# Cartographic — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Cartographic**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 6 of 8 research dimensions.
> 8 sources attached. 3 claims graded by our research brief, no source attached.

## How to use this

Paste this file into your agent as context before asking it to design or build something in this visual language. It states what is established, what is our interpretation, and what nobody has established. Treat all three differently.

**The most important section is "Not researched yet".** Its purpose is to stop you and your agent inventing rules that sound right and are not recorded anywhere.

## What this language is

**Defining:** Contour lines, legend panel, grid coordinates, route markers

**Recognise it by:** Contour lines describing continuous elevation, a boxed legend declaring every symbol used, a coordinate grid with labelled reference edges, and route markers placed at positions that mean something. The diagnostic condition is the declared code: every mark on the surface is defined in the legend, so the reader can decode the drawing without external knowledge. Blueprint uses a comparable apparatus to specify an object for manufacture rather than terrain for traversal. Travel Poster sells a place by simplifying it; this describes a place by encoding it.

**Family:** Technical & Documentary
**Era:** 19th-century, contemporary
**Native medium:** print, screen, software

**Scope:** The visual register of agency-specified maps and charts: declared symbology, contour and other relief conventions, brown-contour/blue-water colour coding, as Aesthetary's language drawn from USGS and IHO practice; grids and route markers are ours.

## What it is arguing

A map is a contract about position. Every mark is placed where the thing is, and the legend exists so the reader can verify the code rather than trust it — which is why the apparatus is always shown rather than hidden.

**It refuses:** Refuses decorative placement, and refuses any symbol that is not declared in the legend.

## What it is not

Commonly confused with these. Getting the difference right matters more than getting the surface right:

- Blueprint
- Travel Poster
- Nautical — Signal-flag grammar; needs a genuine connection to the sea

## Established rules

Grouped by what kind of claim each is. A requirement of the language and our own interpretation are not interchangeable.

**How to read each rule.** Every rule states two separate things, and neither stands in for the other:

- **Kind of claim** (the heading): From our catalogue entry · Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Our reading · Documented · Source attached.
- **Evidence** (how it is established): Graded by our research brief · No source attached (`DOCUMENTED`) · From our catalogue entry (`SUPPORTED`) · Our reading (`CURATORIAL`) · Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`) · No grade recorded (no grade in the record). Where a claim has its own canonical label, the Evidence line gives that label instead of the grade.
- **Product area**: which of the twelve areas the rule belongs to (Layout, Typography, Color, Imagery, Surface, Interface, Motion, Motif, Technique, Form, Hierarchy, Density), mapped from its raw area label in bold. "Context" means the rule is about the Aesthetic (its name, origin, lineage) rather than a part of the design. "Not mapped" means the raw area has no single area yet.
- The code in brackets is the `grade` field at `implementationConstraints.tokenRules.value.rules[].provenance.grade` in https://aesthetary.com/data/cartographic.json. "From our catalogue entry" means: Stated in Aesthetary’s existing catalogue entry. An outside source is named only where one is linked to the claim.

### From our catalogue entry

_Carried over from Aesthetary's original catalogue entry. The reasoning behind it was never recorded._

- **layout** — Composition: coordinate grid, legend panel.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Layout
- **imagery** — Imagery: map illustration.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Imagery
- **form / motif / surface / technique** — Form / motif / surface / technique: contour, grid, route marker.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: not mapped

### Graded by our research brief · No source attached

_A research brief graded this documented, but no source is attached yet. A grade is not a source._

- **legend** — Every symbol on the surface is declared in the legend. A mark the reader cannot decode from the drawing itself is a defect, not a flourish.
  - Kind of claim: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Product area: not mapped
- **typography** — A label must be unambiguously associated with the feature it names, must not collide with another label, and must express the feature's extent. Legibility governs every other typographic choice.
  - Kind of claim: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Product area: Typography
- **color** — Restrict the number of hues and carry distinction on lightness and saturation instead, so that figure separates from ground before any symbol is read.
  - Kind of claim: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Product area: Color

### Our reading

- **hierarchy** — Rank by position and legend order, not by scale. A feature matters because of where it sits and where it appears in the declared code. Consistent with Archival's refusal of editorial ranking, and equally unusual for a webpage.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Hierarchy
- **color** — Restrained cartographic conventions — contour brown, water blue, route red on a pale ground. Reasoned from the medium, not claimed.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Color

## Found in research

What research established from sources Aesthetary opened and checked. Each line names its area, how it is known, and where it is scoped. "Seen in the work" means the source documents particular works or products rather than the Aesthetic as a whole.

