{
  "contract": "aesthetary.record/1.0",
  "record_spec": "1.1.0",
  "semantics": {
    "vocabulary": "aesthetary.public-evidence/1.0",
    "definitions": "vocabulary.json"
  },
  "slug": "heavy-metal",
  "name": "Heavy Metal",
  "identity": {
    "definition": {
      "state": "resolved",
      "text": "The band logos of extreme metal's sub-genres, chiefly black and death metal, which are often specific enough to tell an informed reader the sub-genre. By one leading logo designer's account, black metal logos generally use pentagrams and gothic-calligraphy-inspired lettering, death metal logos sharp, aggressive curves, and brutal death metal logos are normally illegible with many ligatures; in the 1980s logos were drawn by hand. The near-black palette and engraved horror imagery set around the mark, and treating this strand as one Aesthetic, are Aesthetary's reading."
    },
    "scope": {
      "state": "resolved",
      "text": "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.",
      "ruling": "D0-1"
    },
    "aliases": [
      "black metal",
      "death metal logo",
      "band art",
      "doom"
    ],
    "layer_verdict": {
      "state": "ruled",
      "value": "umbrella_or_family",
      "ruling": "D0-1"
    }
  },
  "native_medium": {
    "state": "resolved",
    "value": [
      "packaging"
    ],
    "evidence": {
      "quote": "sleeve",
      "field": "register_context[kind=medium]"
    },
    "ruling": "AM2-2 (2026-09-27)"
  },
  "research": {
    "line": "partly_sourced",
    "text": "Partly sourced",
    "sentence": "3 sources attached. 2 claims graded by our research brief, no source attached."
  },
  "areas": [
    {
      "area": "layout",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "not_canonically_specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Not specified by the source"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "typography",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "color",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "imagery",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "surface",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "open_by_finding",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": null,
      "label": {
        "text": "Left open"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "interface",
      "state": "owed",
      "owed": "research",
      "why": "No source has been examined for this yet."
    },
    {
      "area": "motion",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "not_canonically_specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Not specified by the source"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "motif",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": null,
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "technique",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": null,
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "form",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "open_by_finding",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": null,
      "label": {
        "text": "Left open"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "hierarchy",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "density",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "not_canonically_specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Not specified by the source"
      }
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "hierarchy-13",
      "text": "SUPPORTED: the logo outranks all. Bilateral symmetry about a central vertical axis, with everything else subordinate and smaller.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "hierarchy",
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "imagery-7",
      "text": "Imagery: engraved horror imagery.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "imagery",
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "surface-8",
      "text": "Form / motif / surface / technique: symmetrical sigils.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "hm-r1",
      "text": "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.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "typography",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "graded_unlinked",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "graded",
        "mark": "none",
        "text": "Graded by our research brief · No source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "hm-r2",
      "text": "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.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "graded_unlinked",
        "for": [],
        "against": [
          "mass-01:heavy-metal:BLAZE_SZPAJDEL"
        ],
        "contested": true
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "graded",
        "mark": "none",
        "text": "Graded by our research brief · No source attached · disputed"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "failure-2",
      "text": "No asymmetry in the mark.",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "failure-4",
      "text": "No applying the logo grammar to body copy.",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "failure-5",
      "text": "No small-size use of the mark.",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "failure-8",
      "text": "Not open: an asymmetrical lockup..",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "intent-cost",
      "text": "Costs accepted: Legibility; Reach beyond the scene; Any use at small size",
      "role": "argument",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "intent-audience",
      "text": "Audience: A viewer who can already read the logo, or who accepts that failing to is the point.",
      "role": "argument",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "v1-era",
      "text": "Era: 1980s, contemporary",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "v1-mood",
      "text": "Mood: dramatic, strange",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "v1-cross-library",
      "text": "Cross-library: Typography: custom logo lettering · Imagery: engraving",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "typography-block",
      "text": "Typography: custom logo lettering; class hand_lettered; role logo",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "typography",
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": "D0-3 C2 typo"
    },
    {
      "id": "surface-8.motif",
      "text": "Motif: sigils",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "motif",
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "motion-reason",
      "text": "The artefact is a sleeve, not a screen.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "motion",
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "declared-freedom",
      "text": "Declared freedom: how far illegibility goes.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:technique-1",
      "text": "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.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "1980s scene, per one practitioner"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:technique-2",
      "text": "Szpajdel sketches, and once the symmetry looks perfect to his eye he inks the logo, correcting with white-out before submitting it.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "Christophe Szpajdel's own method; he is credited with the black-metal template but is one designer"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:technique-3",
