Ryoku documentation

The visual and verbal identity of the Ryoku Arch project.

Name

Ryoku comes from the Japanese kanji 力 (read chikara or ryoku), meaning “power” or “strength”. The project’s tagline appears in both Japanese and English:

力と美のために : For the sake of power and beauty.

Use “Ryoku” in prose. Use the “Ryoku Arch” full name on first mention in user-facing copy where context might be ambiguous (release pages, install instructions, the README header). Do not call it a distribution. Ryoku is an opinionated Arch Linux environment on top of Arch, not its own distribution. Stick to “Ryoku Arch”, “the Ryoku environment”, or “the Ryoku workstation”. For documentation, keep this lens:

Ryoku is a premium workstation environment with a clear design and workflow default.
Workload bundles (developer, media, hardware, security-adjacent) are one lane among many, not the entire identity.
The expected tone is polished, direct, and usable for daily machine work. No marketing fluff, no emoji.

Website

https://ryoku.dev is the public site. Until docs.ryoku.dev is fully wired up, the GitHub repo at neur0map/ryoku-arch is the canonical pointer for source.

Brand colors (Greek Noir palette)

The palette is named Greek Noir in the codebase. It is the Ryoku-branded reference palette. Hex values:

Role	Hex	Notes
Accent / brand orange	`#F25623`	Primary brand color. Used for the kanji mark, the `RYOKU` wordmark, Limine branding, status badges, and the terminal accent. The Quickshell theme exposes it as `Theme.brand`.
Bright orange	`#F56E0F`	Secondary accent, brighter variant of the brand. Used in `term_palette_bright` slot 5 and as the bright variant in some themes.
Background dark	`#171717`	Default dark surface. SVG logo background, terminal background, Plymouth window background, Limine `term_background`.
Foreground / subdued	`#aeab94`	Muted beige used for body text in dark contexts and the tagline.
Foreground bright	`#CCD0CF`	Standard terminal text.
Background bright	`#333333`	Lifted dark surface, subtle hover states.
Muted gray accent	`#4D4D4D`	Yellow slot replacement, dividers.
Muted green-gray	`#88A57D`	Blue slot replacement, callout / info.
Cyan replacement	`#8A8A8A`	Standard cyan slot, neutralized.
Light gray	`#bcbfbc`	White slot in normal palette.
Faded foreground	`#757d75`	White slot in bright palette, subtle hint text.

Shipped in system/boot/limine/limine.conf:

term_background:      171717
backdrop:             171717
term_palette:         171717;aeab94;F25623;4D4D4D;88A57D;F56E0F;8A8A8A;bcbfbc
term_palette_bright:  333333;aeab94;F25623;4D4D4D;88A57D;F56E0F;8A8A8A;757d75
term_foreground:        CCD0CF
term_foreground_bright: CCD0CF
term_background_bright: 333333

interface_branding:       Ryoku Bootloader
interface_branding_color: F25623
interface_help_color:     F25623

Limine 12+ expects RRGGBB hex directly for interface_branding_color, which is the form the file uses.

Plymouth window

system/boot/plymouth/ryoku/ryoku.script sets the decrypt-prompt window to a flat dark surface:

Window.SetBackgroundTopColor(0.0902, 0.0902, 0.0902);    # ~ #171717
Window.SetBackgroundBottomColor(0.0902, 0.0902, 0.0902); # ~ #171717

Logos

Source files (canonical)

All logo sources live under ryoku/assets/brand/ so the repo root stays focused on project metadata and entrypoint docs:

