# Neo-Brutalism — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Neo-Brutalism**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 4 of 8 research dimensions.
> 9 sources 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:** Thick black outlines, hard unblurred shadows, clashing candy colour, chunky buttons

**Recognise it by:** Thick uniform black outlines around every element, hard offset shadows with no blur at all, saturated candy colours on a flat ground, and chunky oversized buttons that look pressable to the point of parody. The diagnostic condition is the unblurred offset shadow: a solid shape displaced behind the element, never a soft elevation — it quotes depth rather than simulating it. Web Brutalism strips styling away; this piles it on. Memphis assembles unrelated shapes with no compositional relationship; this is ordinary interface furniture, exaggerated.

**Family:** Raw & Anti-Design
**Era:** contemporary
**Native medium:** screen

**Scope:** The codified phase of neo-brutalism in web and product interface: the rules fixed by style guides and component kits (neubrutalism.com, neobrutalism.dev and similar) — thick outlines of one stroke width, hard unblurred offset shadows, square corners and loud flat fills. The trend as first named in 2022 was looser (desaturated colour, inconsistent line thickness and corner roundness, 'very relaxed rules'); it is kept as history and is not bound by these rules.

## What it is arguing

Interface conventions can be exaggerated into ornament. Taking the border, the shadow and the button — the plainest furniture of a web page — and making them thick, hard and loud turns usability signals into decoration while leaving them perfectly usable.

**It refuses:** Refuses softness, subtlety, blur, and the tasteful neutrality of the contemporary product default.

## What it is not

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

- Web Brutalism
- Memphis

## 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): Documented · 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/neo-brutalism.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.

### Documented · Source attached

- **color** — Colour: saturated, high-contrast flat colour.
  - Kind of claim: Documented · Source attached · Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Product area: Color
- **surface** — Components carry thick, solid, dark outlines with square corners.
  - Kind of claim: Documented · Source attached · Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Product area: Surface

### Our reading

- **hierarchy** — Rank by outline weight and shadow offset — the element with the biggest offset sits "highest". Quoted depth used as a ranking system.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Hierarchy
- **motion** — Elements pressing into their own shadow on interaction — the offset collapsing to zero. Native to the shadow logic, and not generic easing.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Motion
- **depth** — The offset shadow is solid and unblurred — a displaced shape behind the element, never a soft elevation. It quotes depth rather than simulating it.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Interface

## 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.

- **Layout** — Neo-brutalism is defined by high contrast, blocky layouts, bold colours, thick borders and 'unpolished' elements, and is more colourful and orderly than brutalist web design.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:layout-1` · Covers 2022–2025 descriptions.
- **Layout** — One self-published guide prescribes an underlying grid that is locally disrupted by offset, asymmetric or overscaled modules.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:layout-3` · Covers prescriptive, single self-published source.
- **Typography** — Bold, 'unpolished' elements often include quirky or slightly eccentric typefaces, balanced by generous whitespace.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-1`
- **Typography** — Monospace fonts may appear as a nostalgic early-interface reference.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-2`
- **Typography** — One self-published guide pushes display type to oversized sans-serif headlines with abrupt scale shifts.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:typography-3` · Covers self-published prescriptive guide only.
- **Motion** — A codified guide gives the button press as the element moving into its own shadow, with the shadow disappearing.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motion-2` · Covers single self-published prescriptive source.
- **Technique** — The look is expressed with a few CSS properties (border, flat fill, hard offset shadow, square corners) and is packaged in ready-made component libraries such as one built on shadcn/ui.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-1` · Covers codified phase; self-published and component-library sources.
- **Form** — Depth is depicted, not built. Offset shadows 'add depth' and fake-3D objects are drawn in isometric view at about 45°. The language is flat screen UI.
  - 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
- **Surface** — Specified
- **Interface** — Specified
- **Motion** — Specified
- **Technique** — Specified
- **Imagery** — Outside this language. The area does not apply; this is not a gap in the research.
- **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 codified Neo-Brutalism: every component outlined in one thick black stroke, square-cornered, flat-filled in loud candy colour, casting a hard unblurred shadow it presses into.

