Three Tabs, One Open

Three Tabs, One Open

Produce ONE image: a flat filing-folder cover. 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 nine lines only

• The subject: {what this cover is for} e.g. Vibary's pattern portfolio cover
• Tab one — who: {the identity, plus a small glyph} e.g. VIBARY, with a small wedge glyph
• Tab two — which volume: {the collection this belongs to} e.g. Patterns & Scenes
• Tab three — what is open: {the section this cover actually is} e.g. Skills & Templates
• The script line: {one cheerful sentence} e.g. Describe it and watch it move!
• The struck capsule: {the formal name of the thing} e.g. the official Vibary pattern portfolio
• The title: {one word, all caps} e.g. PORTFOLIO
• The burst sticker: {an exclamation / a role line} e.g. so good! / built for vibe coding
• The four colours: {main hex · two support hexes · white} e.g. main #17171A deep ink · supports #5B5BD6 indigo and #E8C468 warm ochre · white for every mark

The page

• Portrait-ish 5:4. Flat vector throughout: solid fills, clean edges, no gradient, no shadow, no texture, no noise.
• A large rounded rectangle — the panel — occupies more than four fifths of the frame, filled in the main colour, with a thin cream keyline around its edge standing in for a folder's cover board.
• The ground behind the panel is a plain light tone, visible only as a margin.

The three tabs

Rising from the panel's top edge as rounded trapezoids, each with a hairline outline for thickness, with natural uneven gaps between them.

The tab law: the three are a nesting, not a row of equals — identity, then the volume it belongs to, then the section that is open. Height encodes which one you are inside. The open section is the tallest and wears a support colour at full saturation; the volume is middling; the identity tab is the shortest and quietest. A viewer should be able to point at this cover's place in the cabinet without reading a word twice.

• Tab one (shortest, left) — the identity, in a pale support tone, with its small glyph beside the name.
• Tab two (middling, centre) — the volume, on a light neutral, with a small hexagonal marker.
• Tab three (tallest, right) — the open section, on the saturated support colour, with a white marker of the same shape.

Inside the panel — three voices

Stacked, left-aligned, with generous air between them:

1. 1The script line, small, in a warm support tone: a casual handwritten face, cheerful, set as one line near the panel's top.
2. 2The struck capsule, below it: a rounded capsule in the other support colour, holding the formal name in bold sans — with one thin white diagonal line drawn through the text as though crossed out by hand. The joke is the point; the line must read as drawn, not as a strikethrough character.
3. 3The title, below that: one word, all caps, in an ultra-bold compressed sans, white, forming the page's absolute focus. It is inset from both side keylines by a clear margin and never touches or crosses them — width is the result of its size, not a target to stretch toward. A word that runs off the panel edge has not been made bigger, it has been broken.

The ladder: script and capsule sit at roughly the same size; the title is about five times taller than either. Anything less and the three voices blur into one paragraph.

The burst

• In the panel's lower right: an irregular jagged starburst in a support colour, tilted slightly.
• Two lines inside it: a short exclamation in the script face above, a role or position line in heavy sans below.
• It overlaps the panel's edge slightly, as a sticker would.

The colour law

One main, two supports, white. The main colour fills the panel; the supports colour the tabs, the capsule and the burst; white carries every piece of text, every outline and every icon. Flat fills only — levels are separated by colour contrast, never by shading.

Never

• ✕ a gradient, a drop shadow, a bevel, a paper texture, a photo
• ✕ a fifth colour, or a support colour used for body text
• ✕ three tabs of equal height, or the tallest one on the left
• ✕ a title of more than one word, or a second sentence in the panel
• ✕ a title cropped, bleeding off the panel, or touching a keyline
• ✕ real drop-shadowed skeuomorphism — this is a drawing of a folder, not a rendering of one

The result

A cover that files itself: bright, flat and loud, and specific about where it sits — so a shelf of them reads as one cabinet with a different drawer open each time.