skills/minimax-pdf/design/design.md

# Design System

The aesthetic layer. Read this before touching any script.
This file answers "what should it look like and why."

---

## The one rule

Every design decision must be **rooted in the document's content and purpose**.
Dark teal + cream is not "professional". Serif + beige is not "elegant".
A color chosen because it fits the content will always outperform a color chosen
because it seems safe.

---

## Palette logic

`palette.py` takes a short content description and outputs `tokens.json`.
Here is the reasoning it applies:

### Mood → base palette

| Content signal | Mood | Background | Accent | Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research, science, analysis | Authoritative | `#0F1F2E` deep ink | `#00B4A6` teal | `#F0EDE6` warm white |
| Business, strategy, finance | Confident | `#1C1C2B` near-black | `#E8A020` amber | `#F5F2EC` cream |
| Creative, portfolio, design | Expressive | `#1A0A2E` deep violet | `#FF6B6B` coral | `#FAF5FF` lavender white |
| Education, academic paper | Scholarly | `#FAFAF7` warm white | `#2C4A7C` navy | `#1A1A2E` dark |
| Healthcare, wellness | Calm | `#F5F9F8` pale mint | `#2D8B72` forest | `#1E3830` deep green |
| Resume / personal | Clean | `#FFFFFF` white | pick from content | `#111111` near-black |
| General / unknown | Neutral | `#F8F6F1` warm off-white | `#3D3D3D` dark gray | `#1A1A1A` black |
| Formal publications, annual reports | Magazine | `#F2F0EC` warm linen | `#1C3557` deep navy | `#0D1A2B` near-black |
| Premium/dark reports, tech reviews | Darkroom | `#151C27` deep navy | `#4A6FA5` steel blue | `#F0EDE6` warm white |
| Technical docs, developer reports | Terminal | `#0D1117` near-black | `#39D353` neon green | `#E6EDF3` cool white |
| Portfolios, creative, photography | Poster | `#FFFFFF` white | `#0A0A0A` near-black | `#0A0A0A` near-black |

### Accent selection rules

- **One accent color only.** Using two accents splits visual energy.
- Accent appears on: cover geometric elements, section rules, callout left borders,
  table header background, page header rule. Nowhere else.
- Accent must contrast with the cover background by at least 4.5:1 (WCAG AA).
- Do not default to blue. Blue is the most overused accent in AI-generated documents.

### Color pairing anti-patterns (never use these)

| ❌ Avoid | Why |
|---|---|
| Purple gradient on white | The default AI aesthetic — immediately signals "generated" |
| Navy + gold | Overused corporate cliché |
| All-black background | Prints badly, feels aggressive |
| More than 3 colors in the system | Visual noise |
| Accent on body text | Destroys readability |

---

## Typography system

### Font pairing logic

Two typefaces maximum. Always.

| Role | Criteria | Good choices (system-safe) |
|---|---|---|
| Display (cover title, H1) | Distinctive, strong contrast, high weight | Times New Roman, Georgia (serif) |
| Text (body, captions, UI) | Highly readable at 10–11pt | Helvetica, Arial (sans) |

Cover fonts are loaded live via `@import url(...)` in the cover HTML — Playwright
fetches them at render time, no local caching. Body pages always use system fonts
(Times-Bold / Helvetica) via ReportLab — consistent and offline-safe.

Pairs by mood (cover HTML only — body always uses system fonts):
- Authoritative: `Playfair Display` / `IBM Plex Sans`
- Confident: `Syne` / `Nunito Sans`
- Expressive: `Fraunces` / `Inter`
- Scholarly: `EB Garamond` / `Source Sans 3`
- Clean: `DM Serif Display` / `DM Sans`
- Restrained: `Cormorant Garamond` / `Jost`
- Bold: `Barlow Condensed` / `Barlow`
- Dynamic: `Montserrat` / `Montserrat`
- Classical: `Cormorant` / `Crimson Pro`
- Editorial: `Bebas Neue` / `Libre Franklin`
- Body fallback (always): `Times-Bold` / `Helvetica` (ReportLab system fonts)

### Type scale

All sizes in points. This scale is used by `palette.py` to populate `tokens.json`.

