# Feel

Every colour, face and layout decision is judged against one phrase, not against taste. Part of the [SoR design system](README.md); start building from [BUILD.md](BUILD.md). Who we are and how we sound: [brand.md](brand.md).

<iframe class="specimen" src="specimens/feel.html" style="aspect-ratio:1000/374" loading="lazy" title="Feel, rendered"></iframe>

## Grounded hope

Hope stays the destination, and it is earned by going through the dark rather than around it. A glowing sunrise painting is hope without ground; Dark Mountain is ground without much hope. We sit between: a skilled, caring presence at an ending and at a birth.

**Light: dawn-leaning.** We are more about renaissance than hospicing an ending, though we do both.

## Three supporting notes

1. **Deep sourcing.** Going to the source, and the creativity that comes from there. Depth with the aim of really understanding.
2. **Crafted rigour.** Real thought, love and care in how things are made; truthfulness rather than being right. The elegance of a potter's bowl, not of Vogue.
3. **Liminal integration.** Not opposites side by side but the moment they become one: dawn, birth, death. Crisis and renaissance as one transition.

## Character

**A little off-centre.** Earthy, a bit muddy, a bit quirky, a bit marginal. Not mainstream, and not a wild artist's site either. The muddiness lives in **texture and imperfection** (paper grain, torn edges, woodcuts, fingerprints), never in muddy colour or raw imagery.

**Nothing may look backwards.** We are seeding a new renaissance, not restaging the old one. Antique-looking type and sepia nostalgia are out.

## What we are not

- Wellness, spiritual woo-woo, new age ("the age of Aquarius")
- Luxury-clean, glossy, fashion-elegant
- Corporate, mainstream, hard selling
- Sleek and contemporary
- Chaotic or self-indulgent like many artist sites

## Who we design for

People who sense the old world is ending before they can name it, and want to help seed the new: intellectually curious and practically hungry, allergic to hype, looking for grounded hope. The four personas are in [brand.md](brand.md#who-we-are-here-for).

What they should feel: *"These people are honest. They're living it. I'm not alone in seeing what I see."* What this means for design: plain, honest entry points; real people in real places, not stock or glossy; depth one step away for those who want it.

## Rigour and warmth

**Rigour is the form, warmth is the surface** (the potter's bowl). Rigour is constant on every page: grid, type, accuracy, sourcing, care. Warmth is a layer that varies: people, texture, hand marks, colour, voice. Rigour first, but both always present.

| Register | Pages | Balance |
|---|---|---|
| **Study** | White papers, essays, research | Rigour leads; warmth in small touches |
| **Conversation** | Manifesto, podcast, magazine, landing pages | Balanced |
| **Gathering** | Community, events, joining | Warmth leads; rigour stays in the structure |

## Eight principles

The rules that carry the feel, in short. When a new page is in doubt, check it against these; the working rules are in [BUILD.md](BUILD.md#rules-that-apply-everywhere).

1. **Ink and paper first.** Mostly white, paper and ink; colour arrives in photographs, not the interface.
2. **Buttons are ink.** Black, solid or outlined; chalk on night.
3. **Red is rare.** An occasional link in running text, and footnote marks; never a button or a background.
4. **Pale yellow is light, not paint.** A ground for a whole section; never text, a highlighter or bright yellow.
5. **One night per page,** plus the footer, meeting the light at a torn edge, never a straight line or a gradient.
6. **Length decides the face.** Polyamine under about ten words, Restora beyond, Bricolage for reading ([type.md](type.md)).
7. **Figures are plates.** Numbered and captioned like plates in a book: **Fig. 2** then an italic caption.
8. **The hand is our texture.** Paper grain, torn edges, woodcut seeds and swallows, the fingerprints in the logo. Imperfection is made, not filtered on.

## References

Dark Mountain (seriousness, literary depth, torn ink edges); Emergence Magazine (visible structure, but too sleek and nature-mystical); Christopher Alexander and Iain McGilchrist (rigorous yet warm writing); wabi-sabi; Ally Capellino and Muji (good materials, no logos); a handmade potter's bowl; dawn and dusk. Full list and reasoning: [the archived plan](archive/design-system-plan-2026-10.md#references).