# Storybook — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Storybook**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 8 of 8 research dimensions.
> 7 sources attached. 1 claim 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:** Painted illustration, decorative initials, scroll as page turn, warm soft palette

**Recognise it by:** Drawn illustration printed in colour carrying the narrative with text subordinate to it, decorative initial letters opening each passage, a warm soft palette, and a structure that reveals itself one opening at a time as the reader advances. The diagnostic condition is paced sequence: the register controls what is visible when, and a version showing everything at once is illustration rather than storytelling. Hand-Drawn, a Module, is a mark-making treatment without the sequence. Surrealism, an Influence, shares dreamlike imagery but has no narrative pacing.

**Family:** Narrative & Thematic
**Era:** 19th-century, contemporary
**Native medium:** print

**Scope:** The visual register of the illustrated children's picture book, drawn chiefly from Golden Age illustration (1875 to 1914): picture-led, paced opening by opening. Painted image, warm palette and initials are Aesthetary's selection.

## What it is arguing

A story is told by revealing it one opening at a time. The picture leads and the words follow, and the pace is set by the turn — so the design's job is to control what the reader can see before they are allowed to see the next thing.

**It refuses:** Refuses simultaneous presentation, and refuses layouts that let a reader take the whole narrative in at once.

## What it is not

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

- Surrealism
- Hand-Drawn
- Mascot-Led — The character takes over layout, empty states, errors and motion

## 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 · disputed · 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/storybook.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: sequence; illustration-led.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Layout
- **typography** — Typography: decorative initials.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Typography
- **hierarchy** — Illustration always outranks text. No negotiation, and unusual for a page.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Hierarchy
- **color** — Colour: warm soft palette.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Color
- **imagery** — Imagery: painted illustration.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Imagery
- **motion** — Motion: scroll-driven narrative.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Motion

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

- **register** — The reference period is the Golden Age of Illustration, roughly the 1880s to the 1920s — Rackham, Crane, Caldecott, Greenaway — whose names now sit on the field's major awards.
  - Kind of claim: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · disputed · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · disputed · Product area: Context (not a design area)

### Our reading

- **density** — Sparse per opening — one image, one passage. Density would defeat pacing.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Density

## 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.

- **Surface** — Evans's toy books for Caldecott were colour wood-engraved from separate blocks: a dark-brown key, a flesh tint, and red, blue, yellow and grey, with as few colours as necessary.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:surface-1` · Covers Evans/Caldecott toy books, 1878-85..
- **Surface** — Caldecott's picture books were printed on yellow paper, which warmed and brightened the colours, and issued in limp covers as disposable ephemera.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:surface-2` · Covers Caldecott's Picture Books only..
- **Surface** — Rackham's colour work used watercolour reproduced by the three-colour process through letterpress; limited editions were often vellum-bound.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:surface-3` · Covers Rackham gift books, c.1900-1914..
- **Surface** — Paper finish is treated in picturebook criticism as a meaning-bearing choice: glossy stock distances, matte stock invites touch.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:surface-4` · Covers Modern picturebook criticism; examples post-1980..
- **Form** — The toy book format put one story in one book, with colour illustrations printed on pages left blank on the back.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-1` · Covers Victorian toy books, peak 1860s..
- **Form** — The unit of viewing is the opening, two facing pages, and the book is conceived as one sequence running from cover through endpapers to pictures.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-2` · Covers Picturebook criticism (Sipe after Marantz and Bader); general to the format rather than specific to 1875-1914..
- **Form** — Page turns are planned narrative devices, not arbitrary breaks.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-3` · Covers As above..
- **Form** — Binding determines whether a picture spanning the double-page spread survives the gutter.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-4`
- **Form** — Toy books, introduced in the later nineteenth century, were small paper-bound books with art dominating the text.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-5`

## 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
- **Motion** — Specified
- **Motif** — Specified
- **Technique** — Specified
- **Form** — Specified
- **Interface** — 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 Storybook: the opening as the unit, one picture and one passage to each, the picture leading, the turn planned, a warm soft palette and a decorative initial opening each passage.