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/neo-brutalism.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ground | `#FFF4E0` | 19.3:1 (ink on it) | The page: the room's cream, a choice, not a rule. | Web translation |
| ink | `#000000` | 21:1 | Every outline, every shadow, all text. | On the record |
| pink | `#FF90E8` | 10.4:1 (ink on it) | Fill. | Web translation |
| yellow | `#FFC900` | 13.6:1 (ink on it) | Fill; focus and current state. | Web translation |
| mint | `#7BF1A8` | 15.0:1 (ink on it) | Fill. | Web translation |
| blue | `#90A8ED` | 9.0:1 (ink on it) | Fill. | Web translation |
| orange | `#FF7A45` | 8.1:1 (ink on it) | Fill for the loudest action. | Web translation |

- **On the record · Documented · Source attached** · `token_rule:color-5` → Saturated, high-contrast flat colour.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-2` → No soft or muted palette.
- **Web translation** — Set all text in black; never set text in a candy colour. _Why:_ High contrast is the record's; black on every fill keeps it above 8:1. (`token_rule:color-5`, `claim:kcc:layout-1`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not name the candy hues. _Instead:_ Any saturated flat set works; these five are the room's choice. Do not treat them as canonical.

### Typography

Family: oversized heavy sans for display (Archivo Black), with Space Grotesk for text. Stack: `"Archivo Black", "Arial Black", sans-serif`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| display | 6rem | 400 | 0.92 | not specified | -0.02em | — | Mastheads: oversized. |
| heading | 2.5rem | 400 | 1.05 | not specified | not specified | — | Section heads: an abrupt step down. |
| body | 1.125rem | 500 | 1.55 | not specified | not specified | 60ch | Text, in Space Grotesk. |
| label | 0.8125rem | 700 | 1.4 | uppercase | 0.06em | — | Chips and labels. |

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-3` → Oversized sans-serif headlines with abrupt scale shifts.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-1` → Quirky or slightly eccentric typefaces, balanced by generous whitespace.
- **Web translation** — Archivo Black for display, Space Grotesk for text. _Why:_ An oversized heavy sans and a slightly eccentric grotesque, as the research describes; the pair is the room's choice. (`claim:kcc:typography-3`, `claim:kcc:typography-1`)
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:typography-2` → Monospace may appear as a nostalgic early-interface reference.

### Grid and layout

Blocky and orderly: an underlying grid that single modules break by offset or overscale.

Tokens: gap `40px`

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:layout-1` → Blocky layouts, high contrast, more orderly than brutalist web design.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:layout-3` → Keep an underlying grid and disrupt it locally with offset, asymmetric or overscaled modules.
- **Web translation** — Leave generous space between blocks so each shadow reads. _Why:_ The research pairs the loud elements with generous whitespace, and a shadow needs room to be seen. (`claim:kcc:typography-1`, `claim:dcc:surface-8`)

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `0` · stroke `3px` · shadow-1 `4px` · shadow-2 `8px` · shadow-3 `16px` · blur `0`

- **On the record · Documented · Source attached** · `token_rule:nb-outline` → Thick, solid, dark outlines with square corners.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:dcc:surface-8` → A solid offset shadow, blur 0, always.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-3` → No thin or varied outline weight.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:form-1` → Depth is depicted, not built: offset shadows and flat isometric drawing.
- **Web translation** — Step shadow offsets 4, 8, 16px by rank. _Why:_ Rank by shadow offset; three doubling steps keep the ranks readable. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

### Imagery

- **Not specified by the source** — Imagery is neither demanded nor forbidden. _Instead:_ If you use images, frame them like any component: outline, square corners, hard shadow.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:form-1` → Fake-3D objects, where drawn, are isometric at about 45°.

