{
  "contract": "aesthetary.record/1.0",
  "record_spec": "1.1.0",
  "semantics": {
    "vocabulary": "aesthetary.public-evidence/1.0",
    "definitions": "vocabulary.json"
  },
  "slug": "synthwave",
  "name": "Synthwave",
  "identity": {
    "definition": {
      "state": "resolved",
      "text": "Synthwave is an electronic music microgenre that emerged in the mid-to-late 2000s. Its visual component, carried on album covers and music videos and often called Outrun, uses VHS tracking artefacts, magenta neon and perspective gridlines, with the light grid often paired with chrome lettering. The sunset sky, and reading this cover-art component as a general visual language, are Aesthetary's reading."
    },
    "scope": {
      "state": "resolved",
      "text": "Synthwave is a 2000s music microgenre whose covers and videos carry a visual component. Register: gridlines, magenta neon, VHS artefacts. The perspective horizon, chrome and sunset sky are our reading.",
      "ruling": "D0-1"
    },
    "aliases": [
      "Outrun",
      "retrowave",
      "80s neon"
    ],
    "layer_verdict": {
      "state": "ruled",
      "value": "coherent_but_narrower",
      "ruling": "D0-1"
    }
  },
  "native_medium": {
    "state": "resolved",
    "value": [
      "packaging",
      "film"
    ],
    "evidence": {
      "quote": "There is also a visual component on synthwave album covers and music videos.",
      "field": "kcc.json#synthwave/medium (claim kcc:medium)"
    },
    "ruling": "Knowledge Completion Campaign (founder instruction, 2026-09-29)"
  },
  "research": {
    "line": "partly_sourced",
    "text": "Partly sourced",
    "sentence": "9 sources attached."
  },
  "areas": [
    {
      "area": "layout",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "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": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": null,
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "area": "interface",
      "state": "owed",
      "owed": "research",
      "why": "No source has been examined for this yet."
    },
    {
      "area": "motion",
      "state": "resolved",
      "canon": "specified",
      "importance": "unknown",
      "posture_basis": "synthesis",
      "label": {
        "text": "Specified"
      }
    },
    {
      "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": "owed",
      "owed": "research",
      "why": "No source has been examined for this yet."
    },
    {
      "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": "layout-3",
      "text": "is genuinely unusual and worth building: a single-point perspective grid is the page structure, so the layout has a horizon and a vanishing point rather than a column grid.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "layout",
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "hierarchy-13",
      "text": "CURATORIAL: rank by distance from the vanishing point — nearest is largest and leads. Perspective doing the work scale usually does.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "hierarchy",
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "color-5",
      "text": "Colour: neon gradient, purple-to-orange.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "color",
      "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: 3D grid landscape.",
      "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: neon glow, chrome gradient.",
      "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": "motion-14",
      "text": "CURATORIAL: the grid scrolling toward the viewer at constant speed. Native to the perspective device, continuous, never triggered.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "motion",
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "failure-2",
      "text": "No classical statuary.",
      "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-3",
      "text": "No rain, wetness or urban decay.",
      "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 daylight.",
      "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 muted palette.",
      "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: statuary.",
      "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-9",
      "text": "Not open: wet dystopian framing..",
      "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: Originality; Historical accuracy; Distinction from a saturated genre",
      "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, speculative",
      "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, nostalgic",
      "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: Color: neon gradient · Imagery: 3D grid landscape",
      "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": "surface-8.surface",
      "text": "Surface: neon glow, chrome gradient",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "surface",
      "basis": "inherited",
      "support": {
        "state": "inherited",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "catalogue",
        "text": "From our catalogue entry"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "declared-freedom",
      "text": "Declared freedom: gradient stops.",
      "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:motif-1",
      "text": "The perspective light grid is a recurring motif, one of the most recognisable tropes of 1980s futurism: glowing straight lines receding to a horizon on black, occasionally with mountain outlines or dawn light at the horizon.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "motif",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S1",
          "kcc-synthwave-S2",
          "kcc-synthwave-S4"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "the grid is documented as a 1980s futurism trope revived by retrowave"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:motif-2",
      "text": "Kavinsky's OutRun cover shows a Ferrari Testarossa and palm trees; in synthwave-influenced games Tron's neon lines and Blade Runner's cityscapes often appear.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "motif",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S3"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "Kavinsky's OutRun cover (2013) and synthwave-influenced games"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:motif-3",
