taste:
id: terracotta-grove
name: Terracotta Grove
summary: >-
A grounded editorial aesthetic with forest ink typography on stone surfaces, punctuated by warm
terracotta accents.
app_type: WEB_APP
project_types:
- saas
styles:
- warm
- editorial
- technical
industry: software
aesthetics:
- warm
- editorial
- technical
tags:
- warm
- editorial
- technical
theme:
default_mode: LIGHT_MODE
palette_note: >-
Only the 500 anchor is provided per palette; the full 17-step ramp (100-900) is derived from
it by the system's heuristic shade tool.
palettes:
neutral:
'500': '#8C8273'
description: Warm stone-tinted grey that anchors the editorial backdrop and borders
brand:
'500': '#D97757'
description: Terracotta clay accent color used for primary CTAs and focused visual indicators
danger:
'500': '#B3261E'
warning:
'500': '#D99330'
success:
'500': '#2D7A5F'
info:
'500': '#3F7C85'
accent:
'500': '#0A3D2E'
colors:
background:
light: '#F4F1EB'
dark: '#0A251D'
foreground:
light: '#0A3D2E'
dark: '#F4F1EB'
card:
light: '#FAF9F6'
dark: '#0D2E24'
card-foreground:
light: '#0A3D2E'
dark: '#F4F1EB'
popover:
light: '#FAF9F6'
dark: '#0D2E24'
popover-foreground:
light: '#0A3D2E'
dark: '#F4F1EB'
primary:
light: brand/600
dark: brand/400
primary-foreground:
light: neutral/100
dark: neutral/900
secondary:
light: neutral/200
dark: neutral/800
secondary-foreground:
light: neutral/800
dark: neutral/200
muted:
light: neutral/150
dark: neutral/850
muted-foreground:
light: neutral/650
dark: neutral/400
accent:
light: brand/150
dark: brand/800
accent-foreground:
light: brand/800
dark: brand/150
destructive:
light: danger/600
dark: danger/400
destructive-foreground:
light: neutral/100
dark: neutral/900
border:
light: neutral/250
dark: neutral/750
input:
light: neutral/300
dark: neutral/700
ring:
light: brand/500
dark: brand/400
chart-1:
light: brand/500
dark: brand/400
chart-2:
light: accent/500
dark: accent/400
chart-3:
light: success/500
dark: success/400
chart-4:
light: warning/500
dark: warning/400
chart-5:
light: info/500
dark: info/400
sidebar:
light: '#FAF9F6'
dark: '#0E2A21'
sidebar-foreground:
light: '#0A3D2E'
dark: '#F4F1EB'
sidebar-primary:
light: brand/600
dark: brand/400
sidebar-primary-foreground:
light: neutral/100
dark: neutral/900
sidebar-accent:
light: neutral/200
dark: neutral/800
sidebar-accent-foreground:
light: '#0A3D2E'
dark: '#F4F1EB'
sidebar-border:
light: neutral/200
dark: neutral/800
sidebar-ring:
light: brand/500
dark: brand/400
radius:
base:
value: 0.375rem
description: Structured, crisp borders with a subtle editorial softening.
shadows:
xs:
value: 0 1px 2px rgba(10, 61, 46, 0.04)
sm:
value: 0 2px 4px rgba(10, 61, 46, 0.06)
md:
value: 0 4px 8px rgba(10, 61, 46, 0.08)
lg:
value: 0 8px 16px rgba(10, 61, 46, 0.1)
xl:
value: 0 16px 24px rgba(10, 61, 46, 0.12)
gradients:
brand_wash:
value: 'linear-gradient(135deg, #FAF9F6 0%, #F1C8BA 100%)'
fonts:
sans:
family: Newsreader
description: >-
Elegant serif typography used for both readable body copy and sophisticated interface
labeling
display:
family: Instrument Serif
description: Chiseled, high-contrast headings that capture an intellectual, editorial tone
mono:
family: JetBrains Mono
description: Clean, technical monospace for precise data values, metrics, and tabular information
typography:
hero:
font: display
size_px: 56
line_height_px: 60
weight: 700
letter_spacing_em: -0.02
transform: none
title:
font: display
size_px: 36
line_height_px: 42
weight: 700
letter_spacing_em: 0
transform: none
heading:
font: display
size_px: 24
line_height_px: 32
weight: 600
letter_spacing_em: 0
transform: none
body:
font: sans
size_px: 16
line_height_px: 24
weight: 400
letter_spacing_em: 0
transform: none
caption:
font: sans
size_px: 12
line_height_px: 16
weight: 400
letter_spacing_em: 0
transform: none
label:
font: sans
size_px: 14
line_height_px: 20
weight: 500
letter_spacing_em: 0
transform: none
overline:
font: sans
size_px: 12
line_height_px: 16
weight: 600
letter_spacing_em: 0.08
transform: uppercase
style_guidelines:
visual_direction:
title: Visual Direction
recommendations:
- >-
Pair heavy forest-ink hairline rules with asymmetric terracotta blocks over a quiet, warm
stone canvas to create a bookmaker's sense of craft.
