# Seventies Revival — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Seventies Revival**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 5 of 8 research dimensions.
> 7 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:** Burnt orange and avocado, bulbous rounded type, film grain, sun-arch motifs

**Recognise it by:** Burnt orange, avocado, mustard and brown held together with no bright accent anywhere, bulbous rounded display lettering with soft terminals, film grain over flat colour, and sun-arch motifs — concentric bands rising from a horizontal. The diagnostic condition is the absent accent: warmth carried entirely by hue with the contrast range deliberately compressed, so nothing on the surface is bright. Disco shares the era but is high-contrast, glossy and built on metallic sheen. Earthy Modern uses a similar palette for contemporary restraint rather than for period reference.

**Family:** Retro & Period Revival
**Era:** 1970s

**Scope:** A contemporary revival register of the 1970s, as Aesthetary's reading: the attested appliance palette (harvest gold, burnt orange, avocado, brown) with a revived 1922 display serif; grain and sun-arches are ours, unevidenced.

## What it is arguing

Warmth without brightness. A deliberately narrowed earth palette and softened forms recall a decade at second hand, producing comfort and familiarity rather than any claim to authenticity.

**It refuses:** Refuses bright accent colour, high contrast, and the sharpness that would make it read as contemporary.

## What it is not

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

- Mid-Century Modern
- Disco
- Earthy Modern

## 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 · Our reading · disputed · 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/seventies-revival.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** — Typography: display custom, blobby, rounded terminal.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Typography
- **imagery** — Imagery: film grain over flat colour.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Imagery
- **form / motif / surface / technique** — Form / motif / surface / technique: sun-arch, grain.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: not mapped

### Our reading

- **layout** — Horizontal banding with the sun-arch as the organising device. Reasoned from the motif — an arch implies a horizon and a band structure above it.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Layout
- **hierarchy** — Rank by band order and hue warmth, warmest leading. No contrast ramp is available, since contrast is compressed by claim.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Hierarchy

### Our reading · disputed

- **color** — Warm but compressed: brightness is withheld. The room's separator from Mid-Century Modern is that MCM permits brightness and this does not.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · disputed · Evidence: Our reading · disputed · 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.

- **Interface** — Brands have moved towards softer, rounder typefaces and logos; brands generally now also live on social media, digital ads and apps alongside storefronts, websites and print.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:interface-1` · Covers S5's sentence is about rebrands generally, not seventies revival specifically.
- **Technique** — Many unusual versions of Cooper Black, including distorted variants, were made in the phototypesetting period of the 1960s and 1970s, a period of explosion in display faces; phototype let width and orientation be manipulated precisely.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-1` · Covers historical subject, 1960s-70s; not automatically a rule of the revival.
- **Technique** — Souvenir (1914) was redrawn by Benguiat for Photo-Lettering in 1967 and issued by ITC from 1971, with a soft appearance and rounded serifs; Cooper Black dates from 1922.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-2` · Covers historical subject.
- **Technique** — Phototype suppliers offered display lettering on a massive scale; the most prolific supplier's 470-page compendium held 6,500 display typefaces.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-3` · Covers historical subject.
- **Technique** — One contemporary redesign of Cooper Black aimed to align it with modern font technology as a restored, full type family.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-4` · Covers contemporary revival; one type family.
- **Form** — Harvest gold was popular for kitchen and other appliances in the 1970s.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-1` · Covers historical domestic subject.

## 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

## Design grammar — web primitives

A starting grammar for a website in Seventies Revival: warm earth hues with brightness withheld, soft rounded display type of the kind phototype revived, and bands of grained colour under a sun-arch.

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/seventies-revival.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| cream | `#EFE2C4` | — | The lightest ground and the text on dark bands. The palette's ceiling: nothing is brighter. | Web translation |
| brown | `#4A2E1C` | 10.4:1 | The horizon, the ground, text on light bands. | Web translation |
| orange | `#9A4318` | 5.4:1 (cream on it) | The warmest band; leads. | Web translation |
| mustard | `#C99A2E` | 5.3:1 (brown on it) | A band and a line colour. Never text. | Web translation |
| avocado | `#56641F` | 5.6:1 (cream on it) | The coolest band. | Web translation |

Other accents the record supports:

- harvest gold (recorded as "harvest gold, 1970s kitchen appliances"): `#C99A2E`

- **On the record · Our reading · disputed** · `token_rule:sr-r1` → Keep warmth and withhold brightness: no hue on the page is bright.
- **Web translation** — Use no bright accent anywhere, including states and links. _Why:_ One bright accent turns the page to Disco; the record rules it out. (`token_rule:sr-r1`, `claim:failure-1`, `claim:failure-7`)
- **Web translation** — Use a mustard for harvest gold. _Why:_ Harvest gold is documented as a popular 1970s appliance colour; the value is this room's. (`claim:kcc:form-1`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Which earth hues dominate is left open. _Instead:_ The record declares the hues free; keep them warm and compressed.