### Which phase

The codified kits bind these values. The trend as first named in 2022 was looser and is history, not a violation.

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:idr:codified` → Build the codified form: border, flat fill, hard shadow, square corners, one stroke width.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:idr:history-2022` → Do not grade 2022-era work by these rules: its colour was desaturated and its lines and corners uneven.
- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `boundary:web-brutalism`, `claim:v1-distinguishing` → Styled, not stripped: that is Web Brutalism.

### 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 chunky flat-filled box with a thick black outline and a hard shadow it presses into.

- Anatomy: 3px solid black outline; flat candy fill; square corners; hard 6px offset shadow, blur 0; label in the display face
- Tokens: border `3px solid #000000` · radius `0` · shadow `6px 6px 0 #000000` · min-height `60px` · transition `none`
- State, default: Flat fill, outline, shadow at 6px.
- State, hover: Lifts 2px: the shadow grows to 8px.
- State, focus: 3px black outline, 4px outside.
- State, active: Moves 6px down and right into its shadow; the shadow is gone.
- State, disabled: White fill, no shadow, label struck through.
- Accessibility: All text is black on the fills: 8.1:1 on orange at worst.
- Accessibility: At least 44px tall; the display size makes it bigger.
- Accessibility: Pressed state is shown by position and the lost shadow, not by colour.
- **On the record · Documented · Source attached** · `token_rule:nb-outline` → Outline it thick and solid, with square corners.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:dcc:surface-8`, `token_rule:nb-r1` → Give it a solid offset shadow with blur 0.
- **On the record · Documented / Our reading** · `claim:kcc:motion-2`, `token_rule:motion-14` → On press, move the element into its own shadow and let the shadow disappear.

#### Card

An outlined box with a flat fill and a hard shadow whose offset is its rank.

- Anatomy: 3px black outline; flat fill; hard offset shadow; heading in the display face
- Tokens: border `3px solid #000000` · radius `0` · shadow `8px 8px 0 #000000` · padding `1.25rem`
- State, default: Outline and shadow at its rank.
- State, hover: Where the card is a link, it lifts 2px.
- State, focus: 3px black outline outside the shadow.
- State, active: Presses into its shadow.
- Accessibility: Headings and body stay black on every fill.
- Accessibility: The shadow is decoration; nothing is communicated by it alone.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:idr:codified`, `claim:kcc:technique-1` → Border plus flat fill plus hard shadow, square corners, one stroke width.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Rank by shadow offset: the most important card casts the biggest.

#### Input

A white field in the same outline, with a small hard shadow and a bold label above.

- Anatomy: 3px black outline; white fill; hard 4px shadow; label above, bold
- Tokens: border `3px solid #000000` · radius `0` · shadow `4px 4px 0 #000000` · background `#FFFFFF`
- State, default: White, outline, 4px shadow.
- State, focus: Fill turns yellow; 3px outline outside.
- State, error: Pink fill and a written message beginning "Error:".
- State, disabled: No shadow, label struck through.
- Accessibility: A visible label on every field.
- Accessibility: Errors are written, not only coloured.
- **On the record · Documented / Documented · Source attached** · `claim:idr:codified`, `token_rule:nb-outline` → Same outline and corner as every component: one canonical stroke width.
- **Web translation** — Mark focus with a flat yellow fill, not a glow. _Why:_ No blur anywhere, and colour is flat and saturated; a glow would be a soft elevation. (`claim:failure-1`, `token_rule:color-5`)

#### Navigation

A row of outlined tabs with hard shadows; the current one is already pressed.

