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Puzzle branding

Objective

Learn how to customize the visual appearance of your puzzles to match your brand.

Introduction​

Branding in PuzzleMe™ lets you customize how your puzzles look, so they match your publication, event, or sponsor. You can set up customization for all puzzles in a series, or for just one puzzle (Enterprise only). This guide explains both options, how they work, and tips for best results.

Ways to customize your puzzles​

PuzzleMe gives you two main ways to customize your puzzles, each with its own benefits:

  • Individual Puzzle Branding: Customize a single puzzle. This is great for special events, sponsors, or unique publications. (Available on the Enterprise plan.)
  • Series Branding: Customize all puzzles in a series at once for a consistent look.

How it works: PuzzleMe applies customizations in a specific order. If you set up individual branding for a puzzle, it will always use those settings. If not, it will use your series branding. If no branding is set, it will use the standard PuzzleMe™ look.

Series branding​

Series branding helps you create a consistent look for all puzzles in a series. Any customizations you make here will apply to every puzzle in that series. This feature is available for all account types.

How to use Series Branding:

  1. From your dashboard, choose the series you want to brand.
  2. Click on the Branding button.
  3. Adjust your settings for fonts, colors, and more.
  4. Preview and save your changes.

Note: These settings can be overridden by Individual puzzle branding (for Enterprise users).

Organize by Puzzle Type for Better Control

Consider creating separate series for each puzzle type (e.g., one for all your Crosswords, another for all your Sudokus).

This strategy lets you apply unique branding to each puzzle type. It's also a great way to manage specific series-level settings for each game.

Fonts​

You can choose from over 1,500 Google Fonts for your puzzles. Use the font selection box to search by name or filter by language and style (like serif or monospace). The font you pick will be used for all text outside the puzzle grid.

Font selection box
PuzzleMe automatically chooses black or white text for the best contrast with your background colors. All fonts are from the Google Fonts catalog and are licensed for use on your website.

Custom fonts​

If your preferred font isn’t in the Google Fonts library, you can add your own.

  • The font file must be in WOFF2 format.
  • It must be hosted on your own server.
  • Your server must allow the font to be loaded by amuselabs.com.

To add a custom font, type the font name and its URL in the font field, separated by a pipe (|). For example:
Sofia | https://example.com/font/sofia.woff2

Adding a custom font link
note
  • Always use secure https links for your font files. If you use HTTP links, the fonts will not load.
  • Only use the font name (e.g., Sofia), not Sofia, serif.
Become a Partner

If you use Adobe Fonts and are on our Enterprise plan, we can integrate them for you. Please contact us to get started.

Colors​

Primary​

This color applies to the dialog buttons and the cell with focus on the grid.

1. Dialog Box Button & 2. Focused Grid Cell

Secondary​

This color applies to the clue bar (on desktop and mobile), the selected clue (on desktop and mobile), the dialog buttons on hover, and the background of the selected word in the grid.

Clue bar on (1) desktop, (2) mobile, Highlighted clue on (3) mobile, (4) desktop, (5) Background of selected word, & (6) Dialog button on hover

Print​

Many solvers prefer solving their puzzles on paper, or saving them as PDF. Our print customization options help you control the design of the following elements of the printed puzzles:

  • Grid position
  • Title position
  • Masthead

Grid and title position​

Various title and grid position configurations

Masthead​

This field takes an image URL as input. Whenever solvers print a puzzle or save it as PDF, by default no image appears at the top of the print page. When a masthead image is specified via the branding tool, the masthead image is included at the top of the page. You can use your publication or website logo image for the masthead.

Masthead appearing on top of LA Times's printed puzzle
Image requirements
  • The height available to the masthead is shorter than its width. Thus, please use an image with a wide aspect ratio (where the width is greater than the height). Using a narrow aspect ratio image would squish the logo and display it in a very small size.
  • Only SVG, PNG and JPG file formats are supported.
  • The preferred file format is SVG, since it helps keep the size of the print PDFs small.

Print options available ONLY for
  1. Crossword
  2. Word Search
  3. Codeword
  4. Kriss Kross
  5. Sudoku

Grid design​

Grid design options

Grid font​

The grid font applies to both the letters and the clue numbers in the boxes. Make sure that the numbers are legible with the chosen font. You can check if making the font bold helps.

Empty box​

Conventionally, empty boxes (also called block cells) use a shade of black color. You can override this color to create a more unique grid appearance.

Lines​

By default, gridlines are drawn in thin style, using the black color. You can change both the color and the thickness of the gridlines.


