A single component system on a hard Swiss grid. One grid, one type pairing, one rule that doesn't change — only the ground and the signal role-mapping vary. That is the whole discipline.
10 sections · living guide · a VCTR original
One component system. One grid. One type pairing. Only the ground and the signal role-mapping change between registers. The style stays fixed; the theme varies. If a new theme needs a new component, it's not this style.
The look dies without these.
8px base. Brutalist blocking — solid fields, hairline-to-heavy rules, framing brackets, null-state X-boxes.
Condensed grotesque display + technical monospace. No third face. Display can go huge and break.
Barcodes, version stamps, coordinate strings, QR blocks, mono filler, scattered + crosses. Reads logged, means nothing.
Lime is the primary signal — and the hero ground. Magenta and cyan support. Cobalt is a strip accent. Warning-red is data-only.
Acid, fog, print-grey, black, carbon, white. Cobalt is never a ground (v3) — it rides strips, panels and rules at ≤10% coverage.
No gradients (except glitch), no shadows, no rounded corners. Pure hues. Separate with rules, never elevation.
A register is the only thing allowed to vary: the ground, the signal role-mapping, and the intent. Pick a register by the job in front of you.
| Register | Ground | Signal map | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · ACID (v3) | acid lime | ink type · cobalt strips · red micro-data | splash, hero key-art, poster — most source-accurate |
| 02 · FOG | cold pale | teal-ink + magenta · red data | docs, dashboards, readable UI, clinical splash |
| 03 · CMYK | print grey | cobalt · magenta · lime · orange spot | posters, covers, marketing, print |
| 04 · EMBER (v3) | carbon | orange lead · cyan support · cobalt panels ≤10% | live in-world UI / HUD screens, terminals |
| 05 · BLACK | near-black | lime lead · cyan support · red data | high-contrast splash, dark UI, covers |
| 06 · WHITE (v3) | white | cobalt + magenta (no acid on white) | editorial, clean docs, light UI |
Plus a MODE, not a register → KEYART / MAXIMAL: any register can switch glitch to maximal for poster & key-art.
Each panel below is the identical component kit rendered in a different register — proof the discipline holds while the theme moves.
Ink on acid; cobalt rides the strip; red micro-data. The hero / poster default.
Teal + magenta on cold pale — calm, clinical, document-grade legibility.
Cobalt + magenta + lime + orange spot on print grey. The print spec is the decoration.
Orange on warm carbon, cyan support, cobalt panels rationed to ≤10%. The terminal screen.
Acid lime leads — as signal on dark grounds and as the hero ground itself. Cobalt is a rationed accent; magenta and cyan support; orange leads the Ember HUD surface; warning-red is data-only.
On white, the legible signal pair is cobalt (8.6:1) + magenta. Bright cyan fails contrast on white — dark grounds only.
On fog, text takes the ink-grade teal step; bright teal stays a non-text accent. Magenta is for large/accent sizes.
A condensed grotesque display face and a technical monospace. No third face. Display goes huge and is allowed to break; mono carries every number, label and stamp.
Oversized, caps, tight tracking. Free stand-in for Helvetica LT Pro / NUCORE Condensed.
All numeric / data UI. Departure Mono optional for a pixel / terminal edge.
| Token | Use | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Hero | 01. · 0241 · AF-45 | oversized display / stencil, can knock out of a block |
| Deconstruct | key-art title | offset-repeat or glitch-fragment glyph |
| Display H1 | section title | condensed, caps, tight |
| Label | callsign / stamp | mono, caps, small |
| Data | coordinate / serial / QR | mono, micro, gridded |
A hard orthogonal grid on an 8px base. Radius is always zero. Hairline rules on light grounds, heavy rules on dark / print. Frame with brackets and registration marks — and give every mark its clearance.
+ CROSS
PROCESS BAR
The connective tissue. Used everywhere, meaning nothing — it just reads logged. Invent your own fake-corp lockups and serials; consistency of style matters more than content.
OUTLINE + CROSS
QR BLOCK
Circle-bar mark + invented lockups. Furniture, never a real brand.
+ 04°N / 128.3°E · ⊕ H · ⚠ RN BT70 · SER 6023
A distinct data layer — scattered red coordinate tags, circled H, warning ticks.
The sanctioned home for cobalt: a full-width strip with reversed mono type and ✕ separators.
2-on / 3-off rhythm — reads as a 50% hairline at distance. Horizontal cuts only.
DOT-SCREEN, TWO-COLOR
VCTR_SET · K6FZLCAAM
CL 6023 / RN BT70
E3.128 · AF-45 · 0241
Glitch is rationed for UI and documents, maximal only for posters and key-art — and always single-axis (v3). Even at maximal it stays composed: chaos sits behind a clean type layer and a clean furniture layer. All motion is guarded by prefers-reduced-motion.
Thin single scanline band · pixel-smear on edge strips only · channel shift ≤2px, horizontal · RGB-split on one type element. Never full-frame.
Full datamosh fields, large pixel-smear blocks, halftone wreckage, channel shift, knocked-out glitch type. Still framed — and still one axis.
The same tokens drive every output. Here is how the system maps onto the three surfaces it's built for.
Embed both faces. Build glitch as placed vector strips / halftone so it stays crisp. Hard rules, never box-shadow.
Kill shadows; separate with border, never elevation. Rationed glitch as scoped, reduced-motion-guarded CSS. Maximal reserved for hero key-art.
One ground; lime as primary interactive; magenta for alerts; red strictly for data badges. Square components, hairline dividers, mono for all numeric UI.