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/storybook.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| leaf | `#F6ECDC` | — | The page ground. | Web translation |
| ink | `#443228` | 10.4:1 | Passages and the initial. | Web translation |
| ink-2 | `#6B5138` | 6.3:1 | Folios, captions, secondary text. | Web translation |
| sienna | `#8C4A26` | 5.8:1 | Headings, links, the turn. | Web translation |
| wash | `#EDD6A8` | 8.5:1 (ink) | The ground inside the initial. | Web translation |
| dusk | `#5C4434` | — | A darker leaf for the refusal; cream #FBF4E7 text on it at 8.2:1. | Web translation |

Other accents the record supports:

- Yellow paper (recorded as "yellow paper, Caldecott's picture books"): `#EFD9A0`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:color-5` → Keep the palette warm and soft.
- **Web translation** — Use these six values: the room's own leaf, inks, sienna, wash and dusk. _Why:_ The record names the palette's character, not its values; these are the room's. (`token_rule:color-5`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not set a period palette as a norm. _Instead:_ Evans printed Caldecott's toy books from a dark-brown key, a flesh tint, red, blue, yellow and grey, as few as necessary, on yellow paper. That is one printer's set; do not present it as the palette of the language.

### Typography

Family: a book serif with a true italic (the room's Brygada), opened by a decorative initial. Stack: `"Brygada X", "Iowan Old Style", "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, Georgia, serif`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Setting | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| title | clamp(2.4rem, 4.2vw, 3.5rem) | 400 | 1.05 | not specified | not specified | — | — | The book's title, once. |
| initial | 3.6rem | 700 | 0.9 | not specified | not specified | — | — | The decorative initial, dropped into its framed wash. |
| passage | 1.16rem | 400 | 1.7 | not specified | not specified | 38ch | — | One passage to an opening. |
| heading | 1.1rem | 400 | 1.35 | not specified | not specified | — | italic | Part headings, in sienna. |

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:typography-4` → Open each passage with a decorative initial.
- **Web translation** — Set passages in a book serif at a short measure, about 38 characters. _Why:_ Text is subordinate to the picture and there is one passage to an opening; a short column keeps it beside the image. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`, `token_rule:density-6`)
- **Web translation** — Draw the initial as type in a framed wash, never as an image of a letter. _Why:_ The initial is the record's selection; as live text it reads with its word. (`token_rule:typography-4`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify a period typeface. _Instead:_ Choose a readable book serif; do not claim a Caldecott or Crane face.

### Grid and layout

Not a column grid: a sequence of openings, each two facing pages, the picture on the wider left page and the passage on the right. On a narrow screen the picture comes first and the passage follows it.

Tokens: opening `1.15fr 1fr` · measure `38ch` · opening-max `74rem`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:layout-3` → Compose in sequence, illustration-led.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:form-2` → Treat the opening, two facing pages, as the unit of viewing.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:density-6` → Keep each opening sparse: one image, one passage.
- **Web translation** — Split each opening 1.15 to 1, picture to passage. _Why:_ The picture always outranks the text, so it takes the wider page. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)
- **Web translation** — Keep essential content out of the gutter. _Why:_ Binding decides whether a picture across the spread survives the gutter; on screen, the split between the two columns is that gutter. (`claim:kcc:form-4`)

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `4px 10px 10px 4px` · rule `1px solid #C9AE82` · initial-frame `1px solid #B98354`

- **Web translation** — Round the leaf a little more at the fore-edge than at the spine. _Why:_ The unit is two facing pages bound at one edge; the corners say which edge is bound. (`claim:kcc:form-2`)
- **Web translation** — Frame the initial with a hairline and four corner dots; nothing else is ornamented. _Why:_ The initial is the one ornament the record selects. (`token_rule:typography-4`)

### Imagery

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Let illustration outrank text, always.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:revision-surface-8` → Use illustration: drawn artwork reproduced in colour, whether by colour wood engraving or three-colour printing of watercolour.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-4` → Do not use photographs.
- **Not specified by the source** — No one medium or finish is required. _Instead:_ The category admits a range of media; do not fake a watercolour wash or a painted texture to look period.

