MAC - Model Acceptance Criteria (DIRECTIONAL)

STATUS: DIRECTIONAL - pending founder approval. No canonical assets exist for MAC as of 2026-05-23. No logo, no live page, no design corpus. This DESIGN.md proposes a coherent visual contract derived from founder build-spec signals (2026-05-04 + 2026-05-14): black-and-white primary palette, blocky/graffiti display typography, personality-forward NOT flat-Bauhaus, info-product register (not SaaS).

Inherits: RDCO umbrella for layout grid, voice attributes (with MAC-specific layer), asset inventory convention. Overrides palette + typography + shapes + components entirely - MAC's visual register diverges from both editorial-warm RDCO and tactile-cream Squarely.

Wordmark proposals: Three typographic variants embedded inline below + as standalone HTML in ~/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/. Founder picks one (or asks for new direction) before this design hardens to contract-grade.

Public name: "MAC" is treated as the consumer-facing acronym (matches modelacceptancecriteria.io). Founder hasn't fully locked whether MAC is acronym-first or "Model Acceptance Criteria" spelled-out first. Both versions appear in proposals.

Brand & Style

MAC is RDCO's low-ticket info-product for data engineers - an opinionated, encoded methodology for designing data-quality matrices (the "TDD for analytics" framing the founder uses internally at his Mammoth Growth engagement). Target price $350 one-time, sold INTO the IC data engineer, framed as "principal-engineer expertise encoded." See ~/rdco-vault/01-projects/mac/2026-05-14-mac-pricing-intent.md for the full positioning.

The visual brand vector pulls from founder's stated taste (2026-05-04 build-spec, plus feedback_design_taste_high_personality):

• Black-and-white primary, with a single confident accent. Not many colors - the visual register is high-contrast monochrome with one stripe of personality.
• Blocky / graffiti display lettering for the hero - Bungee, Permanent Marker, or stencil-cut typefaces. NOT system sans, NOT another editorial serif (RDCO already owns Source Serif).
• Personality-forward, not flat-Bauhaus. The opposite of a modernist white SaaS landing page. Think zine, indie info-product, "self-published with attitude" register.
• Tactile testing-imagery motifs: test-row tickboxes, terminal-output blocks, the data-quality matrix itself as visual. Bring the product's content into the brand.

Tells the brand must hit on every surface:

1. Black-and-white-dominant canvas. Cream-tinted off-white #F4F1EA (not pure white) + true black #0A0A0A. Pure white reads as SaaS template - MAC's "off-white-with-warmth" cream-paper feel matters.
2. Display-block hero type. One of Bungee / Permanent Marker / Stencil owns the hero. Body type stays Inter (umbrella inheritance).
3. One confident accent. Default proposal: highlighter yellow #FFE94A for emphasis + "spray-can red" #FF3E2F for accent shapes / pass-fail signal.
4. Hard-edge geometry. Radius 0-4 max. No pill buttons (those are RDCO umbrella). Sharp corners read "info-product zine."
5. Authorship visible. Ben's voice + face in the about/intro. MAC is sold as encoded-expertise - the expert must be visible.

Consumer behavior table (Stitch contract)

Colors

DIRECTIONAL palette. CSS variable prefix --mac-.

Discipline (DIRECTIONAL): keep the saturated accents at <10% of surface area combined. Yellow handles "highlight what matters" duties; red is reserved for fail states and rare accent shapes. Anything that wants to be "branded" should be black-on-cream or cream-on-black FIRST, accent second.

Typography

LOCKED 2026-05-23: Bungee (V1 "Block") is the canonical headline display. Founder picked V1 after seeing the full proposal set + a mono-font alternate exploration: "The bungee was the right call for MAC to begin with." Mono explorations preserved in ~/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/ as reference history; not canonical.

Body type fixed (Inter + Source Serif 4 from RDCO umbrella + JetBrains Mono for code).

LOCKED CHOICE: V1 "Block" (Bungee). Chunky, all-caps, looks like a stencil sign / sticker pack. Most "info-product zine." Founder lock 2026-05-23 after seeing all 3 originals + a 4-variant mono-font alternate exploration (JetBrains, Plex, Space, Major). Bungee was the right call from the start.

Alternates (NOT canonical, preserved as reference): V2 Permanent Marker (Spray), V3 Stardos Stencil (Stencil), and the 4 mono variants live in ~/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/ as design history. Do NOT use these in any production MAC surface without re-opening the wordmark question with founder.

Layout & Spacing

Inherits RDCO umbrella entirely. MAC is a single-product info-product site - same grid + spacing scale serves it.

Container max-width 1200px (umbrella default). Breakpoints inherited.

Elevation & Depth

MAC takes a HARD departure from RDCO umbrella's soft shadows. MAC uses brutalist hard shadows (solid-color offset, no blur) - reads as zine / band-flyer / DIY-info-product register.

Hard rule: no blurred shadows except the spray accent. The solid-offset shadow IS the MAC look.