      "text": "An oversized striped sun at dusk recurs.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "motif",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S4"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "student course post only; low confidence"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:typography-1",
      "text": "Chrome lettering is often paired with the light grid.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "typography",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S2",
          "kcc-synthwave-S4"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "the specialist essay is about the 1980s trope and its revival"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:typography-2",
      "text": "Bold chrome sans-serif is combined with neon-coloured handwritten script.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "typography",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S4"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "single student source; low confidence"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:typography-3",
      "text": "Synthwave-styled work uses late-1980s typography.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "typography",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S3"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "games (Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon)"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:motion-1",
      "text": "A named antecedent: in Starhawk (1979) a wireframe trench rolled toward the viewer in endless perspective.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "motion",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S2"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "1979 vector arcade game, not synthwave itself"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:technique-1",
      "text": "VHS tracking artefacts, a playback fault of an obsolete format, are reproduced on purpose.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:technique-2",
      "text": "In the 1980s originals, graphic designers report perspective grids were often drawn by hand, with photographic diffusion to make the lines glow; computers of the 1960s and 1970s used vector graphics.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S2"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "1980s antecedent, not contemporary synthwave production"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:w2-motion-1",
      "text": "A 2020 PremiumBeat tutorial for a retrowave background loop animates the neon floor grid scrolling with the Offset effect.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "motion",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-W2S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "A 2020 how-to for retrowave/synthwave background loops, not a canonical description of covers or official videos."
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:w2-motion-2",
      "text": "A light sweep moves across the sun, and the whole frame is given a slight shake to look retro.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "motion",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-W2S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "Same tutorial."
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:w2-technique-1",
      "text": "One 2020 After Effects tutorial builds the neon floor grid digitally from a solid layer with the Grid effect.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-W2S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "Contemporary practice; contrasts with the hand-drawn and photographically diffused 1980s grids found in wave 1."
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:w2-technique-2",
      "text": "In one 2020 After Effects tutorial, the VHS aesthetic is added with software effects, e.g. two Channel Blur effects to emulate chromatic aberration.",
      "role": "rule",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-W2S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:w2-technique-3",
      "text": "James White (Signalnoise), whose site lists a podcast about 80s-themed art and synthwave, works in Photoshop and Illustrator, and says that when the 80s retro look was catching on he was doing a lot of rainbows and lens flares.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": "technique",
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-W2S2",
          "kcc-synthwave-W2S3"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "scope": {
        "practice": "One artist (James White / Signalnoise); his link to synthwave cover art is only through his podcast listing."
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:definition",
      "text": "Synthwave is an electronic music microgenre that emerged in the mid-to-late 2000s. Its visual component, carried on album covers and music videos and often called Outrun, uses VHS tracking artefacts, magenta neon and perspective gridlines, with the light grid often paired with chrome lettering. The sunset sky, and reading this cover-art component as a general visual language, are Aesthetary's reading.",
      "role": "definition",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S1",
          "kcc-synthwave-S2"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:medium",
      "text": "Native medium: packaging, film.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S1"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:boundary-1",
      "text": "vs Outrun: Outrun names both a synthwave subgenre and, more loosely, the visual set (VHS artefacts, magenta neon, gridlines). The name comes from the Out Run game through its soundtrack.",
      "role": "boundary",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S1",
          "kcc-synthwave-S6"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:boundary-2",
      "text": "Not Vaporwave: Diak treats retrowave as an umbrella over synthwave and vaporwave. The sources do NOT support a sincerity-versus-irony split: the light-grid revival is called an 'ironic avatar' and 'tongue-in-cheek', and PC Gamer notes 'ironic repurposing'.",
      "role": "boundary",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S1",