Grid design options available ONLY for
  1. Crossword
  2. Sudoku
  3. Kriss Kross
  4. Codeword
  5. Word Search (only grid font)

Mobile keyboard​

PuzzleMe uses a compact, on-screen keyboard on mobile devices to save space. The background color of the clue bar above the keyboard is the same as the secondary color you've already selected. The font of the clue text is the same as the 'General' font. The keys use the same font as the grid.

(1) Mobile clue bar and (2) Mobile keyboard font
Mobile keyboard unavailable for:
  1. Jigsaw
  2. Quiz
  3. Word Search

Game type specific options​

Word flower​

Word flower specific design options are available under the "Flower" and the "Buttons" sections of the series branding tool.

Word Flower design options
Flower design options​
  • Letter font : This is the font used to show the letters inside the Word Flower petals.
  • Click color : Whenver solvers click on a petal to enter the letter, the background color of the petal momentarily changes to the click color.
  • Border color : This is used to set the color of the flower border.
  • Flower center color : This is used to fill the empty spaces between the central petal and the outer petals.
Button design options​
  • Button color : This sets the default background color for the shuffle, backspace and enter buttons available below the flower.
  • Click color : Whenever solvers click on a button below the flower, the background color of the button momentarily changes to the click color.

WordroW​

WordroW specific design options are available under the "General" and the "Indicator colors" sections of the series branding tool.

WordroW design options
General design options​
  • Modal color : This sets the background color of the headers of modals (popups / dialog boxes).
  • Modal button color : This sets the background color of the buttons used in modals (eg. clear/save etc.).
Indicator color options​

Indicator colors are used in the background of the grid letters, to provide feedback to the solvers about the correctness of their entries.

  • Correct position color : Used when the correct letter has been entered, in the correct position
  • Incorrect position color : Used when a letter belonging to the word has been entered, but in an incorrect position
  • Absent color : Used when the letter entered does not belong to the word
  • Focus box color : Used to highlight the actively selected letter

Quiz​

Quiz specific design options are available under the "Quiz" section of the series branding tool.

Quiz design options
The following background colors can be customized: - **Component color** : Used for the question area, the options buttons (for multiple choice questions), the answer field (for freeform questions) and the navigation buttons (Previus, Next) - **Hover color** : Used when hovering over the navigation buttons, the question numbers (at the top of the quiz), the options buttons (for multiple choice questions) and the "Enter" button (for freeform questions) - **Current question color** : Used for the currently active question number, in the question number list at the top of the quiz - **Submitted question color** : Used to indicate already answered questions, in the question number list at the top of the quiz

Individual puzzle branding​

Have a special event coming up? Want to feature a sponsor's logo on a single puzzle? Individual Puzzle Branding gives you the power to customize a specific puzzle, making it completely unique. This feature overrides any series-level branding, giving you precise creative control. It's perfect for special events, sponsored content, or making a particular puzzle stand out.

Enterprise Feature

Individual puzzle branding is available only on our Enterprise plan. Other users can preview these options but cannot save them.

How to use Individual puzzle branding:

  1. From your dashboard, find the puzzle you want to customize.
  2. Click the Branding button (the paintbrush icon) in that puzzle's actionrow.
  3. Adjust the settings for colors, fonts, and other visual elements.
  4. Preview your changes and save them.

Common use cases:

  • Special events: Apply unique branding for holidays or anniversaries.
  • Sponsored puzzles: Add a sponsor's logo and color scheme.
  • A/B testing: Experiment with different looks to see what your audience prefers.
  • Unique publications: Give puzzles in different sections of your site a distinct feel.

Customization options​

Individual puzzle branding provides access to the same options as series branding:

  • Typography and fonts
  • Color schemes
  • Visual elements (print, mobile, game-specific)
  • Advanced options (backgrounds, interactive elements, accessibility)

Strategies for effective branding​

Here are a few strategies and best practices to help you create puzzles that look great and align perfectly with your brand.

For a consistent brand identity​

Use Series branding to establish your signature look. This is the best way to ensure all your daily or weekly puzzles have a consistent, professional appearance that your audience will recognize. Set it once, and you’re ready to go.

Designing for a great player experience

  • Readability is key. Your players need to be able to read clues and see the grid clearly. Always choose fonts and colors that have good contrast.
  • Stay on brand. Even when creating a unique design for a single puzzle, make sure it still feels like it’s coming from you. A consistent feel builds trust.
  • Always test on mobile. Before you launch, check how your branding looks on different devices, especially phones where space is limited.
  • Clean up after the party. If you create special branding for an event, remember to remove or update it once the event is over.
note

PuzzleMe applies branding in a specific order:

  1. It first looks for Individual branding.
  2. If that's not set, it uses Series branding.
  3. If neither exists, it defaults to the standard PuzzleMe theme.

For more details on branding options, see the original documentation or contact support for advanced integrations.

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