BRANDING ASSETS — User Manual for the Sentient City

Hamilton 2092 · Speculating With The Tenth

Reference sheet for InDesign, Illustrator, presentation design, and image generation Compiled by TARS · 2026-03-11

🎨 AESTHETIC DIRECTION

The feeling: A government document from a better future. Official but alive. Like if the Whole Earth Catalog, Expo 67 pavilion publications, and Colours Magazine had a child raised by Indigenous land stewards and solarpunk urban designers.

Keywords: Solarpunk · Post-Anthropocene · Ecosocialist · More-than-Human · Diegetic · Functional Beauty · Found / Reclaimed · Warm Modernism · Institutional but Hopeful

NOT: Dystopian grunge · Cold minimalism · Corporate tech aesthetic · Neon cyberpunk · Sterile white space

The print aesthetic: Risograph-adjacent. Rich ink. Occasional misregistration is a feature. Textured paper. Like something that was printed in a community centre in 2092 on post-consumer stock. Not precious — useful.

🖋 TYPOGRAPHY

Primary Typefaces

Type Hierarchy

Free/Accessible Alternatives

If Söhne/Canela unavailable: - Google Fonts: Instrument Serif (display) + DM Sans (body) - Adobe Fonts: Freight Display (display) + Aktiv Grotesk (body)

🎨 COLOR PALETTE

Chapter Colors

Foundation Colors

Color in Practice

• Black text on off-white = default page feel
• Chapter color as full-bleed bg = chapter openers and “ad” pages
• Gold accent rule lines = between sections, decorative borders
• Sidebar tint = character insets, fact boxes, glossary entries

📐 GRID & LAYOUT SYSTEM

Document Setup (InDesign)

• Page size: 210 × 280mm (A4 portrait, or custom — confirm with print vendor)
• Facing pages: Yes
• Bleed: 3mm all sides
• Slug: 6mm (for crop marks + color bars)
• Columns: 12 | Gutter: 4.233mm
• Margins: Top 25mm · Bottom 30mm · Inside 15mm · Outside 20mm
• Baseline grid: 2.822mm (8pt)

Spread Types

🖨 PRINT STYLE / PRODUCTION

The target feel: Institutional publication printed on recycled stock. Think community press, not commercial magazine. Slightly warm whites. Ink sits on the page with weight.

Print specs: - Output intent: CMYK - Image resolution minimum: 300 ppi at final size - Black text spec: 100K only (not rich black) for body text; Rich Black (80/65/65/80) only for large display type or heavy dark backgrounds - PDF export preset: PDF/X-4 (for best color fidelity + transparency support) - Paper stock suggestion: Munken Lynx 120gsm (cover), Munken Lynx 90gsm (interior) — warm white recycled finish - Binding: Hand-bound Japanese stab binding or saddle stitch per volume

Risograph / lo-fi print references: - Slight ink texture is desirable — not a bug, a feature - If Riso printing is available, 2-color Riso (Amber + Forest) could be stunning for a limited run - For standard inkjet/laser proof: add a subtle paper texture overlay at 8-12% opacity in Photoshop before placing images in InDesign

🌿 VISUAL LANGUAGE / IMAGE DIRECTION

The Aesthetic in One Sentence

“What if a city’s official documents were designed by people who actually loved the city?”

Visual Tone Refs

• Expo 67 — bold primary colors, optimistic modernism, world-systems thinking
• Colours Magazine (Benetton/Tibor Kalman era) — unflinching, global, confrontational layouts, unexpected white space
• Whole Earth Catalog — utilitarian but visionary, eclectic, functional dense layouts
• Solarpunk illustration — warm light, living infrastructure, joyful futures, non-white subjects, animals + humans coexisting
• Post-Anthropocene / Land Art — ecological scale, deep time, material honesty
• Haudenosaunee visual culture — wampum patterns, earth tones, non-hierarchical spatial arrangement

What Images Should Feel Like

• Golden hour light or soft overcast — never harsh flash
• Diversity of human subjects (no default whiteness)
• Animals, plants, water present in almost every scene
• Technology is integrated, not dominant — it doesn’t look like tech
• Worn materials: reclaimed wood, copper, e-waste, rebar-turned-sculpture
• Warmth. Community. Slowness. Purpose.

🔣 ICONOGRAPHY

• Line-weight icons (1.5px stroke, no fill) for world rule symbols
• Circle-based character portrait frames (consistent crop)
• Chapter numbering: Roman numerals (I, II, III) in Canela Italic
• World seal/stamp: Official-looking circular mark — “City of Hamilton · Dept of Civic Co-Stewardship · 2092”
• Orenda symbol: Spiral/thread motif in amber — appears as decorative divider

📦 ASSET CHECKLIST (What Still Needs to Be Made)

This file is the single source of truth for all visual/brand decisions on this project. Update as design decisions are made during InDesign sessions.