7 · Datum
Round 3 · lettering-led equipment workspaceA restrained, light-first equipment workspace: a sortable grid of all six UPSs, an overlay inspector and side-by-side compare.
Mainskeeper - App · round 3 · primary review canvas
Nine directions, three of them new
Round three broadens the range with 7 Datum (a restrained, lettering-led equipment workspace), 8 Lattice (a dark relationship and coverage map) and 9 Synoptic (a power weather service). All nine marks come first, on their own; then every interface, a detailed look at 7–9 and a table of how the three new ones differ.
Every site, device, time and person shown is a fictional demonstration scenario frozen at Wed 30 Sep 2026, 15:22 — not real equipment. Concepts 1–6 are preserved exactly as delivered; their known issues are recorded in the round 3 notes.
Identity only
All nine marks
Logos only — no interface material. Each standalone logomark sits in the same 96px box, each primary lockup at a common 40px height (very wide lockups shrink to fit on narrow screens), and each app icon at real 64, 32 and 16px. Every tile uses the ground the mark was drawn for, named under each number: 2, 3 and 8 are drawn for dark grounds; the rest for light ones.
Marks and interfaces can be judged independently. You can keep a mark in contention without keeping its interface, and the reverse. Use the switch to hide all interface material and look at the marks alone.
Mark-only view is on: interfaces, the detailed reviews and the comparison table are hidden. Press the switch again to show them.
64
32
16
Construction: An open watch ring with a level mains line through it; thin strokes, no fill.
64
32
16
Construction: A one-line-diagram M; a bus tap stops just short of a keeper node.
64
32
16
Construction: A socket-face keyhole inside a lacquer lozenge, built with gradients.
64
32
16
Construction: Two soft arches share one post (an m, or two doorways) on a porch step, with a lamp dot.
64
32
16
Construction: One mains cycle on a thin axis: a sine half-wave drops into a square half-wave.
64
32
16
Construction: A forest square slotted at the top, a pink tab rising from the slot, a butter stamp in one corner.
64
32
16
Construction: The Datum K from a drawn wordmark: stem, a gap, then a short copper bar from which the flat-cut arm and leg grow.
64
32
16
Construction: Two rounded loops woven over and under on a 48 grid around a square cell; mint watches, sodium depends.
64
32
16
Construction: An upright wind barb: staff, warm-red pennant, full and half barbs, solid station square at the foot.
Pages
Interfaces
Every page for every concept. Dashboards open on the incident state; the calm link adds #calm. Each page also has its own Demo state switch.
Round 3 — concepts 7–9 (new)
8 · Lattice
Round 3 · relationship and coverage mapA dark-first map of collectors, UPSs, equipment and probe targets; select anything to light its path and see coverage gaps.
9 · Synoptic
Round 3 · power weather serviceA power weather service: stations, observations, UPS forecasts and plain-headline bulletins on sage chart paper.
Round 2 — concepts 4–6 (preserved, unchanged)
4 · Porchlight
Round 2 · site-first everyday tool5 · Meridian
Round 2 · time-first investigation6 · Docket
Round 2 · exception-first workbenchRound 1 — concepts 1–3 (preserved, unchanged; round-one scenario)
1 · Vigil
Round 1 · considered watchkeeping2 · Feeder Board
Round 1 · utility dispatch board3 · Brownout
Round 1 · power after darkDetailed review · concept 7
7 · Datum — lettering-led equipment workspace
The idea
A restrained, light-first working instrument. A datum is the fixed level line you measure from: the drawn wordmark runs one level line through the s, the K and a shared “ee” crossbar, and the interface keeps the same discipline — a fleet line with mixed site summaries, an incident strip whose attributes are each shown separately, and a sortable 13-column equipment grid of all six UPSs. Investigation happens over the grid: an overlay inspector that keeps your scroll, sort, filter and selection, and a compare dock for two or three UPSs.
Logo construction
Custom-drawn lettering (paths, not a font). One level line at mid x-height runs through the s spine, the K junction and a shared “ee” crossbar. The K’s arm and leg grow from a short copper bar split from the stem by a gap; the M’s vertex is cut flat; every terminal is flat-cut. The standalone mark is the Datum K; the app icon puts it on graphite; the favicon is redrawn on a pixel grid.
