# Variant 4 — Bold Mover Energy: Recommended Hybrid

## Purpose

This inert local prototype makes the recommended refinement of Daryl's selected Variant 3 direction visible. It is not a production implementation and sends/saves no data.

## Design recipe

- **Identity:** Variant 3's black, white, and safety-orange palette; Oswald/Barlow type; sharp 2–3px borders; hard-offset marketing shadows; persistent PROTOTYPE labeling.
- **Quote continuation:** Variant 2's sticky desktop left-rail stepper, re-skinned as a black hard-edged rail with an orange current indicator. At 390px it becomes a compact four-column progress treatment with no horizontal overflow.
- **Forms:** restrained neutral borders, persistent labels, standard focus rings, and no hard shadows on controls.
- **Spacing:** lower-urgency explanatory sections use more breathing room and hairline separation. Pricing/CTA bands remain tighter and bolder.
- **Defect fixes:** full-width styled notes textarea; visible 44px-high Edit control; all interactive targets at least 44px.

## Contrast evidence

WCAG relative-luminance ratios measured from the literal design tokens:

| Pair | Ratio | Result |
|---|---:|---|
| `#111111` text on `#EA580C` orange | **5.30:1** | AA normal text |
| `#FFFFFF` text on `#C2410C` hover orange | **5.18:1** | AA normal text |
| `#57534E` disabled text on `#E7E5E4` | **6.08:1** | AA normal text (disabled controls are exempt, but deliberately legible) |
| `#FFFFFF` on `#111111` dark surface | **18.88:1** | AAA |
| `#EA580C` current-step text on `#111111` rail | **5.30:1** | AA normal text |

## Behavior and accessibility

The form is inert (`onsubmit="return false"`), links are placeholders, and there are no fetch/XHR/analytics calls. The screen switcher, menu, disclosure, piano reveal, and state demos remain local-only. There is one logical H1, visible labels and focus states, reduced-motion handling, and 44px minimum interactive targets.

## Files

- `index.html` — self-contained prototype (external Google fonts have local system fallbacks)
- `README.md` — this rationale and measured contrast record