NEOPULP
Mark rules & specification

How to use the mark

Neopulp is a movement, not a publisher. The mark is free to apply to your own book. Keep the promise, print the credit, and don't redraw the mark — everything below is the detail of those three rules.

01 · Ink

Two inks and a stock. No third colour.

ValueNameUse
#0D0C0BPress blackType, rules, stamp keyline
#E8FF4DSignal acidHighlight and seed square only — never as type colour, never a field larger than the stamp
#F2F0EBBright whiteStock

No tints, no gradients, no glow, no drop shadows.

02 · Type

Archivo and JetBrains Mono. Nothing else.

FaceWhere
Archivo 900Wordmark, titles, the reader promise
Archivo 700Bylines
JetBrains MonoNumbering, disclosure, all letterspaced small text

Both are open-licence and free. Your book's interior can be set in anything — only the mark is fixed.

03 · The seven rules

What holds the mark together

  1. One word. NEOPULP — never spaced, never camel-cased, never hyphenated. Lowercase “neopulp” in running text, because it is a common noun.
  2. The highlight sits behind PULP only. The insult is the part that gets highlighted. Behind the whole word it becomes decoration and the argument disappears.
  3. Clear space equals the cap-height of the wordmark, on all four sides. Nothing enters it.
  4. Minimum sizes. Stamp 22mm wide in print, 96px on screen. Below that, use the badge. Wordmark never below 11px.
  5. The acid square is fixed. Same size relative to cap-height, always top-right of the stamp, always keylined.
  6. Never rotate the stamp. It is a certification, not a sticker.
  7. Never lock up with another movement mark. Not the same surface, not the same file.
04 · Sizes

Three versions. Content is removed, never shrunk.

FileSizeUse
stamp-full34mm+ / 130px+Back covers, title pages. The only version carrying the reader promise
stamp-compact22–34mmFront covers with room. Promise drops, disclosure stays
stamp-badgeunder 22mmSpines, thumbnails, storefront listings, busy covers
seal-squareanyAvatars, favicons, app tiles, stickers, covers. Carries no disclosure — the title-page credit does the telling
wordmark-black / -reversed11px+Writing about the format: sites, posters, decks
wordmark-mono11px+One-ink print, foil, emboss, copyright pages

The geometry never changes between sizes: keyline, wordmark left, acid square right, 2px rule, mono block at the foot.

05 · On someone else's cover

The only flexibility granted

Never, by anyone
THE ACID SQUARE RECOLOURED, REMOVED, OR RESIZED
ROTATED, ARCHED, OUTLINED, SHADOWED, OR TINTED
LARGER THAN THE AUTHOR'S NAME
ABOVE THE TITLE IN THE READING ORDER
06 · Locked wording

The credit and the promise

Reader promise — on the stamp, back cover, and storefront line:

A human vision, perfected.

Credit line — title page, at byline scale, above the fold:

Seeded by [name]
Created, shaped and judged by the author. Written with a machine.

The standard behind the mark — agency plus responsibility. Not that a human typed it; that a human answered for it, through every draft:

I created this, I shaped it, I judged it, and I stand behind it.

Typing “write a great novel” and publishing whatever comes back does not meet it. Authorship is the two-hundredth exchange, not the first.

Shelf and search language: idea-first fiction.

Never appears anywhere
“AI-ASSISTED” · “AI-GENERATED”
ANY SENTENCE OPENING “WHILE SOME MAY…”

Saying the machine was a collaborator is not a hedge — it's how the book was made. Hedging is the apology; the credit line is the opposite of one.

07 · The word

What to call it, and why

What it is. “Neopulp” does two jobs. Capitalised, it names the mark and the movement: the Neopulp mark, Neopulp is a movement, not a publisher. Lowercase, it is the common noun for a book that carries the mark — a kind of book, the way a novel, a zine, or a podcast is a kind of thing. It's a neopulp. She's written three neopulps.

Why it matters. A common noun belongs to everyone who uses it. A brand name needs an owner, a ™, and permission — and the whole point of the mark is that nobody owns it and nobody has to ask. A word people can drop into a sentence spreads on its own; a brand name has to be marketed. So the word is deliberately not trademarked, and we ask that nobody else trademark it either.

How to use it.

WhereWriteExample
Running textlowercase, with an article; plural “neopulps”“It's a neopulp.” · “a neopulp about a drowned city” · “the first neopulps”
The mark, the movementcapitalised, one word“the Neopulp mark” · “Neopulp is a movement, not a publisher”
Shelf, store category, searchidea-first fictionThe category phrase. “Neopulp” is the noun; “idea-first fiction” is where it's filed
Title pages, coversthe mark and the credit line onlyThe word never appears as a publisher name or imprint
Not this
“A NEOPULP™ BOOK” — IT ISN'T A BRAND
“NEOPULP-STYLE” — IT'S A THING, NOT A STYLE
“AI-ASSISTED” · “AI-GENERATED” — THE HEDGE THE CREDIT LINE REPLACES
08 · Series numbering

Optional, and Arabic

№ 004 in JetBrains Mono, at the head of the spine or top-left of the cover. Use it if you're publishing a sequence; skip it if you aren't.

09 · Files

Production notes

Download the asset pack →