Meet Esmx
The creature on this bookmark is Esmx the Porkypine — part pig, part porcupine, part punk, and all theirs. Esmx is the official mascot of Stimpunks Foundation.
Esmx was created by artist Kaya Oldaker and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to remix, adapt, and make your own.
The design is intentional on every level. The spiky mane evokes the spiky profiles of neurodivergent people — the large disparities between cognitive peaks and troughs that define so many of our minds. The rainbow colours blend the autism spectrum and LGBT+ pride flags, reflecting the heavy overlap between the two communities. The mohawk nods to punk — a culture that has always made room for people who don’t fit.
There’s also a bit of goblin in there, in reference to “goblin mode”: rejecting social norms in favour of comfort and embracing weirdness. And if Esmx reminds you of a Sonic character or a Pokémon, that’s deliberate — both are deeply beloved within the Autistic community.
The name comes from Esme, in honour of Esmeralda Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. The “x” emphasises gender neutrality. Esmx’s pronouns are they/them.
Our Manifesto
The back of the bookmark carries six passages from the Stimpunks Manifesto.
The Manifesto is not a policy document. It is a living declaration — one that begins but will never end. It opens with a line borrowed from the Playful Manifesto: “This is a manifesto that begins but will never end. This is a translation of my world into yours. This is a protest of the notion that there is any correct way to live.” That framing is the whole of it, compressed. There is no single correct way to live. Neurodiversity is not a deficit to correct. Difference is not a problem to solve.
The six passages on the bookmark were chosen to carry that argument in the smallest possible space:
This is a manifesto that begins but will never end.
An open declaration. Not a finished statement but a continuous one.
A protest of the notion that there is any correct way to live.
The organisational premise. Neuronormativity — the assumption that one type of mind is the standard — is the thing we are working against.
Pluralism is our reality.
The Manifesto’s first substantive claim. Cognitive diversity is not a challenge to be managed; it is the baseline condition of human life.
Our differences are the genius — and the conscience — of our species.
From Carol Black’s A Thousand Rivers, carried into the Manifesto. The full line: “Human cognitive diversity exists for a reason; our differences are the genius — and the conscience — of our species.”
Let’s organize our lives around love and care.
The argument lands here: systems, structures, and relationships built around love and care rather than compliance and normalisation.
We reject neuronormativity. We demand the right to live and learn differently.
The core declaration of the Manifesto. It names the thing we are against — neuronormativity, the assumption that one cognitive style is standard and all others are deficits — and asserts the thing we are for: the unconditional right to live and learn as you are.
The bookmark carries the opening of each passage in body text, with the close in bold — so the structure holds even at a glance. Read the full Manifesto at stimpunks.org/manifesto/.
Accessibility Notes
This bookmark was built with accessibility as a design constraint, not an afterthought.
Typeface. All text is set in Atkinson Hyperlegible, designed by the Braille Institute specifically to maximise legibility for readers with low vision. Individual letterforms are engineered to reduce confusion between similar characters — a particular help for readers with dyslexia.
Colour contrast. Text colours are drawn from the Solarized dark palette, chosen to maintain sufficient contrast against the near-black background. All text elements meet or exceed WCAG AA (4.5:1). Primary text (Solarized BASE3, #fdf6e3) achieves 18:1. Body text (BASE0, #839496) achieves 6.3:1. Secondary labels (BASE1, #93a1a1) achieve 7.4:1. Decorative dividers are the only elements below AA threshold.
Type size. Text runs from 6.5pt to 10pt at print size — generous for a bookmark, intentionally so. The Manifesto closing lines are set bold and larger than the body text to aid scanning.
Colour palette. The Philly Pride flag accent bars include black and brown stripes honouring Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people — the same design used across all Stimpunks print materials.
The design rationale follows the same system as the Stimpunks business cards.
Print Specifications
Finished Size 55 × 190 mm (standard bookmark, ~2⅙” × 7½”)
Substrate 250–350 gsm card stock. Matte or silk laminate finish. Avoid gloss on dark backgrounds — it obscures the near-black.
