# Aesthetic Brief v2 — Homepage Star Map

Read this before designing. This is the parent's creative direction.
Updated 2026-03-26 — BOLDER direction per JL feedback.

---

## The feeling

Vaporwave and Mad Max had a baby in the middle of a rainforest full of fairies.

You're at a campfire in the ruins. The city behind you is half-collapsed but
alive — vines crawl through CRT monitors still flickering with ghost signals,
solar panels power neon signs in languages no one reads anymore, bioluminescent
moss makes the rubble glow mint and orchid-purple at night. The sky overhead is
not just clear — it's VIVID. Stars in gold, rose, violet, teal. Nebula clouds
you can almost reach. The universe isn't distant; it's pressing in.

This is post-apocalypse post-recovery. Nature ate the dystopia and something
magical grew in its place. It's warm, strange, lush, and slightly unreal.

The star map should feel like ALL of these had a conversation. Not a collage —
a fusion. The CRT is subtle (a ghost, not a feature). The pastels are deepened
for the dark palette. The prismatic fairy colors appear in star nodes and nebulae.
The rainforest lives in the skyline's bioluminescence.

---

## Color philosophy

The existing `:root` palette is your skeleton. Extend it boldly.

Core (keep):
- `--bg-void: #04060b` / `--bg-deep: #060a14` — deep space, hinted purple
- `--fire-amber: #e8943a` — the campfire. Warmth follows attention.
- `--fire-coral: #d4654a` — warm accent
- `--neon-teal: #2ac4b3` — city heartbeat
- `--neon-green: #32dc8c` — nature reclaiming (visited state)
- `--deep-red: #8b2020` — rare danger accent
- `--blue-magenta: #6b3fa0` — cosmic distance

New colors to bring in:
- `--orchid: #c558d9` — tropical purple, fairy fire, nebula highlights
- `--paradise: #ff7f3f` — bird of paradise orange, fiery accent
- `--toucan: #ffcf40` — golden warmth, star color
- `--mint-glow: #86efac` — bioluminescent moss, fairy-green
- `--fairy-pink: #f472b6` — prismatic accent, star color
- `--waterfall: #3fbfaf` — deeper teal variation
- `--phosphor: #00ff41` — CRT green (use sparingly, low opacity)

The overall impression when you look at this page should be: "that is
a LOT of color but it all belongs in the same world." Dark backdrop,
rich jewel-toned elements scattered across it like a night market.

---

## CRT vibe (subtle, NOT dominant)

From soviet-cyberpunk and nothing-new-about-normal. NOT a full CRT overlay.
A ghost of one:

- Static scanlines: `repeating-linear-gradient` at opacity 0.03-0.05.
  Not animated. Not moving. Just texture.
- Faint phosphor glow on the star zone — a very subtle
  `radial-gradient(ellipse, transparent 60%, rgba(0,0,0,0.3))` vignette
  that makes edges slightly darker, center slightly brighter.
- That's it. No screen curvature, no heavy scanlines, no flicker animation.
  Just enough that if someone knows CRT they'd notice. Ghost of a signal.

---

## Star field guidance

BOLDER than v1. More color, more variety. The sky should feel alive.

- **Size classes**: same distribution but the BRIGHT class gets slightly larger
  (1.5-3px). More visible individual characters.
- **Color classes expanded**:
  - 35% cool white (rgba 200,210,230)
  - 15% warm white (rgba 240,220,190)
  - 12% pale blue (rgba 140,180,230)
  - 10% pale gold / toucan yellow (rgba 255,207,64)
  - 8% fairy pink (rgba 244,114,182)
  - 8% orchid purple (rgba 197,88,217)
  - 7% mint green (rgba 134,239,172)
  - 5% faint red / coral (rgba 212,101,74)
- **Twinkle**: same as before but bright colorful stars twinkle more noticeably
- **Nebula washes**: BOLDER. Opacity 0.04-0.08. Add orchid and fairy-pink
  washes alongside the existing purple and teal. 4-5 washes total. They should
  be noticeable when you look — atmospheric pools of color in the sky.
- **Depth**: 3 layers. Far stars are smaller/dimmer/cooler. Near stars are
  larger/brighter/warmer. Colored stars tend to be in the mid and near layers.

---

## Star nodes — MUCH BIGGER on hover

JL's explicit request. The navigation mechanics are LOCKED — do not change
the JS for keyboard nav, scroll descent, or mode switching.

But the CSS hover/focus effect on star dots should be dramatically larger:

- Default: 6-8px dot with per-star accent color (keep from v2)
- Hover/focus/current: grow to 16-20px with a warm amber glow.
  Use CSS transition on width/height (150ms ease). The star should
  visibly bloom when you focus on it.
- Visited: 6-8px green dot
- Visited + hover: same 16-20px bloom, amber

This is the "campfire follows your focus" made physical. Your attention
literally makes the star grow.

---

## Text size — BIGGER for mobile

JL's explicit request. Base font sizes need a bump:

- Star labels: 16px desktop, 12px mobile
- Billboard nav: 16px desktop, 11px mobile
- Lightbox body text: 16px
- Nav hint text: 14px
- Back button: 16px
- JL link: 16px

Use `clamp()` where it makes sense for fluid scaling.

---

## Skyline guidance — LUSH

The skyline is where the rainforest meets the ruins. Listed from background to foreground:

- The gradient from stars to city should pass through a zone of deep purple
  (the blue-magenta/orchid range) before warming — like descending through
  atmosphere.
- A pseudo-vaporwave landscape-perspective grid: cycle through the colours with each line.
- Buildings are an abstract skyline dark neon-rimmed silhouettes
- Window lights in MORE colors: amber (50%), teal (20%), orchid-purple (15%),
  fairy-pink (10%), phosphor-green (5%). A night market of light. Render over buildings.
- Billboard nav colors: cycle through teal, amber, orchid, green, coral.
  Each billboard a different color. The city is polychromatic. render above buildings. give them different sizes and fonts. place above buildings. 
- Ambient glow at skyline base should be warmer and slightly more visible
  (opacity 0.06-0.08 for the amber gradient).

---

New rule: restraint in structure, abundance in color.
- The layout stays clean and spacious (dark space is still good)
- But the COLORS within that space are richer, more varied, more vivid
- Stars have visible personality. Nebulae are atmospheric but present.
- The skyline glows with life. The city is a living ecosystem of light.
- The CRT ghost adds texture without dominating.
- When you look at this page you should feel: THIS IS A PLACE. Not a website.
  A strange, beautiful, slightly magical place where someone lit a fire
  and the whole universe showed up to warm its hands.
