Start here
Brand Principles
Governs the reasoning every other foundation answers to, so that a rule can be traced to a principle and a principle can be traced to what it costs to break.
Foundations
The decisions that only get made once
A foundation is a decision the rest of the system is not allowed to argue with. Type, colour, the grid, the identity, and the accessibility gate all of them have to clear. Get these right and everything downstream gets quicker. Get them wrong and every new page becomes a negotiation.
The written chapters
Typography
Governs the two type families, the scales, weights, tracking, measure and optical alignment that every Fernando Kylas surface sets type by, on screen, on a social canvas and in print.
Colour Language
Governs the colour language every Fernando Kylas product inherits: the palette, the three reading tiers, the two grounds, the state, interaction and data roles, and the contrast every one of them must meet.
Grid, Layout & Rhythm
Governs how content is placed on every Fernando Kylas surface: the page edge, bands, pauses, columns, breakpoints and the spatial scale that every product, chapter and non-screen canvas inherits.
Identity System
Governs the architecture, construction, colour behaviour, misuse boundaries and application rules of every logo file the system issues, and the clear space and minimum sizes every consumer of those files must honour.
Imagery and Art Direction
Governs every image every Fernando Kylas product may use: the three classes and the one forbidden class, what each may claim, how each is delivered, what each may weigh, and the alternative text it carries.
Accessibility
Governs the accessibility targets every other foundation must meet, and the gate nothing enters foundations/ or patterns/ without passing.
How they relate
Several chapters, one argument
Every chapter stands on its own, so you can start anywhere. If you would rather read them in the order they were meant to be read, this is it.
- Brand Principles Why the system decides as it does Leans on Nothing. It is extracted from the four that follow 17 min · Approved
- Typography The element that carries the identity Leans on Principles 20 min · Approved
- Colour Language The element that supports it, and carries the least Leans on Principles · Typography 25 min · Approved
- Grid, Layout & Rhythm Where content sits, and what the distances mean Leans on Principles · Typography 42 min · Approved
- Identity System The mark, the wordmark and the lockups Leans on Typography · Colour 24 min · Approved
- Imagery and Art Direction Leans on 22 min · Approved
- Accessibility The gate every chapter above must clear Leans on Colour · Typography 7 min · Approved
Also here
Two signposts, not chapters
Spacing and layout are governed today by the grid chapter, which owns the distances and the composition together. Rather than duplicate that into two thin chapters, each has a page saying where the rules actually live and what would have to be decided before it became a chapter of its own.
Every foundation is written.
Would you rather see it than read it?
Three of these chapters are also published as illustrated chapters, which demonstrate the rules with live specimens instead of describing them. They are the better place to start if you want to judge the work rather than the writing.
Technical notes — the system's own state, its derivation gaps, and the canonical sources. For developers, collaborators and anyone checking the work.
Everything below is generated from the chapters on every build. It sits here rather than in the reading flow because it describes the publishing machinery, not the brand.
The state of the system
- Foundations in the system
- 7
- Approved
- 7: Brand Principles, Typography, Colour Language, Grid, Layout & Rhythm, Identity System, Imagery and Art Direction, Accessibility
- Published as a rendered chapter
- 3 of 7
- Chapters with citable open items
- 7 of 7
- Open items, across those chapters
- 34 open, 26 resolved
Every chapter, with its declared metadata
Brand Principles
Approved · 17 min read · 3 open items
Governs the reasoning every other foundation answers to, so that a rule can be traced to a principle and a principle can be traced to what it costs to break.
Typography
Approved · 20 min read · 3 open items · illustrated chapter
Governs the two type families, the scales, weights, tracking, measure and optical alignment that every Fernando Kylas surface sets type by, on screen, on a social canvas and in print.
Colour Language
Approved · 25 min read · 3 open items · illustrated chapter
Governs the colour language every Fernando Kylas product inherits: the palette, the three reading tiers, the two grounds, the state, interaction and data roles, and the contrast every one of them must meet.
Grid, Layout & Rhythm
Approved · 42 min read · 15 open items
Governs how content is placed on every Fernando Kylas surface: the page edge, bands, pauses, columns, breakpoints and the spatial scale that every product, chapter and non-screen canvas inherits.
Identity System
Approved · 24 min read · 2 open items · illustrated chapter
Governs the architecture, construction, colour behaviour, misuse boundaries and application rules of every logo file the system issues, and the clear space and minimum sizes every consumer of those files must honour.
Imagery and Art Direction
Approved · 22 min read · 6 open items
Governs every image every Fernando Kylas product may use: the three classes and the one forbidden class, what each may claim, how each is delivered, what each may weigh, and the alternative text it carries.
Accessibility
Approved · 7 min read · 2 open items
Governs the accessibility targets every other foundation must meet, and the gate nothing enters foundations/ or patterns/ without passing.
What this page could not derive
Where a fact cannot be generated, the missing convention is named rather than typed in by hand. Closing one of these removes a row here automatically.
Every field on this page is derivable. No gaps.
The canonical sources
Each file with its own declared status, read from the file itself. This site publishes these chapters and is authoritative for none of them.
- foundations/brand-principles.md
- Approved
- foundations/typography.md
- Approved
- foundations/colour.md
- Approved
- foundations/grid-layout-rhythm.md
- Approved
- foundations/identity.md
- Approved
- foundations/imagery.md
- Approved
- foundations/accessibility.md
- Approved