### Typography

Family: soft rounded display (the record's class); Cooper Black and Souvenir are the documented period faces; this room uses Fraunces Soft with DM Sans. Stack: `"FrauncesSV", "Cooper Black", Georgia, serif`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| display | clamp(52px, 10vw, 132px) | 900 | 0.92 | not specified | -0.02em | — | The name and band headings. |
| heading | clamp(34px, 5vw, 56px) | 900 | 1 | not specified | not specified | — | Band titles. |
| body | 18px | 400 | 1.6 | not specified | not specified | 70ch | Reading text, in DM Sans. |

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:typography-4` → Set display type bulbous and blobby, with rounded terminals.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:technique-2` → The revival draws on phototype-era rounded faces: Cooper Black (1922) and Souvenir (1914, reissued by ITC from 1971).
- **Web translation** — Squeeze or stretch display type only as phototype did: precise changes of width. _Why:_ Phototype let width and orientation be manipulated precisely, and distorted Cooper Black variants are documented. (`claim:kcc:technique-1`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources name no single revival face. _Instead:_ Phototype offered display lettering by the thousand; choose a soft rounded face and say which.

### Grid and layout

Horizontal bands of flat colour stacked under a sun-arch, each band full width, warmest leading.

Tokens: band-pad `clamp(48px, 8vw, 96px)` · measure `900px`

- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:layout-3` → Organise the page in horizontal bands with the sun-arch as the organising device.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Rank bands by order and hue warmth, warmest leading.
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify a column grid. _Instead:_ Keep one centred measure inside each band.

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius-soft `24px` · radius-pill `999px` · arch `concentric half-discs on a horizon`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `claim:surface-8.motif` → Use the sun-arch: concentric bands rising from a horizontal.
- **Web translation** — Round every corner; nothing on the page is sharp. _Why:_ The record rules out sharp terminals and the sharpness that reads as contemporary. (`claim:failure-4`, `token_rule:typography-4`)

### Imagery

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:imagery-7` → Lay film grain over flat colour.
- **Web translation** — Put grain behind text as a background layer, never over it. _Why:_ Grain is the record's surface reading; behind text it can only raise contrast. (`claim:surface-8.surface`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Grain as a revival device is not documented. _Instead:_ It stays our reading; keep it light and never let it carry meaning.

### 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 soft, fully rounded slab of burnt orange with its label in the rounded display face.

- Anatomy: burnt-orange field with grain; label in the display face, sentence case; fully rounded ends
- Tokens: background `#9A4318` · color `#EFE2C4` · radius `999px` · height `48px`
- State, default: Burnt orange, cream label.
- State, hover: The field deepens to brown. Swapped, not faded.
- State, focus: 3px cream-then-brown outline, 3px out.
- State, active: Avocado field.
- State, disabled: Cream field, brown dashed edge.
- Accessibility: Cream on burnt orange at 5.4:1.
- Accessibility: At least 48px tall.
- Accessibility: No state relies on a bright colour.
- **Web translation** — Round the button fully and set its label in the soft display face. _Why:_ The record's display is blobby with rounded terminals, and the revival refuses sharpness. (`token_rule:typography-4`, `claim:failure-4`)
- **Web translation** — Change state by moving to another earth hue, never to a brighter one. _Why:_ No bright accent is allowed anywhere; hover is warmth, not brightness. (`token_rule:sr-r1`, `claim:failure-1`)

#### Card

A band in miniature: a flat, grained field in one earth hue, headed by a small arch.

- Anatomy: small three-band arch glyph; title in the display face; one line of body text; flat grained field
- Tokens: radius `24px` · padding `24px` · grain `behind text only`
- State, default: One earth hue, grained.
- State, hover: The title underlines, 3px, in the band's line colour.
- State, focus: 3px outline outside the card.
- Accessibility: The whole card is one link.
- Accessibility: Grain sits behind text and only ever raises its contrast.
- **Web translation** — Head each card with a small arch and fill it with one flat, grained earth hue. _Why:_ The record reads the page as bands under a sun-arch, with grain over flat colour. (`token_rule:layout-3`, `token_rule:imagery-7`)
- **Web translation** — Order a set of cards warmest first. _Why:_ The record ranks by band order and hue warmth, warmest leading. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

#### Input

A cream well with rounded corners, a brown rule and its label above in the body face.