      "text": "Szpajdel scans his logos in black and white at maximum contrast and 300 dpi; he delegates vector work to another designer, who vectorises manually.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "one practitioner"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:technique-4",
      "text": "One specialist illustrator, Christophe Szpajdel, estimates he has drawn over 10,000 logos, mainly in black metal, death metal and dark ambient.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S3"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:surface-1",
      "text": "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.",
      "role": "diagnostic",
      "area": "surface",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S2"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "family-level finding across metal sub-genres"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:surface-2",
      "text": "Szpajdel's master artwork is a black-and-white scan at maximum contrast and 300 dpi.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "surface",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "one practitioner's deliverable"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:form-1",
      "text": "Apparent three-dimensionality is a coded variable in a study of metal logos; it has outliers and separates some specific logos well.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "form",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S2"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "whole metal corpus, not black/death metal alone"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:interface-1",
      "text": "The artefact is a drawn mark delivered as a scan or vector file; no opened source attaches any interface furniture to it.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "interface",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:color-1",
      "text": "In one study's logo corpus, red logos tend to come from death metal bands and black metal logos tend to be white.",
      "role": "diagnostic",
      "area": "color",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S2"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "logo colour, not album-cover palette"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:definition",
      "text": "The band logos of extreme metal's sub-genres, chiefly black and death metal, which are often specific enough to tell an informed reader the sub-genre. By one leading logo designer's account, black metal logos generally use pentagrams and gothic-calligraphy-inspired lettering, death metal logos sharp, aggressive curves, and brutal death metal logos are normally illegible with many ligatures; in the 1980s logos were drawn by hand. The near-black palette and engraved horror imagery set around the mark, and treating this strand as one Aesthetic, are Aesthetary's reading.",
      "role": "definition",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S1",
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S2",
          "kcc-heavy-metal-S3"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "hm-logo-only",
      "text": "The illegible lettering applies to the logo alone; body text stays readable.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "typography",
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:gestalt",
      "text": "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.",
      "role": "diagnostic",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition",
        "kcc:technique-1",
        "kcc:technique-2",
        "hm-r1"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:v1-distinguishing",
      "text": "Logo lettering is its own discipline, drawn to a sub-genre; illegibility belongs to brutal death metal, not to the whole family",
      "role": "diagnostic",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition",
        "kcc:technique-4"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:intent",
      "text": "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.",
      "role": "argument",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:intent-negation",
      "text": "Refuses the set, neutral wordmark, and refuses the atmospheric restraint of literary darkness.",
      "role": "argument",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition",
        "kcc:technique-1"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:failure-1",
      "text": "No logo lettered against its sub-genre's conventions.",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:failure-7",
      "text": "Not open: a set typeface in place of a drawn mark.",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:technique-1",
        "kcc:technique-2"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:gestalt-boundary",
      "text": "Against Gothic Horror: allegiance versus atmosphere; a band mark drawn to a scene versus readable display type. Against Occult: band mark versus cosmology. Anti-signature: swap the drawn mark for display lettering and it becomes Gothic Horror. Drop the logo and organise by sigil meaning and it becomes Occult.",
      "role": "boundary",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:color-5",
      "text": "Colour: a near-black ground under a light mark; black metal logos tend to be white, death metal logos red.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "color",
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:color-1",
        "kcc:definition"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "dcc:failure-3",
      "text": "No warm-toned ground; red belongs to the mark.",
      "role": "negative",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:color-1",
        "kcc:definition"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    }
  ],
  "web_translations": [],
  "standard_practice": [],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "mass-01:heavy-metal:BLAZE_SZPAJDEL",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Christophe Szpajdel: The Lord of Logos Interview",
      "url": "https://blazetype.eu/blog/christophe-szpajdel/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-heavy-metal-S1",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Christophe Szpajdel: The Lord of Logos Interview",
      "url": "https://blazetype.eu/blog/christophe-szpajdel/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-heavy-metal-S2",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Exploring the Design Space of Metal Logos",
      "url": "https://vis.uib.no/wp-content/papercite-data/pdfs/Rijken-2021-Illegible.pdf",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-heavy-metal-S3",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Christophe Szpajdel",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Szpajdel",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "slug": "tattoo-flash",
      "kind": "confused_with",
      "status": "proposed"
    },
    {
      "slug": "gothic-horror",
      "kind": "confused_with",
      "status": "proposed"
    },
    {
      "slug": "emo",
      "kind": "confused_with",
      "status": "proposed"
    },
    {
      "slug": "occult",
      "kind": "confused_with",
      "status": "proposed"
    },
    {
      "slug": "heavy-metal",
      "kind": "visual_language_of",
      "status": "confirmed"
    }
  ],
  "open": [
    {
      "kind": "open_question",
      "question": "[split_candidate] Alias \"black metal\" on Heavy Metal may be a distinct concept rather than a label. Split, or keep as a Label with an assigned role?"