| Token | Size | Leading | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| `display` | 54pt | 1.0 | Cover title |
| `h1` | 22pt | 1.3 | Section headings |
| `h2` | 15pt | 1.4 | Subsection headings |
| `h3` | 11.5pt | 1.5 | Sub-subsection |
| `body` | 10.5pt | 1.6 | Main prose |
| `caption` | 8.5pt | 1.4 | Figure/table captions |
| `meta` | 8pt | 1.3 | Header/footer text |

### Spacing system

Margins and rhythm are what separate "looks designed" from "looks printed".

| Token | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `margin_outer` | 2.8cm | Left/right page margin |
| `margin_top` | 2.8cm | Top page margin |
| `margin_bottom` | 2.5cm | Bottom page margin |
| `section_gap` | 26pt | Space before H1 |
| `para_gap` | 8pt | Space after paragraph |
| `line_gap` | 17pt | Leading for body text |

Never use ReportLab's default margins (too tight). Always set explicitly.

---

## Cover design

The cover is the most important page. It determines whether a reader trusts the document.

### Thirteen cover patterns

`cover.py` selects one based on `tokens.json["cover_pattern"]`.

**1. `fullbleed`** — used for: `report`, `general`
- Deep background fills 100% of page
- Title: large, left-aligned, upper 60% of page
- Accent: thin horizontal rule + top-right corner strip
- Dot-grid background texture (subtle, 8–10% opacity)
- Footer band: author + date metadata
- Fonts: Playfair Display / IBM Plex Sans

**2. `split`** — used for: `proposal`
- Left 42% panel: solid cover color, title + author
- Right 58%: off-white, dot-grid decoration
- Hard vertical dividing line in accent color
- No gradients — pure flat geometry
- Fonts: Syne / Nunito Sans

**3. `typographic`** — used for: `resume`, `academic`
- White/off-white background
- Name or title as oversized display type (60–80pt), left-aligned
- First word in accent color, remainder in dark
- Thin rule below title block
- Fonts: DM Serif Display / DM Sans (resume) · EB Garamond / Source Sans 3 (academic)

**4. `atmospheric`** — used for: `portfolio`
- Near-black background
- Soft radial glow in accent color (upper-right quadrant)
- Title centered-left, 2 lines max
- Short rule in accent below title
- Dot-grid texture at low opacity
- Fonts: Fraunces / Inter

**5. `minimal`** — used for: `minimal`
- Near-white background, 8px left accent bar is the only color
- Title in very large, light-weight display type (300 weight)
- Hairline rule, author + date as single muted line
- Nothing else — the bar does all the visual work
- Fonts: Cormorant Garamond / Jost

**6. `stripe`** — used for: `stripe`
- Page cut into three horizontal bands: accent / dark / light
- Top band: category label; middle: oversized title in white; bottom: metadata
- Hard edges, no gradients, no textures — newspaper / brand poster aesthetic
- Fonts: Barlow Condensed / Barlow

**7. `diagonal`** — used for: `diagonal`
- SVG polygon cuts page diagonally: dark upper-left, light lower-right
- Accent-colored edge line traces the diagonal cut
- Title on dark area, metadata on light area
- Fonts: Montserrat / Montserrat

**8. `frame`** — used for: `frame`
- White/cream background with an inset rectangular border (1.2px, 28px from edges)
- Accent strips inside top + bottom of frame; small accent corner squares
- Title centered in the frame space, centered alignment, classical weight
- Formal, timeless — annual reports, legal documents, academic papers
- Fonts: Cormorant / Crimson Pro

**9. `editorial`** — used for: `editorial`
- Ghost first-letter of title fills upper-right at 5% opacity — visual texture
- 5px accent top bar; full-width uppercase title in condensed weight
- Title all-caps, very large (80px), flush-left
- Footer rule + author/date metadata
- Fonts: Bebas Neue / Libre Franklin

**10. `magazine`** — used for: `magazine`
- Warm cream/linen background; fully centered, vertical stack layout
- Org/company name in small spaced caps + 2px accent rule beneath (top anchor)
- Large bold serif title (52px) centered; short accent rule under title
- Italic subtitle; optional `cover_image` URL renders as centered hero thumbnail
- Optional `abstract` field: justified text block with bold "Abstract:" label
- Author name in accent color (large, bold); date beneath
- Fonts: Playfair Display / EB Garamond