          "kcc-synthwave-S2",
          "kcc-synthwave-S3"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc:boundary-3",
      "text": "Not Darkwave (corpus alias): Dark wave is a separate late-1970s genre that grew out of new wave and post-punk; it is not an alias.",
      "role": "boundary",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "documentary",
      "support": {
        "state": "cited",
        "for": [
          "kcc-synthwave-S7"
        ],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "documented",
        "mark": "attached",
        "text": "Documented · Source attached"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "idr:intent",
      "text": "A remembered 1980s rendered through the cover-art set of a music genre: gridlines, magenta neon, VHS artefacts and chrome lettering. Sincere, unironic treatment is an optional art-direction choice Aesthetary can make, not part of what makes work Synthwave; the sources describe the revival as ironic or tongue-in-cheek.",
      "role": "argument",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition",
        "kcc:boundary-2"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "idr:intent-audience",
      "text": "Audience: A viewer who recognises the 1980s cover-art set, whether they take it straight or with a wink.",
      "role": "argument",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "idr:gestalt",
      "text": "A perspective grid receding to a low vanishing point, magenta neon line work and chrome display lettering, often with VHS artefacts: the cover-art set of the music genre. The receding grid is the structural device. Sincerity is not a test of membership. Vaporwave shares the chrome and the gradient; where the two divide is an open question pending Vaporwave's cultural review. Cyberpunk shares the neon but is wet, nocturnal and dystopian.",
      "role": "diagnostic",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:definition",
        "layout-3"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "idr:gestalt-boundary",
      "text": "Against Vaporwave: open, pending Vaporwave's cultural review. Sincerity versus irony is not an evidenced difference: the sources call the synthwave revival ironic. Against Cyberpunk: dry optimistic grid versus wet dystopian street. Anti-signature: rain and decay make it Cyberpunk.",
      "role": "boundary",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [
        "kcc:boundary-2"
      ],
      "ruling": null
    },
    {
      "id": "idr:v1-distinguishing",
      "text": "The 1980s cover-art set of a music genre: horizon grid, neon and chrome",
      "role": "diagnostic",
      "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:sy-r1",
      "text": "The visual set is properly called Outrun. Synthwave is the umbrella music genre; Outrun names the neon-grid, wireframe, chrome-lettering, sunset aesthetic in magenta, cyan and violet that this page describes.",
      "role": "context",
      "area": null,
      "basis": "synthesis",
      "support": {
        "state": "none",
        "for": [],
        "against": [],
        "contested": false
      },
      "label": {
        "kind": "reading",
        "text": "Our reading"
      },
      "derives_from": [],
      "ruling": null
    }
  ],
  "web_translations": [],
  "standard_practice": [],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-S1",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Synthwave",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthwave",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-S2",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Vanishing Point: How the Light Grid Defined 1980s Futurism",
      "url": "https://wearethemutants.com/2017/02/16/vanishing-point-how-the-light-grid-defined-1980s-futurism/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-S3",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "How synthwave music inspired games to explore a past that never existed",
      "url": "https://www.pcgamer.com/how-synthwave-music-inspired-games-to-explore-a-past-that-never-existed/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-S4",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Aesthetics Exploration: Synthwave",
      "url": "https://www.aesdes.org/2024/01/24/aesthetics-exploration-synthwave/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-S6",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Out Run",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Run",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-S7",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Dark wave",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_wave",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-W2S1",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Create a Retrowave Background Loop with Adobe After Effects",
      "url": "https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/create-retrowave-background-loop-after-effects/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-W2S2",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "Signalnoise :: The Art of James White - About",
      "url": "https://signalnoise.com/info",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    },
    {
      "id": "kcc-synthwave-W2S3",
      "kind": "source",
      "title": "James White on The Great Discontent",
      "url": "https://thegreatdiscontent.com/interview/james-white/",
      "status": "verified",
      "retrieval": "retrieved"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "slug": "vaporwave",
      "kind": "confused_with",
      "status": "proposed"
    },
    {
      "slug": "cyberpunk",
      "kind": "confused_with",
      "status": "proposed"
    }
  ],
  "open": [
    {
      "kind": "missing_research",
      "question": "Sincerity versus irony"
    },
    {
      "kind": "missing_research",
      "question": "Sunset sky and purple-to-orange gradient"
    },
    {
      "kind": "missing_research",
      "question": "Motion and technique of contemporary synthwave visuals"
    },
    {
      "state": "withheld"
    }
  ],
  "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": "synthwave",
      "stylesheet": "synthwave.css",
      "bytes": 16467,
      "colours": [
        "#F7E9FF",
        "#120725",
