Use with brand/brand-book.md, brand/brand-codes.md, and
media/media-framework.md. Imagery rules are medium-aware: decide whether the
asset is evidence, explanation, or editorial before selecting a visual style.
Register A - Industrial Sketch
Use for systems, workflows, architecture, process, and operating models.
Character:
- Confident pen-line technical sketch.
- Singular subject.
- Transparent background when possible.
- Black and soft-black ink on Warm Light.
- Cool off-white and muted line on Blueprint Dark.
Use in:
- Proposal methodology pages.
- Deck system diagrams.
- Workflow explanation social posts.
- Newsletter feature diagrams.
- Documentation architecture figures.
Do not use as decoration. If the sketch does not explain the work, remove it.
Register B - Impressionist Oil Painting
Use for editorial concept moments, not system explanation.
Character:
- Heavy impasto.
- Warm cream and earth mid-tones.
- One petrol note.
- Quiet figure or object.
- No legible text.
Use in:
- Article leads.
- One opening divider in a long proposal, if the proposal needs a conceptual theme.
- Social thought-leadership posts where the image carries a single idea.
Do not use repeatedly in one document. One concept image per piece is the upper limit.
Photography
Use brand/photography-system.md for prompt anatomy, canonical macro
prompts, overlays, and the identifiability test.
Default: do not use stock photography.
Allowed exceptions:
- Macro material abstracts for hero or video backgrounds when art-directed to dark teal, oxidized metal, wire, concrete, or still water.
- Client-supplied product or team photography when the goal is evidence, not decoration.
For backdrops, if the viewer can name the subject within one second, the image is too literal. The image should host text through texture, color, and light; it should not narrate the message.
Text over imagery:
- Place text on negative space, a quiet third, or a separate column.
- Never cover the focal subject.
- Use the canonical photo overlay when text sits over photography.
- Captions, cutlines, and source notes stay visually attached to the image.
- Decide whether the image is evidence, explanation, or atmosphere before choosing crop, caption, and overlay treatment.
Diagrams
Use brand/diagram-system.md for typography levels, gridlines, padding,
motion, and the designed-versus-embedded checklist.
Diagrams are explanation assets. They should be rebuilt with INTO typography, token color, hairline gridlines, clear internal padding, and motion only when the motion enacts meaning.
Screenshots
Screenshots are evidence. Treat them like exhibits.
- Place on Warm Light with a hairline frame.
- Caption with IBM Plex Mono.
- Crop to the decision or workflow, not the full browser window by default.
- Redact private client data.
- Do not use device mockups unless the device itself matters.