Shapes

Motif primitives (MAC-specific, DIRECTIONAL):

• Hard-shadow card - cream surface, 2-3px black border, 4px×4px solid-black offset shadow. Reads "sticker stuck to a wall."
• Test-row - terminal-style row, mono type, two states: pass (black bg + yellow text "PASS") / fail (red bg + cream text "FAIL"). The visual signature of MAC content.
• Highlighter mark - yellow accent-highlight swept behind body words for emphasis (like a real highlighter pen). Use sparingly - 1-2 per page.
• Stamp / sticker pack - graphic stickers reading "TESTED", "VERIFIED", "$350", "1.0 RELEASE" in display-block lettering. Sits in corners of cards / hero sections.
• Data-quality matrix grid - the product literally IS a matrix; the visual surfaces the grid as a hero motif (rows of test cases × columns of model attributes).

Components

wordmark - three proposals (DIRECTIONAL)

Founder picks one. All three render the same source string: "MAC" (acronym primary) or "Model Acceptance Criteria" (expanded).

V1 wordmark-block

<a class="mac-wordmark-block">MAC</a>

.mac-wordmark-block {
  display: inline-block; padding: 12px 24px;
  background: #0A0A0A; color: #F4F1EA;
  font: 800 64px/0.95 "Bungee", "Roboto Slab", Impact, sans-serif;
  letter-spacing: -0.025em; text-transform: uppercase;
  border: none; text-decoration: none;
}

Reads as: stencil sign, sticker pack, "this is an info-product, here's the label." Most "info-product zine" of the three.

V2 wordmark-spray

<a class="mac-wordmark-spray">MAC</a>

.mac-wordmark-spray {
  display: inline-block; padding: 0;
  background: transparent; color: #0A0A0A;
  font: 400 64px/1.0 "Permanent Marker", "Marker Felt", cursive;
  letter-spacing: 0.01em; transform: rotate(-2deg);
  text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-color: #FFE94A;
  text-decoration-thickness: 8px; text-underline-offset: 0px;
  text-decoration-skip-ink: none;
}

Reads as: hand-marker sketch on cream paper with highlighter underline. Most personality, most "this was made by a human."

V3 wordmark-stencil

<a class="mac-wordmark-stencil">MAC</a>

.mac-wordmark-stencil {
  display: inline-block; padding: 0;
  background: transparent; color: #0A0A0A;
  font: 700 64px/1.05 "Stardos Stencil", "Allerta Stencil", "JetBrains Mono", monospace;
  letter-spacing: 0.04em; text-transform: uppercase;
  border-bottom: 4px solid #0A0A0A; padding-bottom: 6px;
}

Reads as: military/industrial stencil - "MAC: Model Acceptance Criteria, tested-against-spec." Most "the product literally has 'criteria' in its name."

button-primary / button-primary-hover

<a class="mac-btn">Buy MAC - $350</a>

.mac-btn {
  display: inline-flex; align-items: center; gap: 8px;
  padding: 16px 32px; height: 52px;
  background: #0A0A0A; color: #F4F1EA;
  font: 600 14px/1.4 "JetBrains Mono", monospace;
  letter-spacing: 0.12em; text-transform: uppercase;
  border: 2px solid #0A0A0A; border-radius: 0;
  box-shadow: 4px 4px 0px #0A0A0A; cursor: pointer;
  transition: color 80ms, transform 80ms;
}
.mac-btn:hover { color: #FFE94A; transform: translate(2px, 2px); box-shadow: 2px 2px 0px #0A0A0A; }

The "translate-into-the-shadow" hover is signature - the button presses into its own offset.

card-default / card-inverted

.mac-card { background: #F4F1EA; color: #0A0A0A; border: 2px solid #0A0A0A; padding: 24px; box-shadow: 4px 4px 0px #0A0A0A; border-radius: 0; }
.mac-card--inverted { background: #0A0A0A; color: #F4F1EA; border-color: #F4F1EA; box-shadow: 4px 4px 0px #FFE94A; }

test-row-pass / test-row-fail

<div class="mac-test-row mac-test-row--pass">
  <span class="label">TEST 042</span>
  <span class="desc">arr_calc_matches_term_x_recurring</span>
  <span class="status">PASS</span>
</div>

.mac-test-row { display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 1fr auto; gap: 16px; padding: 12px 16px; font: 400 15px/1.55 "JetBrains Mono", monospace; }
.mac-test-row--pass { background: #0A0A0A; color: #FFE94A; }
.mac-test-row--pass .status::before { content: "[PASS] "; }
.mac-test-row--fail { background: #FF3E2F; color: #F4F1EA; }
.mac-test-row--fail .status::before { content: "[FAIL] "; }

The single most signature component of MAC - bringing the product's own test-output into the marketing surface.

highlighter mark (inline emphasis)

<p>Get encoded <span class="mac-hl">principal-engineer expertise</span> for $350.</p>

.mac-hl { background: linear-gradient(180deg, transparent 60%, #FFE94A 60%); padding: 0 2px; }

Use 1-2 times per page maximum.

