Hypothesis: state outranks everything. The score set like a front-page numeral — largest type on the page by 4× — title demoted to a kicker, delta as the subhead. The stage-4 register treatment, wearing paper.

Notes: the strongest four-up scan of the seven — four numerals read like a dashboard even at thumbnail size. But it inherits the register's weakness: an 89 and an 83 read as neighbors when one hides a failing control; tone color is the only urgency channel.

Hypothesis: the sentence outranks the number. Memo typography — title as heading, the report's most urgent line set as a real, readable bold lede; the rest of the document greeked. A clean world reads a calm lede. Score demoted to the running header.

Notes: answers the judging question most directly — the card tells you why to open the report, in words. Costs: 9px is the floor of honest legibility, and the board card's "worst item" is its whole headline, which needs a hard clamp to stay on the page.

Hypothesis: one bit outranks all detail. The document itself stays fully greeked and quiet; the verdict lands on top as a rotated, letterspaced audit stamp. Weight and tone carry the whole message — the paperwork idiom for "reviewed."

Notes: the loudest peripheral signal of the seven — an amber or red stamp is legible before the card is even read, and a quiet green CURRENT is the calmest all-clear. But it's a single bit: no score, no movement, no reason. The stamp says whether, never why.

Hypothesis: where outranks what. A miniature table of contents, derived from the report's real structure — each section with its figure. The one section that needs you is bold and toned; healthy sections stay faint. The card answers "do I open it" and "where do I land."

Notes: the most information per square pixel, and the only candidate that names the section you'd drill into — the TOC row is a natural deep link. Busiest of the seven; at 8px the rows are labels more than reading text, and four TOCs side by side no longer scan as a dashboard.

Hypothesis: context outranks summary. Not the cover — an inner page, mid-document: running header, greeked paragraphs, and one real line highlighted where the worst item sits. The card shows the exact line you'd land on. A clean world highlights nothing.

Notes: the most document of the seven — it looks like a report someone has already read for you, highlighter in hand. Weakest at four-up scan: all four pages look alike until you read the highlight, and identity drops to a 7px running header.

Hypothesis: the file is the message. The stage-4 original taken to its formal conclusion — a report cover: centered title as the largest type, generous whitespace, score set beneath, run id as the filing line. The control condition the other six are judged against.

Notes: the purest "your landing is four files" statement, and the calmest row on this page. As an instrument it's still the stage-4 verdict: identity over density — state lives in one toned numeral, urgency and movement are absent.

Hypothesis: the needle outranks the number — Mark M's "we wanna know if we're moving the needle," typeset. The delta is the largest type; the current score rides beside it; the trend is embedded in the page as a document figure.

Notes: the only candidate built around the cycle's time-series consideration — a fleet getting worse shows it here first. But direction isn't urgency: compliance fell 4 points and has a failing control, while a card that fell from 97 to 94 looks identical in kind. The delta's tone answers "which way," not "how bad."