- **Typography** — USGS set map type by standards to keep type sizes and styles consistent from map to map, and placed it carefully for legibility.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-1` · Covers USGS production.
- **Typography** — Lettering styles changed over time within the USGS series, and provisional maps used some hand-drawn lettering.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-2`
- **Typography** — Case encodes meaning on nautical charts: on NOAA charts all-capital landmark legends mean an accurately positioned landmark and mixed case an approximate one; on NGA charts capitals mean conspicuous.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-3` · Covers U.S. Chart No. 1.
- **Typography** — Slope encodes units: NOAA sets soundings in fathoms and feet as vertical numerals and metres as sloping numerals.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-4` · Covers U.S. Chart No. 1.
- **Typography** — Paper-chart depth labels are centred and oriented along the contour; ECDIS labels are not, and carry a light halo.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-5`
- **Typography** — Index contours carry their elevation as a label.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-6` · Covers USGS 250K.
- **Color** — On USGS topographic maps, line colour codes feature class: contours brown, hydrography blue, land grids and important roads red, other roads, railroads, boundaries and cultural features black.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:color-1` · Covers USGS topographic series.
- **Color** — Area colours: vegetation green, water blue, built-up areas grey or red; purple once marked revisions.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:color-2` · Covers USGS.
- **Color** — Names are coloured to match the class of feature they label.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:color-3` · Covers USGS.
- **Color** — Colour is a production separation: each colour was printed from its own plate, six in all on USGS maps.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:color-4`
- **Color** — Nautical charts use colour to separate human-made features, dry land, drying seabed and permanently submerged seabed, and to indicate depth.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:color-5` · Covers encyclopedic.
- **Color** — On ECDIS the mariner can change the display palette; the Day table uses a white deep-water ground and the Night table a black one. Conspicuous features are black and non-conspicuous ones brown.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:color-6` · Covers electronic nautical charts.
- **Surface** — The same map content is issued on printed paper and on screens, so no material surface is fixed by the specification.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:surface-1`
- **Interface** — ECDIS symbology is an international specification, and the same feature displays differently depending on user settings and conditions.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:interface-1` · Covers ECDIS / ENC.
- **Interface** — A cursor pick queries a feature for further attributes.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:interface-2` · Covers ECDIS.
- **Interface** — Depth areas drive safety alarms when a ship heads into unsafe water.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:interface-3` · Covers ECDIS.
- **Motion** — On electronic chart displays, flashing a symbol is to be used only rarely, to draw attention, and never to imitate a real flashing object such as a light.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:w2-motion-1` · Covers IHO ECDIS display standard; screen charts only..
- **Motion** — The chart display moves with the ship: during route monitoring it redraws to follow the ship's progress, within 5 seconds.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:w2-motion-2` · Covers ECDIS only..
- **Motion** — The mariner may choose true motion or relative motion for the display.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:w2-motion-3` · Covers ECDIS only..
- **Motion** — Area pattern symbols are not required to hold a fixed geographic position when the display redraws.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:w2-motion-4` · Covers ECDIS only..
- **Technique** — USGS printed quadrangles from engraved copper plates carrying contours, symbols and text, from the 1880s to the 1950s.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-1`
- **Technique** — USGS scribing engraved each colour's lines and symbols onto separate sheets over a light table, with type placed on overlaid clear plastic sheets.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-2` · Covers USGS.
- **Technique** — Maps were printed by multi-run colour lithography, one plate per colour; digital separations were replacing manual scribing.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-3`
- **Form** — Topographic maps encode 3D terrain on a 2D surface, through contours and relief conventions rather than physical form.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-1`

## Positions by area

The overall position recorded for each area. "No overall position recorded" means rules exist for the area but no position above them; the rules still apply. It is not the same as "Not established", which means nobody has researched the area.

