# Rustic — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Rustic**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 4 of 8 research dimensions.
> 8 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:** Unfinished wood and bark, twig and log work, rough cloth, deep rich colours

**Recognise it by:** Unfinished wood and bark, twig and log work and rough cloth as the material vocabulary, in deeper, richer colours, with no rigid straight line or symmetry, and hand-painted signage rather than typeset lettering. The diagnostic condition is material over pattern: the surface is identified by what it is made of, not by what is printed on it. Cottagecore is floral, pastel and delicate. Chalkboard is one surface treatment this register may use, not the register itself.

**Family:** Organic & Material
**Era:** contemporary
**Native medium:** interior

**Scope:** Rustic names several things: NPS park architecture, rustication, and an interior style contrasted with shabby chic. This record covers that interior register: unfinished wood, rough cloth, deeper colours; signage is Aesthetary's reading.

## What it is arguing

Materials that have been used should look it. Unpeeled wood, bark, twigs and rough cloth signal that a thing was made by hand from what was at hand, to be handled rather than admired, and hand-painted signage says a person made it rather than a system.

**It refuses:** Refuses pattern printed onto the ground, rigid straight lines and symmetry, and finishes that hide the material.

## What it is not

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

- Chalkboard
- Cottagecore
- Market — Produce at full-bleed scale with nowhere to hide

## 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 · 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/rustic.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._

- **typography** — Hand-painted signage is claimed: drawn with a brush, not set.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Typography
- **form / motif / surface / technique** — The sole cross library entry and the whole discriminator against the parent.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: not mapped

### Our reading

- **hierarchy** — Rank by material weight — heavier, rougher surfaces read as more structural.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Hierarchy
- **material** — Material over pattern: the surface is identified by what it is made of, not by what is printed on it.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Surface
- **color** — Colour: deeper, richer colours.
  - 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.

- **Layout** — Rustic is described (Gilborn) as abhorring 'the straight line and symmetry'; NPS rustic rejected the regularity and symmetry of the industrial world.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:layout-1` · Covers Gilborn (former Adirondack Museum director) as quoted by NYS Library; NPS architecture.
- **Imagery** — Documented rustic interiors display the trophies and gear of woods life: animal pelts, taxidermy, snowshoes.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:imagery-1` · Covers photographs of Adirondack camps (Stoddard, 1873–1917) as described by the NYS Library.
- **Imagery** — Victorian Great Camps showed a partiality to wicker and a strong appetite for all things Asian, so imagery was not confined to local nature.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:imagery-2` · Covers Victorian-era Great Camps.
- **Interface** — The documented subjects are furniture, interiors and park buildings; no opened source addresses screen elevation, radius, borders or controls. The refusal of straight lines is recorded under form and layout, not converted into an interface rule.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:interface-1`
- **Motif** — The recurring ornament is made from the material itself: twig mosaics, applied bark, and stick-against-bark geometric figures such as stars and diamonds.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motif-1` · Covers Adirondack rustic.
- **Motif** — An earlier European strand of rustic furniture, inspired by Chinese garden aesthetics, echoed the organic forms of trees, vines and leaves.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motif-2` · Covers late 1700s Europe; exhibition announcement.
- **Technique** — Rustic furniture is made by hand from materials at hand, often unpeeled or salvaged wood, with bark, split twigs and burls applied as embellishment.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-1` · Covers Adirondack Experience collection.
- **Technique** — Rustic architecture depends on intensive hand labour and the appearance of pioneer craft with limited hand tools.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-2` · Covers NPS rustic, 1916–1942.
- **Technique** — Roughness can be manufactured: rusticated masonry is carefully worked to look coarse, and rustic work is described as 'cunning' play.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-3` · Covers rustication is Renaissance masonry, a neighbour sense of the word.
- **Form** — Some rustic furniture retains an obvious connection to the tree: makers use sticks, unpeeled wood, bark, split twigs and burls.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-1` · Covers Adirondack rustic furniture.
- **Form** — Adirondack great lodges used notched-log construction or half-log sheathing; documented camp interiors show crossed logs and log beams in ceilings, stick railings and stone fireplaces.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-2` · Covers Adirondack Great Camps and lodges.
- **Form** — Rigid straight lines and symmetry are avoided in both the furniture tradition and NPS rustic architecture.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-3`
- **Form** — Durant's later camps used chunkier, peeled poles, a look folded into the expanding regional stylebook.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-4` · Covers Durant's later camps (Uncas, Sagamore).

