Identity options · round 01 · 8 directions

LEX13 — logo sheet

Eight wordmark concepts translated from the Gonzo Iconography Grid (Tables 2.1 & 2.2). Each card names the grid row it comes from, the prompt modifier keywords that define it, and its tone weights. Star the ones worth a second pass.

The grid is the Rosetta Stone: abstract literary element → visual technique → prompt keywords. These are vector translations of that grammar, drawn for the LEX13 local-file identity — rawness, dread, satire, and decay over polish.

Table 2.1 · visual syntax Table 2.2 · symbol dissonance Tone collision weights
LEX13 the local file

01 · Raw Ink

The house gonzo baseline: hand-scrawl energy, splatter and drips, ink never fully under control. Most direct bridge from the grid to the news identity — honest, unpolished, alive.

2.1 · Rawness / ImmediacySteadman-esquetexture chaos

Prompt keys: raw ink style · Steadman-esque splatter · dirty water technique · gonzo typography · chance-based textures

tone weights — rawness 1.5 / polish 0.3 · dread 0.6

LEX13 LEX13 LEX13 the local file · lexington

02 · Acid Wash

Perception-collapse treatment: melting letterforms, trail echoes in complementary hues. Loud and clashing — the maximal end of the grid. Reads as event-poster LEX13 more than news-desk LEX13.

2.1 · Drug-Induced Perceptionacid-washed spectrumvisual trails

Prompt keys: acid-trip colors · psychedelic patterns · fractal zoom · morphing reality · synesthesia effect · visual trails

tone weights — elation 1.2 / dread 0.5 · saturation max

LEX13 LEX13 LEX13 LEX13 LEX13 THE LOCAL FILE — SIGNAL LOST

03 · Signal Rot

Americana glitch: tattered flag stripes behind a broadcast-failure wordmark. RGB channel split + scanlines say “transmission degrading.” Strong fit for a news brand that catalogs what's breaking.

2.2 · The American Flag2.1 · Satire/Dark Humorstatic noise

Prompt keys: glitch art flag effect · faded glory · scanline corruption · static noise glitch · digital decay

tone weights — dread 1.0 / satire 1.2 / warmth 0.2

LEX13 the local file · someone is always watching

04 · The Watcher

Paranoia made civic: a claustrophobic double frame, hidden eyes above the masthead, sickly green rules. Says “we watch local power so you see it too.” Darkest turn for the brand; also the most ownable.

2.1 · Paranoia / Dreadhidden eyes motifclaustrophobic frame

Prompt keys: ominous lighting · hidden eyes motif · claustrophobic composition · paranoia green filter · looming threat

tone weights — dread 1.5 / elation 0.3 (per Tone Collision Matrix)

LEX13 ALL THE NEWS THAT SCREAMS

05 · The Screamer

Grotesque badge: satirical face at badge center, jittered hair spikes, dark-humor tagline. The grid's caricature row as an emblem — merch-friendly, sticker-ready, loudest personality in the set.

2.1 · Emotional Intensity2.1 · Satire/Dark Humorabsurdist caricature

Prompt keys: satirical grotesque · absurdist caricature · darkly humorous juxtaposition · grotesque caricature · expressionistic chaos

tone weights — satire 1.4 / dread 0.8 / whimsy 0.6

LEX13 LEX13 FAST FILE · LEXINGTON, KY

06 · Redline

Velocity treatment: sheared letterforms, speed streaks bleeding off the edges, the “1” split mid-glyph. Communicates the hourly refresh cadence — news moving too fast to be neat.

2.1 · Velocity/Frenetic Energyshattered perspectivedynamic diagonals

Prompt keys: high-speed blur · velocity streaks · frenetic energy lines · shattered perspective · dynamic composition

tone weights — urgency 1.3 / dread 0.6 / control 0.4

LEX13 LEX13 THE LOCAL FILE All the news that's fit to file · Lexington, Kentucky

07 · The Masthead

Stylistic hybridization per the grid: vintage newspaper wood-type crossed with gonzo overprint — the “13” runs off-register in orange, the double rules are pure 1890s. Safest fit with the live page; satire lives in the details.

Stylistic Hybridizationvintage + gonzogonzo typography

Prompt keys: gonzo typography · ironic Americana symbols · vintage masthead × offset misprint · collage elements

tone weights — authority 1.0 / satire 0.7 / rawness 0.5

LEX 13 13 OPEN ALL NIGHT · THE LOCAL FILE

08 · Neon Rot

Las Vegas row from Table 2.2, resized for a newsroom: marquee tube letters with half the sign dead, bulbs alternating dark and lit. Darkly funny — the paper that never closes, even when the sign doesn't.

2.2 · Las Vegasneon nightmareflickering simulation

Prompt keys: neon nightmare landscape · glitching flickering simulation · half-dead marquee · garish neon clash

tone weights — dark humor 1.2 / nostalgia 0.8 / dread 0.7

How to choose

Rule of the grid: pick by which collision you want the brand to live in. 01/07 are the low-risk identity carriers (rawness × authority). 03/04 are the critical stance (dread × satire — the most Thompsonian). 02/06/08 are event-poster energy; 05 is the mascot route. Nothing here is final art — these are vector sketches for direction.

Next step for the shortlisted direction: re-run it through the Prompt Fragmentation Engine with the card's prompt keys, lock the palette weights, then redraw as clean vector + high-res raster pass. Say the word (e.g. “03 and 04 to round two”) and the desk will iterate variants, lockups, and a dark-mode/reverse set.