Do's and Don'ts

Always (DIRECTIONAL):

• Use cream off-white #F4F1EA as page surface - NEVER pure white
• Use true black #0A0A0A as primary type and frame
• Use hard-edge geometry (border-radius 0-4 max)
• Use solid-offset shadows (no blur except spray accent)
• Use display-block / graffiti / stencil typeface for hero (founder-chosen variant)
• Use Inter for body, JetBrains Mono for labels/code
• Frame copy in "encoded expertise, build-vs-buy" register, not "boost your data career"
• Make accents (yellow highlight, red spray) <10% of surface area combined
• Include pass/fail test-row patterns on landing-page hero - bring the product's signature into the marketing

Never:

• Use pure white #FFFFFF as the surface (cream #F4F1EA only - pure white reads SaaS template)
• Use blur shadows on cards or buttons (solid-offset only; only allowed blur is the spray accent)
• Use pill buttons (that's RDCO umbrella; MAC is hard-edged)
• Use Source Serif as hero display (umbrella owns that register; MAC needs differentiation)
• Use neon gradients or aurora-mesh backgrounds
• Use "boost your data career" / "level up to senior" framing (that's a different product category - MAC is encoded-expertise, not credentialing-bait)
• Use "limited time!" / countdown timers on the sales page
• Use stock-photo developer imagery
• Use emoji in marketing chrome (one per page max if at all; default zero)
• Use ALL CAPS body copy (display headlines can be all caps; body is sentence case)
• Use question-mark headlines

RDCO extension beyond Stitch core: Voice & Copy

DIRECTIONAL - founder voice corpus for MAC limited to pricing-intent doc + drip-day-1 draft as of 2026-05-23.

Five attributes (DIRECTIONAL, derived from pricing-intent + founder positioning):

1. Build-vs-buy math, plain. "Build it yourself: 8-40 hours of principal-engineer time. Buy it: $350." The math IS the pitch. Don't hide it.
2. Encoded principal-engineer expertise. Not "course," not "guide," not "templates." It's encoded methodology - like buying a senior colleague's brain dump.
3. IC-respecting. Sold INTO the IC data engineer, not OVER them. Don't frame as "fire your data engineer." Frame as "level up your own toolkit."
4. Receipts-first. Production validation numbers (140,937 ghost rows, 5→105 tests in 6 weeks, 8+ nightly cycles autonomous) lead the sales page. Then methodology. Then framework.
5. No info-product clichés. No "the ONLY framework," no "secrets industry won't tell you," no "I made $X with this." Practitioner-zine register, not bro-marketer.

Mechanics (hard rules):

• Use cream-paper register: copy reads "self-published zine by someone who knows the work."
• Sentence case headlines, ALL CAPS reserved for display type and labels.
• Numbers: digits ("$350", "140,937 rows", "5x faster") - MAC is metric-heavy.
• Length: landing-page sections 60-120 words each. Drip emails 250-400 words.
• Tool names plain text (dbt, Snowflake, SQLMesh, etc.).

Banned phrases / patterns:

• "The ultimate guide to..." / "The only framework you need" / "Industry secrets" - info-marketer slop
• "Limited spots!" / "Price goes up Monday!" - manufactured-scarcity register
• "Are you tired of data quality issues?" - question-mark hook, weak
• "Become a 10x data engineer" - credentialing register MAC explicitly rejects
• Em-dash overuse (more than ~2 per paragraph) - single em-dash is fine per softened feedback_no_em_dashes 2026-05-23

Signature moves (DIRECTIONAL):

• Open with build-vs-buy math ($X build cost vs $350 buy cost) in first 50 words
• Use a real failed test (e.g. "arr = (tcv_recurring/term) × 12 → 2,287 violations found") as the contrarian hook
• Close every section with the price + payment link, not "subscribe / learn more"
• Use pass/fail test-row visual as the section divider

RDCO extension beyond Stitch core: Format-specific templates

RDCO extension beyond Stitch core: Asset inventory

Current state: SPARSE - MAC is pre-launch as of 2026-05-23.

Wordmark proposals (this build):

• /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/v1-block.html - Bungee block-letter
• /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/v2-spray.html - Permanent Marker graffiti
• /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/v3-stencil.html - Stardos Stencil

Embedded in: the sample at /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-sample.html shows all three side-by-side for founder review.

Cross-references

• Parent: /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/DESIGN-rdco.md
• Source positioning: /Users/ray/rdco-vault/01-projects/mac/2026-05-14-mac-pricing-intent.md
• Source product shape: /Users/ray/rdco-vault/01-projects/mac/2026-05-04-mac-product-shape-decisions.md
• Bet ledger: /Users/ray/rdco-vault/09-bet-stacks/mac.yaml
• Reference sample: /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-sample.html + .pdf
• Wordmark proposals dir: /Users/ray/rdco-vault/02-sops/design-samples/mac-wordmark-proposals/