v2 soul — recalibration proof

Stacy's right — it drifted to clean-utility and lost the v2 soul

The boards were technically on the v2 tokens (Source Serif + Forma DJR + navy + plum) but reading like a generic-clean events app — the v1 feeling. The reason: a cold grey ground, flat hairline boxes, grey "placeholder" tiles, and small type strip out exactly what makes the v2 website feel like The Lineup. Here's the diagnosis, and the Today home rebuilt to carry the v2 soul without re-bloating the density.

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til

The Weekend Lineup · Jun 12–14

Your Chattanooga weekend, in five.

The handful we'd actually text a friend about — music, a market, and one long drive.

Read it

What changed — and why it now reads v2

Same lean density. The difference is editorial warmth, not more stuff.

1Warm paper ground, not cold grey

The screen sits on warm paper (#FBF8F2) with a whisper of grain — the v2 web's paper sections. The cold #FAFBFC grey was a big part of the "generic app" read.

2The accent-FRAMED photo hero

The single hero uses the v2 website's signature move — a plum frame around a full-color photo, with the serif headline riding on it. This one editorial image carries the brand; it's the move the flat gradient boxes were missing.

3Confident colored sigils, not grey placeholders

The hand-drawn category sigils are a v2 signature — so they ride in full category color, as editorial marks, not greyed-out "missing photo" apologies. The brand shows up on every row.

4A navy editorial band

The Weekend Lineup gets the v2 navy + white-serif treatment — one bold editorial moment that says "publication," not "feed." It's the gravitas the all-light layout had drained out.

5Bigger serif moments

The greeting and hero headline are larger serif — editorial gravitas. Body/UI stays the same readable size (density win intact). Serif = voice got louder; sans = UI unchanged.

6Density win kept

Still one hero image + compact rows + one band — five things on screen, not two. We added warmth and editorial, not bulk. The lean redesign and the v2 soul aren't in conflict; the soul lives in treatment, not in more cards.

The diagnosis — what reads v1 vs v2

Grounded in the approved v2 website (the homepage + the redesign): the app had the right tokens but the wrong treatment. Each row is a lever I can pull across all the app surfaces.

v1-feeling (what it was)	v2 soul (the fix)
Cold grey ground (#FAFBFC)	Warm paper + whisper of grain
Flat hairline rectangle cards	Accent-framed photos · warm editorial cards · one navy band
Grey "placeholder" tiles (read as empty)	Confident full-color sigils as brand texture
Photos absent or flat gradient boxes	The few images get the frame-forward editorial treatment
Small, uniform type — utility	Bigger serif voice moments · editorial gravitas
All-light, even, "an events app"	Light/paper + a navy editorial beat — "a local publication"

The tension this resolves — and the call it raises

The density redesign pulls toward fewer/smaller images (clean utility); the v2 soul pulls toward photographic + editorial. They felt opposed — which is how the boards drifted. The resolution: the soul lives in treatment (warmth, the framed hero, confident sigils, the navy beat, serif), not in volume — so we keep the lean density and get the v2 feel. If this is the right direction, I'll re-skin the nav+home boards (and carry it to Where-to-Go + onboarding) to this treatment before handing to APP. One open call for you: how far toward the navy/editorial end do you want the app to lean — this balance (paper-led, one navy beat), or bolder (more navy, like the web homepage)?