diff --git a/public/logo.png b/public/logo.png
index cff5742b..9972066b 100644
Binary files a/public/logo.png and b/public/logo.png differ
diff --git a/src/app/globals.css b/src/app/globals.css
index 97592e09..4c8aa6ed 100644
--- a/src/app/globals.css
+++ b/src/app/globals.css
@@ -266,6 +266,22 @@ table {
   animation: chart-pop-rise 2200ms cubic-bezier(0.16, 0.84, 0.32, 1) forwards;
 }
 
+/* MiniChart live-pulse halo. Replaces per-circle SMIL <animate> pairs
+   (r 2->7->2, opacity .45->0->.45 over 1.8s): the hub grid renders one
+   halo per provider per bench, so SMIL added hundreds of <animate>
+   elements to the /benchmarks HTML for a single shared effect.
+   transform-box: fill-box keeps the scale centered on the data point. */
+@keyframes mini-chart-pulse {
+  0%   { transform: scale(1);   opacity: 0.45; }
+  50%  { transform: scale(3.5); opacity: 0; }
+  100% { transform: scale(1);   opacity: 0.45; }
+}
+.mini-chart-pulse {
+  transform-box: fill-box;
+  transform-origin: center;
+  animation: mini-chart-pulse 1.8s linear infinite;
+}
+
 /* Pill - used for category/chain filters across the redesign.
    min-height bumps mobile tap target without disturbing desktop visual density. */
 .pill {
diff --git a/src/app/layout.tsx b/src/app/layout.tsx
index b54c0699..ac4ae382 100644
--- a/src/app/layout.tsx
+++ b/src/app/layout.tsx
@@ -23,12 +23,17 @@ const interTight = Inter_Tight({
   display: "swap",
 });
 
+// preload: false on the serif + mono families: they style prose/labels
+// below the fold, and their 3 woff2 preloads competed with LCP-critical
+// Inter/Inter Tight for bandwidth on first paint. display: swap still
+// applies, so they load lazily without invisible text.
 const sourceSerif = Source_Serif_4({
   variable: "--font-source-serif",
   subsets: ["latin"],
   weight: ["400", "500", "600"],
   style: ["italic", "normal"],
   display: "swap",
+  preload: false,
 });
 
 const jetbrainsMono = JetBrains_Mono({
@@ -36,6 +41,7 @@ const jetbrainsMono = JetBrains_Mono({
   subsets: ["latin"],
   weight: ["400", "500"],
   display: "swap",
+  preload: false,
 });
 
 export const viewport: Viewport = {
diff --git a/src/components/mini-chart.tsx b/src/components/mini-chart.tsx
index 6154a60f..b2d4afa5 100644
--- a/src/components/mini-chart.tsx
+++ b/src/components/mini-chart.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { useMemo } from "react";
+import { downsample, MINI_CHART_POINTS } from "@/lib/downsample";
 import { buildProviderColors } from "@/lib/series-colors";
 
 /**
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ export function MiniChart({
     .map((r) => ({
       slug: r.slug,
       name: r.name,
-      values: downsample(benchmark.extras.series24h[r.slug] ?? [], 28),
+      values: downsample(benchmark.extras.series24h[r.slug] ?? [], MINI_CHART_POINTS),
       color: colors.get(r.slug) ?? "var(--color-ink-soft)",
     }))
     .filter((s) => s.values.length > 1);
@@ -103,21 +104,17 @@ export function MiniChart({
                 vectorEffect="non-scaling-stroke"
                 points={points}
               />
-              {/* Live pulse halo. animated outward */}
-              <circle cx={lastX} cy={lastY} r={2} fill={color} opacity={0.35}>
-                <animate
-                  attributeName="r"
-                  values="2;7;2"
-                  dur="1.8s"
-                  repeatCount="indefinite"
-                />
-                <animate
-                  attributeName="opacity"
-                  values="0.45;0;0.45"
-                  dur="1.8s"
-                  repeatCount="indefinite"
-                />
-              </circle>
+              {/* Live pulse halo. CSS keyframes (globals.css) instead of
+                  SMIL <animate>: with 37 benches x N providers on the hub
+                  grid the two <animate> children per halo added ~800
+                  elements of markup for an effect one shared class covers. */}
+              <circle
+                cx={lastX}
+                cy={lastY}
+                r={2}
+                fill={color}
+                className="mini-chart-pulse"
+              />
               {/* Solid endpoint */}
               <circle cx={lastX} cy={lastY} r={2.2} fill={color} />
             </g>
@@ -166,25 +163,3 @@ export function MiniChart({
   );
 }
 