## 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** — Specified
- **Motif** — Specified
- **Technique** — Specified
- **Form** — Specified
- **Motion** — 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 Rustic: surfaces drawn as the materials they are (unfinished wood, bark, paper, rough cloth) in deeper, richer colours, ranked by material weight, hung slightly off level, with headings painted by hand and any ornament made of the material itself.

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/rustic.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| wall | `#6B4F37` | — | The plank wall the page hangs on. | Web translation |
| board | `#412A1B` | 10.96:1 (paint on it) | Primary sections, buttons. | Web translation |
| bark | `#2A2019` | 12.77:1 (paint on it) | The durable declarations; the heaviest surface. | Web translation |
| paint | `#EFE8DA` | — | Lettering painted on wood and bark. | Web translation |
| paper | `#EAE3D1` | — | Asides and entry fields. | Web translation |
| ink | `#33302A` | 10.27:1 (on paper) | Text on paper and cloth. | Web translation |
| cloth | `#CFBE9E` | 7.21:1 (ink on it) | The small print at the foot of the page. | Web translation |

- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:dcc:color-5` → Use deeper, richer colours.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-2` → No pastel.
- **Web translation** — Take every colour from a material: wood browns, bark, undyed cloth, and a light paint for lettering. _Why:_ The surface is identified by what it is made of; a colour with no material behind it is pattern. (`token_rule:ru-r1`, `claim:kcc:definition`)

### Typography

Family: brush-lettered display (Rock Salt), with Zilla Slab for reading. Stack: `"Rock Salt RU", "Bradley Hand", "Segoe Print", cursive`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| display | 4.4rem | 400 | 1.35 | not specified | not specified | 14ch | The painted sign: one per page. |
| heading | 1.9rem | 400 | 1.4 | not specified | not specified | — | Section headings, painted. |
| body | 1.05rem | 400 | 1.7 | not specified | not specified | 62ch | Running text, in Zilla Slab. |
| label | 0.78rem | 400 | 1.6 | not specified | not specified | — | Small print and kinds of claim. |

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:typography-4` → Letter signs with a brush, not set.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-3` → No typeset signage.
- **Web translation** — Rock Salt for painted headings only; every sentence is upright Zilla Slab. _Why:_ A brush face stands in for the painted sign at heading size; a sturdy slab keeps reading plain. Both faces are our choice, and a font is not painting. (`token_rule:typography-4`, `claim:kcc:definition`)

### Grid and layout

No column grid: boards hung on a plank wall, ranked by material weight, each a little off level and off the centre line.

Tokens: board-gap `clamp(2.5rem, 6vw, 4rem)` · plank `149px`

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:layout-1` → Avoid the straight line and symmetry.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Rank by material weight: heavier, rougher surfaces read as more structural.
- **Web translation** — Alternate boards left and right of the column and tilt them by under a degree; never centre a composition on an axis. _Why:_ The documented refusal of straight lines and symmetry, applied in the gentlest form a reading page can take. (`claim:kcc:layout-1`, `claim:kcc:form-3`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify a column system or a density. _Instead:_ Space boards as the content needs and say so; do not present a density as the record's.