- Anatomy: outlined tabs, 3px; hard 4px shadows; current tab pressed in, filled yellow
- Tokens: border `3px solid #000000` · shadow `4px 4px 0 #000000` · current `pressed: offset 0, fill #FFC900`
- State, default: Outlined tab with shadow.
- State, hover: Lifts 2px.
- State, focus: 3px black outline.
- State, current: Pressed into its shadow and filled yellow.
- Accessibility: aria-current on the current page.
- Accessibility: Current is shown by position and fill together.
- **Web translation** — Show the current page as a tab already pressed into its shadow. _Why:_ The press is the language's own state change; a pressed tab reads as selected. (`token_rule:motion-14`, `claim:kcc:motion-2`)

### Motion

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

- Durations: press 0ms, lift 0ms
- Easing: press `none`
- Transforms: translate by the shadow offset only
- Entrance: None.
- Hover: A 2px lift, the shadow growing by the same amount.
- Reduced motion: The lift is dropped; the press stays, because it is state, not animation.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:motion-14` → Elements press into their own shadow on interaction, the offset collapsing to zero.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:motion-2` → The press moves the element into its shadow and the shadow disappears.
- **Web translation** — Make the press instant, with no easing. _Why:_ The motion rule is native to the shadow logic and not generic easing. (`token_rule:motion-14`)

### Deliberately not added

- **Which candy hues** (color): The record holds saturated flat colour, not a palette.
- **Imagery** (imagery): Not specified by the source.
- **Density** (gridLayout): Not specified by the source.

## 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 | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Typography | Specified | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Hierarchy | Specified · Our reading | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Colour | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Density | Not specified by the source | Aesthetary decided | no |
| Imagery | Not specified by the source | — | no |
| Form / motif / surface / technique | Does not apply: form · Not researched yet: motif · Specified: surface, technique | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Specified | Aesthetary decided | yes |

Unresearched: Composition, Typography, 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

Nobody has established a position for this language on:

- Motif

**Do not fill these in.** An absent position is absent research, not permission and not a blank for you to complete. If the work needs a decision in one of these areas, make it on other grounds and do not attribute it to this language.

## Grade your own work

17 checks: 8 mechanically testable, 7 needing a person to look, 0 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 2 with no recorded position. 4 further research dimensions produced no rule (Composition, Typography, Density, Imagery). 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: Thick uniform black outlines around every element, hard offset shadows with no blur at all, saturated candy colours on a flat ground, and chunky oversized buttons that look pressable to the point of parody. The diagnostic condition is the unblurred offset shadow: a solid shape displaced behind the element, never a soft elevation — it quotes depth rather than simulating it. Web Brutalism strips styling away; this piles it on. Memphis assembles unrelated shapes with no compositional relationship; this is ordinary interface furniture, exaggerated.
  - _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 · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Rank by outline weight and shadow offset — the element with the biggest offset sits "highest". Quoted depth used as a ranking system.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Documented · Source attached · Evidence: Documented · Source attached]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Colour: saturated, high-contrast flat colour.
  - _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. Elements pressing into their own shadow on interaction — the offset collapsing to zero. Native to the shadow logic, and not generic easing.
  - _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 · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. The offset shadow is solid and unblurred — a displaced shape behind the element, never a soft elevation. It quotes depth rather than simulating it.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Documented · Source attached · Evidence: Documented · Source attached]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Components carry thick, solid, dark outlines with square corners.
  - _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 blurred shadow.
  - _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 soft or muted palette.
  - _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 thin or varied outline weight.
  - _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 subtlety.
  - _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 stripped-back plainness.
  - _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 Web Brutalism: styled versus stripped. Same word, opposite method. Against Memphis: exaggerated interface furniture versus unrelated arbitrary shapes. Anti-signature: add blur to the shadow and it becomes ordinary elevation. Remove the styling and it becomes Web Brutalism. Drop the interface furniture and keep the shapes and it drifts to Memphis.
  - _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: blurring the shadow.
  - _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: softening the outline.
  - _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: stripping the styling..
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.

### 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:** Composition: Specified; Typography: Specified; Density: Not specified by the source; Imagery: Not specified by the source. 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: `neo-brutalism` · status `draft` · research `partly_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/neo-brutalism.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/neo-brutalism.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._