# Logo decision: Late Sun (approved)

**You chose B · Late Sun on 2026-10-15**, and said three things about it:
- "The late sun in B1 looks the best."
- "The logo should be ABOVE the wording on the can."
- "The wording shouldn't be in the actual logo."

So the logo is the **mark alone**, and "Aster Chai" is always live type set beneath it. The approved files are in `approved/`; how to use them is in `../brand_guide.md` §2.

**Why it works.** It tells the story without words: a star (*aster*) rising over the horizon, late in the day, late in the year. It's also the only direction whose shape says "blooms late."

**What I did about its known weakness.** In Phase 1 I recommended A (Tittle Star), because at 16 px the Late Sun collapsed into a smudge on a line. Two additions fix that:
- **Compact cut** (`late-sun_compact*`): opened notches, a bigger eye, and a shorter, heavier line. It holds down to 24 px, and there's a 16 px cut for favicons.
- **Eight-Ray Aster** as the secondary mark, for round crops (avatars, stickers, cup seals). You asked me to try it above the wording; that version is in `../02_existing_cans_updated/existing_cans_lineup_eight-ray.*`. I kept it as the alternate, not the primary, because the Late Sun carries the story and the round star carries small spaces.

**What's left of A and C.** Their files stay in `finals/` as the Phase 1 record. A's eight-ray star lives on as the secondary mark; the tittle-star wordmark is retired. C's seal isn't used.

## Files
- `approved/`: Late Sun mark, compact cut, 16 px cut and Eight-Ray Aster, each in color, mono and reversed, as `.svg`, `.psd` and `.png`. Also `logo_system_sheet`.
- `logo_system_sheet.png`: the mark three ways, the mark above the name (primary, plus the Eight-Ray alternate), the compact cut, the round crop and the 16 px cut.
- `comparison_sheet.png`, `explorations/`, `finals/`, `tests_16px/`: the Phase 1 work that led here.