The Beargrass mark

The Almanac is signed by a single identifying glyph: a stem, two curved leaves, a bud arc at the crown, and three bloom dots. This is the publication's mark. Every other ornament on the site is a deliberate partial of it.

All symbols are defined once in the page envelope and referenced inline with <use href>. They render in currentColor, which means they shift with the page mode and can be tuned per context by setting color on the container.

The base mark

The canonical beargrass, upright. Used at the close of every article, and at the first section break inside a long essay. This is the full chord.

The family

Four symbols, one grammar. The base mark is the full statement; the others are partials that step back so the prose carries the page.

bg-mark
Canonical. Stem, two leaves, bud arc, three dots. Article sign-off and first section break.
bg-drift
Horizontal. The same elements laid across a gentle meander. Cover flourish and site footer.
bg-buds
Minimal. The bud cluster alone, after the reader has already turned.
bg-stem
Vertical. A single upright stroke with a tip bud, reserved for column gutters or margin notes.

How ornaments are placed

An essay of three sections rings four marks across its length:

  1. Cover flourish, above the headline. bg-drift, 200 wide, olive.
  2. First section break, between §1 and §2. bg-mark upright between thin rules, 36 square, olive. This is where the base mark does its work.
  3. Second section break, after the pullquote. bg-buds between thin rules, 56 wide, warm. The argument has already turned; the ornament steps back.
  4. Bio divider, below the author note. bg-mark upright, 52 square, olive. The sign-off.

Field notes and photo essays use the canonical mark only at close, above the author bio. The site footer uses bg-drift on every page so the reader ends in the same hand, wherever they are.

Usage

Reference any symbol by id. The symbol's strokes inherit color from the container.

<svg viewBox="0 0 48 48" aria-hidden="true"><use href="#bg-mark"/></svg>

.my-sprig {
  width: 48px;
  height: 48px;
  color: var(--olive);
}

Available ids: bg-mark, bg-drift, bg-buds, bg-stem.

The source definitions live in build/templates/base.html and are inlined once per page, hidden from layout and from assistive tech.

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