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SERIES STYLE CONTRACT

Physical and typographic identity

  • Trim: 7 × 10 inches.
  • Main text: Libertinus Serif.
  • Sans: Libertinus Sans.
  • Mathematics: Libertinus Math.
  • Monospace: DejaVu Sans Mono or metrically compatible fallback.
  • Restrained warm-paper / dark-ink / muted semantic accents.
  • GCL color names remain stable: GCLInk, GCLWarm, GCLPale, GCLBlue, GCLGreen.
  • Color is reinforcement, never the only carrier of meaning.
  • Running heads identify chapter/section rather than merely the series title.
  • Strong widow/orphan control and microtypography are required for RC builds.

Voice

Technical, rigorous, economical. Prefer exact ordinary language before specialized terminology. Avoid ceremonial claims. A sentence such as “this is the same structure” must mean an explicit correspondence; otherwise write “this is a useful reading/analogy.”

The governing pedagogical maxim is:

Formal notation should arrive after the problem it solves is visible.

Technical writing inheritance

The collection inherits the programme-wide writing contract at docs/TECHNICAL_WRITING_REFERENCE.md.

In particular, every volume must preserve the GCL-TCS-00 / GCL-POS-01 discipline that communication is part of the research instrument: technical object identity, claim identity, bounded evidence, limitations, provenance, review specificity, and authority state must survive composition and public exposition. Presentation may reveal authority; it cannot create it.

The monograph voice may be richer and more literary than procedure-oriented controlled language, but the underlying claim boundaries may not be softened. ASD-STE100 is a prose-clarity baseline where appropriate, not a requirement to deform mathematical notation, theorem statements, code, schemas, or quotations. Formal ASD-STE100 compliance must never be implied without a separate conformance record.

For mathematical exposition, this series contract also specializes docs/PEDAGOGICAL_STYLE_GUIDE.md and docs/GRAND_CHALLENGE_PEDAGOGY_STANDARD.md. Where these documents differ in level of detail, the stricter claim/provenance/review boundary controls.

Chapter rhythm

Default chapter architecture:

  1. motivating problem or communicative/computational tension;
  2. conceptual picture;
  3. informal explanation;
  4. formal interlude;
  5. worked example;
  6. executable laboratory;
  7. “Do not confuse” failure boundary;
  8. exercises in all six modes;
  9. short bridge to the next chapter.

Do not force section headings merely to satisfy the template; preserve the rhythm even when sections merge.

Boxes

Series-stable semantic boxes:

  • Intuition
  • Formal Interlude
  • Checkpoint
  • Do not confuse
  • Computational Laboratory
  • Governing Principle
  • Worked Example
  • Proof Workshop
  • Design Clinic

A future volume may add a box only if the distinction recurs often enough to justify a new visual grammar.

Plate grammar

Every plate uses the shared gclplate TikZ style. Labels use opaque or near-opaque local backgrounds (gcllabel) as a safety layer, but routing remains the primary solution to collisions.

Connector priorities:

  1. direct noncrossing line;
  2. curved route with explicit out/in angles;
  3. orthogonal route / waypoint;
  4. local pointer or stub;
  5. move the label;
  6. only then change scale.

Never shrink text solely to accommodate an arrow.

Plate caption format:

Plate N. <descriptive title>. <pedagogical claim>. <limit of analogy / scope statement where needed>.

Series front matter

Every volume includes:

  • collection / series title;
  • volume title/subtitle;
  • scope/publication page;
  • preface explaining why this volume is necessary;
  • series orientation locating the current volume;
  • explicit statement that “grand unified theory” is a research thesis.

Back matter

Every volume includes:

  • formal reference / notation guide;
  • glossary where needed;
  • bibliography;
  • generated index;
  • illustration register or production appendix;
  • course/self-study roadmap where pedagogically useful;
  • transition to next volume.