# Ralleh Poster Design Standards

**Version**: 2.0  
**Scope**: All AI-generated event and performance posters produced under the Ralleh Poster skill.  
**Authority**: This document is the binding design directive. Every generated poster plate must conform to all rules herein before delivery to the requester.

These standards exist for one reason: to produce work that could not be identified as AI-generated by a trained eye. Generic output is not acceptable. Deliberate craft is required at every stage.

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## 1. AI Slop Detection & Avoidance

"AI Slop" is the default aesthetic that image-diffusion models produce without explicit professional direction. It is instantly recognizable and signals both low effort and low trust. Any output exhibiting these characteristics must be rejected and re-prompted.

### 1.1 — Critical Slop Indicators (Hard Rejections)

The following artifacts are grounds for automatic rejection of a generated plate. Never approve a plate that contains any of these:

| Indicator | Description |
|---|---|
| **Plastic / Hyper-Rendered Skin or Surfaces** | Unnatural metallic gloss, porcelain-smooth skin tones, CGI-grade shiny materials |
| **Volumetric Overload** | Excessive lens flares, god-ray beams, glowing floating dust motes, cinematic haze without purpose |
| **Vibrant Clutter** | Compulsive pixel-filling with competing textures, shapes, neon gradients, and decorative noise |
| **Hallucinated Text Glyphs** | Warped, illegible pseudo-letter forms appearing anywhere on the canvas |
| **Omnidirectional Ambient Glow** | No logical light source; light appears from everywhere with no shadow rationale |
| **Generic Symbol Overload** | Literal microphones floating in space, guitars, sound waves, drama masks, globe-clasping hands |
| **Over-Saturated Neon Palettes** | Unearned use of electric cyan, magenta, and lime without deliberate stylistic intent |

### 1.2 — Standards for Approval

A poster plate clears the slop bar only if it replicates physical, analog artistic constraints. All approved plates must demonstrate at least one of the following:

*   **Tactile Surface Texture**: Visible paper grain, printing ink texture, woodblock scoring, screen printing halftone dot patterns, or risograph overlap transparency.
*   **Restricted Color Work**: A palette reduced to 3-4 specific, named colors. No unconstrained color fields.
*   **Negative Space Discipline**: At least 30% of the canvas is deliberately "at rest" — no compositional elements, no subtle gradients.
*   **Single Logical Light Source**: Shadows, highlights, and reflections are consistent with one physically plausible light origin.
*   **Compositional Intentionality**: Every visual element exists to serve the design hierarchy; nothing is decorative filler.

### 1.3 — Prompt Framing to Suppress Slop

When constructing image-generation prompts, include language that actively suppresses slop behavior:

*   `"textless background plate"` — Prevents hallucinated text glyphs.
*   `"flat 2D graphic design, zero gradients, zero drop shadows"` — Enforces graphic print aesthetics.
*   `"matte paper grain, visible ink texture"` — Anchors to physical media.
*   `"no CGI rendering, no 3D, no photorealism"` — Excludes volumetric plastic rendering.
*   `"analog color restriction, [Color 1], [Color 2], [Color 3] only"` — Constrains the palette at model level.

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## 2. Visual Hierarchy Rules for Posters

A poster is functional communication first and art second. Every viewer arriving at the canvas must absorb information in a natural, predictable order. Visual hierarchy is not decorative — it is navigational infrastructure.

### 2.1 — The Four-Tier Reading Order

All posters must support this reading sequence. If an element breaks the order (i.e., a "footnote" competes for attention with the "Hook"), the composition must be revised.

| Tier | Label | Content | Attention Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **The Hook** | Primary visual metaphor or massive typographic title | 50–60% of first-glance visual attention |
| 2 | **The Identity** | Headliner name, performer, or main event designation | 20–30% of attention; clearly subordinate to The Hook |
| 3 | **The Details** | Date, Time, and Venue | Crisp, unambiguous, 10–15% of visual weight |
| 4 | **The Footnotes** | Supporting acts, ticket URL, sponsor logos | Small, tucked into defined margins, never competing |

### 2.2 — Hierarchy Enforcement Rules

*   **No Competing Focal Points**: Do not create two visual anchors of equal weight. One element must dominate.
*   **Entry Path Test**: Before finalizing a design, identify where the viewer's eye enters the canvas. If it does not enter at Tier 1, the composition must be corrected.
*   **Details Must Not Compete**: Date, time, and venue text must sit in high-contrast, uncluttered zones. Never allow event details to float over complex background patterns.
*   **Footnote Discipline**: Secondary performers, ticket URLs, and sponsor marks are visually subordinate at all times — smaller type, lower contrast relative to The Identity tier.

---

## 3. Typography

Typography in poster design is architectural, not decorative. Text must be planned before it is placed, and its placement must be treated as a structural decision, not an afterthought.