    },
    {
      "kind": "open_question",
      "question": "[split_candidate] Alias \"death metal logo\" on Heavy Metal may be a distinct concept rather than a label. Split, or keep as a Label with an assigned role?"
    },
    {
      "kind": "open_question",
      "question": "[split_candidate] Alias \"doom\" on Heavy Metal may be a distinct concept rather than a label. Split, or keep as a Label with an assigned role?"
    },
    {
      "kind": "missing_research",
      "question": "Is 'engraved' horror imagery attested for the extreme sub-genres' visual material?"
    },
    {
      "kind": "missing_research",
      "question": "Does thrash lettering read as 'sharp and clean' (unfiled hm-r2)?"
    }
  ],
  "aesthetary_build": {
    "note": "Values Aesthetary built with. Not claims about the Aesthetic.",
    "measured": {
      "note": "Read from the page's own stylesheet at build time. Values Aesthetary built with, not claims about the Aesthetic.",
      "slug": "heavy-metal",
      "stylesheet": "heavy-metal.css",
      "bytes": 10927,
      "colours": [
        "#0A0A0C",
        "#D8D5CC",
        "#8A8D96",
        "#6E1420",
        "#6E727C",
        "#26262C"
      ],
      "radii": [],
      "fontSizes": [
        "12px",
        "13px",
        "14px",
        "16px",
        "18px",
        "22px"
      ],
      "faces": [
        "Metal Mania HM",
        "IM Fell English HM",
        "IM Fell English SC HM",
        "UnifrakturMaguntia HM"
      ],
      "tokens": [
        {
          "name": "--hm-bk",
          "value": "#0A0A0C"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-bone",
          "value": "#D8D5CC"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-ash",
          "value": "#8A8D96"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-blood",
          "value": "#6E1420"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-grey",
          "value": "#6E727C"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-char",
          "value": "#26262C"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-red",
          "value": "rgb(217 80 92)"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-blood-hi",
          "value": "rgb(141 26 42)"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-glow",
          "value": "rgb(26 26 32)"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-rule",
          "value": "rgb(26 26 31)"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-lift",
          "value": "rgb(21 21 26)"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-face",
          "value": "\"IM Fell English HM\", Georgia, serif"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-sc",
          "value": "\"IM Fell English SC HM\", \"IM Fell English HM\", Georgia, serif"
        },
        {
          "name": "--hm-metal",
          "value": "\"Metal Mania HM\", \"IM Fell English HM\", Georgia, serif"
        }
      ],
      "animates": false,
      "absent": [
        "no box-shadow anywhere",
        "no rounded corner anywhere",
        "no text-shadow anywhere",
        "nothing animates"
      ]
    },
    "design_grammar": {
      "note": "Aesthetary's translation of this record into web primitives. Every value carries a basis: \"record\" is a rule the record holds (cites names it), \"translation\" is our choice derived from the cited rules (because says how), \"not_recorded\" means the record is silent (guidance says what to do). A \"record\" value restates a claim the record holds; its standing is that claim's own kind in the record (a requirement, period practice, modern practice, or our interpretation), which the cited rule states. \"record\" does not by itself make a value a property of the language.",
      "slug": "heavy-metal",
      "version": "2026-09-29",
      "summary": "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.",
      "color": {
        "roles": [
          {
            "role": "ground",
            "value": "#0A0A0C",
            "use": "The page: near-black.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:color-5"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "mark",
            "value": "#D8D5CC",
            "contrast": "13.5:1",
            "use": "The mark (white in black metal) and all body text.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:color-5",
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "mark-red",
            "value": "#6E1420",
            "use": "Red for a death metal mark and for plates. Never text on the ground (1.7:1).",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "red-text",
            "value": "rgb(217 80 92)",
            "contrast": "4.9:1",