- Anatomy: cream field; 2px brown rule; 16px radius; label above; error line below
- Tokens: background `#EFE2C4` · border `2px solid #4A2E1C` · radius `16px` · height `48px`
- State, default: Cream well, brown rule.
- State, focus: 3px burnt-orange outline.
- State, error: Message below beginning "Error:", in brown on cream; the rule turns burnt orange.
- State, disabled: Dashed rule.
- Accessibility: Brown on cream at 10.4:1.
- Accessibility: The label is real text above the field.
- Accessibility: Errors are words, not colour alone.
- **Web translation** — Round the field's corners and rule it in brown on cream. _Why:_ Softened forms and compressed contrast carry into the form. (`token_rule:typography-4`, `token_rule:sr-r1`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Period form conventions are not researched yet. _Instead:_ Do not dress the field as a vintage coupon.

#### Navigation

A brown horizon strip: links in cream, the current one sitting under a small rising arch.

- Anatomy: brown band; links in the body face; current page marked by an arch glyph and underline
- Tokens: background `#4A2E1C` · color `#EFE2C4` · current `arch glyph + 3px mustard underline`
- State, default: Cream links on brown.
- State, hover: Underline, 3px, mustard.
- State, focus: 3px cream outline.
- State, current: Arch glyph above the label, underline held.
- Accessibility: aria-current on the current page.
- Accessibility: Cream on brown at 10.4:1; mustard is a line, never text.
- **Web translation** — Set navigation as a horizon band and mark the current page with the arch. _Why:_ The arch is the record's organising device, and an arch implies a horizon. (`token_rule:layout-3`, `claim:surface-8.motif`)

### Motion

- **Not specified by the source** — Motion for the revival is not researched. _Instead:_ The room is still. If a page moves, say that the motion is yours.

### Deliberately not added

- **Exact hues** (color): Which earth hues dominate is a declared freedom; only harvest gold is documented as a period colour.
- **One revival face** (typography): The record gives a class; Cooper Black and Souvenir are documented period faces, not a requirement.
- **Interface conventions** (components): The research record does not establish them. Softer, rounder type in brands generally is documented, not a revival UI.
- **Any motion** (motion): An open question on the record.

## 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 · Our reading | 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 · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Form / motif / surface / technique | Not specified by the source: form · Specified: motif, surface, technique | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Open question | Aesthetary decided | no |

Unresearched: 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:

- Interface
- Motion
- Form

**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

18 checks: 8 mechanically testable, 9 needing a person to look, 0 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 1 with no recorded position. 3 further research dimensions produced no rule (Colour, 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: Burnt orange, avocado, mustard and brown held together with no bright accent anywhere, bulbous rounded display lettering with soft terminals, film grain over flat colour, and sun-arch motifs — concentric bands rising from a horizontal. The diagnostic condition is the absent accent: warmth carried entirely by hue with the contrast range deliberately compressed, so nothing on the surface is bright. Disco shares the era but is high-contrast, glossy and built on metallic sheen. Earthy Modern uses a similar palette for contemporary restraint rather than for period reference.
  - _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. Horizontal banding with the sun-arch as the organising device. Reasoned from the motif — an arch implies a horizon and a band structure above it.
  - _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. Typography: display custom, blobby, rounded terminal.
  - _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 band order and hue warmth, warmest leading. No contrast ramp is available, since contrast is compressed by claim.
  - _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. Imagery: film grain over flat colour.
  - _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: sun-arch, grain.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Our reading · disputed · Evidence: Our reading · disputed]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Warm but compressed: brightness is withheld. The room's separator from Mid-Century Modern is that MCM permits brightness and this does not.
  - _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 bright accent colour.
  - _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 high contrast.
  - _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 gloss or metallic.
  - _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 sharp terminals.
  - _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 clean digital flatness without grain.
  - _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 Disco: compressed warmth versus high-contrast gloss. Same decade, opposite treatment. Against Earthy Modern *(deprecated)*: period reference versus contemporary restraint. Historical. Anti-signature: one bright accent makes it Disco. Remove the grain and sharpen the type and it becomes contemporary earthy minimalism.
  - _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: introducing a bright accent.
  - _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: raising contrast..
  - _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 Mid-Century Modern? That language is: Illustrated and warm where Swiss is photographic and cool
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Mid-Century Modern than to this Aesthetic.

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

- **[mechanical · recorded accessibility cost · Evidence: No grade recorded]** This Aesthetic accepts "Contrast" as a cost. Your reader did not. Does your work carry that cost in the decorative layer only — display, demonstration, atmosphere — while every passage meant to be read holds a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1?
  - _If it fails:_ You have inherited a historical cost that the language never required you to pass on. The Aesthetic survives at AA on reading matter; reproducing the cost is a choice, not fidelity.

**Not covered at all:** Colour: Specified · From our catalogue entry; Density: Not specified by the source; Motion: Open question. 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: `seventies-revival` · status `draft` · research `not_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/seventies-revival.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/seventies-revival.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._