- >-
Emphasize negative space and text alignment over complex container structures to let the
editorial typography breathe.
hierarchy:
title: Hierarchy
recommendations:
- >-
Use large Instrument Serif headings to anchor the start of major visual zones, followed by
clean Newsreader body text.
- >-
Employ small, high-contrast overlines in Newsreader to label technical metadata without
cluttering the screen.
layout:
title: Layout
recommendations:
- >-
Align elements to a rigorous grid where borders align precisely with type baselines to
mimic architectural schematics.
- >-
Use subtle stone-tinted card fills to group content instead of relying on heavy shadows or
saturated background colors.
components:
title: Components
recommendations:
- >-
Keep buttons crisp and structured with minimal rounding to maintain the literary,
architectural feel.
- >-
Style inputs with quiet underline borders that darken on focus rather than boxing them in
heavy default frames.
typography:
title: Typography
recommendations:
- >-
Rely on Newsreader italic styles for secondary visual emphasis instead of introducing bold
weights prematurely.
- >-
Restrict JetBrains Mono exclusively to tabular numerals, system paths, and technical
parameters to preserve the editorial atmosphere.
color_and_effects:
title: Color & Effects
recommendations:
- >-
Apply terracotta fills sparingly to primary call-to-actions and active navigation states
to preserve its structural impact.
- >-
Utilize soft, warm-toned drop shadows that mimic natural light falling onto thick paper
stocks.
quality_bar:
title: Quality Bar
checks:
- id: contrast-compliance
label: Contrast Compliance
recommendation: >-
Ensure all Newsreader body text on the stone background maintains a contrast ratio of at
least 4.5:1.
- id: editorial-alignment
label: Editorial Alignment
recommendation: >-
Verify that all major layout headings use Instrument Serif and maintain vertical alignment
with body text columns.
- id: crisp-geometry
label: Crisp Geometry
recommendation: >-
Check that component corners strictly adhere to the 0.375rem base radius and avoid
organic, overly rounded curves.
- id: terracotta-balance
label: Terracotta Balance
recommendation: >-
Ensure the terracotta primary color is present on no more than ten percent of the screen
real estate to keep its editorial accent value.
active_remix:
mode: light
brand: '#D97757'
display_font: Instrument Serif
shape: system
depth: system
spacing: system
spacing_value: null
craft: >
# Craft (universal core + conditional craft)
How to apply this design system well. These rules contain no brand look of their own — all
per-system character comes from the tokens and taste notes above; this section only governs
how they are composed. **Precedence:** the design system above is the authority on how things
look — where its own notes conflict with a rule here, the design system wins. And the user's
request is the authority on what the screen IS — notes above that describe the source
product's screens (workspaces, dashboards, panels) are its aesthetic heritage, not an
instruction to build that kind of screen.
## Universal — applies to every screen (screen-agnostic craft)
- **Surface definition.** Every container is visually separable from what it sits on — at least
one
honest edge cue: a hairline border, a ≥4% tonal step from its parent, or a real shadow. Never a card
whose fill matches its section with no border; never nested surfaces that dissolve together.
- **Accent discipline.** The brand/primary color is a scalpel, not paint: spend it on the primary
action, the active/selected/focused state, and at most **one** brand or data highlight per screen.