### Pacing

The design controls what the reader can see before they may see the next thing. Paced sequence is the diagnostic.

Tokens: per-opening `one image, one passage`

- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:intent-negation` → Refuse simultaneous presentation: never let the reader take the whole narrative in at once.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:dcc:gestalt` → Reveal the structure one opening at a time as the reader advances.

### 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

The turn: a plain line of italic serif with an arrow, set at the foot of the passage like the word that carries you over the page.

- Anatomy: italic serif label in sienna; arrow after the label; hairline rule beneath
- Tokens: color `#8C4A26` · rule `1px solid #B98354` · background `transparent` · radius `0`
- State, default: Sienna italic on the leaf, hairline beneath.
- State, hover: The rule thickens to 2px in ink; the arrow moves one space on.
- State, focus: 3px sienna outline, 2px outside.
- State, active: Ink colour.
- State, disabled: The ink-2 tone, no rule, no arrow.
- Accessibility: Label at 5.8:1 on the leaf.
- Accessibility: At least 44px tall including padding.
- Accessibility: The arrow is decoration; the label says where it goes.
- **Web translation** — Make the main action the page turn, not a filled box. _Why:_ The turn is a planned narrative device and the design's job is to control what comes next; the action is the turn. (`claim:kcc:form-3`, `intent`)
- **Web translation** — Set the label as text in the passage's face, subordinate to the picture. _Why:_ Illustration always outranks text; a heavy filled button would outrank it. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

#### Card

An opening: the picture on the left page, one short passage on the right, a gutter between.

- Anatomy: picture on the verso, the wider page; passage on the recto, opened by a decorative initial; gutter shadow between the pages
- Tokens: ground `#F6ECDC` · gutter `linear-gradient(90deg, transparent, rgba(68,50,40,.14), transparent)` · split `1.15fr 1fr` · radius `4px 10px 10px 4px`
- State, default: Leaf ground, picture left, passage right.
- State, hover: The recto lifts 2px, as the page does before it is turned.
- State, focus: 3px sienna outline outside the leaf.
- Accessibility: The picture has a text alternative that tells its part of the story.
- Accessibility: The whole opening is one link; the passage is its accessible name.
- **Web translation** — Treat two facing pages as the unit of viewing. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`claim:kcc:form-2`)
- **Web translation** — Let the picture lead and the text follow, one image and one passage per opening. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`token_rule:density-6`)
- **Web translation** — Give the picture the wider page. _Why:_ Illustration always outranks text; width is how a screen ranks. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

#### Input

A ruled line on the leaf, the label above it in italic, the way a book leaves a line for a name.

- Anatomy: italic label above; single ink rule beneath the field; leaf ground
- Tokens: border `0 0 1px solid #443228` · background `#FBF4E7` · radius `0` · height `2.75rem`
- State, default: 1px ink rule beneath.
- State, focus: 2px sienna rule and a 3px outline.
- State, error: Message in sienna italic below, beginning "Error:".
- State, disabled: Dotted rule in ink-2.
- Accessibility: The label is real text above the field.
- Accessibility: Error text is words, not colour alone.
- **Web translation** — Rule the field as a single line on the page, not a box. _Why:_ The page is the ground of a printed book; a line to write on keeps it a page. (`token_rule:color-5`, `claim:kcc:form-2`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Forms are not part of the picture book. _Instead:_ Keep the field plain; do not dress it as a period bookplate or label.

#### Navigation

A folio line: the openings numbered in order, the current one marked, read front to back.