        "#CDB8EE",
        "#2DE2E6",
        "#FF5FD9",
        "#FF8A3D",
        "#0C0420",
        "#3A0F5E",
        "#FF2BD6",
        "#B0247A",
        "#FFE45E",
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#FFD1F5",
        "#E9F9FF",
        "#9EE9FF",
        "#3A1A6B",
        "#FF8AD8"
      ],
      "radii": [
        "4px",
        "6px",
        "50%"
      ],
      "fontSizes": [
        "13px",
        "14px",
        "15px",
        "16px",
        "20px"
      ],
      "faces": [
        "Monoton X",
        "Space Grotesk X"
      ],
      "tokens": [
        {
          "name": "--sy-s0",
          "value": "1"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-s1",
          "value": "0.78"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-s2",
          "value": "0.6084"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-s3",
          "value": "0.4746"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-horizon",
          "value": "58vh"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-bg",
          "value": "#0C0420"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-panel",
          "value": "#120725"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-deep",
          "value": "#3A0F5E"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-ink",
          "value": "#F7E9FF"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-ink2",
          "value": "#CDB8EE"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-mag",
          "value": "#FF2BD6"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-mag2",
          "value": "#FF5FD9"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-cyan",
          "value": "#2DE2E6"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-or",
          "value": "#FF8A3D"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-display",
          "value": "\"Monoton X\", \"Arial Black\", Impact, sans-serif"
        },
        {
          "name": "--sy-ui",
          "value": "\"Space Grotesk X\", \"Helvetica Neue\", Arial, sans-serif"
        },
        {
          "name": "--s",
          "value": "var(--sy-s0)"
        }
      ],
      "animates": true,
      "absent": []
    },
    "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": "synthwave",
      "version": "2026-09-29",
      "summary": "A starting grammar for a website in Synthwave: a horizon for a layout, magenta neon lines on night, chrome display lettering, and hierarchy by distance from the vanishing point. Taken straight or with a wink, it is the same language.",
      "color": {
        "roles": [
          {
            "role": "night",
            "value": "#0C0420",
            "use": "The page ground below the horizon.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:motif-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "panel",
            "value": "#120725",
            "use": "Every surface that carries text.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:motif-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "ink",
            "value": "#F7E9FF",
            "contrast": "16.7:1 on panel",
            "use": "Body text.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:color-5"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "neon",
            "value": "#FF2BD6",
            "use": "Line work: grid, edges, rules.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:definition"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "cyan",
            "value": "#2DE2E6",
            "contrast": "12.1:1 on panel",
            "use": "Links, focus, current state.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:dcc:sy-r1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "dusk",
            "value": "#FF8A3D",
            "contrast": "8.3:1 on panel",
            "use": "The sky's low band and warnings.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:color-5"
            ]
          },
          {
            "role": "violet",
            "value": "#3A0F5E",
            "use": "The sky's upper band.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:color-5"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "alternates": [],
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Draw line work in magenta neon.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:definition"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Run the sky as a neon gradient from purple to orange.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:color-5"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Keep every sentence on solid night; gradients belong to the sky and to display type.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:color-5",
              "token_rule:surface-8"
            ],
            "because": "The gradient is a surface, not a reading ground."
          },
          {
            "rule": "The sources do not specify exact gradient stops.",
            "basis": "not_recorded",
            "cites": [
              "claim:declared-freedom"
            ],
            "guidance": "The record declares the stops free; choose them, and say that you did.",
            "silence": "source"
          }
        ]
      },
      "typography": {
        "family": {
          "stack": "\"Monoton X\", \"Space Grotesk X\", \"Helvetica Neue\", Arial, sans-serif",
          "class": "display: inline neon capitals; text: geometric grotesk"
        },
        "roles": [
          {
            "role": "display",
            "size": "clamp(2.25rem, 8vw, 6rem)",
            "weight": 400,
            "lineHeight": "1",
            "case": "upper",
            "tracking": "0.04em",
            "measure": null,
            "use": "The name, in chrome."
          },
          {
            "role": "heading",
            "size": "2.875rem",
            "weight": 700,
            "lineHeight": "1.05",
            "case": null,
            "tracking": null,
            "measure": null,
            "use": "Panel headings, scaled by depth."
          },
          {
            "role": "body",
            "size": "1.125rem",
            "weight": 400,
            "lineHeight": "1.6",
            "case": null,
            "tracking": null,
            "measure": "64ch",
            "use": "Everything read."
