design.vecreal.com / workshop / Wordmark V valley refinement
Brand reference · workshop · iteration · 2026-05-12
Wordmark V valley — inner-vertex polish on R4
R4 (rounded apex + rounded top corners) reads cohesive on the outside but the inside valley is still a hard point, and the wedge between valley and apex looks ink-heavy. Two refinement axes applied to R4's inside vertex while leaving the apex untouched: round the valley (curve language cohesion) and lower the valley toward the apex (shortens the wedge, reduces mass). System held at S2 Bold + dot 0.23em — dot decision deferred until V locks.
What's being explored
R4-A current R4 — sharp valley at (32, 32), baseline reference.
R4-B rounded valley only — Q-curve through the inner vertex at preserved depth y=32.
Addresses "sharp edge in valley." Mass unchanged.
R4-C lowered valley only — moves valley to (32, 36). Wedge area ~32%
smaller. Inside V deeper, throat between valley and apex shorter. Sharp inside vertex preserved
(still inconsistent with rounded apex).
R4-D lowered + rounded — combines both moves. Valley at (32, 36),
rounded. Curve language now consistent across all three vertices. Recommended.
R4-E lowered more + rounded — valley at (32, 37). Wedge ~40%
smaller. Pushes how deep the inside V can go before legs feel over-tapered.
R1 sharp-everywhere baseline rendered at the top as sanity reference, since you flagged R1 and R4 as the two cleanest. R1 is its own kind of cohesion (all-sharp).
Section A · R4 valley variants — full wordmark at 80 px, S2 Bold
Top row: R1 baseline (sharp everywhere) as sanity reference. Then R4-A through R4-E. Compare valley sharpness, wedge density, and how the inside of the V relates to the rounded apex.
Section B · V geometry only — large, isolated, with vertex markers
Each V rendered at full size with cyan markers on apex and valley control points. Strip away the text and dot to focus the eye on the inside-vertex treatment and wedge mass between valley and apex.
Section C · Close inspection — R4-A vs R4-D at 140 px
Reference (current R4) vs recommended (R4 with lowered + rounded valley) at display size. Look at the inside of the V — the throat between valley and apex.
R4-A (current) ⇄ R4-D (recommended)
Section D · Small-size readability — 24 / 32 / 48 px across all R4 variants
Refinements should not break favicon / sidebar / breadcrumb scale. At 16–32 px the V is reduced to a few pixels of geometry; any over-refinement (especially the more aggressive R4-E lowering) shows up here as mush.
| 24 px nav / sidebar | 32 px breadcrumb | 48 px body | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 reference | ecreal. | ecreal. | ecreal. |
| R4-A | ecreal. | ecreal. | ecreal. |
| R4-B | ecreal. | ecreal. | ecreal. |
| R4-C | ecreal. | ecreal. | ecreal. |
| R4-D ⭐ | ecreal. | ecreal. | ecreal. |
| R4-E | ecreal. | ecreal. | ecreal. |
Spec summary
| Variant | Apex | Top corners | Valley | Wedge area | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | sharp (tiny Q) | sharp | sharp · y=32 | baseline (220 u²) | modern-tech · all-sharp cohesion |
| R4-A | rounded | rounded | sharp · y=32 | baseline + apex (heavier) | rounded outside / sharp inside (inconsistent) |
| R4-B | rounded | rounded | rounded · y=32 | unchanged | curve cohesion fixed, wedge still heavy |
| R4-C | rounded | rounded | sharp · y=36 | ~32% lighter (150 u²) | mass fixed, valley still inconsistent |
| R4-D ⭐ | rounded | rounded | rounded · y=36 | ~32% lighter (150 u²) | both fixed · curve language all-round, wedge lighter |
| R4-E | rounded | rounded | rounded · y=37 | ~40% lighter (130 u²) | aggressive · check small-size legibility before locking |
Recommendation R4-D — lowered valley to y=36 with rounded inside vertex.
Curve language consistent on all three V vertices, ~32% lighter wedge between valley and apex,
small-size readability intact (Section D matrix). Alternatives: R4-B if you want minimum geometry
change (rounding only, no mass move), R4-E if the wedge still feels heavy at 80 px.
Once V locks, we revisit the dot — at this point I'd predict you stay at 0.23em
(the lighter wedge in R4-D reduces the need to upsize the dot for balance).
Vecreal · brand workshop · 2026-05-12 · v-valley refinement