- Anatomy: numbered openings in sequence; current opening in ink with a rule beneath; previous and next as turns
- Tokens: color `#6B5138` · current `#443228` · rule `2px solid #8C4A26`
- State, default: Ink-2 numerals.
- State, hover: Underline.
- State, focus: 3px sienna outline.
- State, current: Ink numeral with a 2px sienna rule beneath.
- Accessibility: aria-current on the current opening.
- Accessibility: Numerals at 6.3:1 on the leaf.
- Accessibility: Previous and next are labelled links, not arrows alone.
- **Web translation** — Navigate in sequence: previous, the current opening, next. _Why:_ The book is one sequence from cover through endpapers to pictures, and the design refuses showing the whole at once. (`claim:kcc:form-2`, `claim:intent-negation`)

### Motion

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

- Durations: turn 600ms, settle 400ms
- Easing: turn `cubic-bezier(.2,.7,.2,1)`
- Transforms: translate and opacity only: the incoming opening slides over the outgoing one.
- Entrance: Each opening arrives as a page: it covers the last as the reader scrolls on.
- Hover: The recto lifts 2px.
- Reduced motion: A plain sequence of openings; nothing slides, nothing is gated.
- **Web translation** — Let scroll drive the narrative. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`token_rule:motion-14`)
- **Web translation** — Plan each turn as a narrative device, never an arbitrary break. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`claim:kcc:form-3`)
- **Web translation** — Make the scroll a page turn: the next opening covers the last. _Why:_ Scroll-driven narrative, with the turn as the planned device; covering is what a turned page does. (`token_rule:motion-14`, `claim:kcc:form-3`)

### Deliberately not added

- **Palette values** (color): The record says "warm soft palette" and holds no values; one printer's colour blocks are documented, not a norm.
- **A period typeface** (typography): Only the decorative initial is selected.
- **A required medium** (imagery): Drawn artwork was reproduced in colour by more than one method; painting describes only watercolour originals.
- **Interface conventions** (components): The research record does not establish them. The four components are contemporary translations of documented rules.
- **A paper surface** (surface): Surface changes with the printing method and is left open by the evidence.

## 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 · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Hierarchy | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Colour | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Density | Specified · Our reading | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Imagery | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Form/motif/surface/technique | Specified: form, motif, technique · Left open: surface | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |

## Not researched yet

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

## Grade your own work

20 checks: 7 mechanically testable, 11 needing a person to look, 0 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 2 with no recorded position. 1 context rule is listed apart: known about this Aesthetic, not something to check finished work against. 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: Drawn illustration printed in colour carrying the narrative with text subordinate to it, decorative initial letters opening each passage, a warm soft palette, and a structure that reveals itself one opening at a time as the reader advances. The diagnostic condition is paced sequence: the register controls what is visible when, and a version showing everything at once is illustration rather than storytelling. Hand-Drawn, a Module, is a mark-making treatment without the sequence. Surrealism, an Influence, shares dreamlike imagery but has no narrative pacing.
  - _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: sequence; illustration-led.
  - _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: decorative initials.
  - _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. Illustration always outranks text. No negotiation, and unusual for a page.
  - _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. Colour: warm soft palette.
  - _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. Sparse per opening — one image, one passage. Density would defeat pacing.
  - _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: painted 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. Motion: scroll-driven narrative.
  - _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 simultaneous presentation.
  - _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 text-led hierarchy.
  - _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 dense openings.
  - _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 photographic imagery.
  - _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 cool or saturated 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.
- **[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 Hand-Drawn (Module): treatment versus sequenced narrative. Against Surrealism (Influence): dream imagery without pacing. Anti-signature: show everything at once and it becomes illustration. Let text outrank the picture and it becomes an illustrated article.
  - _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: removing the sequence.
  - _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: letting text lead..
  - _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 Surrealism? That language is: Dream logic; wrong register for anything instructional
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Surrealism than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Mascot-Led? That language is: The character takes over layout, empty states, errors and motion
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Mascot-Led 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.

### Context — known about this Aesthetic, not a check

Where the Aesthetic comes from, what it is called, how it sits among its neighbours. Use it to understand the work; do not score finished work against it.

- The reference period is the Golden Age of Illustration, roughly the 1880s to the 1920s — Rackham, Crane, Caldecott, Greenaway — whose names now sit on the field's major awards. _(Graded by our research brief · No source attached · disputed · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · disputed)_

## 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: `storybook` · status `draft` · research `partly_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/storybook.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/storybook.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._