# S-00 Slide Design V1

## Status

- Project: `2026-06-23-在路上`
- Slide: `s00`
- Version: `v1`
- Artifact type: cover design / human-facing post-production guide
- Status: draft for user confirmation
- Design line: MV cover version
- Image generation status: not started
- Next gate: user confirms this design before `brief`, `prompt`, and image generation.

## Design Purpose

`s00` is the cover slide for the MV. It is different from ordinary production shots because it must support later human post-production: title placement, typography, color, and possible platform thumbnail use.

Therefore this file is for the user and post-production decisions. The later `brief.md` remains the execution card for Codex image generation, and the later `prompt.md` remains the image-model prompt. The generated image should be a clean textless base image.

## Discussion Summary

The accepted direction is the more MV-cover-like version: keep a small back-view traveler and distant fire, while preserving the project's core rule that the world, road, mud, night, and starlight are read before the person.

The GPT cover skeleton proposed "muddy road, broken starlight in puddle, distant fire, small traveler." After looking at the already accepted project images and visual system, the direction was tightened:

- Do not make the cover a literal collage of `S-46` and `S-51`.
- Do not reveal the whole ending too early.
- Do not make the traveler or fire too prominent.
- Do not let the image contain generated title text.
- Use `design` for human/post-production information and keep `brief` compact for execution.

The final cover should feel like a distilled MV key image, not a poster with all answers explained.

## Visual Concept

Working concept:

> 泥路低处见星，远方有火，人仍在走。

The image is a dark pre-dawn or night road-film still. The viewer first reads wet mud, a road, a low puddle with broken cold starlight, and darkness. The second read finds a small back-view traveler continuing forward. The third read notices a restrained orange fire far ahead.

The emotional meaning is:

> 泥泞是真的，星空也是真的；人很小，但还在走，远方还有火。

This should not feel triumphant. It should feel quiet, road-worn, unfinished, and still moving.

## Image Base Requirements

The generated image must be a 16:9 horizontal textless base image.

Core image structure:

- Foreground: muddy wet road and a real puddle occupying roughly the lower 25%-35% of the frame.
- Puddle: visible broken cold-white starlight reflected in dirty water, but less close and less complete than the accepted `S-46` soul shot.
- Midground: one small 50-year-old male traveler, back view or side-back view, dark long coat, old backpack, old boots, walking away.
- Traveler scale: about 1/10 to 1/8 of frame height, small enough to stay secondary.
- Road: wet muddy track leads from foreground toward distance; road direction should guide the eye toward the far fire.
- Distance: one tiny restrained orange roadside fire plus at most one or two weaker fire points farther away.
- Sky / upper area: keep enough dark, quiet negative space for later title placement.
- Overall style: photorealistic cinematic documentary road-film still, restrained poetic realism, low saturation.

The generated image must not contain:

- title text;
- subtitles;
- labels;
- logo;
- watermark;
- readable signs;
- poster typography;
- AI-generated Chinese or English characters.

## Text / Typography Plan

Default title text for post-production:

```text
在路上
```

Do not render this title into the generated image. Add it later in post-production.

Default subtitle: none.

Optional subtitle only if the thumbnail feels too quiet after image review:

```text
泥泞里，有星空
```

Typography direction:

- Chinese title should feel road-worn, restrained, and human.
- Prefer a rough but legible hand-brushed title style, or a thick Song/Hei hybrid with slight weathered texture.
- Avoid modern technology fonts, glossy commercial poster fonts, elegant literary thin fonts, and over-dramatic calligraphy.
- Keep the title simple; do not add decorative frames or slogan blocks.

Suggested title color:

- Main title: warm off-white / aged paper, approximately `#F2E6CF`.
- Optional subtitle: muted warm gray, approximately `#BFAF96`.
- Shadow or stroke: very dark blue-black, approximately `#071016`, used lightly only for readability.

Optional accent:

- A very restrained warm-orange echo from the distant fire, approximately `#C67935`, only for a tiny underline, dot, or metadata accent if needed. Do not make the title orange.

## Layout / Safe Areas

Default title placement:

- Upper left or upper right, depending on where the generated sky/negative space is cleanest.
- Keep at least 7%-9% margin from the frame edge.
- Title block should not cover the puddle, traveler, road direction, or far fire.

Preferred layout if the generated image follows the intended composition:

- Title in upper-left dark sky area.
- No subtitle.
- Keep all text above the horizon/road action zone.
- Let the lower third remain purely visual: mud, puddle, broken starlight, and road.

Fallback layout:

- If the upper-left area has too much visual activity, move title to upper-right.
- If both upper corners are active, use a small title block in the darker side of the sky, not on top of the puddle.

Thumbnail rule:

- At small size, viewers should still read: road / fire / small person / night mood.
- The title should remain legible but not dominate the image.

## Color Guidance

Image palette:

- deep blue-black;
- wet dark blue-gray;
- cold gray;
- earth brown;
- dark khaki;
- coal black.

Emotional highlights:

- cold-white broken starlight in the puddle;
- small warm-orange fire in the distance;
- faint dark pre-dawn blue if needed.

Color balance:

> 大面积冷暗，小面积暖光。泥是现实，星是精神，火是同行。

Avoid:

- gold inspirational poster tone;
- orange-blue blockbuster grading;
- purple/blue sci-fi tone;
- tourist sunrise or sunset;
- clean glossy commercial contrast.

## Post-Production Notes

The image is expected to be a base image for manual title work.

Post-production steps after a usable image exists:

1. Add the title `在路上` manually.
2. Choose upper-left or upper-right placement based on the actual generated negative space.
3. Use warm off-white title color with light dark shadow/stroke only if readability needs it.
4. Keep subtitle disabled by default.
5. If a subtitle is needed for platform thumbnail readability, use `泥泞里，有星空` in small muted warm gray.
6. Do not add explanatory copy, credit blocks, decorative frames, or extra graphic elements unless a later task explicitly asks for a poster variant.

## Constraints / Avoid

Avoid image drift:

- no person-centered poster;
- no large face or front-facing portrait;
- no heroic pose;
- no arms-open silhouette;
- no traveler-blog backshot;
- no camping scene;
- no group reunion;
- no victory feeling;
- no clean tourism road;
- no bright sunrise/sunset;
- no fantasy portal or magic glow;
- no sci-fi/cyberpunk palette;
- no text in image.

Avoid cover-specific mistakes:

- do not make the puddle so close that it becomes only `S-46` again;
- do not make the fire so clear that it becomes the ending `S-51`;
- do not make the traveler larger than the world;
- do not fill all dark sky, because post-production needs title space.

## Confirmation Gate

If the user confirms this design, the next step is:

1. Write `s00-v1-brief.md`.
2. Write `s00-v1-prompt.md` through the required `gpt-image-2` Advisor / host-native workflow.
3. Generate `s00-v1-image.png` as a textless base image.
4. Update `projects/2026-06-23-在路上/slides/slides.md` with `s00` progress.
5. Record the generated image as `production-pass` by default because the project is in production-light and this task's images are user-authorized as pass-by-default unless the user later requests an append-only retry.