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `3px 9px 4px 11px / 11px 4px 9px 3px` · border `3px solid rgba(26, 20, 14, 0.55)` · tilt `-0.6deg` · shadow `0 8px 18px rgba(20, 15, 10, 0.35)`

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:form-3` → Rigid straight lines and symmetry are avoided.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-4` → No smooth or polished finish.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:motif-1` → Ornament is made from the material itself: twig mosaic, applied bark, stick-on-bark stars and diamonds.
- **Web translation** — Give every edge a small irregularity: uneven corners, drawn grain, a nail where a nail is needed. _Why:_ A perfect rectangle is the straight line the register avoids; the irregularity stays small so controls still read as controls. (`claim:kcc:form-3`, `claim:failure-4`)

### Imagery

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:imagery-1` → Documented camp interiors show the trophies and gear of woods life: pelts, taxidermy, snowshoes.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:imagery-2` → Imagery was not confined to local nature: Victorian camps had wicker and Asian objects.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-1` → No floral or gingham pattern.
- **Web translation** — Draw materials as materials; show period interiors only as licensed photographs, never as illustration. _Why:_ Material over pattern: a drawn stand-in for a photographed room becomes a printed picture on the surface. (`token_rule:ru-r1`, `claim:freedom-imagery`)

### Material weight

The one ranking this register has: what a surface is made of says how much it carries.

- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:ru-r1` → The surface is identified by what it is made of, not by what is printed on it.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:technique-1` → Made by hand from materials at hand, with bark, split twigs and burls applied as embellishment.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:technique-3` → Roughness can be manufactured: rustic work is described as cunning play.

### 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 short board with its label painted on, fixed by a nail at each end.

- Anatomy: heavy board with drawn grain; painted label in the brush face; a nail head at each end; uneven corners
- Tokens: fill `#412A1B` · label `#EFE8DA` · border `3px solid rgba(26, 20, 14, 0.55)` · radius `3px 9px 4px 11px / 11px 4px 9px 3px` · shadow `0 4px 8px rgba(20, 15, 10, 0.35)` · transition `none`
- State, default: Dark board, light painted label.
- State, hover: The board turns a shade lighter, as if turned to the light. No fade.
- State, focus: 3px outline in the paint colour, 3px outside the edge.
- State, active: The board sits 1px lower; its shadow shortens.
- State, disabled: The label is struck through; the board stays the same weight.
- Accessibility: Light paint on the heavy board is 10.96:1.
- Accessibility: At least 44px tall.
- Accessibility: Disabled is written by a strike-through, not by fading.
- **Web translation** — Make the button a board, not a pill: drawn grain, uneven corners, no gloss. _Why:_ The surface is identified by what it is made of, and a smooth or polished finish is ruled out. (`token_rule:ru-r1`, `claim:failure-4`)
- **Web translation** — Paint the label in the brush face. _Why:_ Hand-painted signage is the record's typography; a control label is the nearest thing a screen has to a sign. (`token_rule:typography-4`, `claim:failure-3`)

#### Card

A board nailed to the wall, set a degree off level; asides are paper pinned to it.

- Anatomy: board with drawn grain; four nail heads; painted heading; slab-serif body
- Tokens: border `3px solid rgba(26, 20, 14, 0.55)` · radius `3px 9px 4px 11px / 11px 4px 9px 3px` · padding `1.5rem` · tilt `-0.6deg` · shadow `0 8px 18px rgba(20, 15, 10, 0.35)`
- State, default: Board on the wall, slightly off level.
- State, hover: The board straightens by half a degree.
- State, focus: 3px outline in the paint colour.
- Accessibility: Body text sits on the board in light paint or on paper in ink, never on the grain streaks at small size.
- Accessibility: The tilt is removed under 48rem so lines stay level for reading.
- **Web translation** — Rank cards by material: the heaviest, darkest board carries the most important content, paper carries asides. _Why:_ Heavier, rougher surfaces read as more structural. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`, `token_rule:ru-r1`)
- **Web translation** — Hang each card a degree off level; never centre a row of them on a symmetric axis. _Why:_ Rigid straight lines and symmetry are avoided in the furniture and the architecture. (`claim:kcc:form-3`, `claim:kcc:layout-1`)

#### Input

A slip of paper pinned to the board, its label painted above.

