# Iconography

## Purpose

Iconography turns each concept into one memorable mechanism that can be recognized before its label is read.

## Invariants

- Prefer mechanisms over illustrations: aperture for observation, interlocked paths for relation, broken ring for threshold, reliquary for artifact, lattice for governance.
- The symbol describes the card’s specific semantic kernel rather than repeating a generic rocket, brain, eye, hand, circuit, or star.
- Cultural and sacred motifs are not universal clip art; retain context or choose an original abstraction.
- Franchise cards abstract the idea under study instead of copying a mark or character.

## Production Rules

- Write a one-sentence central-motif brief and three thumbnail silhouettes.
- Compare thumbnails with the nearest six concepts by class and meaning.
- Choose one dominant shape, one secondary relation, and one restrained accent behavior.
- Document rejected motifs when they risk confusion, appropriation, or protected expression.

## States, Scale, and Accessibility

- Meaning and class remain legible at 96, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048 pixels.
- Selected, hover, focus, disabled, and high-attention states add interface contours outside the master art; they never destructively recolor the source.
- No state, class, claim, or evidence condition depends on color alone; accessible live text supplies title, class, evidence, and safety information.

## Quality Gate

- [ ] A blind reviewer can distinguish the Tile from its nearest neighbors.
- [ ] Symbol matches card essence, not just title association.
- [ ] No text, logos, portraits, or decorative symbol soup.
- [ ] Shape remains meaningful in monochrome.
- [ ] Cultural review and rights notes are complete.

## Rights and Provenance

Every asset must be original or used under documented permission. Record card ID, prompt or source file, creator/tool, model version where relevant, date, dimensions, color profile, source references, rights status, and checksum. Franchise-derived entries use critical symbolic abstraction and may not reproduce protected logos, characters, costumes, frames, screenshots, or production art. Sacred and community-held imagery requires context and authority; do not turn it into generic decoration.