File	Purpose	Format	Notes
`ryoku/assets/brand/logo.svg`	Square logo with rounded background	SVG	512x512, `#171717` rounded-square background, `#F25623` kanji `力` centered. Use on light surfaces and in places that want the full mark with its own backdrop (favicon, app icon).
`ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.svg`	Transparent-background kanji mark	SVG	512x512 output with a padded viewBox, transparent background, `#F25623` kanji `力` centered. Use in the README header, on dark theme cards, anywhere that already provides its own background.
`ryoku/assets/brand/icon.png`	Rasterized square logo	PNG (512x512)	Same composition as `logo.svg`, exported. Used where SVG is not supported.
`ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.png`	Rasterized transparent mark	PNG (512x512)	Same composition as `logo-mark.svg`, exported. Used by the README header, the fastfetch kitty-direct logo, and notification surfaces.
`ryoku/assets/brand/light.png`	Mintlify light-mode header	PNG (600x160)	Docs site light-theme header logo.
`ryoku/assets/brand/dark.png`	Mintlify dark-mode header	PNG (600x160)	Docs site dark-theme header logo.
`ryoku/assets/brand/logo.txt`	ASCII `RYOKU` wordmark	UTF-8 box-drawing	Hand-drawn box-drawing wordmark. Reuse verbatim; do not regenerate.
`ryoku/assets/brand/icon.txt`	ASCII kanji block art	UTF-8 block characters	Hand-drawn `力` in `█` blocks, sized for terminal banners.

The kanji 力 is rendered at weight 900 in Noto Sans CJK JP at the size that fills the canvas with comfortable margin. The transparent mark keeps extra viewBox padding so font renderer differences do not cut off the glyph in compact surfaces such as the shell bar. Ryoku’s base package set pulls noto-fonts-cjk so the SVG renders consistently on any Ryoku install.

Asset locations on the installed system

installation/backend/lib/deploy.sh copies the brand tree into the user’s home, so any Ryoku-aware app can read the assets by a stable path:

Path	Purpose
`~/.local/share/ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.png`	Brand mark for fastfetch, notifications, and any Ryoku-aware app.
`~/.local/share/ryoku/assets/brand/logo.txt`	ASCII wordmark for terminal banners.
`/usr/share/plymouth/themes/ryoku/logo.png`	Plymouth boot-splash branding.

How to regenerate the SVG mark

The square SVG is intentionally minimal so you can hand-edit it. Replace the text element to change the glyph; keep the fill and font-family consistent with the table above.

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" width="512" height="512">
  <rect width="512" height="512" rx="48" ry="48" fill="#171717"/>
  <text x="256" y="360"
        font-family="Noto Sans CJK JP, sans-serif"
        font-weight="900"
        font-size="360"
        fill="#F25623"
        text-anchor="middle"
        dominant-baseline="middle">力</text>
</svg>

To rasterize after editing the SVG, Inkscape is the project’s reference tool because it renders Noto CJK correctly:

inkscape -w 512 -h 512 ryoku/assets/brand/logo.svg --export-filename=ryoku/assets/brand/icon.png
inkscape -w 512 -h 512 ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.svg --export-filename=ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.png

Or with rsvg-convert (smaller dependency, no GUI):

rsvg-convert -w 512 -h 512 ryoku/assets/brand/logo.svg -o ryoku/assets/brand/icon.png
rsvg-convert -w 512 -h 512 ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.svg -o ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.png

After regenerating, commit the source SVG and the matching PNG so README rendering on GitHub keeps working without server-side SVG quirks.

How to regenerate the ASCII wordmark

ryoku/assets/brand/logo.txt was hand-built in box-drawing characters. If the wordmark needs to change (for example, version branding), build it from a figlet-style font that uses Unicode box-drawing, then hand-tune for kerning. Do not auto-generate it as ANSI escape sequences; the file is raw UTF-8 so any terminal can render it.

