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Brief.md · the rules, for pasting into an AI site tool

Heavy Metal

Sub-genre logo lettering, engraved horror imagery, near-black palette, symmetrical sigils

Build with it

A starting grammar for a website in Heavy Metal: a hand-drawn band mark that outranks everything, lettered to its sub-genre, light on a near-black ground, with every other word set to be read.

Web translation marks our choices for the screen. Not specified by the source marks what the sources leave open. Everything else is a rule from the record below.

The same system is in the brief (Build → Brief) and in the structured data.

Colour

  • ground#0A0A0C
  • mark#D8D5CC
  • mark-red#6E1420
  • ash#8A8D96
  • char#26262C

Near-black is the ground. The mark is light: white in black metal, red in death metal.

The rules behind it
  • Our readingPut a light mark on a near-black ground. From our reading (colour)
  • DocumentedA black metal mark tends to be white; a death metal mark tends to be red. From a documented finding (colour)
  • Our readingNo warm-toned ground; red belongs to the mark. From our reading
  • Web translationLetter any red text in the lighter rgb(217 80 92); keep #6E1420 for plates and marks. The deep red fails contrast as text on the ground. From a documented finding (colour)

Type

Headings still read

Body copy is set to be read, in a plain old-style face. Only the logo is drawn, and it is drawn, never typed.

Labels in small capitals

The rules behind it
  • Graded by our research brief · No source attachedDraw the logo by hand and to a vertical axis; it is a mark, not a typeface. From our research brief (typography)
  • Our readingKeep the logo lettering to the logo; body text stays readable. From our reading (typography)
  • DocumentedLetter the mark to its sub-genre: gothic calligraphy for black metal, sharp aggressive curves for death metal; illegible ligatures belong to brutal death metal. From a documented finding
  • Web translationHeadings may take a metal display face that still reads (Metal Mania here); it is not the logo. The logo grammar applies to the logo alone; a display heading borrows its heat without its difficulty. From our reading (typography)
  • Web translationShip the mark as SVG traced from a black-and-white master at full contrast. Logos are inked, scanned in black and white at maximum contrast and vectorised by hand. From a documented finding (technique)

Layout

The mark outranks everything; the rest centres under it, smaller.

The rules behind it
  • From our catalogue entryThe logo outranks everything; everything else is subordinate and smaller. From our catalogue entry (hierarchy)
  • Web translationCentre the page on one vertical axis under the mark. The mark is drawn to a vertical axis and outranks everything; the page takes its axis from it. From our catalogue entry (hierarchy), our research brief (typography)
  • Not specified by the sourceThe sources do not specify a layout system. Use the axis as a starting point, and do not claim a metal grid.

Shape

Double rule, square corners

Ornament is symmetrical and subordinate.

The rules behind it
  • From our catalogue entryArrange sigils to the same symmetry as the mark. From our catalogue entry
  • Web translationGive the drawn mark a rough, inked edge rather than a clean vector outline. The texture of the letter rendering is among the traits that best tell logos apart, and logos are inked by hand. From a documented finding (surface), a documented finding (technique)
  • Web translationKeep ornament (thorned rules, seals) symmetrical and subordinate. Symmetrical sigils are the record's motif, and nothing may outrank the mark. From our catalogue entry, our catalogue entry (hierarchy)
  • Not specified by the sourceApparent three-dimensionality is left open. Some logos are drawn with depth; do not add bevels or extrusion by default. From a documented finding (form)

Imagery

Not specified by the source Licensed engraved imagery. The field is left dark rather than filled with a generated engraving.

The rules behind it
  • From our catalogue entrySet engraved horror imagery around the mark. From our catalogue entry (imagery)
  • Web translationKeep the engraving behind and below the mark, never over it. The logo outranks everything. From our catalogue entry (hierarchy)
  • Not specified by the sourceLicensed engraved imagery is not held. Leave the field dark and say so; never generate an engraving and present it as period art.

Components

The research record does not establish interface conventions for Heavy Metal. These four are contemporary translations of its documented visual rules.

