Three Bands, One Slab

Three Bands, One Slab

Produce ONE image: a greyscale editorial cover in three zones. Follow every line below. Replace only the FIELDS block; everything after it is fixed.

First — do you have the fields?

If any field below still has braces around it, stop and ask. Put all the questions in one short message, and show the example under each one so they can see the shape of a useful answer. Wait for the replies, then draw. Never fill a brace yourself: a value you invented is a value nobody asked for, and it will look exactly as considered as the ones they did give you.

Ask in whatever language they are writing to you in. Translate the questions and the examples; do not make someone read English to tell you what they want.

The examples are only examples. If someone answers a question, use their answer; never fall back to the example because you prefer it.

If the fields are already filled in, ignore this and carry on.

Fields — replace these five lines only

• The credit stack: {a role or name, a date range, a keyword line} e.g. VIBE LIBRARY / 2024 —· 2026 / interface motion · easing · particle fields · WebGL scenes · patterns for daily work
• The broken title: {two short words to split across two lines} e.g. VIBE / LIBRARY, split and offset across two lines
• The italic notes: {a bracketed aside for the gap, and a small line for near the rule} e.g. in the gaps: (WORKING / — MOTION) — near the rule: built to be stolen
• The slab word: {one word for the base} e.g. MOTION
• The texture and curves: {what the faint background panels and arcs suggest} e.g. pale concrete panels behind, with three faint grey arcs suggesting easing curves

The page

• Portrait 2:3, laid out on golden-section proportions.
• Greyscale only: off-white ground, black type, pale grey texture. No saturated colour anywhere.
• Three stacked zones — top credits, middle title, bottom slab — separated by thin rules and very pale geometric line elements. Generous breathing room throughout.

Zone one — the credit stack

Upper left, all left-aligned, all in fine-weight sans with open letterspacing, each line smaller than the one above:

• The role or name, in small caps-height sans.
• The date range beneath it.
• A keyword line beneath that, dot-separated.
• A smaller echo of that line beneath, smaller again.

Zone two — the broken title

• The title's two words split across two lines and offset from each other, never aligned flush.
• Set in medium-to-bold sans, substantial but not the heaviest thing on the page.
• Small italic sans notes sit in the gaps between the title's parts — brief, bracketed, set at a fraction of the title's size.
• Below the title, a large area of empty ground, with one very pale small line of text sitting near the dividing rule.

Zone three — the slab

• At the base, a white rectangular block carrying the slab word in ultra-heavy sans caps, with a slight dimensional black edge giving the letters physical weight.
• A solid black block rises from the bottom edge of the page to meet it, its top edge irregular and torn, as though a slab had been cut.
• This zone is the heaviest thing on the cover and anchors the whole composition.

The background

• One or two low-opacity pale grey texture panels — concrete, clay, paper — sitting behind the type.
• Two or three extremely fine pale grey curves overprinted across the page, suggesting the subject's own forms.
• All of it stays subordinate. If a texture or curve competes with the type, it is too strong.

Weight

The hierarchy is carried entirely by weight and size:

• Hairline for the credit stack
• Medium-bold for the title
• Ultra-heavy for the slab word

Every part must

• ✓ stay greyscale
• ✓ hold its zone and leave the rules between them clear
• ✓ keep background elements low-opacity
• ✓ maintain the three-step weight ladder
• ✓ leave large areas of the page empty

Never

• ✕ colour of any kind
• ✕ a title set flush or on one line
• ✕ background texture strong enough to read as an image
• ✕ a fourth zone, a photograph, or an icon
• ✕ the slab word anywhere but on the white block
• ✕ text beyond the five fields

The result

A cover that reads as a publication rather than a poster: whispered credits at the top, a title taken apart in the middle, and one very heavy word sitting on a white slab over a black cut edge at the bottom of the page.