**11. `darkroom`** — used for: `darkroom`
- Same centered stack layout as `magazine` but deep navy background, white text
- Org name + rules in semi-transparent white; accent rules desaturated
- Hero image (if provided) gets `grayscale(20%) brightness(0.9)` filter
- Fonts: Playfair Display / EB Garamond

**12. `terminal`** — used for: `terminal`
- Near-black background; neon green accent; Space Mono monospace throughout
- Grid overlay: faint horizontal + vertical lines at 48px intervals (7% opacity)
- Status label top-left: green dot + `SYSTEM_REPORT // <date>`
- Title inside a bracket frame (border-left + border-top + pseudo-element corner)
- Subtitle prefixed with `>` in accent color
- Abstract text left; author block right; status bar at bottom (UTF-8 / Ln 1)
- Fonts: Space Mono / Space Mono

**13. `poster`** — used for: `poster`
- White background; thick 52px left sidebar in accent (typically near-black)
- Title: 96px, 900-weight, all-caps, condensed — the dominant visual element
- Subtitle in typewriter font below title; thin 2px rule as separator
- Author + meta in Courier Prime monospace beneath rule
- Optional `cover_image` rendered as 260×340 grayscale thumbnail, right-aligned
- Accent square icon block (lower-right) with white horizontal lines
- Fonts: Barlow Condensed / Courier Prime

### Optional token: `cover_image`

Patterns `magazine`, `darkroom`, and `poster` accept an optional `cover_image`
token containing an absolute URL or `file://` path to an image.
The image renders via `<img src="...">` — Playwright fetches it at render time.
If omitted, the image area is simply skipped (layout adjusts gracefully).

### Cover CSS requirements (critical for Playwright rendering)

These three rules must appear in every cover HTML file or the output will have
white borders / incorrect dimensions:

```css
body { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
html, body { width: 794px; height: 1123px; overflow: hidden; }
```

No `@page` rules needed — Playwright handles page size via the `pdf()` call.
Do NOT use CSS `background-image` for textures — use inline SVG or `<canvas>`.
Always use `position: absolute` + `z-index` for layered elements.

### What always kills a cover

- Centered title on white background with a thin horizontal line underneath
- Gradient from one color to another (reads as PowerPoint, not print design)
- Drop shadows on text
- More than one accent color
- Emoji or icon fonts (fail silently on headless Chromium)

---

## Inner page rules

### What "restraint" means in practice

Every design decision should remove something, not add something.
The page is done when there is nothing left to remove.

- Accent color appears on section rules only — not on headings, not on bullets
- No card components (bordered boxes with colored headers)
- No rounded corners on anything except callout boxes (4px max)
- No shadows anywhere
- Tables: header row in accent, alternating row tint, no grid lines except outer box
- Callout boxes: left border in accent (4px), very light tint background, no icon

### Page header / footer

Header: document title (left, 7.5pt, muted) + accent rule (1.5pt, full width below)
Footer: author name (left, 7.5pt, muted) + page number (right, 7.5pt, muted) + light rule above

---

## Quality bar

A PDF passes if a designer would not be embarrassed to hand it to a client.
Concretely:

- Cover has a clear visual identity that is not "generic AI output"
- Body text is readable at arm's length without squinting
- Every page looks like it belongs to the same document
- No element bleeds off the edge or overlaps another
- Page numbers are present and correct
- The accent color appears fewer than 8 times per page on average

---

## Block type reference

All body blocks use the same token system — colors and fonts come from `tokens.json`, never hardcoded.

