# Vaporwave — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Vaporwave**.
> Research: **Graded, not yet sourced** · Build guidance: 2 rules recorded.
> No source attached. 2 claims graded by our research brief.

## 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:** Pastel gradients, classical statuary, retro OS chrome, glitch and VHS artefacts

**Recognise it by:** Pastel gradients, Greco-Roman statuary, the window furniture of a 1990s operating system, and VHS or glitch degradation, assembled as collage without narrative connection. The diagnostic element is the classical statuary: pastel gradients and retro interface chrome are shared with Y2K and with Synthwave, but the Roman bust placed among consumer-electronics imagery is specific to this and marks the ironic distance. Full-width Japanese characters are a frequent marker and carry the concern recorded below.

**Family:** Retro & Period Revival
**Era:** 1990s, y2k

## What it is arguing

Reuses the visual language of late-20th-century corporate optimism — its stock imagery, its interface furniture, its classical borrowings — to display that optimism as empty.

**It refuses:** Refuses both sincere nostalgia and straightforward critique; the ambiguity between celebrating and condemning consumer capitalism is the position.

## What it is not

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

- Synthwave
- Y2K
- Glitch

## 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): Graded by our research brief · No 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/vaporwave.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.

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

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

- **motif** — Greco-Roman statuary placed among consumer-electronics imagery is the specific marker. Pastel gradient and retro interface chrome alone are shared with Y2K and Synthwave and identify nothing.
  - Kind of claim: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Product area: Motif
- **register** — The genre's critical intent is contested and must not be stated as settled: read as accelerationist by Adam Harper (2012) and as punk-lineage anti-capitalist subversion by others. Aesthetary reports the disagreement rather than choosing.
  - Kind of claim: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Product area: Context (not a design area)

## 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.

- **Color** — No overall position recorded
- **Motif** — Specified

## Design grammar — web primitives

A starting grammar for a website in Vaporwave. The record's one design rule is a warning: pastel gradient and retro chrome identify nothing; the marker is classical statuary among consumer electronics. Type, layout system, interface and motion are not researched yet.

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/vaporwave.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| gradient-from | `#F7B7DD` | — | Top of the pastel gradient ground. | Web translation |
| gradient-to | `#9EE6EE` | — | Bottom of the pastel gradient ground. | Web translation |
| ink | `#1E1330` | 10.7:1 | Text on the gradient. | Web translation |
| chrome | `#C0C0C0` | — | Operating-system furniture. | Web translation |
| title-bar | `#000080` | — | Window title bars. | Web translation |

- **Web translation** — Use a pastel gradient as the ground. _Why:_ The recognition signature names pastel gradients among its elements; using one as the page ground is this grammar's choice. (`gestalt`, `module_edge:4B252Z41PTCK45A6W0KH7THF23`)
- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:vw-r1` → A pastel gradient on its own identifies nothing; it is shared with Y2K and Synthwave.
- **Not researched yet** — Exact colours are not researched yet. _Instead:_ The values here are a starting point; keep text on the gradient above 4.5:1.

### Typography

Family: not researched yet. Stack: `Tahoma, Verdana, "MS Sans Serif", sans-serif`

No type roles are recorded. Nothing below sets a size, weight or face.

- **Not researched yet** — Typography is not researched yet. _Instead:_ The system-sans stack here only dresses the operating-system furniture. Do not present it as a Vaporwave face.
- **Not researched yet** — Full-width Japanese characters: the recognition statement calls them a frequent marker and refers to a concern that is not recorded. _Instead:_ Do not use them decoratively until that concern is written down.

### Grid and layout

Collage: elements assembled without narrative connection. A grid is not researched yet.

- **Web translation** — Assemble the page as collage: overlapping fragments with no narrative order. _Why:_ Our translation of the record's recognition signature into this web primitive; the record states it as the look, not as a rule. (`gestalt`)
- **Not researched yet** — A layout system is not researched yet. _Instead:_ Keep reading order sensible in the markup even when the visual collage is not.

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `0` · bevel `2px`

- **Web translation** — Square corners and 2px bevels. _Why:_ The operating-system furniture the recognition statement names was square and bevelled. (`gestalt`)

### Imagery

- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:vw-r1` → Place Greco-Roman statuary among consumer-electronics imagery. This is the specific marker.
- **Web translation** — Degrade imagery the way VHS and glitch did: scanlines, colour bleed, tracking errors. _Why:_ The recognition signature names VHS or glitch degradation; scanlines, colour bleed and tracking errors are this grammar's rendering of it. (`gestalt`)
- **Not researched yet** — Which statues, which devices, and how they are sourced are not researched yet. _Instead:_ Use drawn or licensed imagery; a classical bust is public-domain subject matter but most photographs of one are not.

### The marker

What makes it Vaporwave rather than Y2K or Synthwave: the classical bust among consumer electronics.

- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:vw-r1` → Put a classical bust with consumer electronics in every key composition.
- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:vw-r1` → Pastel gradient and retro chrome without the statuary identify nothing.

### Stance

The genre's critical intent is contested, and the ambiguity is the position.

- **On the record · Graded by our research brief · No source attached** · `token_rule:vw-r2` → Do not state the critique as settled: it is read both as accelerationist and as anti-capitalist subversion.
- **Web translation** — Let copy stay ambiguous; do not caption the irony. _Why:_ The ambiguity between celebrating and condemning consumer culture is the position. (`intent`, `token_rule:vw-r2`)

### 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 late-1990s operating-system button: grey, bevelled light on the top-left and dark on the bottom-right, pressed in when clicked.