          }
        ],
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Letter the display in chrome, paired with the grid.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:typography-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Use late-1980s typography for display.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:typography-3"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Set Monoton for display and Space Grotesk for text.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:typography-3",
              "claim:kcc:typography-1"
            ],
            "because": "Monoton's inline strokes read as neon tube; the grotesk carries text the display face cannot. Both are this page's faces, not ones the sources name."
          },
          {
            "rule": "A neon handwritten script may sit beside the chrome sans.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:typography-2"
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      "gridLayout": {
        "summary": "No column grid: a horizon and a vanishing point. Panels stand on the floor grid in depth, nearest widest.",
        "tokens": {
          "horizon": "58vh",
          "ratio": "0.78"
        },
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Make a single-point perspective grid the page structure: a horizon and a vanishing point, not columns.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:layout-3"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Rank by distance from the vanishing point; nearest is largest and leads.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:hierarchy-13"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Centre content on the vanishing point's vertical.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:layout-3"
            ],
            "because": "One-point perspective puts the eye on the centre line."
          }
        ]
      },
      "shapeGeometry": {
        "tokens": {
          "radius": "4px",
          "panel-radius": "6px",
          "line": "2px",
          "glow": "0 0 18px rgba(255,43,214,.45)"
        },
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Use straight glowing lines receding to the horizon as the motif.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:motif-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Give lines and edges a neon glow; give display type a chrome gradient.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:surface-8"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Keep corners nearly square (4 to 6px).",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:motif-1"
            ],
            "because": "The grid is straight lines; a soft corner is a different register."
          }
        ]
      },
      "imagery": {
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Show a 3D grid landscape.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:imagery-7"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "An oversized striped sun at dusk may sit on the horizon.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:motif-3"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Reproduce VHS tracking artefacts on purpose.",
            "basis": "record",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:technique-1"
            ]
          },
          {
            "rule": "Keep imagery dry and nocturnal-to-dusk: no rain, no decay.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:idr:gestalt-boundary"
            ],
            "because": "The recorded boundary with Cyberpunk is a dry grid against a wet street."
          }
        ]
      },
      "components": {
        "button": {
          "name": "Button",
          "becomes": "A neon tube: a magenta line on solid night, its label in the grotesk, lit brighter when you reach it.",
          "anatomy": [
            "2px magenta border",
            "solid night fill",
            "label in Space Grotesk, 700",
            "4px corner"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "border": "2px solid #FF2BD6",
            "background": "#120725",
            "color": "#F7E9FF",
            "radius": "4px",
            "glow": "0 0 12px rgba(255,43,214,.55)"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Magenta line on night, a low glow.",
            "hover": "The glow widens and the line turns cyan.",
            "focus": "2px cyan outline outside the tube.",
            "active": "Fill turns deep violet; the glow drops.",
            "disabled": "Dashed line, label in secondary ink, no glow."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "The label is solid ink on solid night (16.7:1); the glow is never under the text.",
            "At least 44 × 44px."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Draw the button as a neon line on a solid night fill.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:idr:gestalt",
                "token_rule:surface-8"
              ],
              "because": "Magenta neon line work is the cover-art set; the label stays on solid night so it reads."
            },
            {
              "rule": "Signal hover by brightening the glow, never by animating the text.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "token_rule:surface-8"
              ],
              "because": "Neon glow is the recorded surface; reading text is never the thing that glows."
            }
          ]
        },
        "card": {
          "name": "Card",
          "becomes": "A panel standing on the grid: the nearest is widest and leads, the farther ones shrink by the same ratio.",
          "anatomy": [
            "solid night panel",
            "2px magenta edge with a low glow",
            "heading scaled by depth",
            "body text at full size"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "background": "#120725",
            "border": "2px solid #FF2BD6",
            "radius": "6px",
            "ratio": "0.78"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Night panel, magenta edge.",
            "hover": "Edge turns cyan.",
            "focus": "2px cyan outline."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "Only width and heading size shrink with depth; body text never does.",
            "DOM order is nearest first."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Rank cards by distance from the vanishing point: the nearest is largest and leads.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "token_rule:hierarchy-13"
              ],
              "because": "The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation."
            },
            {
              "rule": "Scale each farther card by one ratio, 0.78 per step of depth.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "token_rule:hierarchy-13",
                "token_rule:layout-3"
              ],
              "because": "One declared ratio makes distance legible as perspective, the way the grid recedes."
