narrative review phase 2: 4 figures + QA (#53)

Author: neuromechanist

manuscript/narrative-review/figures/fig1_strand-map.png

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Figure QA Report — fig1_strand-map.svg
+
+**Detected type:** SVG + rendered raster (PNG at 600 dpi)
+**Target journal:** Trends in Cognitive Sciences (TiCS), single-column preferred
+**QA agent:** figures:figure-qa (run on 2026-05-20)
+
+## Programmatic findings
+
+**Palette.** PASS. All four perspective fills match Okabe-Ito exactly (distance = 0.0): `#0072B2` blue, `#D55E00` vermillion, `#009E73` bluish-green, `#CC79A7` reddish-purple. Neutral grey `#888` for outlines and `#444` for the legend swatch do not conflict.
+
+**Font size at TiCS single-column print (85 mm @ 300 dpi).** Conversion factor 0.40 pt per SVG user unit:
+
+| Element | SVG size | Effective pt | Pass (>= 6 pt) |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Title | 14 | 5.6 pt | FAIL |
+| Subtitle, column headers, row labels | 10-11 | 4.0-4.4 pt | FAIL |
+| Legend, source line | 9 | 3.6 pt | FAIL |
+
+At double-column width (174 mm) all sizes pass (7.4-11.5 pt).
+
+**Row-label alignment.** PASS. All 15 rows share uniform text-y to circle-cy offset of +4 units. Column header rectangles center exactly with their circle columns (cx 240, 330, 420, 510 match rect midpoints).
+
+**Alpha and background.** PASS. 4/4 corners pure white; no alpha channel.
+
+**PNG DPI metadata.** Missing. Print workflows default to 72 dpi without explicit DPI.
+
+## VLM judgment (1-5)
+
+| Dimension | Score | Note |
+|---|---|---|
+| Clarity | 4 | Filled vs outlined encoding is immediately legible. |
+| Hierarchy | 4 | Coloured header bars anchor column identity; filled circles pop. |
+| Alignment | 3 | Long row labels in rows 9-11 nearly touch the first circle column. |
+| Palette coherence | 5 | Okabe-Ito set applied with no deviations. |
+| Journal-fit | 3 | Font sizes too small for single-column print reduction. |
+
+## Recommendation
+
+**Status: revise.**
+
+Three actions, in priority order:
+
+1. **Scale all font-size values by 1.5x** (row labels 10 -> 15, column headers 11 -> 17, title 14 -> 21, legend 9 -> 14) OR redesign for double-column width. Without this the figure fails the TiCS single-column print floor.
+2. **Re-export PNG with embedded DPI metadata** at 300 dpi or 600 dpi.
+3. **Replace the single grey swatch in the legend with four small perspective-coloured circles** plus one outlined circle. This doubles the legend as a colour key and removes a header-lookup step.
+
+## Disposition
+
+Items 1-2 are deferred to Phase 5 (final journal-specific assembly). Item 3 is applied in Phase 2.