Brand · Jason Calhoun

01 · The medallion

The Walt.

A wizard in profile, pipe lit, set in a lantern-gold disc inside a brass ring. It nods to the nickname ("Walt", and the Wizard of Walt) without borrowing anyone's hat. Use it as the avatar, the favicon and the signature on images. Minimum 24px; never recolor the disc.

wizard.svg · profile-mark-800.png

Jason Calhounknown in certain circles as Walt Lockup: Young Serif + IM Fell English italic

02 · Palette

Dusk#1B2838 · the sky, primary dark

Vellum#F3ECDC · the journal page

Lantern#E2A340 · the one warm light

Pine#2C4A3E · the woods

Claret#9E3B45 · trailer stripe, links on light

Brass#A8874F · engraved rules, rings

Night#141D29 · footer, dark mode

Ink#1D2328 · text on vellum

Mostly Dusk and Vellum. Lantern is the single warm highlight per view (a word in a headline, a button, a glow). Claret and Pine are supporting colors, never the loudest thing on the page.

03 · Type

Set like a good old book.

Display · Young Serif

Pull up a chair.

Text · Newsreader

Long, conversational paragraphs for essays on faith, philosophy and AI. Body 18 to 21px, line height 1.6 to 1.7, a measure of about 65 characters.

Labels + signs · IM Fell English SC, and its italic for asides

Big Ideas → ← Deep Thoughts Snacks ↓

known in certain circles as Walt

04 · Illustration

Engraved, never cartoon.

Line quality. Etched and engraved: fine hatching, contour lines on the hills, flat silhouettes, one warm light source. Think field guide plates and expedition journals, not children's books.
The cast. The vintage trailer (the family's travel years), the lantern, the campfire with one empty chair, the signpost, pines, a crescent moon. The wizard appears only in the medallion.
Original only. No client footage on brand images. No Disney anything: no castles, mouse ears, sorcerer hats with stars and moons, or Disney fonts. The nod is in the spirit (wonder, craft, optimism).
Source. Every illustration is generated by social/illos.py, and every social image is rendered from social/render.html, so new pieces stay consistent.

05 · Humor

Dry, and in small places.

The signposts are the tone model: sharp, clever, one line, and then get out of the way.
Jokes live in microcopy (navigation, footers, captions, alt text, the 404), roughly one per page. Headlines and essays stay sincere.
Never cutesy, never at anyone's expense, never on a faith or family post.
In the wild so far: "known in certain circles as Walt", "No wizards were harmed in the making of this website", "Response time: faster than a stagecoach, slower than a text", "The hat is metaphorical."

07 · Voice

How it sounds.

First person, flowing paragraphs, the way Jason talks. Honest about what he hasn't figured out.
Real facts only. Beliefs, family and numbers come from Jason himself, and family stays general.
No contrast-reframe lines, no aphorism closers, no AI filler, about one em dash per page at most.

Lantern & Trail: a field guide with a sense of humor.

The Walt.

Set like a good old book.

Engraved, never cartoon.

Dry, and in small places.

How it sounds.