Mainskeeper - App · round 2 · primary review canvas

Six directions, three of them new

Round two adds Porchlight (site-first), Meridian (time-first) and Docket (exception-first) to the round-one directions Vigil, Feeder Board and Brownout. All six marks sit together first; then every interface is one click away, followed by a detailed look at 4–6 and a short comparison table.

All equipment, sites, times and people shown are a fictional demonstration scenario frozen at Wed 30 Sep 2026, 15:22 — not real equipment. Round-one concepts use the round-one scenario, which counted five collectors and put a Windows PC and a Fedora NUC at Shop and Duplex; see round 2 notes.

Identity

All six marks

Every logomark and primary lockup shown at equal height (on very narrow screens the widest lockups shrink to fit), each on the ground it was drawn for: 1, 4, 5 and 6 on their own light grounds; 2 (Feeder Board) and 3 (Brownout) on dark tiles because their marks and wordmarks are drawn light-on-dark. App icons below each at real 64, 32 and 16px — no scaling tricks.

Vigil logomark — **1 · Vigil**paper ground (intended)

Vigil lockup — **1 · Vigil**paper ground (intended)

Feeder Board logomark — **2 · Feeder Board**graphite tile — drawn light-on-dark

Feeder Board lockup — **2 · Feeder Board**graphite tile — drawn light-on-dark

Brownout logomark — **3 · Brownout**lacquer-black tile — drawn for dark

Brownout lockup — **3 · Brownout**lacquer-black tile — drawn for dark

Porchlight logomark — **4 · Porchlight**warm ground (intended)

Porchlight lockup — **4 · Porchlight**warm ground (intended)

Meridian logomark — **5 · Meridian**cool paper (intended)

Meridian lockup — **5 · Meridian**cool paper (intended)

Docket logomark — **6 · Docket**stone ground (intended)

Docket lockup — **6 · Docket**stone ground (intended)

Pages

Open any interface

Dashboards default to the incident state; the calm link adds #calm. Each page also has its own Demo state switch.

Round 2 — concepts 4–6

4 · Porchlight

Round 2 · site-first everyday tool

An approachable everyday tool that starts from places, not devices.

Jump to detailed review

5 · Meridian

Round 2 · time-first investigation

A precise, time-first investigation surface.

Jump to detailed review

6 · Docket

Round 2 · exception-first workbench

A bold, exception-first workbench.

Jump to detailed review

Round 1 — concepts 1–3 (preserved, unchanged)

1 · Vigil

Round 1 · considered watchkeeping

2 · Feeder Board

Round 1 · utility dispatch board

3 · Brownout

Round 1 · power after dark

Detailed review · concept 4

4 · Porchlight — site-first everyday tool

The idea

An approachable everyday tool that starts from places, not devices. A tablist site switcher (Fleet plus four sites) sits beside a fleet home that speaks plainly — “Three places need a look. Broadwater first.” Each site opens as a focused workspace: expandable UPS cards, collectors with role badges, an incidents panel, a 24-hour strip and, for Duplex, a detailed SVG timeline.

Logo construction

Two soft arches sharing one post read as a lowercase m and as two doorways; they sit on a rounded porch step, with a lamp dot lit in the left doorway. Wordmark is outlined (converted to paths). Not a ring, feeder diagram, socket or bolt.

Open the Porchlight identity board

Typography

Bricolage Grotesque (display) · Figtree (text) · JetBrains Mono (figures, CLI) — self-hosted WOFF2, SIL OFL, licence files in concepts/d/fonts/.

Palette

#FBF5EEwarm ground
#E4573Dcoral · brand
#F4A261apricot · accent
#2E5E7Eslate · recovering / links
#2A211Cink
#A8201Acritical (octagon)
#E0A100warning (amber triangle)
#1F7A5Chealthy (check-circle)

Desktop dashboard · incident state · 1440 × 900, scaled

Open full size (keyboard-friendly)

Mobile · 390 × 844

Open full size

Site chips reorder by attention (most urgent first); the focused-site pattern carries over as a single column.

Try this

Open the dashboard full size, or work inside the preview above.

The dashboard opens on Incident & recovery at Fleet: read the headline “Three places need a look. Broadwater first.”
Tab into the Places rail and use the arrow keys to move between Fleet, Broadwater, Duplex, Home and Shop; the address updates (for example #incident/site=shop).
Pick Shop, then press Details on Shop Bench UPS to expand its last-known readings from 15:10 and see both probes silent.
Pick Broadwater, press Open incident, then Acknowledge — the incident stays open and the acknowledgment is recorded separately.
Pick Duplex to see the history upload (382 of 1,630) and the Duplex timeline with the 14:30–14:52 gap.
Switch the review bar to Calm fleet for the everyday view.