Second pressingBlack vinyl, gatefold sleeve.
The rules behind it
  • Web translationPut action on a red plate with a light label. Red belongs to the mark in death metal logos, and the ground stays near-black; a button borrows the mark's colour, not the ground's. From our reading (colour), a documented finding (colour)
  • Web translationKeep button labels readable, even in the display face. The logo lettering applies to the logo alone. From our reading (typography)
  • Web translationCentre the card's contents on one vertical axis. The mark is drawn to a vertical axis and everything else is subordinate to it; the card repeats the axis at small scale. From our catalogue entry (hierarchy), our research brief (typography)
  • Web translationKeep the field and its label in the readable faces. Logo lettering applies to the logo alone; body text stays readable. From our reading (typography)
  • Not specified by the sourceMetal forms are not researched yet. Do not dress a field in spikes and call it the language.
  • Web translationSet navigation small and centred under the mark. The logo outranks everything; everything else is subordinate and smaller. From our catalogue entry (hierarchy)

Motion

A sleeve does not move.

State changes are instant swaps.

The rules behind it
  • Web translationDo not animate. State changes are instant. The artefact is a sleeve, not a screen, and the source does not specify motion. From our reading (motion)

Sub-genre

Gothic calligraphy, pentagrams; a white mark.
Sharp, aggressive curves; a red mark.
Brutal death metal: illegible, many ligatures. Here, not reading is the convention.

Our lettering, set to show the conventions; not any band's logo.

The rules behind it
  • DocumentedLetter to one sub-genre: black metal, gothic-calligraphic with pentagrams; death metal, sharp aggressive curves; brutal death metal, illegible with many ligatures. From a documented finding
  • DocumentedColour the mark to its scene: black metal marks tend to white, death metal marks to red. From a documented finding (colour)
  • Web translationIllegibility is a brutal death metal convention; do not apply it to the family. The practitioner account places illegibility in brutal death metal only. From a documented finding, our reading

From a scene

Research
Partly sourced
Build guidance
Recorded in 4 of 8 research dimensions
Rules
15 with their basis
Origin
From a scene
Also called
black metal, death metal logo, band art, doom
Feel
dramatic, strange

What it argues

The logo is the band, and it names the scene before it names the band.

The lettering follows its sub-genre's conventions, so the mark rewards those already inside with recognition; in brutal death metal that trade goes as far as legibility itself.

It refusesRefuses the set, neutral wordmark, and refuses the atmospheric restraint of literary darkness.

How you recognise it

A commissioned band logo as the primary artefact, drawn by hand and lettered to its sub-genre: gothic-calligraphic letters and pentagrams in black metal, sharp aggressive curves in death metal, ligatures tangled past reading in brutal death metal. Drawn to a vertical axis, set on a near-black ground with engraved horror imagery around it.

The diagnostic condition is that the mark tells an informed reader the scene: how far it resists reading depends on which sub-genre it answers to.

Documented · one logo designer's account, and one study of logo colour

Black metalGothic-calligraphy-inspired letters, often with pentagrams. The mark tends to be white.
Death metalSharp, aggressive curves. The mark tends to be red.
Brutal death metalNormally illegible, with many ligatures. Here, illegibility is the convention.

Our lettering, set to show the account; not any band's logo.

What carries the look

0 Elements linked

Typographycarries the lookPage set in Metal Mania + IM Fell English + IM Fell English SC + Unifraktur Maguntia.
Color
#0A0A0C#D8D5CC#8A8D96#6E1420#6E727C#26262C

as built

CompositionNothing linked yet
Imagerycarries the lookNothing linked yet
SurfacesNothing linked yet
MotionNothing linked yet
Motifs & SymbolsNothing linked yet
TechniquesNothing linked yet

No Element is linked to this Aesthetic yet. Each row still opens its gallery.

Rules

15 · by area, each labelled with what kind of claim it is

Typography

Graded by our research brief · No source attached

The logo is hand-drawn and bilaterally symmetrical, and its difficulty is constructed rather than incidental — the mark is built to reward a reader who already knows it.

