diff --git a/nextjs-app/components/HomeView.module.css b/nextjs-app/components/HomeView.module.css
index a964d3e..a710b98 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/components/HomeView.module.css
+++ b/nextjs-app/components/HomeView.module.css
@@ -161,10 +161,22 @@
  * page and out-shouts the H1 and the search box. Dimming it in CSS is the
  * whole treatment, and the scrim then fades it into the dark panel instead of
  * into cream.
+ *
+ * Raising the brightness raises the background under light dark-theme text, so
+ * this value has a contrast floor, not just a taste range. Measured off
+ * rendered pixels, sampling background up to 120px past each line:
+ *
+ *   brightness   title      body
+ *   0.52         11.01:1    6.44:1
+ *   0.75          9.48:1    5.21:1   ← current
+ *
+ * Body text is the binding one. Going much above 0.75 walks it toward the
+ * 4.5:1 floor, and at that point the scrim needs to carry further right rather
+ * than the artwork being dimmed less.
  */
 @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
   .heroArt img {
-    filter: brightness(0.52) saturate(0.72) contrast(1.02);
+    filter: brightness(0.75) saturate(0.72) contrast(1.02);
   }
   .heroPanel::before {
     background: linear-gradient(
diff --git a/nextjs-app/components/Illustration.tsx b/nextjs-app/components/Illustration.tsx
index cc3963c..2f85d6a 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/components/Illustration.tsx
+++ b/nextjs-app/components/Illustration.tsx
@@ -60,6 +60,18 @@ export function HeroIllustration() {
         srcSet="/brand/hero-band-500.webp 500w, /brand/hero-band-700.webp 700w, /brand/hero-band-972.webp 972w"
         sizes={SIZES}
       />
+      {/*
+        The band's JPEG, and the reason it exists.
+
+        <img src> cannot vary by viewport, so it is always the wide crop. A
+        browser that takes neither AVIF nor WebP would therefore fall through
+        to the desktop frame on a phone and lose the schoolhouse — the exact
+        failure this whole component is arranged to prevent, surviving in the
+        one path nobody looks at. No `type` here, so it matches anywhere the
+        media query does, and it sits after the modern formats so they still
+        win where supported.
+      */}
+      <source media="(max-width: 860px)" srcSet="/brand/hero-band-700.jpg" />
       <source
         type="image/avif"
         srcSet="/brand/hero-wide-900.avif 900w, /brand/hero-wide-1200.avif 1200w, /brand/hero-wide-1672.avif 1672w"
diff --git a/nextjs-app/package-lock.json b/nextjs-app/package-lock.json
index 81465f1..2b03167 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/package-lock.json
+++ b/nextjs-app/package-lock.json
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@
         "@types/jest": "^30.0.0",
         "@types/leaflet": "^1.9.21",
         "jest": "^30.2.0",
-        "jest-environment-jsdom": "^30.2.0"
+        "jest-environment-jsdom": "^30.2.0",
+        "sharp": "^0.34.5"
       }
     },
     "node_modules/@adobe/css-tools": {
@@ -937,8 +938,8 @@
       "version": "1.0.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@img/colour/-/colour-1.0.0.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-A5P/LfWGFSl6nsckYtjw9da+19jB8hkJ6ACTGcDfEJ0aE+l2n2El7dsVM7UVHZQ9s2lmYMWlrS21YLy2IR1LUw==",
+      "devOptional": true,
       "license": "MIT",
-      "optional": true,
       "engines": {
         "node": ">=18"
       }
@@ -4160,8 +4161,8 @@
       "version": "2.1.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/detect-libc/-/detect-libc-2.1.2.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-Btj2BOOO83o3WyH59e8MgXsxEQVcarkUOpEYrubB0urwnN10yQ364rsiByU11nZlqWYZm05i/of7io4mzihBtQ==",
+      "devOptional": true,
       "license": "Apache-2.0",
-      "optional": true,
       "engines": {
         "node": ">=8"
       }
@@ -8584,9 +8585,9 @@
       "version": "0.34.5",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/sharp/-/sharp-0.34.5.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-Ou9I5Ft9WNcCbXrU9cMgPBcCK8LiwLqcbywW3t4oDV37n1pzpuNLsYiAV8eODnjbtQlSDwZ2cUEeQz4E54Hltg==",
+      "devOptional": true,
       "hasInstallScript": true,
       "license": "Apache-2.0",
-      "optional": true,
       "dependencies": {
         "@img/colour": "^1.0.0",
         "detect-libc": "^2.1.2",
@@ -8629,8 +8630,8 @@
       "version": "7.7.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/semver/-/semver-7.7.3.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-SdsKMrI9TdgjdweUSR9MweHA4EJ8YxHn8DFaDisvhVlUOe4BF1tLD7GAj0lIqWVl+dPb/rExr0Btby5loQm20Q==",
+      "devOptional": true,
       "license": "ISC",
-      "optional": true,
       "bin": {
         "semver": "bin/semver.js"
       },
diff --git a/nextjs-app/package.json b/nextjs-app/package.json
index 45a2434..c2ff2ea 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/package.json
+++ b/nextjs-app/package.json
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
     "@types/jest": "^30.0.0",
     "@types/leaflet": "^1.9.21",
     "jest": "^30.2.0",
-    "jest-environment-jsdom": "^30.2.0"
+    "jest-environment-jsdom": "^30.2.0",
+    "sharp": "^0.34.5"
   }
 }
diff --git a/nextjs-app/scripts/build-hero-images.js b/nextjs-app/scripts/build-hero-images.js
index 91b7043..a87f458 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/scripts/build-hero-images.js
+++ b/nextjs-app/scripts/build-hero-images.js
@@ -25,8 +25,16 @@
  *         squeezing further toward 4.9:1 crops the empty sides, not the subject.
  *
  * AVIF and WebP are both emitted. This is flat-shaded vector-style artwork, so
- * AVIF lands roughly an order of magnitude under the source PNG; the JPEG is
- * only the <img> fallback and is never served to a current browser.
+ * AVIF lands roughly an order of magnitude under the source PNG. Both crops
+ * also get a JPEG: the wide one backs the <img src>, and the band one backs a
+ * <source media> — without it a browser taking neither modern format would
+ * fall through to the desktop frame on a phone, since <img src> cannot vary by
+ * viewport.
+ *
+ * sharp is declared in devDependencies rather than leaned on as a transitive
+ * dependency of next. It does currently arrive that way, but relying on that
+ * means a Next upgrade can silently break this script — the same reasoning as
+ * the outputFileTracingIncludes note in next.config.js.
  */
 
 const path = require('path');