/editorial-illustrations

name: editorial-illustrations
description: >
  Generate meaning-carrying editorial data-illustrations in the monotykamary /
  Linear aesthetic (near-black grayscale, Inter display + mono labels, hairline
  framed figures) with a single coral accent. This is a GENERATIVE GUIDE, not a
  template gallery: it teaches the "claim -> geometry" method so any session can
  invent the RIGHT figure for what a post actually argues, then render it as a
  self-contained, theme-aware, reduced-motion-safe HTML/SVG figure. Use when
  writing/illustrating a blog post, essay, spec, or slide and you want a chart,
  diagram, or illustration that carries a thesis (not decoration) in the house
  style. Triggers: "make a chart/diagram/illustration for this", "visualize this
  argument", "monotykamary/Linear style figure", "editorial graphic".

Editorial illustrations — claim → geometry

The look you want (monotykamary.com, linear.app/now) is not a chart library. It is a **discipline**: every figure is a single argument rendered as geometry, framed in a hairline box, captioned in mono uppercase with the *meaning*, drawn in grayscale with exactly one accent. Get the discipline right and any shape reads as "house." Copy templates blindly and it reads as slop.

**Do not reach for a fixed set of charts.** Reach for the method below and build the figure this specific sentence needs. The six worked examples in `references/worked-examples.md` are proof the method generalizes, not a menu.

The core move

> Take the one sentence the figure must prove. Find that sentence's *structure*. > Render the structure so the reader believes the sentence before reading it.

The caption is the thesis, written first. If you can't state the figure's claim in one sentence, you don't have a figure yet, you have decoration. Stop.

Method (run this every time)

1. **Write the claim.** One declarative sentence. This becomes the `<figcaption>` verbatim. Example: "Nothing is billable until work crosses the delivery boundary."

2. **Name the claim's structure.** Which of these is the sentence really about? Match to a geometric primitive:

| If the claim is about… | Render it as… | Atom (§5) | |-------------------------------------------|------------------------------|-----------| | a spectrum / more-vs-less / a gradient | ordered cells, rising fill | 5a | | ranked magnitudes / shares / a comparison | horizontal bars, real axis | 5b | | a sequence with a tipping point | stage grid + traveling dot | 5a + rail | | mutual causation / a feedback relationship| two coupled orbits + bridge | 5d | | a branch / decision under uncertainty | node-and-branch SVG tree | 5c | | one thing changing form / a data pipeline | stage rail, a glyph per stage| 5e | | accumulation toward a target | stacked / filling bar | 5a/5b | | a boundary / inside-vs-outside | a framed region + a crossing | compose | | a distribution / where mass sits | dot-strip or small-multiples | compose |

If nothing matches, **compose a new primitive** from the atoms in `references/design-system.md §5`. The novelty is expected and welcome; the *tokens and restraint* are what must stay constant.

3. **Locate the point.** Which single element proves the claim? That one gets `--accent` (coral). Everything else stays grayscale. One accent, maybe two. No point → the figure has no thesis → go back to step 1.

4. **Draw in the system.** Apply `references/design-system.md`: tokens, the typography law (display = Inter 480–540 tight; everything else mono, tiny, UPPERCASE labels), the framed-figure chrome, 720-wide SVG viewBox, hairlines only, no chartjunk.

5. **Add motion only if it demonstrates the claim.** A dot that pauses before a boundary; a pulse crossing between two loops; a signal falling down a branch. 2–6s, `ease-in-out`, and always killed under `prefers-reduced-motion`. If motion doesn't *show* the argument, omit it. Static is fine and often better.

6. **Caption it.** Mono, 8px, uppercase, above-the-rule. State the meaning, not the data source alone. ("…because X," not "Figure 3.")

The aesthetic in one breath

• **Field:** matches the host — near-black `--ground:#080807` on a dark page, white/

off-white on a light page (both token sets in `design-system.md`). Framed figures on a faint surface; `backdrop-filter: blur(16px)` on dark, a hairline + faint shadow on light.

• **Type:** Inter for the rare big display; **mono for everything inside a figure**,

7–11px, labels/captions UPPERCASE. Never a second sans, never a bold display.

• **Color:** grayscale ramp (`--ink → --quiet`) + **one** accent = Claude-coral

`#D97757`, on the point only. (Set `--accent: var(--ink)` for monotykamary-faithful pure grayscale.)

• **Structure:** 1px hairlines, true-circle nodes, dashed = provisional/failure,

no shadows, no gradients except a single axis-direction hairline.

• **Density:** small type, tight cells, edge-to-edge. Restraint is the style.

Full spec + copy-paste token blocks (dark AND light) + primitive CSS: `references/design-system.md`. Worked examples with the claim→geometry reasoning: `references/worked-examples.md`. Non-chart editorial elements (metric strip, status aside, kicker+sigil, numbered chapter index, prose type, inline cards): `references/elements.md`. Live rendered proof (coral house style, toggleable): `assets/gallery.html`.

The figure follows the host page's theme (ALWAYS)

A figure is a guest on someone's page. It must match that page's light/dark, not impose its own. A dark exhibit panel dropped into a light article reads as a foreign object (learned the hard way, 2026-07-22).

• **Look at the host first.** Light page → light figure. Dark page → dark figure.

a host site may default **light** and carry its own **theme toggle** (e.g. Charter serif heads + Public Sans body