Typography
Schibsted Grotesk (text and headings) · Red Hat Mono (figures, times, CLI) — self-hosted WOFF2, SIL OFL, licence in concepts/g/fonts/. The wordmark is drawn, not set.
Palette
#F7F7F5cool white · ground#16181Bgraphite · ink, app icon#A4572Acopper · “you are here” only (selection, focus, mark bar)#A1282Ccritical · diamond glyph#86600Fwarning ochre · triangle glyph#3B6B4Bhealthy · circle glyph
Plus a neutral grey scale. Unknown is a dashed hollow glyph. Status colours are muted and always paired with a glyph and a word.
Desktop dashboard · incident state · 1440 × 900, scaled
Open full size (keyboard-friendly) — Datum incidentDesktop dashboard · calm state · 1440 × 900, scaled
Open full size — Datum calmMobile · 390 × 844
Open full size — Datum mobileCompact rows with a filter rail; the inspector goes full screen and Back restores your place; compare shows two UPSs stacked.
Try this
Open the dashboard full size, or work inside the incident preview above. Previews are scaled, so small text is easier to read full size.
- The dashboard opens on Incident & recovery. Read the fleet line: Broadwater says “1 of 2 UPSs on battery · 1 on utility (separate circuit)”; Duplex says “Recovered 15:02 · uploading backlog, 1,248 pending”.
- Read the incident strip: Open incidents 3, incl. 1 acknowledged. Each incident shows severity, state, acknowledgment, recovery, sync and notifications as separate fields.
- In the Equipment grid, use the condition filter chips (each shows a count) or the search box. Choose a combination that matches nothing to see the explanatory empty state, then press Clear filters and search.
- Sort by a column header. Move between rows with ↑/↓ and press Enter (or Inspect UPS): the inspector overlays the right-hand columns. ↑/↓ moves it through the table; Esc closes it and returns focus to the row with scroll, sort and filters intact.
- Tick two or three rows (Space) and press Compare: a dock opens below the grid with “differs” markers on values that disagree. Close compare when done.
- Open the Collectors & probes tab to see UPS and connectivity roles per collector, then switch the review bar to Calm fleet.
Tradeoffs
- The inspector overlays the right-hand columns of the grid rather than sitting beside it.
- Compare docks below the grid, so on a 900px-tall window you scroll to it.
- The sortable header adds 13 tab stops before the rows.
- Selection is quiet (copper rule and tint) — calm to live with, easy to lose on a busy screen.
Fixture values this builder had to invent are listed in the round 3 notes. CLI: mainskeeper status preview — Datum.
Detailed review · concept 8
8 · Lattice — relationship and coverage map
The idea
A dark-first, symbol-led map of who watches what. Four site clusters read left to right: collectors → UPSs → protected equipment. Three link types are drawn differently — reads (mint dotted arrow with the interface, e.g. USB or SNMP), powers (solid grey with a terminal bar) and checks (dashed, to per-site probe targets). Select any node or link and its path lights up while everything else dims; a detail panel shows status, contact age versus reading age, readings, upstream and downstream links you can walk, and evidence such as the Duplex timeline. “Show coverage gaps” marks what nobody is watching.
Logo construction
Two rounded loops woven over and under on a 48-unit grid; small cuts at each crossing make the weave read in one colour. A square “lattice cell” sits in the middle. The mint loop is what watches; the sodium loop is what depends. The wordmark is Sora, outlined to paths.
Typography
Sora (headings, wordmark) · DM Mono (labels, figures, CLI) — self-hosted WOFF2, SIL OFL, licence in concepts/h/fonts/.
Palette
#101418ground#171D23surface 1#1F272Fsurface 2#2A343Esurface 3 / rules#E9EEF2text#7FE0C4mint · live / healthy#FF9F43sodium · selection and brand only#FF6B6Bcritical · octagon#F2C94Cwarning · triangle / “?”
Power lines stay neutral grey, so battery state is carried by the UPS node, not the line.
Desktop dashboard · incident state · 1440 × 900, scaled
Open full size (keyboard-friendly) — Lattice incidentDesktop dashboard · calm state · 1440 × 900, scaled
Open full size — Lattice calmMobile · 390 × 844
Open full size — Lattice mobileIncidents come first, then a 2 × 2 site switcher and an indented tree you can walk upstream and downstream; details open in a bottom sheet.