            "use": "The red when it has to be read.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "ash",
            "value": "#8A8D96",
            "contrast": "6.0:1",
            "use": "Secondary text, labels.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:color-5"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "char",
            "value": "#26262C",
            "use": "Rules and panel borders. Never text.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:color-5"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "alternates": [
          {
            "label": "black metal mark",
            "recorded": "tends to be white",
            "value": "#D8D5CC",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "label": "death metal mark",
            "recorded": "tends to be red",
            "value": "#6E1420",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Put a light mark on a near-black ground.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:color-5"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "A black metal mark tends to be white; a death metal mark tends to be red.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "No warm-toned ground; red belongs to the mark.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:failure-3"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Letter any red text in the lighter rgb(217 80 92); keep #6E1420 for plates and marks.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:color-1"
            ],
            "because": "The deep red fails contrast as text on the ground."
          }
        ]
      },
      "typography": {
        "family": {
          "stack": "\"IM Fell English HM\", Georgia, serif",
          "class": "a readable old-style text face (IM Fell English is the room's choice); the logo is drawn, not set"
        },
        "tokens": {
          "font-display": "\"Metal Mania HM\", \"IM Fell English HM\", Georgia, serif",
          "font-sc": "\"IM Fell English SC HM\", \"IM Fell English HM\", Georgia, serif"
        },
        "roles": [
          {
            "role": "mark",
            "size": "clamp(4rem, 12vw, 7rem)",
            "weight": 400,
            "lineHeight": "1",
            "case": "uppercase",
            "tracking": null,
            "measure": null,
            "setting": "drawn as SVG artwork, not live text",
            "use": "The band mark, once per page."
          },
          {
            "role": "heading",
            "size": "clamp(1.875rem, 5vw, 3.375rem)",
            "weight": 400,
            "lineHeight": "1.1",
            "case": null,
            "tracking": null,
            "measure": null,
            "use": "Section titles in the metal display face; they still read."
          },
          {
            "role": "body",
            "size": "1.1875rem",
            "weight": 400,
            "lineHeight": "1.7",
            "case": null,
            "tracking": null,
            "measure": "60ch",
            "use": "Everything that is read."
          },
          {
            "role": "label",
            "size": "0.875rem",
            "weight": 400,
            "lineHeight": "1.4",
            "case": null,
            "tracking": "0.14em",
            "measure": null,
            "setting": "small capitals",
            "use": "Labels, navigation, field names."
          }
        ],
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Draw the logo by hand and to a vertical axis; it is a mark, not a typeface.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:hm-r1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Keep the logo lettering to the logo; body text stays readable.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:hm-logo-only"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Letter the mark to its sub-genre: gothic calligraphy for black metal, sharp aggressive curves for death metal; illegible ligatures belong to brutal death metal.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:definition"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Headings may take a metal display face that still reads (Metal Mania here); it is not the logo.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:hm-logo-only"
            ],
            "because": "The logo grammar applies to the logo alone; a display heading borrows its heat without its difficulty."
          },
          {
            "rule": "Ship the mark as SVG traced from a black-and-white master at full contrast.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:technique-2",
              "claim:kcc:technique-3"
            ],
            "because": "Logos are inked, scanned in black and white at maximum contrast and vectorised by hand."
