The design language

1. Two sides, one line. Everything we make has two sides that meet: two people, two hands, the old and the new. We put that meeting in the centre, on one vertical line, so the eye knows where to look.
2. Things meet, then rest. Every movement follows four steps: two things approach, they touch, they leave a trace, they come to rest. A payment arrives, a coin drops, a record is confirmed. The marks may play; the screen around them stays calm.
3. One red, used as light. Red appears once per screen or picture, on the one thing that matters most, and only on a small part of it. It is never decoration. Each app has its own accent colour; the rule stays.
4. Real materials. Paper, wood, brass, glass, brick: things you could touch, worn and made by hand. No glossy gradients. An ornament has to carry a meaning, or it goes.
5. Every decade at once. Our world mixes 1910, 1968, 1986, 1999 and 2050 in one room, the way Vienna does. We combine them on purpose, never as a costume and never as a shiny vision of the future.
6. Two modes: the stage and the receipt. The stage is dark and atmospheric, for pictures, stories and first impressions. The receipt is light: plain paper, black ink, clear numbers, for the moment someone confirms, signs or pays. That moment is never decorated.
7. Text is set, never generated. Words are set in Archivo, numbers and dates in IBM Plex Mono, titles are drawn or set by hand. No machine writes text inside a picture.

The test for anything new: cover the name. Is it still recognisably Beidwerk? Is it clear who made it? Would anyone still care about it in a hundred years? If one answer is no, it is not finished.

Each band member has one red sign: ECHT a ring, STAMM a vertical stripe, BOGEN a half-disc, SCHLAG a square. In German type design the Stamm is the upright stroke of a letter and the Bogen its curve, so together the four signs form the letter B, the Beidwerk mark. Every logo, pattern, icon and stage set is built from these four shapes and straight lines. If a shape is none of them, it needs a reason to be there.

1. 01
   Ring · ECHTvoice · 2050

   the light where the two halves of the B meet

2. 02
   Stripe · STAMMguitar · 1999

   the stem, the upright stroke of the B

3. 03
   Half-disc · BOGENdouble bass · 1910

   the bowl, the curve of the B

4. 04
   Square · SCHLAGdrums · 1968

   the beat that holds the B together

Every app gets a sticker: two of the four signs meeting, drawn chubby and a little imperfect, the way a sticker on a laptop or a guitar case looks. The play lives in the marks; the screens around them stay calm.

Beidwerk has two modes. The stage is night: warm lamp light against deep green, soft grain. Pictures, posters, headers and first steps live there. The receipt is daylight: calm paper, black ink, clear numbers and one red. It is used wherever two people confirm, sign or pay, and that moment is never decorated.

Every movement follows the same four steps, the way a handshake or a payment does.

The playful part stays in the marks and the moment of contact; the page around it is calm. For people who prefer reduced motion nothing moves, and the end state appears at once.

The stage colours are measured from the band's concept art. Every colour used for text and interface passes the accessibility contrast checks: 4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for marks and lines.

The stage

The receipt

Accents

Archivo for words, IBM Plex Mono for numbers, dates and labels; both are open fonts and part of the kit. Titles will get a Vienna 1900 display face. Posters are painted by hand. Type is always chosen or drawn, never generated inside a picture.

• purple, pink or shiny "tech" blue; decorative gradients
• more than one red in a picture or on a screen
• gold as a text colour, as a gradient or as plastic
• text, numbers or logos generated inside a picture
• the clichés of the trade: glowing blockchains, coins with faces, robots
• drop shadows and rounded pill buttons in an interface
• anything that makes people feel watched or locked in