Specimen type plates design style

{
  "style_name": "Specimen Type Plates",
  "style_slug": "oxblood-image-masked-type-archive",
  "canvas": "4:5 portrait, bone paper field #F2EFE9, thin uniform margin so the composition reads as a plate, not a bleed",
  "color": {
    "field": "#F2EFE9 bone / off-white",
    "grade": "all photography pushed to oxblood #6E2230 — desaturated wine, crushed shadows, no true blacks",
    "ink": "oxblood for labels, near-black #14161C or navy #1B2430 for a single contrast chip",
    "surviving_light": "exactly one small source keeps its real color per plate — a red signal lamp, an amber destination board, a pale wing"
  },
  "typography": {
    "wordmark": "one long word, ultra-bold geometric grotesque, ALL CAPS, squared bowls and rounded terminals, broken across 3 stacked rows (SIG/NA/L · EAR/THW/ORK · VE/LOC/ITY · NOC/TUR/NE)",
    "setting": "each row tracked and scaled to justify edge to edge, zero leading, letters nearly kissing; the break ignores syllables on purpose",
    "side_rail": "one vertical 90°-rotated line of bold condensed caps down the left or right margin — study type + unit number, with a thin rule",
    "code_chips": "2–4 small outlined boxes holding short codes (ARRAY ID / SECTOR / NODE, MS/K06, NL-07, SPECIMEN SERIES)",
    "data_stack": "3–5 lines of tiny monospaced-feeling caps — coordinates, lot numbers, spec strings, a date",
    "glyph": "one minimal line mark per plate: crosshair-compass / concentric circles / arrow in a filled box / crescent moon",
    "barcode": "a strip of uneven vertical bars in oxblood (occasionally two-tone with navy), bottom corner"
  },
  "image_treatment": {
    "mask": "the photograph is visible ONLY inside the letterforms — a single continuous image sits behind the whole word and is clipped by the type",
    "counters": "the holes in O / R / A / P punch back through to bare paper",
    "continuity": "letters must read as windows onto one scene, never as separately cropped photos",
    "exception": "at most one rectangular photo panel may sit outside the type and act as a missing letterform"
  },
  "design_rules": [
    "at least 40% of the plate stays empty paper",
    "the word is a noun, never a sentence; length is chosen so 3 rows fill the width",
    "every code is plausible and internally consistent — the unit number in the rail matches the chip",
    "no drop shadows, no gradients on the paper, no bleed to the edge"
  ],
  "swap_variables": {
    "subject": "radio telescope array / potter's wheel / night train platform / moth and orchid",
    "wordmark": "SIGNAL / EARTHWORK / VELOCITY / NOCTURNE",
    "study_label": "DEEP FIELD-ARRAY 12 / MATERIAL STUDY-KILN 06 / NIGHT LINE-PLATFORM 07 / BOTANICAL STUDY-GLASSHOUSE 04",
    "code_set": "DF-A12 · 07-β · CRX-9 / FW-0606 · LOT 24A / VX7-A · 22.07 / 
http://
G04.17.NC",
    "glyph": "crosshair / concentric circles / boxed arrow / crescent",
    "surviving_light": "red lamp / amber board / kiln glow / pale wing"
  }
}