Course exhibit SVGs: per-image quality pass (refactoring.fm style)

.okf/design/house-visual-spec.md

@@ -233,3 +233,57 @@ scale with the measured >=9px @390px floor formula - plus the exhibit
 grammar and the O1/O2 rubric. Nothing in the ADR's Phase-A spec requirement
 was left aspirational; the floor is a formula (basis 17px @ W=720 -> 9.21px)
 and every dimension is a number an SVG author can render from.
+
+## Refactoring.fm illustration style (2026-08-13, Paul - the new exhibit bar)
+
+Paul's north star for course exhibits: the refactoring.fm (Luca Rossi) illustration
+look (reference set: `docs/projects/2605-.../10-19-research/images/`). Redraw
+exhibits to THIS, not the muted #faf7f2 O2 cards:
+- **Clean white bg**, generous whitespace, minimal text, BIG labels.
+- **Big bold hand-drawn Caveat labels** with a **soft colored drop-shadow glow**
+  (SVG feDropShadow, the label's own colour, opacity ~0.5) so they pop.
+- **Saturated semantic per-element colours** (NOT muted): blue #2b7fff structure,
+  red #f2635a/#e5484d, green, amber, purple - each category its own colour.
+- **Soft tinted rounded pills** behind labels (very light tint of the label colour,
+  rx ~18) with a subtle grey drop-shadow for depth + a slight wobble rotation
+  (~0.4-0.6deg) for the hand-drawn feel.
+- **Bold blue connector arrows** (stroke ~3.5, blue arrowhead marker); purple
+  dashed arrows for callout annotations.
+- **NO emoji** (Paul 2026-08-13: "emojis look not so good, avoid them").
+- **Wobble is layout-dependent (2026-08-13 correction):** the ~0.4-0.6deg wobble
+  reads "hand-drawn/playful" in a **flow or vertical stack** - but in a **grid of
+  aligned cards it reads as MISALIGNMENT, not craft.** Drop the wobble in grids;
+  keep clean edges. (This exact rule caused the friday-demo-timeline clunkiness -
+  see the render-gate checklist below.)
+- Legibility unchanged: min font >=20px Caveat, W=720, ZERO overflow (render-check
+  every one at 390 + desktop).
+Template exhibit: `five-tech-words-stop-nodding-at/jargon-translator.svg`.
+
+### Render-gate clunkiness checklist (2026-08-13 - itemize, don't vibe-check)
+
+**Why this exists (decision record):** friday-demo-timeline was render-verified at
+390, judged "legible + no overflow + on-style" -> stamped PASS -> handed back. Paul
+then caught 3 clunky defects that were all VISIBLE in that same screenshot: grid
+wobble reading as misalignment, a crowded odd-one-out STOP card, and hollow
+badge-to-label gaps. **Root cause: a legibility/overflow gate is structurally BLIND
+to composition.** Binary defect gates are necessary but NOT sufficient.
+
+**The rule:** after the binary gate (legible / no overflow / on-style) passes, run
+these 6 as an EXPLICIT ticked checklist - stance = "assume clunky, find 3 things to
+fix" (assuming PASS is why the 3 were missed). A render is not PASS until all 6 are
+ticked, not glanced:
+
+1. **Alignment** - repeated elements on a clean grid, or does wobble/offset read jagged?
+2. **Odd-one-out balance** - does the different cell (STOP, total row, hero) match its
+   siblings' internal rhythm, or crowd/diverge?
+3. **Whitespace / hollowness** - dead gaps inside boxes? content floating with no anchor?
+4. **Sibling consistency** - do all repeated cards share ONE internal layout (badge, label pos)?
+5. **Edge breathing room** - any text CROWDING the container edge (not overflow, just tight)?
+6. **Weight / emphasis** - is the one thing that should dominate actually dominant?
+
+**Backstop for batches:** a self-checklist still relies on the author's eye, which
+rationalizes its own choices as intentional. Before a PR merge, run one INDEPENDENT
+critic pass on the renders (impeccable `critique` or a fresh reviewer that didn't
+draw them) - the only reliable catch for author-blind clunkiness (matches the
+CLAUDE.md content cold-eyes gate). Per-exhibit: the 6-item checklist. Per-batch: the
+critic pass.

.okf/log.md

@@ -93,6 +93,21 @@
   CTR that `content-strategy/content-plan.md` was built from.
 * **Not in the repo**: all credential files live under `~/.config/` and
   `~/Library/Application Support/`. Nothing was committed but the bundle.
+## 2026-08-13 (exhibit clunkiness) - render-gate needs a composition pass
+
+* **Update**: `.okf/design/house-visual-spec.md` gains a **render-gate
+  clunkiness checklist** (6 items: alignment, odd-one-out balance, whitespace/
+  hollowness, sibling consistency, edge breathing room, weight/emphasis) plus a
+  per-batch independent-critic backstop.
+* **Wobble rule corrected**: the ~0.4-0.6deg hand-drawn wobble reads as craft
+  in a flow/stack but as MISALIGNMENT in a grid of aligned cards - drop it in
+  grids. This exact spec rule caused the friday-demo-timeline clunkiness.
+* **Root cause recorded**: a legibility/overflow gate is structurally BLIND to
+  composition. friday-demo-timeline passed the binary gate (legible/no-overflow/
+  on-style) with 3 clunky defects visible in the same screenshot; Paul caught
+  them. Binary gates necessary, not sufficient - stance "assume clunky, find 3"
+  is the lever. Redraw shipped on `course-svg-per-image-fixes` (7e87b1a7 draw,
+  c0df99a1 de-clunk).
 
 ## 2026-08-12 (item16 landing migration) - below-fold coverage gap confirmed