| Block | Rendering | Design notes |
|---|---|---|
| `h1` | 22pt heading + full-width accent rule below | KeepTogether with rule — heading never orphaned |
| `h2` | 15pt heading, dark text | No rule, no accent — visual hierarchy through size only |
| `h3` | 11.5pt bold, dark text | **No accent color** — accent on body headings violates the one-accent-location rule |
| `body` | 10.5pt justified, 17pt leading | Supports `<b>` `<i>` `<font>` markup |
| `bullet` | Body size with `•` prefix, 14pt indent | Use for unordered lists |
| `numbered` | Body size with `N.` prefix, hanging indent | Counter auto-resets on any non-numbered block — no manual numbering needed |
| `callout` | Accent left-border (4px) + light tint background | Max one callout per section — overuse kills impact |
| `table` | Accent header row, alternating row tint, outer box only | Supports `col_widths` (fractions, e.g. `[0.3, 0.5, 0.2]`) for custom column widths |
| `image` | Scaled to column width, preserving aspect ratio | Use `path` or `src`; always provide a `caption` |
| `figure` | Same as image, but caption auto-prefixed "Figure N:" | Figure counter increments across all `figure`, `chart`, `flowchart` blocks |
| `code` | Courier 8.5pt, accent left-border, light tint background | Supports optional `language` label (rendered above block) |
| `math` | Formula centered, optional right-aligned equation label | LaTeX syntax; matplotlib mathtext renderer |
| `chart` | Bar / line / pie chart rendered via matplotlib | Color palette derived from document accent; figure auto-numbered |
| `flowchart` | Process diagram with labeled arrows | Supports 4 node shapes; back-edges drawn as curved arcs |
| `bibliography` | Numbered reference list with hanging indent | Heading rendered as h2 + accent rule; items as `[N] text` |
| `divider` | Accent-colored 1.2pt rule with padding | Use sparingly — only for major thematic breaks |
| `caption` | 8.5pt muted text, centered | Appears below images/tables via field or explicit block |
| `pagebreak` | Force page break | — |
| `spacer` | Vertical whitespace | `pt` field (default 12) |

### Math formula guidance

**Input syntax:** standard LaTeX math notation — `\frac{}{}`, `\int`, `\sum`, `\alpha`, `^`, `_`, etc.
**Rendering engine:** matplotlib mathtext — pure Python, no LaTeX compiler, no browser required.

| Syntax example | Rendered as |
|---|---|
| `E = mc^2` | Inline expression |
| `\frac{\sqrt{\pi}}{2}` | Fraction |
| `\int_0^\infty e^{-x^2} dx` | Integral |
| `\sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i` | Summation |
| `\alpha + \beta = \gamma` | Greek letters |

**Limitations:** matplotlib mathtext covers most common expressions but not advanced LaTeX environments (`align`, `cases`, `matrix`). Split complex multi-line proofs into multiple `math` blocks.

**Fallback:** if matplotlib is not installed, renders as `expression` in code style. Run `make.sh fix` to install.

**Equation labels:** `"label": "(1)"` — rendered right-aligned beside the formula.

### Chart guidance

**Rendered entirely in Python** — no external chart services, image files, or internet required.

| chart_type | Use case | Required fields |
|---|---|---|
| `bar` | Comparing discrete categories | `labels`, `datasets` |
| `line` | Trends over time or ordered categories | `labels`, `datasets` |
| `pie` | Part-to-whole composition | `labels`, `datasets[0].values` |

- Colors are derived from the document accent for visual consistency — do not set custom colors.
- Multi-series: add multiple objects to `datasets`, each with a `label` and `values` array.
- Figure auto-numbering: set `"figure": true` (default) or `"figure": false` to suppress.

### Flowchart guidance

**Node shapes:**

| shape | Use for |
|---|---|
| `rect` (default) | Process step |
| `diamond` | Decision / condition |
| `oval` or `terminal` | Start / End |
| `parallelogram` | Input / Output |

- Nodes are placed in input order (top to bottom). This controls the layout.
- Forward edges draw straight arrows; back-edges (to earlier nodes) draw curved arcs.
- Keep labels short (3–5 words max) — the diagram is A4-column-width at 78% scale.
- Figure auto-numbering applies same as chart.

### Bibliography guidance

- `id` field is the reference label — use numbers ("1", "2") or alphanumeric ("Smith23").
- Text should be in a consistent citation style (APA, Chicago, etc.) — the renderer does not enforce style.
- The `title` field defaults to "References". Set `"title": ""` to suppress the heading.
- A `bibliography` block always starts with a new section heading + accent rule.

### Image / figure guidance

- Preferred formats: PNG, JPEG
- Scaled down if wider than the text column; never scaled up
- `figure` blocks auto-number; `image` blocks do not — use `figure` for numbered figures
- If the file does not exist at render time, a `[Image not found]` placeholder is substituted

### Code block guidance

- Preserves whitespace exactly — do not indent code in the JSON value
- Optional `language` field renders a small language label above the block (e.g., `"language": "python"`)
- No syntax highlighting (by design) — consistent with restraint principle
- Keep lines under ~90 characters for A4 column width