Colour CMYK process or digital print. Background is near-black (#0a0a0a) — confirm with printer that deep blacks render well on their press/toner.
Bleed No bleed built into the files. The accent bars run to the trim edge — add 3mm bleed if your printer requires it. Crop marks are included at 3mm length, 1mm offset from trim.
Files
| File | Page size | Bookmarks | Margins |
|---|---|---|---|
esmx-bookmark-single.pdf | 55 × 190 mm | 1 (front) | — |
esmx-bookmark-3up-A4.pdf | A4 portrait | 3 front (1 row × 3 col) | 22.5mm sides, 53.5mm top/bottom |
esmx-bookmark-6up-A3.pdf | A3 portrait | 6 front (2 rows × 3 col) | 66mm sides, 20mm top/bottom |
esmx-bookmark-back-single.pdf | 55 × 190 mm | 1 (back) | — |
esmx-bookmark-back-3up-A4.pdf | A4 portrait | 3 back | same |
esmx-bookmark-back-6up-A3.pdf | A3 portrait | 6 back | same |
Duplex printing Print front and back sheets back-to-back. Flip on the short edge (portrait flip). Crop marks align across both sides when printed correctly.
Cutting Guillotine on crop marks. Marks are grey (#aaaaaa), 0.25pt weight, outside the trim boundary.
Typography
Typeface: Atkinson Hyperlegible (Regular and Bold), embedded in all PDFs. Designed by the Braille Institute specifically to maximise legibility for low-vision readers; chosen to align with Stimpunks’ accessibility values and the business card system.
Front:
| Element | Weight | Size | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| STIMPUNKS wordmark | Bold | 10pt | BASE3 #fdf6e3 |
| FOUNDATION submark | Regular | 7pt | BASE1 #93a1a1 |
| Tagline | Regular | 7.5pt | BASE0 #839496 |
| stimpunks.org URL | Regular | 7pt | BASE1 #93a1a1 |
Back:
| Element | Weight | Size | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| OUR MANIFESTO label | Regular | 6.5pt | BASE1 #93a1a1 |
| Manifesto body lines | Regular | 7pt | BASE0 #839496 |
| Manifesto closing lines | Bold | 8pt | BASE3 #fdf6e3 |
Back content Six passages from the Stimpunks Manifesto, set above a full-width illustration of Esmx. Each passage opens in grey body text and closes with its final line in bold warm cream. Passages in order:
- “This is a manifesto that begins but will never end.“
- “A protest of the notion that there is any correct way to live.“
- “Pluralism is our reality.“
- “Our differences are the genius — and the conscience — of our species.“
- “Let’s organize our lives around love and care.“
- “We reject neuronormativity. We demand the right to live and learn differently.“
Colour palette
All text colours drawn from the Solarized dark palette, matching the Stimpunks business card system.
Text — all pass WCAG AA (4.5:1) against #0a0a0a:
| Role | Solarized name | Hex | Contrast ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary text / bold closes | BASE3 | #fdf6e3 | 18.35:1 |
| Secondary text / labels | BASE1 | #93a1a1 | 7.40:1 |
| Body / tagline text | BASE0 | #839496 | 6.26:1 |
Decorative (non-text):
| Role | Hex | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dividers | BASE01 #586e75 | 3.68:1 — decorative only |
| Background | #0a0a0a | Near-black |
| Philly Pride brown | #613010 | Left half of pride bar |
| Philly Pride black | #000000 | Right half of pride bar |
Accent bars — rainbow (7 equal stripes):
#FF1493 · #FF4500 · #FFA500 · #FFD700 · #32CD32 · #1E90FF · #8A2BE2
Home/office printing The 3-up A4 files print on any home printer. Use actual size (not “fit to page”) in your PDF viewer. Card stock up to ~200gsm feeds through most inkjet and laser printers; heavier stock may need a bypass tray.
Assets
Here are all PDFs bundled as a zip file.