--- version: "alpha" name: "Vintage Botanical / Scientific" description: "Vintage botanical scientific interface. Ideal for landing pages, saas. AI-ready template." colors: primary: "#F0E5D3" secondary: "#1A1512" tertiary: "#BF6B63" neutral: "#8B7355" surface: "#A0826D" accent: "#C9B299" typography: h1: fontFamily: elegant serif fontSize: 2.25rem fontWeight: 700 body-md: fontFamily: elegant serif fontSize: 1rem fontWeight: 400 label-caps: fontFamily: elegant serif fontSize: 0.75rem fontWeight: 500 components: button-primary: backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}" textColor: "{colors.neutral}" padding: 12px --- ## Overview Vintage botanical scientific interface. Ideal for landing pages, saas. AI-ready template. Before photography existed, science depended on artists who could render nature with obsessive precision. Maria Sibylla Merian sailed to Suriname in 1699 — alone, as a woman, in the 17th century — to document insect metamorphosis through watercolors that were simultaneously rigorous data and breathtaking art. Two centuries later, Ernst Haeckel's lithographs in 'Kunstformen der Natur' turned radiolarians and jellyfish into geometric compositions so perfect they influenced Art Nouveau architecture. These illustrations carried an implicit message: nature is worth studying slowly. That ethos never really left. Fast-forward to the 2010s. Aesop wraps brown apothecary bottles in serif typography and lets the ingredient list do the talking. Le Labo hand-writes labels like specimen tags. Grown Alchemist prints molecular diagrams on packaging. The botanical-scientific aesthetic became shorthand for 'we respect the raw material.' It signals craft without shouting. Intelligence without pretension. The visual language says: this product has lineage, and so does the knowledge behind it. - Density: 5/10 — Balanced - Variance: 7/10 — Dynamic - Motion: 8/10 — Cinematic - **Style:** Scientific, Detailed, Natural, Vintage - **Keywords:** Botanical illustrations, scientific labels, vintage diagrams, aged paper, ink drawings, specimen-focused, annotated, natural history, scholarly - **Era:** 18th-19th Century Scientific - **Light/Dark:** ✓ Full / ◐ Partial ## Colors - **Aged Paper** (#F0E5D3) — Primary surface or dominant color - **Dark Ink** (#1A1512) — Dark surface, primary background - **Rose Dust** (#BF6B63) — Supporting palette color - **Warm Brown** (#8B7355) — Supporting palette color - **Tan** (#A0826D) — Extended palette, decorative use - **Light Tan** (#C9B299) — Extended palette, decorative use ## Typography - **Display / Hero:** elegant serif — Weight 700, tight tracking, used for headline impact - **Body:** elegant serif — Weight 400, 16px/1.6 line-height, max 72ch per line - **UI Labels / Captions:** elegant serif — 0.875rem, weight 500, slight letter-spacing - **Monospace:** JetBrains 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:** Asymmetric composition. - **Feature sections:** Asymmetric grid with varied card sizes. 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 Natural soft lighting, scholarly presentation, specimen reveal animations, annotation line drawing, subtle parallax on illustrations - **Physics:** Spring — stiffness 120, damping 20. Confident, weighted transitions. - **Entry animations:** Fade + translate-Y (16px → 0) over 540ms ease-out. Staggered cascades for lists: 120ms between items. - **Hover states:** Scale(1.03) + shadow lift over 200ms. - **Page transitions:** Fade + slide (300ms). - **Performance:** Only transform and opacity animated. No layout-triggering properties. ## Shapes Base corner radius: 8px. See rounded tokens in front matter for the full scale. ## Components - **Primary Button:** Subtly rounded (0.5rem) shape. 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:** Subtly rounded (0.5rem) 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 Aged paper background - Do Botanical illustrations - Do Scientific labels - Do Ink drawing style - Do Specimen layout - Do Scholarly typography ## Use Case Landing pages, SaaS