- **Layout** — Specified
- **Typography** — Specified
- **Color** — Specified
- **Imagery** — Specified
- **Surface** — Left open
- **Interface** — Specified
- **Motion** — Specified
- **Motif** — Specified
- **Technique** — Specified
- **Form** — Outside this language. The area does not apply; this is not a gap in the research.

## Design grammar — web primitives

A starting grammar for a website in the Cartographic register: a pale sheet with a coordinate grid, marks coloured by what they are, every symbol declared in a boxed legend, and importance carried by position, never by size.

Three kinds of line: **On the record** names a rule this record holds (its wording is under Established rules) and states what it becomes on the web. **Web translation** is Aesthetary's choice for the web, derived from the rules it cites; change it if you have a reason, keep the cited rule. **Not specified by the source** means the research reached this but the sources say nothing about it; **Not researched yet** means the research has not reached it yet. Either way, follow the instruction and do not invent a rule. Structured version: `designGrammar` in data/cartographic.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| paper | `#F7F5EC` | — | The sheet: a pale ground. | On the record |
| ink | `#2E2A20` | 13.6:1 | Text, frames and cultural features: black. | On the record |
| contour | `#A5764C` | 3.6:1 | Contours and relief only; never body text. | On the record |
| water | `#3A6A8A` | 5.6:1 | Water, and the names of water. | On the record |
| route | `#B03A2E` | 5.9:1 | Grids, routes and important roads; links and actions. | On the record |
| grey | `#6A6350` | 5.6:1 | Grid references and secondary labels. | Web translation |

Other accents the record supports:

- Night display (recorded as "ECDIS Night table: a black deep-water ground"): `#16140F`

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:color-1` → Colour a line by the class of feature it draws: contours brown, water blue, grids and important roads red, other roads and cultural features black.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:color-3` → Colour a name to match the feature it labels.
- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:cg-r3` → Keep the hues few and carry distinction on lightness and saturation, so figure separates from ground first.
- **Web translation** — Treat each hue as its own layer: one colour, one job, as each was once its own printing plate. _Why:_ Colour on USGS maps was a production separation, one plate per colour. (`claim:kcc:color-4`, `claim:kcc:technique-3`)
- **Web translation** — The hex values are this room's; the palette itself is a declared freedom. _Why:_ The record fixes what each hue means, not its exact value, and screen charts let the reader switch palettes. (`claim:freedom-color`, `claim:kcc:color-6`)

### Typography

Family: a plain sans for labels and text, a serif for names (the record declares typography free; Karla and Spectral are the room's choice). Stack: `"KarlaX", "Karla", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Setting | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| title | clamp(2rem, 4.4vw, 3.5rem) | 400 | 1 | not specified | 0.32em | — | serif italic, letterspaced across the sheet | The sheet's name, once. |
| heading | clamp(1.5rem, 3vw, 2.125rem) | 600 | 1.15 | not specified | not specified | — | serif | Section and place names. |
| body | 1.0625rem | 400 | 1.6 | not specified | not specified | 68ch | — | Text. |
| label | 0.75rem | 500 | 1.3 | not specified | 0.06em | — | — | Grid references, legend entries, field labels. |

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-1` → Set type to a standard so sizes and styles stay the same from sheet to sheet, and place every label for legibility.
- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:cg-r2` → Tie each label unambiguously to what it names; never let two labels collide.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-3` → Let case carry meaning where it is declared: on NOAA charts capitals mark an accurately positioned landmark, mixed case an approximate one.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-4` → Let slope carry units where it is declared: upright numerals for fathoms and feet, sloping for metres.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-6` → Label index contours with their elevation.
- **Web translation** — Spectral for names and Karla for labels are this room's faces; any consistent pair will do. _Why:_ The record declares typography a freedom and grounds the behaviour of the type, not a face. (`claim:freedom-typography`)

### Grid and layout

A sheet with a coordinate grid: letters along the top edge, numbers down the side, content placed in cells a reader can name, and a boxed legend panel beside it.

Tokens: sheet-border `2px` · cell-ref `A–H, 1–5`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:layout-3` → Compose with a coordinate grid and a legend panel.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Rank by position and legend order, not by scale.
- **Web translation** — Give each section a grid reference the reader can find again on the edges. _Why:_ A labelled reference edge is part of the look; a reference that points nowhere would be an undeclared mark. (`claim:gestalt`, `token_rule:cg-r1`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Density is not specified by the source. _Instead:_ Place as much as the grid holds legibly; do not add marks to fill cells.

