One grammar for all ~16 object types. Typography carries the hierarchy — the name dominates, the glyph anchors, data marks sit in the text flow. No containers: a slot that is empty simply does not render, and the rows close up.
Slot map — baseball card position
1GlyphPhysis · planet ink 20 → 30 → 38px
2NameDisplay 600 · ink · 12 → 17 → 26px — always the dominant element
3Type labelcaps 8 · icon
4State / auspicea data mark, not a badge — state dot · canonical auspice chips + Key/Caution flag (Days)
5Primary descriptorSpectral 13.5/1.52 · muted · one sentence, max 58ch
6Attributes
key — value lead · gloss
key — value lead · gloss
stacked lines · one shared edge · 2–4 at card, all at novella
7RelationshipSpectral italic 12.5 · blue — the living layer: what is this currently in relation to?
8CTAcaps 9/600 · blue · text link + arrow — never a button
The schematic is annotation, not chrome — dashed keylines exist only on this spec sheet. In the product, whitespace alone defines these zones.
Required · optional · absent, by scale
SlotTypographic roleNTBCNV
1Glyph / symbolPhysis glyph in planet ink for celestial objects · content objects anchor on a small caps type tag (no icon font)●●●
2NameMontserrat Alternates 600 · ink · the largest thing in every instance●●●
Same template, no placeholders, no reserved whitespace — the Moon simply has less to say here.
Object pattern · §2
Three scales — nametag · baseball card · novella CT-PAT02
The same object — Saturn — at all three scales. Slot positions never move: glyph leads, name dominates, state follows the name, data below. The nametag is a typographic run that survives inside a sentence.
Nametag — inline, in running text
Baseball card — the scannable unit
Novella — the full reading
Object pattern · §3
One pattern, four object types CT-PAT03
Planet · Day · Rite · Blog post at baseball-card scale — the same eight slots, populated differently. The Day carries the auspice mark in its state slot; content objects have no astro symbol, so they anchor on a small caps type tag. Real content throughout.
Special treatment · §5
The auspice mark — spectrum + flag CT-AUS02
Both dimensions at once, no tooltip: the canonical 1–5 chips place the day on the spectrum (active level solid, the rest at their pale tints), and the editorial flag — Key or Caution — appears only on the days Ivy has called. Colors and symbols are the canon key, never reinvented.
Special treatment · §6
Aspect micro-diagrams CT-ASP01
The angle is drawn, not named: two bodies on the ecliptic ring, the chord between them is the datum. A newcomer reads geometry; a practitioner reads it faster. At nametag scale the ring shrinks to a 17px mark that sits in a sentence.
Responsive check
Mobile · 390 CT-PAT09
Attributes fall to one column; nametags become the filter row. Nothing else changes.
Non-card directions · §4 · option A
The Ledger CT-PAT04
Hairline rules and tabular column alignment — objects as entries in a register. The only direction that uses rules at all; everything aligns to five columns, so the eye audits rather than browses.
Non-card directions · §4 · option B
The Sidenote CT-PAT05
The glyph anchors a fixed left margin, content flows right — a scholarly annotation. The repeated left edge gives the list its rhythm; no rules anywhere.
Non-card directions · §4 · option C
The Field CT-PAT06
Nothing but whitespace — hierarchy from size, weight, and color alone. Objects sit in open space at a full 52px interval; the name grows to 21px to hold its zone.
Non-card directions · §4 · option D
The Index CT-PAT07
Run-in entries with a hanging indent, like a book's index or a bibliography — the whole object is one typographic paragraph. Densest of the five; reads as prose, scans by the bold names.
Non-card directions · §4 · option E
The Interlinear CT-PAT08
Almanac lines on a strict two-register rhythm: entry line, then a small data line — with dotted leaders carrying the eye from name to state, as in a timetable or table of contents.
Card-lite · option A
Left keyline CT-PAT10
A single 2px rule down the left edge, in the object's own ink — the quietest grouping. Echoes the canon day-card accent; no box, no fill.
Card-lite · option B
Faint panel CT-PAT11
A whisper of a container — the paper tint, rounded, no border. Structure from ground, not line. Groups without drawing an edge.
Card-lite · option C
Hairline frame CT-PAT12
A single 1px hairline in the palest rule, rounded. The most delineated of the three, still weightless — no shadow, no fill.
Hybrid · sidenote × field
The Margin CT-PAT13
The Sidenote's glyph-anchored structure at the Field's open spacing, with a single hairline dividing the anchor from the paragraph column — a ruled margin note.
Hybrid · sidenote × ledger
The Register CT-PAT14
The Sidenote's glyph-anchored structure, divided by the Ledger's horizontal hairline rules — entries in a register rather than notes in open space.
Hybrids · size exploration
The Margin & The Register — across the three scales CT-PAT15
Both hybrids at nametag, baseball card, and novella scale, each populated with a Day (auspice mark) and a Transit (aspect diagram) so the two object types compare side by side. The margin's vertical rule and the register's horizontal dividers hold at every size.