            }
          ]
        },
        "input": {
          "name": "Input",
          "becomes": "A dark field under a cyan rule, its label set small above it.",
          "anatomy": [
            "solid night field",
            "2px cyan bottom rule",
            "label above in the grotesk"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "background": "#0C0420",
            "border": "0 0 2px #2DE2E6",
            "color": "#F7E9FF",
            "radius": "0"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Cyan rule.",
            "focus": "The rule thickens to 3px and turns magenta, with a 2px outline.",
            "error": "Orange rule and a written message below.",
            "disabled": "Dashed rule."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "A visible label on every field.",
            "Errors are written, not only coloured."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Rule the field with a single line, like a rung of the floor grid.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:kcc:motif-1"
              ],
              "because": "The grid's glowing straight lines are the recurring motif; one rung is enough for a field."
            }
          ]
        },
        "navigation": {
          "name": "Navigation",
          "becomes": "A row of labels along the horizon, the current one lit.",
          "anatomy": [
            "labels on one line",
            "current label in cyan with a magenta underline",
            "no background bar"
          ],
          "tokens": {
            "color": "#F7E9FF",
            "current": "#2DE2E6",
            "underline": "2px solid #FF2BD6"
          },
          "states": {
            "default": "Primary ink.",
            "hover": "Cyan.",
            "focus": "2px cyan outline.",
            "current": "Cyan, underlined in magenta."
          },
          "accessibility": [
            "aria-current on the current page.",
            "Underline, not only colour, marks it."
          ],
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Set the navigation along a horizontal line, the horizon of the page.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "token_rule:layout-3"
              ],
              "because": "The page structure is a horizon and a vanishing point rather than a column grid."
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "motion": {
        "spec": {
          "durations": {
            "grid": "12s per two cells",
            "state": "160ms"
          },
          "easing": {
            "grid": "linear",
            "state": "ease-out"
          },
          "transforms": "translateY on the floor grid's rungs only",
          "entrance": "none",
          "hover": "The glow widens.",
          "reducedMotion": "The grid holds still; nothing else changes."
        },
        "rules": [
          {
            "rule": "Scroll the grid toward the viewer at a constant speed, never triggered.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:motion-14"
            ],
            "because": "The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation."
          },
          {
            "rule": "A light may sweep across the sun, and the frame may shake slightly.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "claim:kcc:w2-motion-2"
            ],
            "because": "The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation."
          },
          {
            "rule": "Move only the grid; hold text and panels still.",
            "basis": "translation",
            "cites": [
              "token_rule:motion-14"
            ],
            "because": "The record's motion is the floor; moving text would compete with it."
          }
        ]
      },
      "dimensions": [
        {
          "key": "stance",
          "label": "Stance",
          "summary": "Taken straight or with a wink, it is Synthwave. Sincerity is an art-direction choice; where it divides from Vaporwave is open.",
          "values": [
            {
              "rule": "Do not treat sincerity as a test of membership.",
              "basis": "record",
              "cites": [
                "claim:idr:gestalt"
              ]
            },
            {
              "rule": "Choose a stance for the project and hold it; either is allowed.",
              "basis": "translation",
              "cites": [
                "claim:idr:intent",
                "claim:kcc:boundary-2"
              ],
              "because": "The record makes sincere treatment optional, and the sources call the revival ironic."
            },
            {
              "rule": "The boundary with Vaporwave is not settled.",
              "basis": "not_recorded",
              "cites": [
                "claim:idr:gestalt-boundary"
              ],
              "guidance": "Do not use stance, statuary or chrome to separate the two until Vaporwave's cultural review lands.",
              "silence": "source"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "notRecorded": [
        {
          "category": "components",
          "what": "Interface conventions",
          "why": "The record is cover art and video; the four components are translations of its visual rules."
        },
        {
          "category": "color",
          "what": "Gradient stops",
          "why": "Declared free on the record."
        },
        {
          "category": "dimension.stance",
          "what": "The Vaporwave boundary",
          "why": "Open, pending Vaporwave's cultural review."
        }
      ],
      "silence": {
        "color": "source",
        "typography": "source",
        "gridLayout": "source",
        "shapeGeometry": "source",
        "imagery": "source",
        "components": "source",
        "motion": "source"
      }
    }
  }
}