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `0` · frame `1px` · sheet-frame `2px` · marker `50% 50% 50% 0`

- **Web translation** — Keep frames square and thin: 1px ink round a panel, 2px round the sheet. _Why:_ The legend is boxed and the sheet is bounded; a square frame is the map's own panel. (`claim:gestalt`, `token_rule:layout-3`)
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-4` → No emphasis by scale.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-2` → No decorative contour texture: contours describe elevation or they are not drawn.
- **Web translation** — The route marker is a pin: a red disc drawn to a point, numbered. _Why:_ Route markers placed at positions that mean something are part of the recognition signature. (`claim:gestalt`, `token_rule:surface-8`)

### Imagery

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:imagery-7` → Use map illustration.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:form-1` → Draw relief with contours, not with rendered form.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-5` → No photography.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-3` → Do not apply the register to content with no real spatial dimension.

### The declared code

Every mark on the sheet is declared in the legend, and the code is not arbitrary: colour names the feature class, names take their feature's colour, and on charts case and slope carry meaning.

- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:cg-r1` → Declare every symbol in the legend; a mark the reader cannot decode is a defect.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-1` → No undeclared symbols.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:color-5` → On nautical charts, colour separates human-made features, dry land, drying seabed and permanently submerged seabed, and indicates depth.
- **Web translation** — Declare the page's screen marks too: the link underline and the action box join the legend. _Why:_ The contract is that nothing on the surface escapes the legend; a web page adds marks a paper map never had. (`token_rule:cg-r1`, `claim:intent`)

### Components

Anatomy, tokens and states below are Web translation: Aesthetary's specification for the screen. Each value line after them says whether it restates a rule this record holds.

#### Button

A boxed label in route red on the paper; pressed, the box fills red and the label reverses to paper.

- Anatomy: 2px red border; label in the sans, sentence case; square corners
- Tokens: border `2px solid #B03A2E` · background `#F7F5EC` · hover `#B03A2E fill, #FFFFFF label` · radius `0` · minHeight `44px`
- State, default: Red box, red label, paper ground.
- State, hover: Red fill, white label. The swap is instant.
- State, focus: 3px red outline 3px outside the box.
- State, active: Red fill.
- State, disabled: Grey dotted border, grey label.
- Accessibility: Red on paper at 5.9:1; white on red at 6.2:1.
- Accessibility: At least 44px tall.
- **Web translation** — Draw actions in route red, the one hue the sheet reserves for the way through. _Why:_ Red on the record is route and road red; an action is the page's route. (`claim:kcc:color-1`, `token_rule:color-5`)
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-4` → Do not make an action matter by making it larger.

#### Card

A map inset: a boxed panel with its grid reference in the corner and its attributes listed beneath the name, the way a cursor pick reports a feature.

- Anatomy: 1px ink frame on the paper; grid reference, top right, in grey; name in the serif; attribute list: key and value
- Tokens: border `1px solid #2E2A20` · background `#F7F5EC` · ref `#6A6350, 12px` · radius `0`
- State, default: Frame, reference, name, attributes.
- State, hover: The name takes a red underline.
- State, focus: 3px red outline outside the frame.
- Accessibility: The whole inset is one link; its grid reference is part of its accessible name.
- Accessibility: Attributes are a real description list.
- **Web translation** — Give each card its grid reference and list its attributes under the name. _Why:_ On an electronic chart a cursor pick queries a feature for further attributes; a card is that answer, placed by reference. (`claim:kcc:interface-2`, `token_rule:layout-3`)
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Rank cards by where they sit and their order in the index, not by size.

#### Input

A boxed field on the paper with its label set small above, like a legend entry; the entry is a place or a grid reference.

- Anatomy: 1px ink box; label above in grey, sentence case; entry in the sans
- Tokens: border `1px solid #2E2A20` · background `#F7F5EC` · height `44px` · radius `0`
- State, default: A boxed field.
- State, focus: Border to 2px red.
- State, error: Message below in ink, beginning "Error:", with a red rule at the left.
- State, disabled: Dotted grey border.
- Accessibility: The label is a real label.
- Accessibility: Errors are words; red marks them but never carries them.
- **Web translation** — Label every field above it, like a legend entry beside its symbol. _Why:_ Every mark is declared, and a label must be unambiguously associated with what it names. (`token_rule:cg-r1`, `token_rule:cg-r2`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify an error colour. _Instead:_ Use words first; mark the field with route red only because red is already the sheet's attention colour.