Color

Documented · Source attached

In one study's logo corpus, red logos tend to come from death metal bands and black metal logos tend to be white.

Color, again

Our reading

Colour: a near-black ground under a light mark; black metal logos tend to be white, death metal logos red.

Imagery

From our catalogue entry

Imagery: engraved horror imagery.

Surface

Documented · Source attached

Texture of the letter rendering is a coded dimension in a study of metal logos, and one of the three that best discriminate between logos.

Surface, again

Documented · Source attached

Szpajdel's master artwork is a black-and-white scan at maximum contrast and 300 dpi.

Interface

Documented · Source attached

The artefact is a drawn mark delivered as a scan or vector file; no opened source attaches any interface furniture to it.

Technique

Documented · Source attached

In the 1980s metal logos were drawn by hand, most often by a local artist or an amateur, sometimes a member of another band, and were usually very primitive.

Technique, again

Documented · Source attached

Szpajdel sketches, and once the symmetry looks perfect to his eye he inks the logo, correcting with white-out before submitting it.

Technique, again

Documented · Source attached

Szpajdel scans his logos in black and white at maximum contrast and 300 dpi; he delegates vector work to another designer, who vectorises manually.

Technique, again

Documented · Source attached

One specialist illustrator, Christophe Szpajdel, estimates he has drawn over 10,000 logos, mainly in black metal, death metal and dark ambient.

Form

Documented · Source attached

Apparent three-dimensionality is a coded variable in a study of metal logos; it has outliers and separates some specific logos well.

Hierarchy

From our catalogue entry

The logo outranks all. Bilateral symmetry about a central vertical axis, with everything else subordinate and smaller.

Form / motif / surface / technique

From our catalogue entry

Form / motif / surface / technique: symmetrical sigils.

Context

Graded by our research brief · No source attached · disputed — Known about Heavy Metal: where it comes from, what it is called. Not a part of the design, and not something to check work against.

Illegibility belongs to the black and death metal logo tradition. Thrash lettering is sharp and clean, and applying the illegible mark across all metal is a category error.

Ruled out, or left open by the sources

Layout

Not specified by the source

The sources do not specify this area; a translation may follow.

Motion

Not specified by the source

The sources do not specify this area; a translation may follow.

What stands behind it

Partly sourced. 3 sources attached. 2 claims graded by our research brief, no source attached.

Build guidance: recorded in 4 of 8 research dimensions. It says what usable material is recorded, never how well it is evidenced.

No source attached: Argument, Recognition test. Not researched yet: Summary, Overall positions by area, Ornament and contrast scales, Moving it to screen, Source notes.

Neither is a free hand: an area research has not reached is not permission to decide on the language’s behalf.

Imagery this record claims, and we do not hold: The engraved horror ground is our reading, and no licensed engraving is held; the field is left dark.

Scope: Heavy metal is a rock genre (late 1960s–70s). This record covers the commissioned band-logo register of its extreme sub-genres, chiefly black and death metal; the applied palette and imagery rules are Aesthetary's reading.

Research dimensionEvidenceCarries guidance
CompositionNot specified by the sourceno
TypographySpecified · From our catalogue entryyes
HierarchySpecified · From our catalogue entryyes
ColourSpecified · From our catalogue entryyes
DensityNot specified by the sourceno
ImagerySpecified · From our catalogue entryyes
Form / motif / surface / techniqueLeft open: form, surface · Specified: motif, techniqueyes
MotionNot specified by the sourceno

Often confused with

Tattoo FlashInfluenceA living craft tradition with its own iconography and rules
Gothic HorrorAllegiance versus atmosphere; a band mark drawn to a scene versus readable display type.
EmoMid-2000s specifically; pink is the tell against Heavy Metal
OccultAestheticBand mark versus cosmology.

Use it

Put it on the Mix benchSee where its rules collide with another Aesthetic’s. Download the briefEvery rule with its kind of claim, and a checklist for grading the result. Paste it into your AI site tool.

For machines — data/v1/heavy-metal.json · prompt/heavy-metal.md

Suggest a correction to Heavy Metal · Request deeper research

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