          }
        ]
      },
      "gridLayout": {
        "summary": "Not specified by the source. The room centres everything on the mark's vertical axis, which follows from the hierarchy rule; it is a composition choice, not a recorded layout.",
        "tokens": {
          "measure": "860px"
        },
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "The logo outranks everything; everything else is subordinate and smaller.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:hierarchy-13"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Centre the page on one vertical axis under the mark.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:hierarchy-13",
              "token_rule:hm-r1"
            ],
            "because": "The mark is drawn to a vertical axis and outranks everything; the page takes its axis from it."
          },
          {
            "rule": "The sources do not specify a layout system.",
            "basis": "not_recorded",
            "cites": [],
            "guidance": "Use the axis as a starting point, and do not claim a metal grid.",
            "silence": "source"
          }
        ]
      },
      "shapeGeometry": {
        "tokens": {
          "rule": "1px",
          "rule-heavy": "2px",
          "radius": "0",
          "panel-offset": "6px"
        },
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Arrange sigils to the same symmetry as the mark.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:surface-8"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Give the drawn mark a rough, inked edge rather than a clean vector outline.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:surface-1",
              "claim:kcc:technique-2"
            ],
            "because": "The texture of the letter rendering is among the traits that best tell logos apart, and logos are inked by hand."
          },
          {
            "rule": "Keep ornament (thorned rules, seals) symmetrical and subordinate.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:surface-8",
              "token_rule:hierarchy-13"
            ],
            "because": "Symmetrical sigils are the record's motif, and nothing may outrank the mark."
          },
          {
            "rule": "Apparent three-dimensionality is left open.",
            "basis": "not_recorded",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:form-1"
            ],
            "guidance": "Some logos are drawn with depth; do not add bevels or extrusion by default.",
            "silence": "source"
          }
        ]
      },
      "imagery": {
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Set engraved horror imagery around the mark.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:imagery-7"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Keep the engraving behind and below the mark, never over it.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:hierarchy-13"
            ],
            "because": "The logo outranks everything."
          },
          {
            "rule": "Licensed engraved imagery is not held.",
            "basis": "not_recorded",
            "cites": [],
            "guidance": "Leave the field dark and say so; never generate an engraving and present it as period art.",
            "silence": "source"
          }
        ]
      },
      "components": {
        "button": {
          "name": "Button",
          "becomes": "A blood-red plate with its label in the metal display face, bone on red.",
          "anatomy": [
            "#6E1420 field",
            "label in the display face (Metal Mania here)",
            "square corners"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "background": "#6E1420",
            "color": "#D8D5CC",
            "hover": "rgb(141 26 42)",
            "radius": "0",
            "minHeight": "44px"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Bone label on the blood plate (8.0:1).",
            "hover": "The plate lightens a step; label to white.",
            "focus": "2px bone outline 4px outside the plate.",
            "active": "The plate returns to #6E1420.",
            "disabled": "Near-black plate, 1px ash border, ash label."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "Bone on blood at 8.0:1.",
            "The display face on a button still reads: it is not the logo.",
            "At least 44px tall."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Put action on a red plate with a light label.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:dcc:color-5",
                "claim:kcc:color-1"
              ],
              "because": "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."
            },
            {
              "rule": "Keep button labels readable, even in the display face.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:hm-logo-only"
              ],
              "because": "The logo lettering applies to the logo alone."
            }
          ]
        },
        "card": {
          "name": "Card",
          "becomes": "A double-ruled panel on near-black, its title in the display face, everything centred on the card's axis.",
          "anatomy": [
            "1px char border with a second rule 6px outside",
            "title centred in the display face",
            "one line of readable text"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "border": "1px solid #26262C",
            "outline": "1px solid rgb(26 26 31), offset 6px",
            "background": "#0A0A0C"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Double rule, centred title.",
            "hover": "Ground lifts to rgb(21 21 26).",
            "focus": "2px bone outline outside the rules."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "The whole card is one link.",
            "Text is bone on near-black at 13.5:1."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Centre the card's contents on one vertical axis.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "token_rule:hierarchy-13",
                "token_rule:hm-r1"
              ],
              "because": "The mark is drawn to a vertical axis and everything else is subordinate to it; the card repeats the axis at small scale."