- Anatomy: paper field with tooth; ink text; label in slab serif above; a pin at the top
- Tokens: background `#EAE3D1` · text `#33302A` · border `2px solid #33302A` · radius `2px`
- State, default: Paper with a thin ink edge.
- State, focus: The edge thickens to 3px and an outline sits outside it.
- State, error: A written message beneath, beginning "Error:", on paper.
- State, disabled: Label struck through.
- Accessibility: Ink on paper is 10.27:1.
- Accessibility: A visible label on every field.
- Accessibility: Errors are written, not only coloured.
- **Web translation** — Draw the field as paper, the room's writing surface, with a thin ink edge. _Why:_ Paper is the second working surface on the record; entry is writing. (`token_rule:ru-r1`, `token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

#### Navigation

A row of small signs hung from nails, each painted by hand.

- Anatomy: small boards, each a link; painted labels; nails at the top corners; uneven spacing and tilt
- Tokens: gap `0.9rem` · tilt `±1deg` · marker `current sign is paper with ink paint`
- State, default: Dark boards, light paint, underlined.
- State, hover: Underline thickens.
- State, focus: 3px outline in the paint colour.
- State, current: The sign is paper with ink paint; no link.
- Accessibility: aria-current on the current page.
- Accessibility: Tilt is decoration; the order of links reads left to right.
- **Web translation** — Hang each link as its own painted sign; mark the current page by changing the material, not by a colour tint. _Why:_ The surface carries the meaning (material over pattern), and the ranking is by material. (`token_rule:ru-r1`, `token_rule:hierarchy-13`, `token_rule:typography-4`)

### Motion

- **Web translation** — Material does not animate. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`claim:motion-reason`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify motion. _Instead:_ State changes are instant; nothing enters, drifts or reveals on scroll.

### Deliberately not added

- **Interface conventions** (components): No opened source addresses screen elevation, radius, borders or controls; the four components are translations of documented rules.
- **Density and a column system** (gridLayout): Density is not specified by the source.
- **Any motion** (motion): The record says material does not animate, and no source specifies motion.

## 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 · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | 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 | Specified | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Form/motif/surface/technique | Specified | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Not specified by the source | — | no |

Unresearched: Composition, Imagery. 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:

- Interface

**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

19 checks: 8 mechanically testable, 9 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, Density, Imagery, 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: Unfinished wood and bark, twig and log work and rough cloth as the material vocabulary, in deeper, richer colours, with no rigid straight line or symmetry, and hand-painted signage rather than typeset lettering. The diagnostic condition is material over pattern: the surface is identified by what it is made of, not by what is printed on it. Cottagecore is floral, pastel and delicate. Chalkboard is one surface treatment this register may use, not the register itself.
  - _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. Hand-painted signage is claimed: drawn with a brush, not set.
  - _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 material weight — heavier, rougher surfaces read as more structural.
  - _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. The sole cross library entry and the whole discriminator against the parent.
  - _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. Material over pattern: the surface is identified by what it is made of, not by what is printed on it.
  - _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 floral or gingham pattern.
  - _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 pastel.
  - _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 typeset signage.
  - _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 smooth or polished finish.
  - _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 delicacy that is not made of the material: intricacy comes as twig mosaic and applied bark.
  - _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 Cottagecore (parent): material versus pattern; deep, rich colour versus pastel. Against Chalkboard (Module): a treatment this register may use, not a peer language. Anti-signature: florals, gingham or pastel and it becomes Cottagecore.
  - _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: pattern-as-ground.
  - _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: pastel palette.
  - _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: typeset lettering..
  - _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 Chalkboard? That language is: Dark ground with white hand lettering; sign-painting tradition
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Chalkboard than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Cottagecore? That language is: Romanticised rural life; decorative where Rustic is sturdy
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Cottagecore than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Market? That language is: Produce at full-bleed scale with nowhere to hide
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Market 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:** Composition: Specified; Density: Not specified by the source; Imagery: Specified; Motion: 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: `rustic` · status `needs_review` · research `not_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/rustic.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/rustic.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._