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. Cobalt and magenta support. Warning-red is data-only.
Cobalt, fog, print-grey — and black is now allowed (v2.1). Pick the ground for contrast and readability.
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 · COBALT | ultramarine | lime primary · white stencil · red micro-data | splash, hero key-art, poster — most source-accurate |
| 02 · FOG | cold pale | teal + magenta (v2.1) · red data | docs, dashboards, readable UI, clinical splash |
| 03 · CMYK | print grey | cobalt · magenta · lime · orange spot | posters, covers, marketing, print |
| 04 · TAU CETI | ultramarine | electric green · periwinkle UI · blue-knockout | live in-world UI / HUD screens, terminals |
| 05 · BLACK (v2.1) | near-black | lime lead · cyan support · red data | high-contrast splash, dark UI, covers |
| 06 · WHITE (v2.1) | white | cyan + pink (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.
Lime + white + red-data on ultramarine. 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.
Electric green in blue, periwinkle UI bars, blue-knockout panels. The DTRM screen.
Acid lime leads; cobalt and magenta support; warning-red is data-only. The full allowed palette spans grounds, signals, neutrals and the print set — Tau Ceti's green/blue live inside it, not beside it.
On white, the legible signal pair is cyan + pink (magenta).
On fog, the legible signal pair is teal + magenta.
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 cobalt / print. Frame with brackets and registration ticks.
+ 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.
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. 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-sort on edge strips only · dither dissolve between two zones · RGB-split on one type element. Never full-frame.
Full datamosh fields, large pixel-sort blocks, halftone wreckage, channel shift, knocked-out glitch type. Still framed.
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.