Everything else rides neutral background / card / muted / border tokens. A screen flooded with brand
color reads unfinished, not bold.
- **Restraint ledger.** Beauty is also what you don't do: at most one glow and two gradient
directions
screen-wide; decoration only where content doesn't reach; no ornament between a heading and its own
action. Every decorative element must answer "what does this make clearer or more felt?" — if the
answer is "nothing," remove it.
- **Type with intent.** The measured faces/scale are fixed; character comes from *usage*, and the
move
must fit the surface — a marketing page earns a dramatic display move; a working screen earns a
crisp, tight, legible hierarchy at UI scale (display-hero type on a dense tool is a smell). Chrome
and wayfinding are never display type; data numerals are tabular (mono or sans), never the
decorative face. Headings stay roman — italics live as emphasis inside running text, not as
display styling (unless the system's own type says otherwise).
- **Anti-default.** If the screen could pass for a generic template with the colors swapped, it is
not
done. Make the brand unmistakable through the accent's *use*, the type, the radius + density, and
**one** signature detail — never by importing another surface's clichés.
- **Honest content.** Never invent proof — no made-up adoption counts, growth percentages,
testimonials, client logos, or awards. Use the user's real content, a neutral placeholder, or
leave the element out and let the layout carry it. Never hand-draw fake browser bars, phone
frames, or editor chrome around content — show the content itself, or nothing.
- **Interaction integrity.** Buttons, links, tabs, and nav labels never wrap to two lines; display
headlines wrap cleanly, never clipping mid-word; nothing overflows horizontally at any width;
keyboard focus gets an instant, clearly visible ring.
- **Token fidelity.** Every design value comes from a token: colors, radii, shadows, and fonts
from
the system's variables — never a literal hex, a hand-picked shadow, or a substitute font. For a
translucent or composited value (a scrim, a glow, a hairline over a fill), derive it from a token
(an opacity modifier or color-mix), never a literal rgba. If the system specifies square corners and
a hard shadow, the screen shows square corners and that hard shadow — not a rounded, soft substitute.
## Conditional — apply ONLY the layer that matches the screen the user asked for
**First name the screen honestly from the user's prompt.** Then apply the matching guidance. Do
not
cross layers, and **do not add elements from a layer the screen doesn't call for** — a screen that
is
not a data view must not sprout KPI tiles, charts, filter bars, or data tables to satisfy a
template.
- **If it's a data / dashboard / admin / table view:** density done well (comfortable rows, tight
control clusters, one spacing rhythm); a populated working state (real rows/cards, not empty feature
boxes); tables with aligned tabular numerals, status as badges, row hover, one visible selected row,
and control states that agree with the data shown. KPI tiles, *if the screen has them*, are
value + label + delta. **At most one** chart, of a real metric for this domain, token-colored and
axis-labeled — never a decorative sine wave or filler sparkline. Exactly one unambiguous primary
action.
- **If it's a focused task / tool / player / capture / monitor / form / wizard (not a data
view):**
the screen's real job dominates the frame; chrome recedes. Honor the screen's own nature — a player
looks like a player, a monitor like a monitor, a form like a form — with the design system's color,
type, radius, and depth applied to *those* elements. **No dashboard furniture**: no KPI tiles, no
charts, no data tables, no filter chrome unless the task itself is about that data. Real-time or
safety-critical readouts get calm, unambiguous, high-legibility treatment over decoration.
- **If it's a marketing / landing surface:** editorial art direction belongs here — section rhythm
(modulate surface temperature, density, and scale; one oversized moment; at least one full-bleed
band) and considered visual treatments. Never put this on a working app screen.
- **Mobile:** follow the platform's native idioms for the screen's type (e.g. an app screen:
compact
top bar, one focused column, a bottom tab bar, ≥44px targets, safe areas) — the same conditional
rules above still decide what content belongs.
## Imagery (universal)
- **Imagery is content, not decoration** on working screens: images are data (covers, products,
avatars, places) in purposeful containers, one consistent treatment across siblings — never a lone
photo floating in a box, never marketing's decorative fades on a work screen. When a moment needs
atmosphere, build it from the token system (tinted panels, token gradients, geometry).
