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+# Brand assets
+
+## `meshbay-M-transparent.png`
+
+The stylised M, 214 × 190, RGBA with a transparent background. **This is the
+source.** It lived in `QE/` until 2026-08-19, which is gitignored — the artwork
+would not have survived a clone.
+
+## Deriving the nav wordmark
+
+`packages/meshbay-hub/src/meshbay_hub/static/meshbay-m.png` is generated from
+it, not drawn separately:
+
+```bash
+convert assets/brand/meshbay-M-transparent.png \
+  -trim +repage -resize x72 -strip \
+  packages/meshbay-hub/src/meshbay_hub/static/meshbay-m.png
+```
+
+- `-trim +repage` removes the transparent margin, so the CSS controls the
+  spacing rather than the file's padding doing it invisibly.
+- `-resize x72` is 72 px tall for a picture displayed at 30 px — enough for a
+  2× screen, and 56 KB becomes 10 KB.
+
+The derived file is listed in `_ASSETS` in `meshbay_hub/api/webapp.py`. It has
+to be: that list is what the `/a/<hash>/` fingerprint is computed from, so a
+file missing from it is a file whose change never moves the URL, and a browser
+holding the old one never asks again. Regenerate the picture, and the wordmark
+changes for everyone; forget the list, and it changes for nobody.
+
+The M is a picture standing in for the letter M; `eshBay` beside it is text.
+Their sizes are set independently in `style.css` — `.nav-brand { font-size }`
+and `.nav-brand-m { height }`, the second in **pixels on purpose**. Written in
+`em` it was a fraction of the lettering, so resizing the words resized the
+picture by the same stroke and the balance between them could never be changed.