Try this
Open the dashboard full size, or work inside the incident preview above. Previews are scaled, so small text is easier to read full size.
- The dashboard opens on Incident & recovery. Pick an incident in the incident rail: focus moves to the map and that incident’s path is highlighted.
- Tab into the map — it is one tab stop. Use the arrow keys to move between nodes and Enter to select. Try BW Rack UPS: its collector, the reads link and the equipment it powers stay lit; the detail panel shows contact age and reading age separately.
- Select duplex-pi-probe and walk upstream and downstream from the detail panel; open the evidence timeline for the Duplex episode (gap 14:30–14:52, recovered 15:02, upload separate).
- Use the link-type filters Telemetry (reads), Power (powers) and Connectivity (checks) to thin the map.
- Press Show coverage gaps: bw-desk-ws and shop-cnc-ctrl have no agent, and unsupported values are marked Not reported.
- Press Esc or Clear selection, then switch the review bar to Calm fleet.
Tradeoffs
- Map labels are 11–12px — dense at 1440px.
- Probe targets are drawn as separate nodes per site, which adds clutter.
- Shop nodes say only “Contact lost”; the full wording (“cause unknown”) is in the panel and rail.
- Power lines are neutral, so you read battery state on the UPS node, not on the line.
Fixture values this builder had to invent are listed in the round 3 notes. CLI: mainskeeper status preview — Lattice.
Detailed review · concept 9
9 · Synoptic — power weather service
The idea
The visual risk of the round: MainsKeeper as a power weather service. Sites are observation stations, readings are observations, UPS runtime is a forecast labelled “UPS estimate”, late records are late station reports and incidents are bulletins with plain headlines. The home is a station chart — explicitly “not to scale / not a map” — with a station plate per site and a station plot per UPS (Broadwater has two, in different states), a bulletin column, a forecast-versus-observed band and a 24-hour station record. Urgent wording stays plain: the metaphor is diluted wherever clarity needs it.
Logo construction
An upright wind barb on a 48-unit grid: a staff, a warm-red triangular pennant (the current observation), a full barb (the record), a half barb (history still arriving) and a solid station square at the foot. It is one of 15 pictograms that share one grammar — the flag is power state, the foot is contact, line style is certainty. The wordmark is Fraunces (optical size 144, weight 760, SOFT 100, WONK 1), outlined to paths.
Typography
Fraunces (display, wordmark) · Recursive (text and mono through its MONO and CASL axes) — self-hosted WOFF2, SIL OFL, licence in concepts/i/fonts/.
Palette
#E4E9DEsage paper · ground#F3F5EEplate#0E1915ink#C62116warm-front red · on battery / critical#1C4FC4cold-front blue · forecasts / recovered#FF7300bulletin orange · warning / evidence (ink text on it)#0B1613studio dark
Occluded purple is used only as a thin line. Each hue has one meaning and is always paired with a pictogram and words.
Desktop dashboard · incident state · 1440 × 900, scaled
Open full size (keyboard-friendly) — Synoptic incidentDesktop dashboard · calm state · 1440 × 900, scaled
Open full size — Synoptic calmMobile · 390 × 844
Open full size — Synoptic mobileBulletin cards first, then the station plots; a station report opens as a full-screen sheet.
Try this
Open the dashboard full size, or work inside the incident preview above. Previews are scaled, so small text is easier to read full size.
- The dashboard opens on Incident & recovery. On the station chart, find Broadwater: two station plots, one with a red pennant (BW Rack UPS on battery) and one on utility (BW Office UPS, separate circuit).
- In the bulletin column, read a bulletin’s separate attributes (severity, state, acknowledgment, recovery, sync, notifications). Press Show evidence →: the chart moves to that station with the evidence outlined.
- Press Station report → on Duplex: the report dialog shows observations, observed record versus the UPS forecast, late reports (14:03 received 15:17), the 14:30–14:52 gap, sync progress and the full Duplex story. Esc closes it and returns focus.
- Press Legend to show the pictogram key and check how flag, foot and line style encode state, contact and certainty.
- Read the forecast-versus-observed band and the 24-hour station record below the chart.
