--- version: "alpha" name: "Cobalt Grid" description: "Cobalt Grid — Electric cobalt italic serifs on a graph-paper canvas, anchored by stair-stepped pixel-glitch decorations and slim hairline rules. Newsreader (italic) typography. warm cream / ivory paper canvas with one strict accent of electric cobalt royal . Best for design trend or research report, studio annual or seasonal bulletin, creative agency capabilities deck. AI-ready design system." colors: primary: "#F0EBDE" secondary: "#1F2BE0" tertiary: "#5560E5" typography: h1: fontFamily: Newsreader fontSize: 2.5rem fontWeight: 700 body-md: fontFamily: Newsreader fontSize: 1rem fontWeight: 400 spacing: sm: 1.5rem md: 3.0rem lg: 6.0rem components: button-primary: backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}" padding: 12px --- ## Overview Cobalt Grid — Electric cobalt italic serifs on a graph-paper canvas, anchored by stair-stepped pixel-glitch decorations and slim hairline rules. Newsreader (italic) typography. warm cream / ivory paper canvas with one strict accent of electric cobalt royal . Best for design trend or research report, studio annual or seasonal bulletin, creative agency capabilities deck. AI-ready design system. The graph-paper grid didn't start as a design choice — it started as an engineering necessity. Millimeter paper, isometric sheets, the blue-lined notebooks that aerospace engineers filled with thrust calculations in the 1960s. That substrate wasn't decorative. It was infrastructure for precision thinking. Cobalt Grid takes that lineage seriously. The electric cobalt isn't arbitrary — it descends from the cyanotype process, the original blueprinting method where ferric ammonium citrate met UV light and produced that unmistakable Prussian blue. Engineers didn't choose blue; chemistry chose it for them. What we're doing here is acknowledging that constraint as aesthetic heritage. The bichromatic restriction is the real statement. Two colors force hierarchy through weight, density, and spatial rhythm rather than chromatic variety. It's the typographic equivalent of proving your argument without raising your voice. Every technical publication worth remembering — from Tufte's work to the original Braun manuals — understood that restraint communicates competence. - Density: 5/10 — Balanced - Variance: 8/10 — Complex - Motion: 4/10 — Subtle - **Style:** Design-Research, Bichromatic, Grid-Based, Editorial - **Keywords:** Graph-paper grid, electric cobalt, bichromatic, design research, Newsreader italic, stair-step pixel, studious - **Era:** 2010s Editorial - **Light/Dark:** ✓ Full / ✗ None ## Colors - **Paper** (#F0EBDE) — Primary surface or dominant color - **Ink** (#1F2BE0) — Accent highlight, links and focus states - **Ink-Soft** (#5560E5) — Secondary accent ## Typography - **Display / Hero:** Newsreader (italic) — Weight 700, tight tracking, used for headline impact - **Body:** Hanken Grotesk — Weight 400, 16px/1.6 line-height, max 72ch per line - **UI Labels / Captions:** Hanken Grotesk — 0.875rem, weight 500, slight letter-spacing - **Monospace:** DM Mono — Used for code, metadata, and technical values Scale: - Hero: clamp(2.5rem, 5vw, 4rem) - H1: 2.25rem - H2: 1.5rem - Body: 1rem / 1.6 - Small: 0.875rem ## Layout - **Grid:** CSS Grid primary. Max-width containment: 1280px centered with 1.5rem side padding. - **Spacing rhythm:** Balanced. Base unit: 0.5rem (8px). - **Section vertical gaps:** clamp(4rem, 8vw, 8rem). - **Hero layout:** Split-screen (text left, visual right). - **Feature sections:** Zig-zag alternating text+image rows. No 3-equal-columns. - **Mobile collapse:** All multi-column layouts collapse below 768px. No horizontal overflow. - **z-index contract:** base (0) / sticky-nav (100) / overlay (200) / modal (300) / toast (500). ## Elevation & Depth display font Newsreader (italic) for hero headlines, smooth hover transitions (200-250ms), subtle lift shadows, graph-paper grid overlay (10% cobalt), stair-step pixel decorations, hairline rules - **Physics:** Ease-out curves, 200-300ms duration. Smooth and predictable. - **Entry animations:** Fade + translate-Y (16px → 0) over 420ms ease-out. Staggered cascades for lists: 80ms between items. - **Hover states:** Subtle color shift + shadow adjustment over 200ms. - **Page transitions:** Fade only (200ms). - **Performance:** Only transform and opacity animated. No layout-triggering properties. ## Shapes Base corner radius: 0px. See rounded tokens in front matter for the full scale. ## Components - **Primary Button:** 0px border-radius. Accent color fill. Hover: 8% darken + subtle lift shadow. Active: -1px translate tactile press. Font weight 600. No outer glows. - **Secondary / Ghost Button:** Outline variant. 1.5px border in muted color. Text in primary color. Hover: subtle background fill. - **Cards:** 0px corners. Surface background. Subtle shadow (0 2px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.06)). 1px border stroke. - **Inputs:** Label above input. 1px border stroke. Focus ring: 2px accent color offset 2px. Error text below in semantic red. No floating labels. - **Navigation:** Primary surface background. Active item: accent color indicator. Font weight 500 when active. - **Skeletons:** Shimmer animation matching component dimensions. No circular spinners. - **Empty States:** Icon-based composition with descriptive text and action button. ## Do's and Don'ts - No emojis in UI — use icon system only (Lucide, Heroicons) - No pure black (#000000) — use off-black or charcoal variants - No oversaturated accent colors (saturation cap: 80%) - No 3-column equal-width feature layouts — use zig-zag or asymmetric grid - No `h-screen` — use `min-h-[100dvh]` - No AI copywriting clichés: "Elevate", "Seamless", "Unleash", "Next-Gen" - No broken external image links — use picsum.photos or inline SVG - No generic lorem ipsum in demos - Do Newsreader (italic) display font loaded via Google Fonts - Do Color palette variables applied consistently - Do Typography scale: hero clamp(2.5rem,5vw,4rem) - Do H1 2.25rem - Do body 1rem/1.6 - Do WCAG AA contrast ratio verified (4.5:1 body text) - Do Grid overlay or texture applied - Do Whitespace generous — section gaps ≥ 5rem - Do Mobile responsive layout (stack below 768px) ## Use Case design trend or research report, studio annual or seasonal bulletin, creative agency capabilities deck, art or architecture publication, academic / curatorial publication, newsletter or zine pitch