### 3.1 — Render Strategy

Selecting the right typographic render strategy is critical. The two acceptable methods are:

**Method A — Textless Plate Generation (Strongly Preferred)**
> Generate the visual background plate completely free of any text elements. All typographic content is applied in a dedicated post-processing, canvas, or layout step using proper vector type tools. This eliminates all risk of hallucinated glyphs and provides total control over font selection, kerning, sizing, and contrast.

**Method B — Direct High-Fidelity Text Rendering (Ideogram or Top-Tier Models)**
> If the image model demonstrably excels at typographic fidelity (e.g., Ideogram v2, FLUX.1 [pro], DALL-E 3), direct rendering of a single, short main header is permitted. Constraints:
> *   Maximum 8 words.
> *   Short headline only — no event details in the generated image.
> *   The plate must pass a vision-critique step confirming zero character distortion before use.
> *   **Note**: Prefer Ideogram when explicit typography is required, as its architecture is specifically optimized for rendering coherent text.

**Method C (Forbidden)**
> Allowing the image model to render full event details, long strings, or decorative body text. Always rejected.

### 3.2 — Font Selection Rules

*   **Maximum Two Font Families per Poster**: One expressive display face for the primary title or hook, and one highly legible face (sans-serif or clear serif) for event details.
*   **Font Personality Match**: The chosen typeface must match the event's genre and aesthetic. A vintage folk concert should not use a geometric techno sans-serif. A minimalist gallery opening should not use a distressed grunge brush font.
*   **No Mixing Display Faces**: Two expressive display faces on one poster creates visual cacophony. If a poster uses an expressive headline face, body text must be utilitarian, neutral, and subordinate.

### 3.3 — Typographic Legibility Rules

*   **Contrast Floors**: All body text and event details must maintain a minimum contrast ratio sufficient for legibility in both digital screen viewing and physical print.
*   **No Text on Busy Backgrounds**: If the background region beneath event text is visually complex, insert a clean backing field — a solid color panel, a matte box, or sufficient negative space — before placing the text.
*   **Minimum Font Size**: For print formats, event details must be no smaller than 24pt at native resolution to ensure physical legibility.
*   **Tracking & Spacing**: Headlines should be tightly tracked (-5 to -20 tracking units) to convey authority. Event details should be openly tracked (+20 to +60) for easy readability at a distance.

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## 4. Genre Guidance & Trope Prevention

Each event genre carries specific visual culture and equally specific exhausted clichés. This section defines the correct visual language for each major event type and provides explicit prohibition lists.

### 4.1 — Live Music & Performance

*   **Approved References**: Vintage gig prints, 1960s–1970s screenprinted concert posters (Wolfgang's Vault, Fillmore series), risograph zine aesthetics, abstract representations of sound through shape and pattern, silhouetted figures in motion.
*   **Forbidden Tropes**:
    - Glowing microphones floating in space
    - Generic acoustic or electric guitars depicted literally
    - Neon equalizer / soundwave graphics
    - Laser show light beams without intentional stylistic context
    - Crowd silhouettes with hands raised (used on millions of posters)

### 4.2 — Theater & Performing Arts

*   **Approved References**: Avant-garde Swiss typographic composition, Bauhaus graphic forms, conceptual visual metaphors (a single physical prop or mask fragment representing a thematic layer), dramatic high-contrast split compositions, editorial photo-based poster language.
*   **Forbidden Tropes**:
    - Full comedy/tragedy mask pairs
    - Literal curtain framing the composition
    - Stage spotlight bokeh circles on a black background
    - Proscenium arch depictions
    - Generic red velvet or gold tassel motifs

### 4.3 — Community & Cultural Events

*   **Approved References**: Screenprinted local botanical and geographic illustrations, woodcut print patterns, clean editorial grid layouts, archival documentary photography treatment, folk art motifs grounded in local heritage.
*   **Forbidden Tropes**:
    - Globe with hands clasped around it
    - Puzzle pieces clicked together
    - Vector-flat cartoon crowd renditions
    - Generic heart / world / family silhouette icons
    - Rainbow gradients as a standalone identity element

### 4.4 — Food, Markets & Festivals

*   **Approved References**: Vintage letterpress market posters, monoprint botanical illustration, hand-stamped woodblock label aesthetics, organic hand-drawn lettering, editorial food photography framing.
*   **Forbidden Tropes**:
    - Photorealistic food CGI renders
    - Steaming cartoon food icons
    - Checkered tablecloth or fork-and-knife clip art borders
    - Generic sunburst starburst deal-badge graphics

### 4.5 — Sports & Athletic Events

*   **Approved References**: Mid-century propaganda poster boldness, constructivist angular compositions, textile pattern-based hero graphics, bold silhouette sport figure studies, Swiss International sports graphics.
*   **Forbidden Tropes**:
    - Athlete in dramatic mid-action CGI render
    - Generic lightning bolt energy motifs
    - Lens flare trophy photography
    - Neon fire / smoke explosion FX

---

## 5. Color & Mood Guidance

Unrestricted color palettes lead directly to generic AI slop. Color must be selected intentionally, matched explicitly to the event's emotional register, and strictly limited in count.

