# Three design directions

## 1. Mended Field Notes

**Thesis:** A neighborhood repair manual annotated by many hands.

- Warm paper ground, dark green ink, safety orange, ruled measurements, dashed "stitch" lines, and off-register shadows.
- A sturdy slab-like system font stack paired with a highly readable sans-serif body.
- An asymmetric editorial layout: event notice as a clipped workshop ticket, accepted items as labeled drawers, and the process as oversized manual steps.
- Small motion resembles a tag being placed on a workbench; reduced-motion users see the final state immediately.

**Against the brief:** Strong subject fit, friendly without becoming cute, works with CSS-only texture, and gives pending event information an intentional notice-board treatment. Dense visual language needs disciplined spacing on mobile.

## 2. Street Table Blueprint

**Thesis:** The page is a top-down plan of a pop-up neighborhood workshop.

- Deep blueprint blue, chalk white, measurement grids, monoline diagrams, and station labels.
- Content follows a drawn route from welcome table to diagnosis, repair, and check-out.
- Interaction highlights the visitor's route and annotates each station.

**Against the brief:** Excellent at explaining process and movement; striking even without images. The dark field can feel institutional, and fine blueprint marks are harder to sustain at small sizes and high zoom.

## 3. Patchwork Noticeboard

**Thesis:** A community bulletin assembled from fabric scraps, repair tags, and contributed notes.

- Cloth-inspired blocks, visible seams, high-chroma thread colors, and handwritten accent type.
- Modular notes can grow as neighbors contribute information.
- Interaction "pins" a preparation list and flips item tags for details.

**Against the brief:** Warmest and most communal direction, with an obvious relationship to clothing repair. It risks decorative overload and can drift toward a generic collection of cards unless composition is carefully controlled.

## Comparison and selection

| Criterion | Mended Field Notes | Street Table Blueprint | Patchwork Noticeboard |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Repair-specific character | Excellent across all item types | Strong for process | Strongest for textiles, weaker elsewhere |
| Clarity of pending event state | Excellent | Good | Good |
| Accessibility and text resilience | Excellent | Fair | Good |
| Local-only implementation | Simple | Moderate | Moderate |
| Avoids generic card UI | Excellent | Excellent | At risk |

**Selected: Mended Field Notes.** It most evenly supports the whole brief. It communicates practical competence without claiming event facts that are not known, accommodates long instructions, and creates a distinctive identity using only typography, borders, gradients, and layout. Its workshop metaphors reinforce meaning rather than decorate around it.