Bold Poster — Frame (video / frame layer)
Overview
Bold Poster at frame scale is a populist editorial poster — vintage Italian sports-magazine display, classical serif body, one saturated tomato red, grids ruled in ink. Every frame should feel printed: heavy display type at poster scale, locked to one red accent, on a white/off-white sheet (or a full red/dark statement panel), with decoration kept to a strict minimum.
The voice is a three-face stack: Shrikhand (heavy slab-script, weight 400 only, routinely tilted −6°..+2°) carries every hero title, section header, stat, and card title; Libre Baskerville (literary serif) carries every body paragraph — it's what makes the system feel printed; Space Grotesk (uppercase, 2–3px tracked) is chrome only — labels, eyebrows, counters, bullet bodies. The plane is flat; the only shadow is the stacked text-shadow on red display.
Key characteristics at frame scale:
- Four colors only — white / brown-black ink / tomato red / off-white. Red is the lone accent.
- Shrikhand display, tilted (−6° stat, −5° close, −4° hero-red, +2° hero-bottom) — the signature movement.
- Libre Baskerville serif body (line 1.75); Space Grotesk chrome (uppercase tracked).
- Double-border grids (3px outer + 1.5px inner ink); red leftbar cards; red em-dash bullets (max 3).
- Stacked text-shadow on red display — the only shadow; flat plane otherwise; square corners.
- Red progress bar at the bottom edge of every frame.
The Frame
Frame Craft Bar
Three eyeball tests gate every frame before any structural check:
Squint — one display moment dominates at 3–6× everything else (the hero stack,
stat-big, orclose-big); nothing competes.Silence — statement frames reserve ~50–60% negative space; the financial grid is the one dense exception.
Restraint — four colors only, red the lone accent; one display moment per frame; the stacked text-shadow on red is the only shadow; bullets capped at three.
Reference — aim at a vintage Italian sports-magazine cover / mid-century European annual report; failure looks like a rounded, soft-shadowed multi-accent slide.
Primary: 1920×1080 (16:9). Display authored in
cqw(px ÷ 1920 × 100 = cqw).Vertical: 1080×1920 (9:16). Square: 1080×1080 (1:1).
Safe area:
pad-slide~3cqw — deliberately tight so the poster type crowds the frame.
The container law (load-bearing). Every frame ground sets container-type: size; ALL
frame-relative units are cqw/cqh against it — never vw. Borders stay px; rotation transforms hold.
Colors
Tokens identical to the source. {colors.bg} white is the default ground; {colors.dark} is body,
borders, headers; {colors.red} is the only accent — every numeral, section rule, eyebrow,
leftbar, bullet, progress bar, and the full statement-panel ground. {colors.light} off-white
stripes alternating panels. No fifth color (no green/blue/yellow); categorical difference comes
from position, label, and tilt. Red is never body text, never a tint, never an untexted fill.
Typography
Two ramps. The reading/chrome ramp (Baskerville body 0.85cqw, Space Grotesk labels in px)
carries copy + chrome; the display ramp (Shrikhand section-header 3.3cqw → stat-big 22cqw)
carries every statement and numeral.
- Legibility floor: any load-bearing line ≥ 1.4cqw; mono labels are chrome only.
- Fit-to-measure: size the headline to its length. Cap the block at ≤ 78cqw; ≤2 words →
stat-big/hero-title-red; 3–4 →hero-title; 5+ →section-header. The hero is a stacked 3-line composition. - Shrikhand is weight 400, tilted on statement/hero elements, red on numerals; Baskerville body at line ≥1.5; Space Grotesk chrome uppercase, 2–3px. Inline
<strong>switches face to Space Grotesk 600. No italic display, no untilted red hero.
Depth & Surface
Flat plane. Depth from:
- Heavy borders — 3px+1.5px double-border grids, 2px global-card outline, 4px red leftbar rules.
- Surface inversion — full-bleed red or dark statement panels.
- Tilt — rotated Shrikhand breaks the baseline for perceived dimension.
- The single shadow — stacked text-shadow on red display only (text-shadow, three steps).
Ceiling: no box-shadow, no rounded surface (square corners; only the hint pill is 4px), no gradient.
Shapes
- 0 radius everywhere except the hint pill (4px). Cards, cells, panels, callouts — sharp rectangles.
Components
- hero-title-stack — the 3-line tilted opener. stat-big — the poster numeral.
- fin-grid — the double-border tabular signature. red-leftbar-card — the cantilevered editorial card.
- red-panel / dark-panel — statement surfaces. stacked-text-shadow — the one shadow.
- bullet — red em-dash (max 3). progress-bar — the red bottom strip.
Frame Treatments
Recipe: ground · register · composes · focal · chrome · accent · silence · Fixed/Free · density. One display moment per frame; statement frames reserve massive negative space.
1 · Hero Stack (identity · move: 3-line tilted stack · left)
Ground white. Composes hero-title-stack, label, body tagline, progress-bar. Focal a 3-line Shrikhand stack (e.g. ink / red-tilted / paper) — one red line, one+ tilted. Chrome mono eyebrow + Baskerville tagline; bottom progress bar + counter. Accent the red line. Silence right half open. Fixed Shrikhand 400, ≥1 tilt + ≥1 red, square. Free the words, line sizes. Density low.
