Direction B · The Meadow Hour
Eloise Fontaine
Eloise Turns Seven
Event Identity Guide
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7 February 2026 · The Houston Arboretum
E · F
01 · Colour System
Palette
The Garden Sage
Direction B builds its world from meadow and earth — the naturalist's palette Eloise herself would reach for. Each colour carries a precise function drawn from the briefing she gave word for word.
Meadow Sage
#E8F0DC
Ground · Specimen panels · The light across the arboretum meadow in the morning
Ink
#2C3A2D
Primary type · Every headline, label, and detail of consequence — the naturalist's pen
Warm Terracotta
#C4956A
Accent · Rules · Ornaments · Warmth against the green — the soil under the grass
Naturalist Cream
#F7F3EB
Paper · Cards · The field notebook page before it was written in
Arboretum Green
#7A9E7E
Secondary accent · Botanical border rule · The specific green of oak leaf shadow
Palette in Use
Cream 50%
Sage 33%
Ink 17%
Terracotta 13%
Green 10%
02 · Type System
Typography
The Naturalist Typeface
One family — two voices. EB Garamond italic carries the warmth and seriousness of a field journal; the roman and Nunito 300 carry everything practical. Together they form the typographic language of a seven-year-old who already knows what she's looking at.
Display — EB Garamond · Serif
Eloise Turns Seven
The Meadow Hour
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 · — & % ©
Body — Nunito 300 · Geometric Sans
She has been cataloguing the arboretum since she was five — caterpillar first, then the ladybug she found on the south path, then the bumblebee colony behind the live oaks. The oak leaf came last. She did not choose it for its beauty. She chose it because it was the one her father could never identify correctly, and she always could.
Type Scale
| Token |
Family |
Size |
Weight |
Tracking |
Usage |
| Display |
EB Garamond |
4–6 rem |
400 |
-0.01em |
Event name, cover title |
| Heading 1 |
EB Garamond Italic |
2.5–4 rem |
400 |
-0.01em |
Section names, direction name |
| Heading 2 |
EB Garamond |
1.5–2 rem |
500 |
0 |
Sub-headings, Eloise's name |
| Label |
Nunito |
0.55–0.65 rem |
300 |
+0.35em |
Eyebrows, captions, system labels |
| Body |
Nunito |
0.85–1 rem |
300 |
0 |
Running text, descriptions |
| Colophon |
Nunito |
0.5–0.6 rem |
200–300 |
+0.45em |
Order IDs, fine print, identifiers |
03 · Illustrative System
The Motifs
Eloise's Four Approved Species
These are not decorative choices. Eloise specified them from memory — she knows each one by genus and by where she first found it. The suite uses no other illustrative elements. One species per favour tag; all four appear on the welcome signage footer panel.
Caterpillar
Invitation hero · Motif I
Ladybug
Favour tag · Motif II
Bumblebee
Favour tag · Motif III
Oak Leaf
Welcome signage hero · Motif IV
On the illustrative style
Each motif is rendered as if Eloise herself observed and illustrated it: loose, painted, warm — the specific quality of a child who draws from careful looking rather than imagination. The caterpillar at the invitation's hero boundary appears as a small discovery at the edge of the meadow illustration. The style owes more to a field guide than a gift shop.
04 · Copy Voice
Voice
How This Suite Speaks
The copy comes from Eloise's own briefing — her words, her rules. The tone is warm formal: the voice of a grown-up who takes a seven-year-old seriously. Specific over general. Direct over elaborate.
Tone
Warm formal — the voice of a grown-up who takes a seven-year-old seriously. Specific over general. Direct over elaborate. The copy comes from Eloise's own briefing: her words, her ideas, her rules. Nothing could appear on a different child's suite.
The Invitation Copy — verbatim
Eloise Fontaine is turning seven.
She would like you in her meadow.
Saturday, October 3rd, 2026
Half past ten in the morning
The Houston Arboretum
Wear something you don't mind getting grass on.
What This Voice Avoids
Party supply prose. Exclamation marks. Words like "magical" or "enchanted." Any copy that could have been written by someone who hasn't met Eloise and doesn't know what she cares about.
05 · Suite Overview
The Three Pieces
The Complete Suite
Three pieces — all expressing the same Meadow Hour language. Naturalist Cream throughout. Terracotta rules and the four motifs carry the warmth. Every piece uses Eloise's briefing as its primary content source.
HTML · Mobile-optimised vertical card · Caterpillar at hero boundary · Verbatim invitation copy · Ambient nature sound opt-in
A2 portrait · Print-ready · Botanical hero · Day programme · Terracotta hairline border inset
4 variants · One per species · Blank name line · Hole-punch + jute tie format · 22 guests + spares
06 · Hidden Heart
The Origin Object
The Caterpillar on Page One
The client brief contained a single observation that determined the invitation's hero detail: "The caterpillar she drew on page one, aged 5, would make a perfect invitation motif." It would. The caterpillar was her first field observation — the one that started the notebook. It appears at the hero boundary of the invitation card: a small discovery at the meadow's edge, drawn as if Eloise herself placed it there.
The invitation is her journal entry, made beautiful. Not illustrated for her — drawn as she would have drawn it, at the scale and seriousness she gives to the things she observes. The caterpillar carries the whole brief in the shape of its back.
"The caterpillar she drew on page one, aged 5, would make a perfect invitation motif." — Fontaine briefing, 2026.
07 · Design Philosophy
Constraints
What This Suite Will Never Do
These are not guidelines — they are constraints. The Meadow Hour has a precise aesthetic logic derived from Eloise's briefing. Every decision that honours what she asked for is correct. Every decision that does not is not.
i.
No princess aesthetics
No unicorns, glitter, or the colour pink. Eloise briefed against these explicitly. The suite is botanical, not confectionary. The meadow is a real place she visits, not a fantasy setting.
ii.
No cartoon characters
No party supply store aesthetics, no licensed characters, no stock illustration style. The suite's illustrative language is the naturalist's hand — observed, not invented.
iii.
No childish pejorative
No smiley-face suns, no balloon letters, nothing that signals "for children" in the diminutive sense. Eloise is a serious observer of her world. The suite treats her as one.
iv.
Nothing generic
Nothing that could appear on a different child's suite. Every motif, every line of copy, every colour decision must be traceable to Eloise's briefing — not to a birthday party template.
v.
No platform colours
LMDF brand colours — the house's own identity system — never appear in client-facing design pieces. The suite belongs to Eloise, not to La Maison de Fêtes.
vi.
Four motifs only
The four approved species are fixed. No additional botanical elements, no decorative flora outside this set. The caterpillar, the ladybug, the bumblebee, the oak leaf — exactly as Eloise listed them.
08 · Colophon
EF
Eloise Fontaine
Event Identity Guide · Direction B: The Meadow Hour
Eloise Turns Seven
7 February 2026
The Houston Arboretum, Houston TX
Client · The Fontaine Family
Prepared by · La Maison de Fêtes
Date · January 2026
Direction B — The Meadow Hour
Direction B preview. This document defines the full creative language for this suite.
Identity document for Fontaine Kids Birthday · February 2026.
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Eloise Fontaine · The Meadow Hour · B