            }
          ]
        },
        "input": {
          "name": "Input",
          "becomes": "A single bone rule on near-black, its label above in small capitals.",
          "anatomy": [
            "1px bone bottom rule",
            "near-black field",
            "label above in the small-caps face",
            "error below in the text red"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "border": "0 0 1px solid #D8D5CC",
            "background": "#0A0A0C",
            "label": "IM Fell English SC",
            "radius": "0",
            "height": "3rem"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Bone rule under the field.",
            "focus": "Rule to 2px, and a bone outline.",
            "error": "Message in the text red (4.9:1), beginning \"Error:\".",
            "disabled": "Rule in grey, label in ash."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "The label is real text above the field.",
            "Entry text is the readable body face.",
            "Errors are words, not colour alone."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Keep the field and its label in the readable faces.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:hm-logo-only"
              ],
              "because": "Logo lettering applies to the logo alone; body text stays readable."
            },
            {
              "rule": "Metal forms are not researched yet.",
              "basis": "not_recorded",
              "cites": [],
              "guidance": "Do not dress a field in spikes and call it the language.",
              "silence": "source"
            }
          ]
        },
        "navigation": {
          "name": "Navigation",
          "becomes": "A centred row of small-capital links under the mark, the current one in the text red.",
          "anatomy": [
            "links in the small-caps face, letterspaced",
            "centred under the mark",
            "current in the text red with an underline"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "color": "#D8D5CC",
            "current": "rgb(217 80 92)",
            "separator": "thorn rule"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Bone small capitals.",
            "hover": "Blood underline.",
            "focus": "2px bone outline.",
            "current": "Text red, underlined, aria-current set."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "A list of links in reading order.",
            "The current item is marked by aria-current and an underline, not colour alone.",
            "At least 44px tap target."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Set navigation small and centred under the mark.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "token_rule:hierarchy-13"
              ],
              "because": "The logo outranks everything; everything else is subordinate and smaller."
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "motion": {
        "spec": null,
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Do not animate. State changes are instant.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:motion-reason"
            ],
            "because": "The artefact is a sleeve, not a screen, and the source does not specify motion."
          }
        ]
      },
      "dimensions": [
        {
          "key": "subgenre",
          "label": "Sub-genre",
          "summary": "The mark tells an informed reader the scene. Choose the sub-genre first; the lettering, and how far it resists reading, follow from it.",
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Letter to one sub-genre: black metal, gothic-calligraphic with pentagrams; death metal, sharp aggressive curves; brutal death metal, illegible with many ligatures.",
              "basis": "record",
              "cites": [
                "claim:kcc:definition"
              ]
            },
            {
              "rule": "Colour the mark to its scene: black metal marks tend to white, death metal marks to red.",
              "basis": "record",
              "cites": [
                "claim:kcc:color-1"
              ]
            },
            {
              "rule": "Illegibility is a brutal death metal convention; do not apply it to the family.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:kcc:definition",
                "claim:dcc:v1-distinguishing"
              ],
              "because": "The practitioner account places illegibility in brutal death metal only."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "notRecorded": [
        {
          "category": "gridLayout",
          "what": "A layout system, and density",
          "why": "Layout and density are not specified by the source; the axis is the room's composition."
        },
        {
          "category": "components",
          "what": "Any interface convention",
          "why": "The interface area is not researched yet; the artefact is a drawn mark delivered as a scan or vector file."
        },
        {
          "category": "motion",
          "what": "Any motion",
          "why": "Not specified by the source; the artefact is a sleeve, not a screen."
        },
        {
          "category": "shapeGeometry",
          "what": "Form and surface beyond the mark",
          "why": "Both areas are left open by the record."
        },
        {
          "category": "imagery",
          "what": "Licensed engravings",
          "why": "The record claims engraved horror imagery that Aesthetary does not hold."
        }
      ],
      "silence": {
        "color": "source",
        "typography": "source",
        "gridLayout": "source",
        "shapeGeometry": "source",
        "imagery": "source",
        "components": "source",
        "motion": "source"
      }
    }
  }
}