2 · Hero Stat (statement · move: poster numeral · red panel · centered)
Ground full {colors.red}. Composes stat-big, label, body sub. Focal a stat-big
numeral rotated −6° in white with the stacked shadow, centered, with a mono label above + Baskerville
sub below. Accent the ink stacked-shadow on white. Silence ~60%. Fixed white-on-red +
stacked shadow, −6° tilt. Free the figure (from script), label. Density low.
3 · Financial Grid (data · move: double-border matrix · the dense frame)
Ground white, pad-slide. Composes label, section-header, fin-grid. Focal a 3px-outer/
1.5px-inner ink grid of cells (red Shrikhand numeral + mono label + Baskerville body). Chrome mono
eyebrow; progress bar. Accent the red numerals. Silence tight — the density exception.
Fixed double-border, red numerals, serif body. Free figures (from script), labels. Density dense-exception.
4 · Pull Quote (quote · move: tilted/stacked display · red panel · left)
Ground full {colors.red}. Composes red-quote, Baskerville cite. Focal a 2-line Shrikhand
quote in white with the stacked shadow; a Baskerville cite beneath. Accent the stacked shadow.
Silence ~50%. Fixed white-on-red + stacked shadow. Free quote, cite. Density low.
5 · Editorial Cards (content · move: red leftbar cards · left)
Ground white (or alternating off-white stripes). Composes label, section-header, 2–3× red-leftbar-card. Focal cards cantilevered off 4px red rules — Shrikhand title + Baskerville body
- red em-dash bullets (max 3). Accent the red left rules + bullets. Silence moderate. Fixed 4px red leftbar, em-dash bullets, no outline. Free card content. Density standard.
6 · Closing Statement (closer · move: tilted close-big · centered/left)
Ground white or {colors.dark}. Composes close-big, label, body sub, progress-bar. Focal
a Shrikhand close-big (rotated −5°, red) sign-off; mono eyebrow + Baskerville contact line. Accent
the red tilted title. Silence ~60%. Fixed −5° tilt, red close-big. Free sign-off, contact.
Density low.
Composition Rules
Do
- Stack hero titles in 3 Shrikhand lines — at least one tilted, at least one red.
- Make every numeral red Shrikhand; tilt statement display −5° to −6°.
- Set eyebrows in Space Grotesk 600 uppercase, 2–3px, red; body in Baskerville, line 1.75.
- Build data grids with the 3px outer + 1.5px inner double border; use red leftbar cards elsewhere.
- Use red em-dash bullets, capped at three; apply the stacked text-shadow on red display.
- One display moment per frame; reserve negative space on statement frames.
Don't
- No second accent color; no rounded corners (square only, save the hint pill).
- No drop shadow — the stacked text-shadow on red is the only one.
- No font substitutes; no Shrikhand body, no Baskerville labels, no Space Grotesk headlines.
- No default disc bullets; no untilted red statement display.
- Don't crowd a statement frame; don't blow a long line edge-to-edge (step down).
Aspect-Ratio Behavior
| Treatment | 16:9 | 9:16 | 1:1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hero Stack | stack left, tagline below | stack centered, taller | stack, tagline below |
| Hero Stat | numeral centered | numeral centered, taller | centered |
| Financial Grid | 3 cells across | 2 across / stacked | 2×2 |
| Pull Quote | quote left | quote stacked | centered |
| Editorial Cards | 2–3 across | stacked | stacked |
| Closing | close-big centered | close-big stacked | centered |
pad-slide stays tight on the short edge; re-step display so the line stays ≤78cqw above the floor.
Tilts hold; the progress bar spans the bottom on every ratio.
Approved Entities
No real customers, logos, or vendors are defined in the source — render any such mark as a placeholder. The system supplies type, one red, and ink rules, not brands.
Numerals & Claims (hard rule)
Never invent figures, financials, percentages, or dates at frame scale. Render slots as — figure —,
{metric}, +NN%. Fin-grid cells and stat-big especially carry placeholders until the script
supplies them. Catalogue numbers / progress are decorative.
Pre-Render Self-Audit
- Squint — one display moment dominates; nothing competes.
- Silence — statement frames reserve ~50–60% negative space; only the fin-grid runs dense.
- Color — four colors only; red is the lone accent; no red body text.
- Type — Shrikhand 400 tilted on statements, red numerals, fit-to-measure; Baskerville body line 1.75; mono chrome uppercase 2–3px; ≥1.4cqw floor.
- Depth — flat; the stacked text-shadow on red display is the only shadow; square corners.
- Bullets — red em-dash, capped at three.
- Fabrication — every numeral traces to the script, else placeholder.
Known Gaps
- Motion intentionally out of scope. frame.md specifies composition only; the source's 550ms slide transitions are deck mechanics.
- Shrikhand + Libre Baskerville + Space Grotesk via Google Fonts. CJK: Noto Serif SC 900/400 + Noto Sans SC; Shrikhand's slab-script has no Hanzi equal — keep tilts + red + double-borders to carry the identity.
- 9:16 / 1:1 are guidance; verify the one big line ≤78cqw per ratio and that tilts don't clip.
- Grids, leftbar cards, and the stacked shadow are CSS-only; no external imagery is required.