# IDS, HERE and the work that grows from them
Working direction · 13 September 2026

This direction applies to the Stack Results experimental building home. It is a candidate foundation for the wider IDS/HERE family, not a claim that those other live surfaces have been changed or that a final Stack Results identity has been approved.

## The instruction
Visual choices must be specific to the brand, the words and the moment. Shared identity must create continuity across IDS, HERE and their projects without making each project look interchangeable. The repeated green cards and invented screen illustrations from the first building home have been superseded.

## Three relationships
| Layer | What it means | What a person should recognise |
| --- | --- | --- |
| HERE | The people, ownership, records and connection to real-world value | Where I am, whose project this is, what I can act on, and what has happened |
| IDS | The place for intentional design, making and review | How work is presented, explored, contributed, compared and developed |
| Stack Results | People pursuing improvement, sharing practices and inspecting outcomes | A human practice, its history, the evidence behind a result, and a useful next action |

The family shares navigation behaviour, clear context, accessible controls, source visibility and an honest distinction between exploration and a released product. Project identity remains specific: words, imagery, composition, type, colour and motion must follow the project’s own material and purpose.

## What this version chooses
- **Composition:** a spacious editorial introduction, one large historical artifact, a short story about its intent and a compact source archive. The original work receives visual priority; source tools become available when requested.
- **Type:** Instrument Serif carries the studio’s editorial voice, with Archivo Condensed for quiet labels. These are the actual IDS typefaces, copied with their licences and exact asset hashes. Working controls use the system’s familiar sans-serif stack. This does not rename the historical Stack Results wordmark or approve a final product type system.
- **Colour:** a neutral, warm paper and dark ink surround the work. The Figma artifact retains its original colours. Categories, environments and verification states use words and structure rather than invented colour associations. Green is not a default for self-improvement.
- **Imagery:** the actual exported Figma frame 822:4026. No substitute screen, stock scene, generated lifestyle image or borrowed reference-site artwork stands in for a historical version.
- **Motion:** a small movement on the artifact’s interactive surface signals that it opens. Navigation and disclosures respond directly to the person. Reduced-motion preferences disable non-essential motion; nothing autoplays or obstructs reading.
- **Words:** “In the making” describes the current experimental moment. “Archived design study” and the caption explain the status of the displayed work. A health concept’s sample metrics are not presented as verified outcomes.
- **Controls:** same labels and destinations on both pages; visible keyboard focus; semantic buttons, links and dialogs; a short route back to the HERE project and IDS contribution workspace.

## Choose for the moment
| Moment | What the person needs | Presentation to choose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Discovering the work | Understand what it is and why it exists | A strong artifact, a specific sentence, generous space, an obvious next step |
| Practising | Know the next action and record what happened | Calm working typography, stable controls, units and dates, explicit save and error states |
| Inspecting evidence | Understand a claim’s source, method and limits | Readable records and comparisons; no decorative treatment that suggests endorsement |
| Sharing a result | Tell an accurate story to a chosen audience | A version-bound excerpt with evidence status, limitations and consent respected |
| Reviewing a contribution | Assess its reasoning and observed behaviour | Source, intended audience, design rationale, meaningful before/after views and unresolved issues |

A layout is selected after the message and the material. A new brand does not begin by picking a colour for an existing template.

## Required visual rationale for a contribution
Write a short rationale in the IDS submission’s summary:
1. **Audience and moment:** who is this for, and what are they doing here?
2. **The sentence:** what should they understand, feel or be able to do?
3. **Material:** which original images, words, records or working interactions carry that meaning? Link their source and note whether they are real, historical, illustrative or proposed.
4. **Choices:** why this composition, type, colour and motion? What does each contribute?
5. **Continuity:** what comes from HERE/IDS, what belongs to this brand, and what changes for this moment?
6. **Proof:** show the actual version on desktop and phone, keyboard behaviour, missing/error states, and any unresolved claim or source restriction.

The browser draft adds this rationale to the existing IDS summary field. It does not create an IDS review, grant access or approve a release.

## Review standard
- The main sentence and visual describe the same thing.
- Every prominent artifact has an identifiable source and a purpose.
- Historical content and illustrative data are visibly distinguishable from current evidence.
- The project can be recognised without relying on a category colour.
- The experience belongs to the HERE/IDS family through context and behaviour.
- Reading, action, access and recovery stay understandable on a phone and with a keyboard.
- Marketing is tied to an accepted staging version; production remains admin-overseen.

## Reference study
[Off Menu](https://www.offmenu.design/) informed the quiet frame around distinctive project imagery. [Rava Labs](https://www.ravalabs.com/) informed the scale and space given to the work. [Chester](https://chester.how/) informed the relationship between personal, specific writing and varied artifacts. These were visually inspected on 13 September 2026. Their layouts, artwork, business claims and personal voice have not been copied.

The IDS sources are the existing studio assets and brand alignment record, checked locally. The historical Stack Results source is [Branding — Stack Results, frame 822:4026](https://www.figma.com/design/RTQvBcy6UHmIVyZzZ7Wg6g?node-id=822-4026), exported on 13 September 2026. The frame’s copy refers to 2025; its exact historical revision and author were not pinned. Asset hashes and use decisions are in visual-decisions.json.

## Applying the family beyond this page
1. Use this experimental home and its desktop/phone review as the first concrete application.
2. Compare the existing IDS and HERE navigation, forms, evidence records and project transitions against these shared behaviours. Record differences before changing either release.
3. Extract accepted shared primitives with versioned ownership; keep project artwork and product voice outside those primitives.
4. Give each brand its own short direction and contribution rationale using its actual sources.
5. Review each change in its real moment, then promote through Experimental, Staging and Stable with the project’s existing authority.

Current scope: this home, its design-direction page, shared foundation candidate and contributor package. A wider IDS/HERE rollout, the complete improvement journey, authenticated contribution flow and backend remain separate work with their own acceptance evidence.