Warning With an Order

Warning With an Order

Produce ONE image: a public-safety notice over a real scene. 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 seven lines only

• The hazard and the season: {what is coming, and when} e.g. a heat warning for a city working week
• The title, plain half and red half: {a plain phrase, and an instruction} e.g. HEAT IS COMING — WORK EARLY
• The issuing body: {who is telling you this} e.g. issued by the Vibary studio street association
• Act now — two things: {two instructions} e.g. Move outdoor work to before eleven · Fill and freeze bottles tonight, the shops sell out by noon
• Act today — three things: {three instructions} e.g. Check on anyone on the top floor · Close south-facing blinds before you leave · Move the bench into the shade of the arch
• Keep in mind — three things: {three facts} e.g. Brick holds heat until midnight · The cafe stays open with the doors wide · The fountain is drinkable
• The scene and the palette: {the conditions, and four colours} e.g. a hazy afternoon street under a white sun, heat shimmer over the bricks · deep amber ground, red for the hazard, yellow for the issuing bar, a bone card

The ranking law

These notices are made quickly and read quickly, and the standard version lists eight instructions as eight equal bullets. A reader scanning it learns that several things are advisable and nothing about which to do first. On a cold-snap notice, lagging a pipe and hanging a thicker curtain appear at the same weight, and only one of them stops a flood.

The advice is banded, and the bands are ordered:

1. 1ACT NOW — two things, no more. The largest body type on the poster, under a red header. These are the things that stop damage or injury today.
2. 2ACT TODAY — three things, at the middle size, under an amber header. Worth doing, not urgent.
3. 3KEEP IN MIND — three facts, smallest, under a grey header. Context, not instruction.

The test: read only the first band aloud. If somebody who did just those two things would be substantially safer, the ranking is correct. If the two are interchangeable with anything in the third band, sort again — this is a thinking failure, not a layout one.

Every item is an action a reader can picture themselves doing. A line that cannot be pictured belongs in the third band or nowhere.

The scene

• A real photographic scene of the conditions themselves — the weather, the site, the season — filling the whole frame behind everything else.
• The card is translucent. The scene stays visible through it, because the conditions and the advice belong on the same poster. An opaque white panel turns a warning into a leaflet.
• Dim, cool or oppressive as the hazard demands. The atmosphere is doing a job: it is what makes somebody stop and read.

The title

• Two halves, stacked or side by side. The plain half names the condition; the red half is an instruction. "Heat is coming" is the condition. "Work early" is the instruction, and only that half is red.
• Heavy sans, the largest type on the poster, occupying the top fifth.

The issuing bar

• Directly under the title: a yellow arrow-shaped bar, pointing right, with black type naming the issuing body.
• Named once. A notice with no signature is a poster, and a notice that signs itself three times is a leaflet.

The card and the type

• One large rounded translucent card holding all three bands, with generous margins and clear space between bands.
• Each band opens with a coloured arrow header carrying its label in white.
• Two body sizes only: the ACT NOW items at the larger, the other six at the smaller. Bulleted, left-aligned, generously leaded.
• Four colours total: red for hazard, amber for the middle band, yellow for the issuing bar, and a bone card over the scene.

Never

• ✕ items listed at equal weight, or more than two in the first band
• ✕ an opaque card that hides the conditions
• ✕ an instruction nobody can picture doing
• ✕ a third type size, a fifth colour, or a decorative icon set
• ✕ the issuing body named more than once
• ✕ a QR code, a hotline block, a sponsor logo, a fourth band
• ✕ cheerful weather, bright sun or a calm scene behind a warning

The result

A notice that works at the speed it is read: the conditions visible behind it, one signature, and two things at the top that somebody could do in the next ten minutes.