#### Navigation

The legend's route list: numbered red markers, each section's name, and its grid reference at the right.

- Anatomy: a red disc with the section number; section name in the sans; grid reference in grey, right aligned; dotted rule between rows
- Tokens: marker `#B03A2E disc, 22px` · rule `1px dotted #D8D2BE` · ref `#6A6350`
- State, default: Ink name, red marker.
- State, hover: Name turns red.
- State, focus: 3px red outline.
- State, current: Name in bold with a 2px red rule under it; aria-current set.
- Accessibility: Each row is a link named by its section, not its number.
- Accessibility: Rows are at least 32px tall and the list has space around it for touch.
- **Web translation** — Navigate from the legend: numbered route markers with grid references. _Why:_ The legend panel and the route marker are the register's apparatus; the room already walks its record this way. (`token_rule:layout-3`, `token_rule:surface-8`)
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Order by position and legend order, not by scale.

### Motion

Durations, easing and the rest of this specification are Web translation: Aesthetary's choice for the screen.

- Durations: state 0ms
- Easing: state `none`
- Transforms: none
- Entrance: none
- Hover: An instant change of colour.
- Reduced motion: Nothing changes: the sheet does not animate.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:w2-motion-1` → Flash a symbol only rarely and only to draw attention, never to imitate a real flashing object.
- **Web translation** — Otherwise keep the sheet still; state changes are instant. _Why:_ Motion on the record belongs to electronic charts following a ship; a page has no ship to follow. (`claim:kcc:w2-motion-2`, `claim:kcc:medium`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources describe motion only on electronic chart displays, not on printed maps. _Instead:_ Do not animate contours or routes for effect.

### Deliberately not added

- **Density** (gridLayout): Not specified by the source.
- **A material surface** (shapeGeometry): Left open: the same map content is issued on paper and on screens.
- **Motion on printed maps** (motion): The record's motion is electronic chart display only.
- **Interface conventions for web pages** (components): The research documents chart-display behaviour, not web components. The four components are translations.

## Coverage — what has been looked at

One row per research dimension a research pass considered. "Not researched yet" (`UNKNOWN`) means exactly that; a dimension can carry an Aesthetary recommendation and still be unresearched, and those are different things.

| Research dimension | Evidence | Resolved by | Carries a rule |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Composition | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Typography | Specified | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Hierarchy | Specified · Our reading | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Colour | Specified | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Density | Not specified by the source | Aesthetary decided | no |
| Imagery | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Form / motif / surface / technique | Does not apply: form · Specified: motif, technique · Left open: surface | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Specified | Aesthetary decided | yes |

Unresearched: Typography, Colour, Motion. Where a rule appears for one of these it is Aesthetary's implementation recommendation, not a property of the language, and its Evidence line above says so.

## Not researched yet

Every area of this record has a recorded position. That is unusual — most records do not.

## Grade your own work

21 checks: 7 mechanically testable, 12 needing a person to look, 0 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 2 with no recorded position. 2 further research dimensions produced no rule (Density, Motion). This rubric is silent on them. Scores do not add up. A failure against a required rule and a departure from something we invented are not the same result, and no total should let them cancel.

### Recognition — does this read as the intended Aesthetic?

- **[visual_human · recognition signature · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Strip every logo, word and borrowed image out of your work, then show it to someone who knows the collection. Do they land on this Aesthetic? The signature to hold is: Contour lines describing continuous elevation, a boxed legend declaring every symbol used, a coordinate grid with labelled reference edges, and route markers placed at positions that mean something. The diagnostic condition is the declared code: every mark on the surface is defined in the legend, so the reader can decode the drawing without external knowledge. Blueprint uses a comparable apparatus to specify an object for manufacture rather than terrain for traversal. Travel Poster sells a place by simplifying it; this describes a place by encoding it.
  - _If it fails:_ The work may be competent and still read as a different Aesthetic, or as none. Nothing below matters until this passes.

