gc-v1.7 · visual direction
Paper first,
landscapes behind the words.
Why the home page went back to paper and shorter sections, the colours, and where every picture comes from.
What changed, and why
- 宣纸为底
The page reads on paper again, as v2-A, v3 and v3.2 did; only the closing water and the footer are dark. Measured on the whole page at 1440 px: mean brightness 172 of 255 (gc-v1.6: 117), dark area 24% (gc-v1.6: 47%).
- 一屏一事
Each section is sized to be read on one screen at 1440 × 900: the four Series columns sit with their words, the method with its pictures. The page is about 6,400 px long instead of 11,800.
- 题于留白
Landscapes stay where they carry words: pale hills under the bridge, the branch beside the Series, willows over “How a piece begins”. They are toned as light ink on paper.
- 景语情语
In “How a piece begins”, what an example made us feel is shown as a landscape in ink. It is a way of seeing, not where a piece or a material comes from.
- 一物一事
Carry and Give each show an act, not a portrait: a piece worn while writing, a parcel being tied to send.
Colours
- 宣Paper · #f2ece1
the ground of every reading section, as in v2-A, v3 and v3.2
- 旧宣Old paper · #e9e1d2
every piece; Before you choose
- 墨Ink · #1d1915
type; the photographs’ own black
- 朱Vermilion · #b63d29
one mark at a time: the dot before a label, the fruit, the current bead
- 石绿Malachite · #9fb0aa
the hills under the bridge, the willows
- 黛Blue-black · #0b1312
the water at the end, and the footer
Light and dark, down the page
- Opening · paper, a photograph on the right
- Objects · pale hills
- Series · paper, a branch beside the words
- Every piece · old paper
- Carry · Give · paper
- How a piece begins · willows, then paper
- Before you choose · old paper
- Series by email · water
- Footer
Photographs collected in R11
Chosen from 调研回收/R11-首页景语与人物参考素材 (collected 29 October 2026). Unsplash and Pexels licences: free to use and change, no attribution required; sources are kept here. The parcel in Give is someone wrapping a gift themselves; it does not stand for a packaging service, which is not yet decided.
R11 A4-04 · Unsplash License
A dark, uneven stone among rounded pebbles in shallow water
Sebastian Enrique · source
Use: How a piece begins · a material · step 2 (toned)
R11 A1-01 · Unsplash License
Two spring buds and a drop of water
Anthony Aird · source
Use: How a piece begins · a poem · step 2 (toned)
R11 A2-02 · Unsplash License
Trees thick on one bank, thinning into mist over water
Leon xD · source
Use: How a piece begins · a painting · step 2 (toned)
R11 A3-04 · Unsplash License
A long wooden boat tied up on still, misty water
Shahriar Rahman · source
Use: How a piece begins · a thought · step 2 (toned)
R11 A8-01 · Pexels License
Two hands pull a cord tight around a parcel in plain paper
cottonbro studio · source
Use: Two ways to choose · Give
Alive product photographs
Alive product photograph · claude-v3.2
Opening
No. 03 相思有寄, held in an open hand (as in claude-v3.2)
Alive product photograph · claude-v3.2
Series 01 · how the piece holds it
No. 03, a 4:3 band of the close view i09
Alive product photograph · claude-v3.2
Two ways to choose · Carry
No. 04, worn while writing
Landscapes kept from R9
Each licence and frame was checked in R9. A landscape never says where a material comes from.
R9 B7-04 · Unsplash License
Mist over karst hills, Libo
Chengyu Wang
Use: Objects · toned as pale ink
R9 B7-01 · Unsplash License
Branch with red fruit above the clouds
Joey Huang
Use: Series 01 · ink branch, the red kept
R9 B1-08 · Unsplash License
Willows over West Lake, Hangzhou
Vida Huang
Use: How a piece begins · the title band
R9 B4-05 · Unsplash License
Water rings, Hangzhou
一只猫的橘
Use: Series by email · blue-black; a pale version to compare
No longer on the home page
The Alive team’s portraits used in gc-v1.6 (opening, Carry / Give, method step 02) and the paused AI scenes of gc-v1.5. Their files stay in this folder.