation bar, on the login screen, and in emails the app sends. It has to look sharp on a phone, on a 4K monitor, and on a Retina display — which is why we need a vector file, not a picture of your logo.
What "Vector" Actually Means
A vector file stores your logo as mathematical shapes and lines. It can be scaled to any size — a favicon or a billboard — and stays perfectly crisp.
A raster file (PNG, JPG) stores your logo as a fixed grid of colored dots. Blow it up past its original size and it gets soft, blurry, and jagged. There is no way to convert a PNG or JPG back into a true vector file.
Illustration only — the right-hand sample is simulated to show the effect.
Accepted and Rejected File Types
✓ These Work
- .svg — Scalable Vector Graphics (best)
- .eps — Encapsulated PostScript
- .ai — Adobe Illustrator
A .pdf is sometimes acceptable — but only if the logo inside it was placed as vector artwork. A PDF with a screenshot of your logo pasted into it is still a raster image. Send it and we will check.
✗ These Will Not Work
- .png — even at high resolution
- .jpg / .jpeg
- .gif / .webp / .bmp / .tif
- .psd — Photoshop (raster)
- .docx / .pptx — logo pasted in a document
- A logo copied off your website
- A screenshot of your logo
These cannot be upgraded, converted, or "made higher resolution." We need the original vector artwork.
This is the single most common hold-up. A PNG of your logo — no matter how large the file is or how good it looks on your screen — cannot be used and cannot be converted into a vector. If you send a PNG or JPG, we will have to come back and ask again, and your launch waits.
How to Tell If You Have a Vector File
- Check the file extension. The filename must end in
.svg,.eps, or.ai. If it ends in.pngor.jpg, it is not a vector file — renaming it does not change that. - Zoom way in. Open the file and zoom to 800%. Vector artwork stays perfectly smooth. Raster artwork breaks into visible squares or blurs.
- When in doubt, send everything you have. We will tell you within one business day whether it is usable.
Don't Have a Vector File? Here's Where to Get One
Almost every company has vector logo files somewhere — they are just usually not the copy sitting on someone's desktop. Ask, in this order:
- The designer or agency that created your logo. They keep the source artwork and can send it in minutes. Ask them for: "the vector logo in SVG or EPS, including an all-white version."
- Your marketing department or brand manager. If you have a brand guide or style guide, the vector files are usually stored with it.
- Your print vendor or sign shop. Anyone who has printed your logo on banners, boat hulls, apparel, or business cards was given a vector file to do it.
- If no vector file exists anywhere, a designer can redraw your logo as vector artwork. This is a small, inexpensive one-time job — and it is worth doing, because you will need it for everything else too.
Logo Color: White, or Something That Contrasts
The logo sits on top of your primary brand color in the app's navigation bar. So the logo must be a color that stands out against that background.
In most cases a solid all-white version of your logo is exactly what we need, because most brands' primary color is dark enough for white to pop. If your primary color is light, send a dark version instead.
Best practice: send both an all-white version and your full-color version, both as vector files. That covers every place your logo appears — dark navigation bars, white email templates, and light backgrounds — and means we never have to come back and ask.
One more thing to check: if your logo contains text, ask your designer to outline or convert the type to paths before sending. Otherwise the text can render with the wrong font on our system.
3. Custom Domain Name
Your web app runs on a web address you own and control — something like boats.yourcompany.com or app.yourcompany.com — so your customers never see a YACHTWAVE URL.
Tell us the exact address you want. Most customers use a subdomain of their existing website, which is the simplest option and does not affect your main site at all.
| Example | Notes |
|---|---|
app.yourcompany.com |
Most common. A subdomain of your existing website. Recommended. |
boats.yourcompany.com |
Also fine — the subdomain word is entirely up to you. |
owners.yourcompany.com |
Good choice if the app is customer-facing. |
yourcompanyboats.com |
A separate domain you own works too. If you don't own it yet, register it before we start. |
Important: you must own the domain, and someone on your side must be able to edit its DNS records. That is usually your IT person, your web developer, or whoever manages your website. Please identify that person up front — the go-live step depends on them, and this is where most launches stall.
We cannot add these records for you. Only the domain owner can change their own DNS.
4. DNS Records — What Happens Next
Once you send us the domain name, we generate two DNS records specific to your setup and email them to you. Your IT person adds them where your domain is managed (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Network Solutions, Route 53, your web host, etc.). That's the whole process.
Send us your domain name
Give us the exact address you want to use, plus the name and email of the person who manages your DNS.
We email you your DNS records
You receive one CNAME record (points your address at our servers) and one TXT record (proves you own the domain, and lets us issue your SSL certificate). The exact values are unique to you — we generate them after you give us the domain.
Your IT person adds both records
They log in to wherever your domain's DNS is managed and enter the two records exactly as we send them — character for character, nothing added, nothing removed. Then they let us know it's done.
We verify and issue your SSL certificate
We confirm both records are live, issue the HTTPS certificate for your domain, and connect it to your branded app. DNS changes usually take effect within an hour, though they can take up to 48 hours to reach everyone worldwide.
Your branded web app goes live
We send you the link and you're live on your own domain, in your own colors, with your own logo, secured with HTTPS.
What the Records Look Like
So your IT person knows what to expect, here is the shape of what we send. The values below are placeholders.
| Type | Host / Name | Value | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNAME | app |
proxy.yachtwave.com |
Routes your address to your branded app. |
| TXT | _yachtwave-verify |
yw-verify=a1b2c3d4e5f6… |
Confirms you own the domain and authorizes your SSL certificate. |
Do not copy the values above. They are illustrative placeholders and will not work. Use only the records we email you for your specific domain.
For your IT person: both records are additions, not replacements. Nothing about your existing website, email, or MX records is touched. TTL can be left at the provider's default (or set to 300 for a faster cutover). If your DNS is behind Cloudflare, the CNAME should be set to DNS only (gray cloud), not proxied.
Common snags: the host field being entered as the full app.yourcompany.com when the provider only wants app (or vice versa — check your provider's convention); a trailing period or a stray space pasted into the value; or an existing conflicting record on the same host that needs to be removed first. If verification fails, send us a screenshot of the two records as entered and we will spot it quickly.
5. Send It All Over
Email everything to your YACHTWAVE account representative, or use our contact form. Attach the logo as an actual file — not pasted into a document or email body, which converts it to a raster image and defeats the purpose. A Dropbox, Google Drive, or WeTransfer link is perfect.
Final Checklist
- Primary brand color — HEX code
- Secondary brand color — HEX code
- Vector logo —
.svg,.eps, or.ai, all-white version - Vector logo — full-color version (recommended)
- Logo text converted to outlines / paths
- Your desired domain name, exactly as you want it
- Name and email of the person who manages your DNS
Not sure about something? Send us what you have and ask. A two-minute question now is much faster than a rejected file later — and we are happy to look at your logo files and tell you exactly what you've got.
Ready to Launch Your Branded Web App?
Send us your colors, your vector logo, and your domain — we'll handle the rest.
CONTACT US