-// 48-px-tall sparkline can't render >~30 distinct points anyway. Bucket
-// long series down so the rendered SVG path stays compact (each kept
-// point is the bucket mean, preserving the shape that drove the polyline
-// at full resolution). Cuts the /benchmarks HTML payload sharply when
-// the grid is showing every bench's series at once.
-function downsample(values: number[], target: number): number[] {
-  if (values.length <= target) return values;
-  const bucketSize = values.length / target;
-  const out: number[] = [];
-  for (let i = 0; i < target; i++) {
-    const start = Math.floor(i * bucketSize);
-    const end = Math.floor((i + 1) * bucketSize);
-    let sum = 0;
-    let n = 0;
-    for (let j = start; j < end && j < values.length; j++) {
-      sum += values[j];
-      n++;
-    }
-    if (n > 0) out.push(sum / n);
-  }
-  return out;
-}
diff --git a/src/data/benchmarks.ts b/src/data/benchmarks.ts
index ff2890aa..0808aaf5 100644
--- a/src/data/benchmarks.ts
+++ b/src/data/benchmarks.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { promises as fs } from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 import yaml from "js-yaml";
 import { cache } from "react";
+import { downsample, MINI_CHART_POINTS } from "@/lib/downsample";
 import type { Benchmark } from "@/types/benchmark";
 import {
   loadAllBenchmarks,
@@ -81,7 +82,18 @@ export function toBenchmarkCardData(b: Benchmark): BenchmarkCardData {
       availability: r.availability,
       ms: { p50: r.ms.p50 },
     })),
-    extras: { series24h: b.extras?.series24h ?? {} },
+    // Downsample at the projection boundary: the card's MiniChart caps
+    // rendering at MINI_CHART_POINTS anyway, so shipping the raw 24h
+    // series (hundreds of points x providers x benches) only bloated
+    // the RSC payload without changing a single drawn pixel.
+    extras: {
+      series24h: Object.fromEntries(
+        Object.entries(b.extras?.series24h ?? {}).map(([slug, values]) => [
+          slug,
+          downsample(values, MINI_CHART_POINTS),
+        ])
+      ),
+    },
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lib/downsample.ts b/src/lib/downsample.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5c0566a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/downsample.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/**
+ * Bucket-mean downsampling for sparkline series. Each kept point is the
+ * mean of its bucket, preserving the shape that drove the polyline at
+ * full resolution. Shared by the MiniChart renderer (client) and the
+ * BenchmarkCardData projection (server) so the hub can ship pre-shrunk
+ * series over the RSC wire without changing what the chart draws.
+ */
+export function downsample(values: number[], target: number): number[] {
+  if (values.length <= target) return values;
+  const bucketSize = values.length / target;
+  const out: number[] = [];
+  for (let i = 0; i < target; i++) {
+    const start = Math.floor(i * bucketSize);
+    const end = Math.floor((i + 1) * bucketSize);
+    let sum = 0;
+    let n = 0;
+    for (let j = start; j < end && j < values.length; j++) {
+      sum += values[j];
+      n++;
+    }
+    if (n > 0) out.push(sum / n);
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+/** Max points a 48-px MiniChart sparkline can usefully render. Series
+ *  shipped to hub cards are capped to this at the projection boundary. */
+export const MINI_CHART_POINTS = 28;