- Switch the review bar to Calm fleet: “Fair conditions across all four stations.”
Tradeoffs
- The metaphor is deliberately diluted where urgent wording matters, so it is not consistent everywhere.
- Station plots are dense, with 11–14px secondary labels.
- Timelines are drawn by JavaScript, so they need scripts to appear.
- Hollow marks mean both “late” and “last known”; the staff disambiguates, but it is subtle.
Fixture values this builder had to invent are listed in the round 3 notes. CLI: mainskeeper status preview — Synoptic.
Side by side
How 7–9 differ
Short cells; the detail is in each concept’s pages and the round 3 notes. On narrow screens the table scrolls sideways inside its own frame.
| Criterion | 7 Datum | 8 Lattice | 9 Synoptic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logo construction and silhouette | Drawn lettering. The mark is the Datum K: stem, gap, short copper bar, flat-cut arm and leg. Upright and angular; reads as a letter. | Two rounded loops woven over and under around a square cell. Square, knot-like, near-symmetrical; reads as a symbol. | Upright wind barb: staff, red pennant, full and half barbs, station square. Tall, asymmetric flag; part of a 15-pictogram set. |
| Colour family and amount | Cool white, graphite and greys; copper only for “you are here”; muted status. The least colour. | Blue-black surfaces; mint for live and healthy, sodium orange for selection and brand; red and yellow status. Moderate colour, luminous on dark. | Sage paper and ink with weather-chart red, blue and orange plus a thin purple. The most colour, each hue with one fixed meaning. |
| Typography and scale | Schibsted Grotesk + Red Hat Mono; drawn wordmark. Even, tabular type; dense but regular. | Sora + DM Mono; outlined Sora wordmark. Small (11–12px) map labels, larger panel text. | Fraunces (soft, wonky display) + Recursive (mono and casual axes). Big expressive headlines, 11–14px plot labels. |
| Light / dark first | Light-first. | Dark-first. | Light-first on sage paper; a studio dark is specified. |
| Layout and navigation | Fleet line → incident strip → 13-column equipment grid; tabs Equipment / Collectors & probes; overlay inspector; compare dock. | Incident rail beside a full relationship map (four site clusters, collectors → UPSs → equipment) and a detail panel; link-type filters. | Station chart (“not a map”) beside a bulletin column; forecast-vs-observed band and 24 h station record below; report dialog. |
| Information density | High and tabular: six UPSs × 13 columns. | High and spatial: every collector, UPS, piece of equipment and probe target with its links. | Medium–high: dense station plots inside generous headings and bulletins. |
| How you find a problem | Incident strip, then condition chips with counts and status glyphs in the grid; sort by any column. | Incident rail; node shape and colour on the map; “Show coverage gaps” for what nobody watches. | Plain-headline bulletins; red pennants on station plots. |
| How you investigate | Inspector over the grid that follows ↑/↓; compare two or three UPSs with “differs” markers. | Select a node or link: its path lights, walk upstream and downstream, read the evidence timeline. | Station report dialog: observations, observed vs forecast, late reports, gaps, sync, the Duplex story; a bulletin jumps to its evidence. |
| Component shapes and rhythm | Hairline rules, flat-cut rectangles, even table rows; quiet and regular. | Rounded nodes and loops, three line styles (dotted, solid, dashed), panels stacked on dark surfaces. | Station plates and plots, pictograms, chart-paper grid, bulletin cards. |
| Mobile adaptation | Compact rows, filter rail, full-screen inspector with Back restoring place, compare two stacked. | Incidents first, 2 × 2 site switcher, indented tree you can walk, bottom sheet. | Bulletin cards first, station plots, full-screen report sheet. |
| Restraint vs risk | Most restrained: a working instrument whose character lives in the lettering. | In between: symbol-led and dark; the bet is that the map is the clearest way to see coverage. | The visual risk: the weather framing, diluted wherever urgent wording is needed. |
Status of this round
No direction is selected, combined or evolved
Round three widens the field again; it does not pick a winner. Datum, Lattice and Synoptic were each built fresh against the same brief — none is a variation, merge or evolution of an earlier concept, and concepts 1–6 are preserved exactly as delivered. The questions that would decide the next step are in the round 3 notes.