Tradeoffs

Pages are about 110 KB because markup is duplicated per demo state.
The rail is alphabetical while the fleet home is ordered by attention — two orders to learn.
The 24-hour strips compress the Duplex episode into a few pixels.
The detailed Duplex timeline is desktop-only.

Detailed review · concept 5

5 · Meridian — time-first investigation

The idea

A precise, time-first investigation surface. A “Now · 15:22” rail stays current at all times while four sites × four lanes (utility, UPS, connectivity, reporting) share one time axis with 24 h / 6 h / 2 h zoom. Every event marker opens an Evidence panel showing event time and received time, source and certainty — history is always visibly history.

Logo construction

One mains cycle on a 24-unit grid: a sine half-wave, then a hard vertical drop into a square half-wave — the “meridian” is the moment the UPS takes over. An open line on a thin axis, no enclosure.

Open the Meridian identity board

Typography

Instrument Sans (text and display) · Martian Mono (times, figures, CLI) — self-hosted WOFF2, SIL OFL, licence files in concepts/e/fonts/. A dark set was specified and checked on the identity board.

Palette

#F5F7FBpaper
#0B1233ink
#2436D9ultramarine · brand / selection
#A9DDF3ice · range fill
#5B6784slate · secondary
#B86E00amber · warning
#C8203Fcrimson · critical
#0F7A5Cgreen · healthy

Desktop dashboard · incident state · 1440 × 900, scaled

Open full size (keyboard-friendly)

Mobile · 390 × 844

Open full size

A Now summary first, then vertical per-site timelines newest first; tapping an event opens an evidence sheet.

Try this

Open the dashboard full size, or work inside the preview above.

Note the Now · 15:22 rail — it stays current whatever you select.
Click (or Tab to and press Enter on) the Duplex 14:03 “UPS on battery” marker: the Evidence panel shows event time 14:03, received 15:17 (delayed), source and certainty counts.
Choose the preset 13:30–15:30 Duplex episode: a “Viewing history” banner appears. Use ← / → to nudge the window, Shift + arrows to change its end, Esc to clear.
Switch zoom between 24 h, 6 h and 2 h; lane labels appear at the closer zooms.
Try 06:40–06:45 Home blip and 29 Sep 21:00–21:45 Duplex outage (yesterday, resolved), then Return to now.
Drag across the lanes to brush a custom range.

Tradeoffs

The Duplex episode crowds together at the 24 h zoom.
Lane labels appear only when zoomed in.
On a 900px-tall window the Evidence panel sits below the lanes.
One UPS lane per site, so Home’s two UPSs share a lane (named in the markers).

Detailed review · concept 6

6 · Docket — exception-first workbench

The idea

A bold, exception-first workbench. The home is a queue of dockets — one per incident — sorted most severe first, with filter chips that show counts and an evidence pane for the selected docket. When nothing is open it says so: “Nothing needs you.” with the fleet strip expanded. Keyboard-driven throughout.

Logo construction

A forest square with a slot cut into its top (a heavy, square M); a pink tab rises out of the slot — the docket pulled from the pile — and a butter stamp sits in one corner. Three flat blocks, no curves.

Open the Docket identity board

Typography

Unbounded (display) · Atkinson Hyperlegible (text) · IBM Plex Mono (times, CLI) — self-hosted WOFF2, SIL OFL, licence files in concepts/f/fonts/.

Palette

#EFEEEAground
#0E4D3Aforest · brand / recovering
#FF7FA8bubblegum · selection, never danger
#FFD24Abutter · warning
#121212ink
#C8102Esignal red · critical only (notched triangle)

Desktop dashboard · incident state · 1440 × 900, scaled

Open full size (keyboard-friendly)

Mobile · 390 × 844

Open full size

An inbox list opens a full-screen evidence view; Back restores the list’s scroll position and filters.

Try this

Open the dashboard full size, or work inside the preview above.