### 5.1 — Color Budget Rules

*   **Maximum 4 Distinct Colors** including the canvas/background tone.
*   Name all colors explicitly in the prompt (e.g., `"Warm Ochre #C28832, Midnight Navy #142035, Off-White Cream #F5EFE0, and Carbon Black #1A1A1A"`).
*   Avoid color names that diffusion models interpret loosely (e.g., "blue" or "red"). Use compound or descriptive names ("dusty cornflower blue", "burnt brick red").

### 5.2 — Color Harmony Rules

| Harmony Mode | Best Used For | Character |
|---|---|---|
| **Duotone / Monochromatic** | Intimate, solo performance, gallery events | Moody, timeless, deeply artistic |
| **Analogous with Accent** | Most live events, festivals, cultural events | Balanced, warm, approachable, with directional eye pull |
| **Complementary (Controlled)** | Bold/athletic events, competition | High tension, visual energy, drama |
| **Split-Complementary** | Theater, nuanced conceptual events | Complex, sophisticated, unresolved tension |

### 5.3 — Mood Matching Requirements

The palette must be explicitly matched to the genre and emotional register of the event. Cross-contamination between palette moods is a deliberate design error:

| Event Register | Correct Palette Approach |
|---|---|
| Solo acoustic / folk / chamber music | Earthy, desaturated, warm neutrals — never neon, never bright primaries |
| High-energy live band / electronic | Dark deep backgrounds with 1-2 saturated accent colors — restrained, not garish |
| Formal theater / opera | Monochromatic or duotone, rich dark tones, classical ochre/gold accents |
| Street festival / community fair | Warm, vibrant, but still limited to 4 colors — avoid rainbow scatter palettes |
| Art gallery / opening | Near-neutral with one anchoring accent — let the whitespace carry the weight |

### 5.4 — Forbidden Color Behaviors

*   Smooth fully digital gradients spanning more than 2 stops.
*   Unsupported neon/electric colors applied to non-nightlife event contexts.
*   Mismatched warm/cool tones without intentional contrast design rationale.
*   Color palettes chosen for visual excitement rather than thematic accuracy.

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## 6. Composition Principles

Strong composition is the invisible skeleton of every great poster. The viewer should feel the structure without consciously seeing it.

### 6.1 — Structural Frameworks

Choose one primary compositional framework before building any design:

| Framework | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| **Rule of Thirds** | Primary visual element lands at an intersection of thirds; remaining space for text | Versatile, balanced events |
| **Central Focus** | Main visual anchored dead center; large negative space radiating outward | Intimate events, single performer |
| **Swiss Asymmetric Grid** | Grid defined, elements deliberately placed off-center with calculated tension | Conceptual, avant-garde events |
| **Diagonal / Dynamic** | Strong diagonal line or implied motion cutting through the composition | High-energy, athletic, or theatrical events |
| **Frame Within Frame** | Architectural or structural element frames the inner visual | Cultural, historical, formal events |

### 6.2 — Negative Space Rules

*   **30% Minimum Rest**: At minimum 30% of the poster canvas must be compositionally at rest — solid color, simple texture, or clean background without visual noise.
*   **Negative Space is Active**: Negative space should not feel empty; it should feel *intentional*. The shape of the space is itself a design decision.
*   **No Suffocation**: Never crowd the canvas. If a visual metaphor and all text feels cramped, the solution is not to reduce font size — it is to simplify the visual metaphor.

### 6.3 — Anchoring Rules

*   **Avoid "Floating Center"**: A composition where every element is centered both horizontally and vertically creates a sterile, unsophisticated poster. Anchor the primary visual to a frame edge, or establish a strong vertical or horizontal baseline.
*   **Ground the Composition**: The viewer should feel the composition has a bottom and a top. Floating elements that have no visual gravity feel unresolved.
*   **Frame Tension**: Elements that bleed slightly into the crop edge create contained visual tension and feel more physically printed.

### 6.4 — Bleed, Margin & Safety Rules

*   **Critical Content Safety Zone**: All text and primary visual anchors must be positioned at least **5%** away from the canvas edge on all sides to prevent print cropping or digital framing loss.
*   **Intentional Bleed**: Background color and texture fields should extend fully to the canvas edge (or beyond bleed marks for print formats) — never leave unintentional white slivers at borders.
*   **Print Formats**: When producing for physical print, adhere to 300 DPI at intended output size. Maintain a 3mm bleed boundary on all sides beyond the trim line.

### 6.5 — Resolution & Output Specs

| Format | Dimensions | Resolution | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Portrait (Social / Web) | 1080 × 1920 px | 72-150 DPI | Primary digital delivery format |
| Digital Square | 1080 × 1080 px | 72-150 DPI | Social media square format |
| Print A2 | 4961 × 7016 px | 300 DPI | Standard venue poster print |
| Print A3 | 3508 × 4961 px | 300 DPI | Standard tabloid / lobby print |
| Print A4 | 2480 × 3508 px | 300 DPI | Compact print / insert |