R4-22 · part two
Differentiating the whole object set — The Margin & The Register
Every type Ivy named, populated from the July suite, the ORCA map, and the live course / video / Arc pages — no invented content. The 8-slot anatomy never changes; what tells ~16 wildly different objects apart is anchor + colour (the family), then the state mark (its live status), then the type label. Both directions carry that system identically — they differ only in the connective tissue. Shown at all three scales, flat and grouped, with a recommendation.
Scale · nametag
The tag — every family on one line CT-PAT16
The critical scale. Each tag fits on a single line and nothing drops below the baseline — box marks (auspice cell, ring) reduce to baseline-pinned forms so a run of tags never disrupts the line. The family still reads: planet-ink glyph, gold ✦, the ring, the auspice mark, or a quiet line icon for content.
Scale · nametag · colour study
The tag — gently coloured CT-PAT24
The same tags as CT-PAT16 with colour let a little further out of the anchor: planet-tinted names for celestial bodies, auspice-tinted names on a faint band-tint pill for time objects, gold for the star. Content stays quiet — it has neither a planet nor an auspice. Same rule holds: one line, nothing below the baseline.
Baseball card · flat feed · A
The Margin — mixed CT-PAT17
All families in one heterogeneous feed. Vertical hairline + open field spacing — airy, scholarly.
Baseball card · flat feed · B
The Register — mixed CT-PAT18
The same objects, same order. Horizontal hairline per row — each object gets a ruled berth so unlike types never bleed together.
Baseball card · grouped · A
The Margin — by family CT-PAT19
The full set grouped into Celestial · Time · Content. The shared left edge builds rhythm within each family.
Baseball card · grouped · B
The Register — by family CT-PAT20
Same grouping, ruled. Headers + row rules make an auditable table of the whole system.
Special treatment · time units
“Made of days” — the unit ladder CT-PAT21
Day is the atom; every larger unit is a window of days, so each carries an aggregate auspice mark and a day-strip tinted with the canon band colours. The strip visibly grows day → week → month → season → quarter → year, so a unit never reads as a lone object — it reads as a span. My default; tell me if the strip should be coarser or finer.
Scale · novella · both directions
The deep read — Day · Transit · Rite CT-PAT22
The three heavy-usage objects at full depth, in both treatments. At novella scale the directions converge — a single deep object has no neighbours to be told apart from, so the rule becomes a frame, not a separator.
In The Margin
In The Register
The read
What differentiates, and which to use CT-PAT23
Both directions, side by side, with a recommendation you asked for.
The eight slots never move. What sorts ~16 object types is a three-part system carried identically by both directions: anchor + colour names the family at a glance, the state mark shows the object’s live status in its own idiom, and the type label disambiguates within a family.
♄︎ Celestial✦ Star Aspect / transit− Time Content
Direction A
The Margin
Vertical hairline + open field spacing. Airy, scholarly; the shared left edge builds rhythm. Best when the set is homogeneous — a shelf of one type, or a family group. In a flat mixed feed the wide gaps let unlike objects float apart.
Direction B
The Register
A horizontal hairline per row. Almanac / ledger. Each object gets a ruled berth, so a Planet, a Rite and a Year never bleed together. Best for heterogeneous lists — search, a day’s contents, “related.”
Recommendation
Flat / mixedSearch, “related,” a day’s contents → The Register. Row rules keep the diverse set legible.
GroupedLibrary shelves & single-family clusters → The Margin. Rhythm over rules when the set is uniform.
Deep readDay · Transit · Rite at novella → either; the directions converge on a single object.
NametagIdentical in both — marks stay baseline-pinned so a run never breaks the line.
New anchors · icon set
Icons for the content objects & the week CT-PAT25
Drawn in the Modern-Mystic / Tufte manner — one hairline weight, icon-grey, spare geometry — so content stops relying on a caps type tag in the left column. The week gets a data-icon: a 7-day auspice sparkline in the canon band colours.
Scale · a 4th size
The stat line — compressed state for scanning CT-PAT26
Between the inline nametag and the baseball card: one row, 3–5 data points, for dense scan lists (search results, a day’s contents, a shelf). Anchor + type + name lead; the object’s key facts sit in a compact run; its live state trails right.
The four scales — one object (Saturday, July 4), least → most
Applied — every object as a quick-scan stat line
Special treatment · auspice scale × size
The auspice scale, tuned to each of the four sizes CT-PAT27
Stronger chroma so the reading carries — the active level sits solid in its canon colour, the rest of the spectrum in a brighter tint. The scale grows in substance with the object: a micro spectrum on the tag, symbol-chips at stat-line and card, a full segmented spectrum bar at novella — each as space-conscious as its size allows.
Special treatment · time units × scale
The “made of days” ladder, at all four scales CT-PAT28
The six time units — Day → Year — at nametag, stat line, baseball card, and novella. Each keeps a compact aggregate auspice mark; the day-strip carries the “made of days” and grows with the object — a fine mark on the tag, more room to read the span’s shape as it scales up. (Month stays 31 daily cells; say the word and I’ll show large units at weekly/monthly granularity to keep them compact.)