Move through the queue with j/k or ↑/↓; Enter opens a docket’s evidence, Esc returns.
Use the Severity, Site and State filter chips (each shows its count); pick a combination with no match to see the explanatory empty state, then press x to clear filters.
Select “BW Rack UPS on battery” and press a (Acknowledge): it reads “Acknowledged — still open”.
Press r or Show resolved to reveal yesterday’s Duplex outage (21:14–21:31).
n adds a note, c copies a link to the docket.
Switch to Calm fleet: “Nothing needs you.” with the fleet strip expanded.

Tradeoffs

Pink selection sits next to red critical — distinguishable by shape and label, but close in hue family.
The “Open” chip means unacknowledged, which differs from “not resolved”.
Healthy detail is one click away rather than on the home.
Secondary text is 13–14px.

Side by side

Concepts 1–6 compared

Short cells; details in each concept’s pages and in the round notes. The table scrolls sideways inside its frame on narrow screens.

Criterion	1 Vigil	2 Feeder Board	3 Brownout	4 Porchlight	5 Meridian	6 Docket
Logo character and recognizability	Open watch ring + level mains line. Calm, quiet in a tab strip; ring can read as a power or no-entry sign.	One-line-diagram M, bus tap stopping short of a keeper node. Technical, strong on dark; needs the dark tile.	Socket-face keyhole in a lacquer lozenge. Most memorable; relies on gradients, muddier at 16px.	Two arches on a porch step, lamp dot = m / doorways. Friendly, reads as a letter; soft at 16px.	One mains cycle, sine dropping into square. Distinct line mark, no enclosure; thin at 16px without the icon tile.	Slotted forest square, pink tab, butter stamp. Heavy, blocky, very legible at 16px.
Palette and typography	Paper, ink, teal. Iowan Old Style / Charter — macOS-resident; renders differently elsewhere.	Graphite, safety yellow, alarm red. DIN Alternate — macOS-only.	Lacquer, oxblood, chrome, magenta, chartreuse. Didot / Futura — macOS-resident.	Warm cream, coral, apricot, slate. Bricolage Grotesque + Figtree + JetBrains Mono — self-hosted OFL.	Cool paper, ultramarine, ice; dark set checked. Instrument Sans + Martian Mono — self-hosted OFL.	Stone, forest, bubblegum, butter; red only for critical. Unbounded + Atkinson Hyperlegible + IBM Plex Mono — self-hosted OFL.
Information density	Low–medium; prose-led report.	High; board of counters, tickets, mimic and ledger.	Medium; decoration takes space.	Medium; one site at a time.	High on the time axis; sparse elsewhere.	Medium; queue + one evidence pane.
Primary navigation and interaction model	Single scrolling watch report; ledger-page drawer.	Scan the board; open dispatch tickets; event ledger.	Alarm plates, per-site booths, “back room” drawer.	Site tablist (Fleet + 4 sites, arrow keys, hash), expandable UPS cards.	Shared time axis; click events for evidence; brush or preset ranges; zoom.	Filtered inbox with j/k, Enter, Esc and letter shortcuts.
Everyday monitoring	Headline sentence and 24 h watch line.	Complete but harsh when calm.	Theatrical; jokes only when nothing is urgent.	Strongest “glance” home: plain sentence, places ranked by attention.	“Now” rail and fresh readings; lanes mostly quiet.	“Nothing needs you.” plus expanded fleet strip.
Incident investigation	Site log with margin times and certainty footnotes.	Event / received columns and bracket codes.	Flat alarm plates; marquee can push booths below the fold.	Per-site incident panel; detailed timeline for Duplex only.	Strongest: event vs received time, certainty, history vs now kept apart.	Evidence pane per docket; acknowledge ≠ resolve made explicit.
Mobile behaviour	Condensed report, incident first.	Counters and tickets; timeline becomes a list.	Booths stack; heavy rendering.	Site chips reorder by attention.	Now summary, vertical timelines newest first, evidence sheet.	Inbox → full-screen evidence; Back restores scroll and filters.
Tradeoffs and remaining questions	Font dependency; ring semantics.	Glare at night on a phone; font dependency.	Brand as provocation — who is it for?	~110 KB pages; alphabetical rail vs attention order.	24 h zoom crowds Duplex; one lane per site.	Pink next to red; “Open” = unacknowledged.

Status of this round

No direction is selected or combined this round

Round two widens the field; it does not pick a winner. Concepts 1–3 are preserved exactly as delivered in round one, and nothing from 4–6 has been merged into them or into each other. Marks and interfaces are shown so they can be judged separately — choosing one concept’s mark and another’s interface remains open. The questions that would decide the next step are in the round 2 notes.