# Reference: the current characters used by ryoku/assets/brand/logo.txt
# ╔ ╗ ╚ ╝ ║ ═ ╠ ╣ ╦ ╩ ╬ █

Application areas (where the brand shows up)

Surface	Source of brand	What renders
GitHub README	`ryoku/assets/brand/logo-mark.png`	Kanji mark and status badges in brand orange.
Limine boot menu	`system/boot/limine/limine.conf`	Orange branding text “Ryoku Bootloader”, Greek Noir terminal palette.
Plymouth decrypt and boot splash	`system/boot/plymouth/ryoku/ryoku.script` plus the theme’s PNG assets	Dark window, branded progress bar and lock icon.
SDDM greeter	`ryoku/lockscreen/sddm/`	Greek Noir greeter.
Hyprland session, Quickshell pill, sidebar, lockscreen, Hub	`Theme.brand = "#F25623"` (see `ryoku/shell/quickshell/pill/Singletons/Theme.qml`)	Brand orange accents across the shell. Wallust drives the rest of the palette from the wallpaper; the brand constant does not theme.
Themes (full-system rices)	`ryoku/hyprland/themes/<theme>/`	Greek Noir is the brand-accurate theme; the others (catppuccin, tokyo-night, gruvbox, rose-pine, nord, and the rest) are user-selectable but not “the brand”.
Terminal startup greeting	`ryoku/apps/fish/config.fish`, `ryoku/apps/kitty/`, `ryoku/apps/fastfetch/config.jsonc`, `ryoku/apps/fastfetch/ryoku-fastfetch`	Kitty starts fish; fish runs `ryoku-fastfetch` on interactive start; fastfetch renders `logo-mark.png` with Kitty graphics and brand-orange section keys.

Typography and cursor

Mono / UI default: JetBrains Mono Nerd Font.
Fallback / CJK coverage: Noto Sans (and noto-fonts-cjk for 力).
Cursor theme: Bibata.

These are fixed brand defaults. Wallust changes the surface palette, not the mark, the typeface, or the cursor.

What “on-brand” means

A surface is on-brand if:

The accent color the eye lands on first is #F25623. Status indicators, branded headings, the kanji mark, the boot-menu title.
Dark backgrounds default to #171717 with #333333 as the lifted “card” tone. No pure black.
Body text on dark is #CCD0CF (bright) or #aeab94 (subdued). Subdued is for taglines and annotations. Pure white is reserved for emphasis on light surfaces.
The kanji 力 is the primary mark, not the wordmark. The wordmark exists for places that already have spatial / typographic context (TTY banners, ASCII headers). When in doubt, use the kanji square.
No emoji as logo. The mark is the kanji, the kanji is the mark.

User-selectable themes (Catppuccin, Tokyo Night, Gruvbox, Rose Pine, Nord, and the rest) are first-class but they are user expression, not the brand. The brand is Greek Noir plus the kanji mark.

Don’t-do list

Don’t recolor the kanji mark. The orange is the brand.
Don’t substitute a different kanji or character. 力 is the brand mark.
Don’t ship the wordmark without the kanji where space allows for both.
Don’t introduce a third accent color. If you need a second accent, use the bright orange #F56E0F already in the palette.
Don’t add gradients to the kanji. Flat fill only.
Don’t use the brand orange for error states; the palette includes #aeab94 for muted callouts and the standard ANSI red is acceptable for errors.

Project

Build & release

Internals

Branding

Name

Website

Brand colors (Greek Noir palette)

Limine boot menu palette (literal config)

Plymouth window

Logos

Source files (canonical)

Asset locations on the installed system

How to regenerate the SVG mark

How to regenerate the ASCII wordmark

Application areas (where the brand shows up)

Typography and cursor

What “on-brand” means

Don’t-do list

See also

​Name

​Website

​Brand colors (Greek Noir palette)

​Limine boot menu palette (literal config)

​Plymouth window

​Logos

​Source files (canonical)

​Asset locations on the installed system

​How to regenerate the SVG mark

​How to regenerate the ASCII wordmark

​Application areas (where the brand shows up)

​Typography and cursor

​What “on-brand” means

​Don’t-do list

​See also

Name

Website

Brand colors (Greek Noir palette)

Limine boot menu palette (literal config)

Plymouth window

Logos

Source files (canonical)

Asset locations on the installed system

How to regenerate the SVG mark

How to regenerate the ASCII wordmark

Application areas (where the brand shows up)

Typography and cursor

What “on-brand” means

Don’t-do list

See also