- Anatomy: #C0C0C0 face; 2px bevel (white top-left, grey-black bottom-right); system sans label
- Tokens: face `#C0C0C0` · bevel `2px outset` · pressed `2px inset` · radius `0`
- State, default: Raised bevel.
- State, hover: Unchanged, as the operating system had it.
- State, focus: A dotted rectangle inside the label, plus a 2px outline.
- State, active: Bevel inverts: pressed in.
- State, disabled: Label embossed grey.
- Accessibility: The dotted focus rectangle is backed by a real 2px outline.
- Accessibility: Black label on the grey face: 11.5:1.
- **Web translation** — Draw buttons as bevelled operating-system furniture. _Why:_ The window furniture of a 1990s operating system is in the recognition statement. (`gestalt`)
- **Web translation** — Retro chrome alone does not make it Vaporwave; the chrome must sit with the classical marker. _Why:_ Our screen application of the cited record material. The record's native medium is not established as a screen, so a component value is a web translation, never a screen requirement of the language. (`token_rule:vw-r1`)

#### Card

An application window with a title bar, holding one fragment of the collage.

- Anatomy: navy title bar with a title and a close box; bevelled grey frame; content: an image, a bust, or a line of text
- Tokens: titleBar `#000080` · frame `#C0C0C0` · radius `0`
- State, default: Window.
- State, hover: Title bar brightens to the active-window blue.
- State, focus: 2px outline.
- Accessibility: The close box is decoration and hidden from assistive technology.
- Accessibility: The title bar text is the card's heading.
- **Web translation** — Frame each card as an application window. _Why:_ Operating-system window furniture is named in the recognition statement. (`gestalt`)
- **Web translation** — Place windows as collage: overlapping, with no narrative order. _Why:_ The recognition statement describes assembly as collage without narrative connection. (`gestalt`)

#### Input

A sunken operating-system text field: white, inset bevel, square.

- Anatomy: 2px inset bevel; white field; label to the left or above
- Tokens: bevel `2px inset` · radius `0`
- State, default: Inset.
- State, focus: 2px outline.
- State, error: Message in words, beginning "Error:".
- State, disabled: Grey field.
- Accessibility: Visible label.
- Accessibility: Field edge meets 3:1.
- **Web translation** — Sink the field with an inset bevel. _Why:_ Operating-system furniture from the recognition statement. (`gestalt`)

#### Navigation

A taskbar: a grey strip along the bottom with bevelled buttons, the current page pressed in.

- Anatomy: grey strip, bevelled top edge; one button per page; current page shown pressed
- Tokens: bar `#C0C0C0` · position `bottom of the viewport`
- State, default: Raised buttons.
- State, hover: Unchanged.
- State, focus: 2px outline.
- State, current: Pressed in (inset bevel), and aria-current.
- Accessibility: The taskbar is a nav landmark with a label.
- Accessibility: Pressed state is not the only cue: aria-current is set.
- **Web translation** — Present navigation as an operating-system taskbar. _Why:_ Operating-system furniture from the recognition statement. (`gestalt`)

### Motion

- **Not researched yet** — Motion, including animated glitch, is not researched yet. _Instead:_ VHS and glitch appear in the record as degraded images, not as animation. Keep degradation static unless you decide otherwise and say so.

### Deliberately not added

- **Typography, and the concern about full-width Japanese characters** (typography): The recognition statement refers to a concern "recorded below"; none is recorded. A research gap.
- **Exact colours** (color): Pastel gradient is in the record; values are not researched yet.
- **A layout system** (gridLayout): Collage is in the record; a layout system is not researched yet.
- **Interface conventions** (components): The research record does not establish them. The four components are contemporary translations of documented visual rules.
- **Motion, including animated glitch** (motion): Degradation is recorded as a quality of images, not of motion.

## Not researched yet

Nobody has established a position for this language on:

- Layout
- Typography
- Imagery
- Surface
- Interface
- Motion
- Technique
- 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

6 checks: 1 mechanically testable, 4 needing a person to look, 0 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 1 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: Pastel gradients, Greco-Roman statuary, the window furniture of a 1990s operating system, and VHS or glitch degradation, assembled as collage without narrative connection. The diagnostic element is the classical statuary: pastel gradients and retro interface chrome are shared with Y2K and with Synthwave, but the Roman bust placed among consumer-electronics imagery is specific to this and marks the ironic distance. Full-width Japanese characters are a frequent marker and carry the concern recorded below.
  - _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.
  - _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 · Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Greco-Roman statuary placed among consumer-electronics imagery is the specific marker. Pastel gradient and retro interface chrome alone are shared with Y2K and Synthwave and identify nothing.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.

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

- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Synthwave? That language is: The 1980s cover-art set of a music genre: horizon grid, neon and chrome
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Synthwave than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Glitch? That language is: Digital decay applied to photography; near-black rather than toxic
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Glitch than to this Aesthetic.

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

- **[mechanical · recorded accessibility cost · Evidence: No grade recorded]** This Aesthetic accepts "Legibility of the critique" 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.

### 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 genre's critical intent is contested and must not be stated as settled: read as accelerationist by Adam Harper (2012) and as punk-lineage anti-capitalist subversion by others. Aesthetary reports the disagreement rather than choosing. _(Graded by our research brief · No source attached · Evidence: Graded by our research brief · No source attached)_

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