Opening the vault…
Opening the vault…
Style sheet · 4 references
Engineering-document romance: monospace, registration marks, spec numbers, barcodes, warm paper. Software presented like a beautifully printed manual.
The whole sheet as Markdown, every move cited to the reference it came from. Paste it into your DESIGN.md as a starting system.
# Print-Tech Paper — style sheet
> Engineering-document romance: monospace, registration marks, spec numbers, barcodes, warm paper. Software presented like a beautifully printed manual.
Derived from 4 curated reference(s) in the `print-tech` family. Counts are how many references use a value, so a value used once is a lead, not a rule. Paste this into DESIGN.md as a starting system, then verify against the images.
## Type
- Berkeley Mono — 1/4
- condensed grotesque, typewriter monospace — 1/4
- Helvetica — 1/4
- Letter Gothic — 1/4
- TE mono — 1/4
- Univers — 1/4
## Color
- `#1c1c1c` dark neutral — 4/4
- `#eeeae2` light neutral — 3/4
- `#2b4c9b` chromatic — 1/4
- `#c8102e` chromatic — 1/4
- `#ff4d00` chromatic — 1/4
- `#ffffff` light neutral — 1/4
Readable pairs from these swatches, most-used first (WCAG AA body text needs 4.5:1):
- `#1c1c1c` / `#eeeae2` — 14.2:1
- `#1c1c1c` / `#ffffff` — 17:1
- `#1c1c1c` / `#ff4d00` — 5.1:1
- `#2b4c9b` / `#eeeae2` — 6.7:1
## Moves
### texture/material
- Product pages formatted like a parts catalog: SKU numbers, exploded diagrams, torque specs. The datasheet as brand voice. — 10-teenage-engineering
- Form number and revision code in every page footer (BG-101 REV C). Fictional bureaucracy as world-building. — 11-berkeley-graphics-berkeley-mono
- [model draft] Emphasis is carried entirely by underline, because a typewriter has nothing else — no bold, no italic in the body at all. Attributions are underlined; that is the only mechanism. Adopting the constraint forces you to earn emphasis rather than sprinkle it. — 30-zimbabwe-one-enemy-imperialism
### typography
- License tiers named like defense contracts ('Developer', 'Enterprise', 'Air-gapped') set in the mono itself — the font sells the font. — 11-berkeley-graphics-berkeley-mono
- [model draft] Two voices and nothing between them: enormous condensed bold sans for the two headlines that bracket the poster top and bottom, and typewriter monospace for every word of body copy. No intermediate sizes, no third face. The absence of a middle tier is what makes both ends read as deliberate. — 30-zimbabwe-one-enemy-imperialism
### grid/layout
- 1975 NASA manual pages: every spread is a spec sheet — logo clearspace shown WITH the measurement callouts. Annotations as decoration. — 12-standards-manual-nasa-reissue
- [model draft] Body-text measures are keyed to the width of the photo band directly above them, not to a uniform column — so the text grid changes width three times down the page while staying locked to the images. Steal for image-heavy articles: set caption measure from the figure it belongs to. — 30-zimbabwe-one-enemy-imperialism
### component pattern
- Accessory list rendered as an order form with checkboxes — commerce disguised as engineering paperwork. — 10-teenage-engineering
### copywriting
- [model draft] Every quotation carries its attribution underlined on the same line, immediately after the claim. Source-adjacent-to-assertion, never footnoted away. Use it wherever credibility is the argument — the citation belongs where the eye already is. — 30-zimbabwe-one-enemy-imperialism
## References
- 10-teenage-engineering — Teenage Engineering (exemplar)
- 30-zimbabwe-one-enemy-imperialism — Zimbabwe — One Enemy: Imperialism
- 11-berkeley-graphics-berkeley-mono — Berkeley Graphics — Berkeley Mono
- 12-standards-manual-nasa-reissue — Standards Manual — NASA reissueProduct pages formatted like a parts catalog: SKU numbers, exploded diagrams, torque specs. The datasheet as brand voice.
Form number and revision code in every page footer (BG-101 REV C). Fictional bureaucracy as world-building.
Emphasis is carried entirely by underline, because a typewriter has nothing else — no bold, no italic in the body at all. Attributions are underlined; that is the only mechanism. Adopting the constraint forces you to earn emphasis rather than sprinkle it.
Zimbabwe — One Enemy: Imperialism · model draft
License tiers named like defense contracts ('Developer', 'Enterprise', 'Air-gapped') set in the mono itself — the font sells the font.
Two voices and nothing between them: enormous condensed bold sans for the two headlines that bracket the poster top and bottom, and typewriter monospace for every word of body copy. No intermediate sizes, no third face. The absence of a middle tier is what makes both ends read as deliberate.
Zimbabwe — One Enemy: Imperialism · model draft
1975 NASA manual pages: every spread is a spec sheet — logo clearspace shown WITH the measurement callouts. Annotations as decoration.
Body-text measures are keyed to the width of the photo band directly above them, not to a uniform column — so the text grid changes width three times down the page while staying locked to the images. Steal for image-heavy articles: set caption measure from the figure it belongs to.
Zimbabwe — One Enemy: Imperialism · model draft
Accessory list rendered as an order form with checkboxes — commerce disguised as engineering paperwork.
Every quotation carries its attribution underlined on the same line, immediately after the claim. Source-adjacent-to-assertion, never footnoted away. Use it wherever credibility is the argument — the citation belongs where the eye already is.
Zimbabwe — One Enemy: Imperialism · model draft