### Fidelity — are its defining rules present?

- **[unassessable · no recorded position · Evidence: Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`)]** Nothing is recorded as a requirement of this Aesthetic. There is no rule here that your work must hold — which means nothing you do can fail this dimension, and nothing you do can satisfy it either. That is missing research, not freedom: our research brief does record failure modes to avoid, listed under avoidance below. They are recorded judgement, not requirements.
  - _If it fails:_ Not applicable. An empty dimension is an absence of research, never a pass and never a failure.

### Implementation — were those rules translated appropriately into this medium?

- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Composition: coordinate grid, legend panel.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Rank by position and legend order, not by scale. A feature matters because of where it sits and where it appears in the declared code. Consistent with Archival's refusal of editorial ranking, and equally unusual for a webpage.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Restrained cartographic conventions — contour brown, water blue, route red on a pale ground. Reasoned from the medium, not claimed.
  - _If it fails:_ Nothing. No one has researched the dimension yet, and this is only what Aesthetary would do. Departing from it costs you nothing.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Imagery: map illustration.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Form / motif / surface / technique: contour, grid, route marker.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Every symbol on the surface is declared in the legend. A mark the reader cannot decode from the drawing itself is a defect, not a flourish.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. A label must be unambiguously associated with the feature it names, must not collide with another label, and must express the feature's extent. Legibility governs every other typographic choice.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Restrict the number of hues and carry distinction on lightness and saturation instead, so that figure separates from ground before any symbol is read.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.

### Avoidance — known failure modes, neighbour drift, cloning

- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No undeclared symbols.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No decorative contour texture.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No use on content without a real spatial dimension.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No emphasis by scale.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No photography.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[visual_human · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Have you made any of these changes? Each one moves the work into a neighbouring Aesthetic: Against Blueprint: terrain versus object; traversal versus manufacture. Against Travel Poster: encoding versus simplifying. Both depict place; only one lets you navigate. Anti-signature: a symbol not declared in the legend. Contours applied to non-spatial content. Decorative route markers.
  - _If it fails:_ You have built the neighbour. That may be fine — but name which Aesthetic you are in.
- **[mechanical · declared closure · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: Not open: undeclared symbols.
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.
- **[mechanical · declared closure · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: Not open: non-spatial application..
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Blueprint? That language is: Drafting conventions used as layout structure, not decoration
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Blueprint than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Nautical? That language is: Signal-flag grammar; needs a genuine connection to the sea
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Nautical than to this Aesthetic.

### Accessibility — the Aesthetic preserved without its inaccessible practice

- **[unassessable · no recorded position · Evidence: Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`)]** Does this Aesthetic conflict with any usability floor? Nobody has recorded one for it.
  - _If it fails:_ Nothing — and that is the problem. An unrecorded conflict is not an absent one. Hold AA on reading matter and decide the rest on other grounds.

**Not covered at all:** Density: Not specified by the source; Motion: Specified. These research dimensions produced no rule, so there is no check. Treat them as unscored, never as passed and never as failed.

## Rules for the agent

1. Do not invent rules for any area listed under **Not researched yet**.
2. Do not treat an absent position as permission to do anything you like — say that the language has no position, and decide on other grounds.
3. Keep our interpretations separable from the language's own requirements. If asked to justify a choice, cite which kind of claim it came from.
4. If you need something this record does not contain, say so rather than producing a confident answer from the aesthetic's name.
5. When you self-score against "Grade your own work", score only checks marked `mechanical`. Declare `visual_human` and `evidence_dependent` checks unjudged rather than guessing, and never score an `unassessable` one.
6. Evidence "Not researched yet" (`UNKNOWN`) is never a failure. It means nobody researched the dimension, so departing from what is written there costs nothing and must not be reported as a defect. "No grade recorded" is not a grade either: do not treat it as our decision or as an outside source.
7. In **Design grammar**, a "Web translation" line is our choice for the web and may be changed with a reason; the rules it cites may not. Never present a translation as a property of the language.

## Provenance

- Record: `cartographic` · status `draft` · research `not_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/cartographic.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/cartographic.html
- This file is a snapshot. The record may have changed since; check the page above.

_Aesthetary is an alpha. Where a page says nothing, nobody has done the work yet._