Directions explored
Turn 1 of the design package rendered the same live Board twice — identical data, two identities — and asked for a pick. This page records both so the choice stays legible (ADR-0016 § Considered Options).
1a · Operator — brass & bakelite (chosen)
Warm, tactile, switchboard-era. Parchment canvas #EFE6D2, cream panels, brass accents, oxblood
primaries, Zilla Slab + IBM Plex. Trust reads as deep naturalistic tints (green/amber/red/blue on
cream). The full five-view build-out, the design language, and the
component inventory all descend from this direction.
Why it won:
- It is the product story — the operator metaphor (ADR-0000)
made visible; the palette had already seeded
static/tokens.cssand the docs site. - Warmth differentiates: infrastructure dashboards default to dark-console; a verified, human-owned queue reads better as a calm, lit room.
- The light surface holds AA contrast comfortably for the dense mono metadata the UI leans on.
1b · Console — dark dev-tool (not chosen)
Dense, technical, monospace-forward. Near-black surfaces (#0E1116, #12161C, #161A21), borders
#222833/#262C36, Space Grotesk headings, amber accent #E7A94A, glassy translucent badge
fills, 5–8px radii, left-border active nav.
| Role | Value |
|---|---|
| Canvas / bar / panel | #0E1116 / #12161C / #161A21 |
| Text / muted | #EEF1F6 · #DDE2EA / #7C8494 · #5C6470 |
| Accent (brand) | #E7A94A (amber) |
| signed | #5CD79B on rgba(67,192,138,.14) |
| token | #ECB45A on rgba(224,167,59,.14) |
| open | #F0836B on rgba(229,103,78,.15) |
| queue | #6BB0E8 on rgba(76,155,224,.15) |
| live | #43C08A |
Why it lost:
- Generic at a glance — reads as "another dark ops console", surrendering the switchboard identity.
- The translucent badge fills sit close to the surface value; AA contrast needs constant tending.
- Choosing it would have discarded the committed bakelite/brass token layer rather than extending it.
What it contributed anyway: the bakelite dark theme keeps 1b's density lessons (tighter radii,
left-border active states are available to .sb-* dark variants), and 1b's trust hues informed the
dark-theme trust mapping. The direction remains available in the design archive if a
console-density mode is ever wanted.