Benday

# Benday

## Philosophy

A serialized science-fiction product language printed like a comic page on golden newsprint pulp. A second reading of the Avant-Comics brief: where the proof-sheet take stacks floating keyline cards with offset spot-plate shadows, Benday reads the same brief as a comic page — panels stitched edge to edge and held apart only by the gutter, Ben-Day halftone dots tinting the inks, and caption boxes and speech balloons carrying the narrative voice. The page is loud, four-colour and sequential; depth comes from the gutter and the dot, never from a drop shadow.

### Values

- Narrative sequencing over neutral utility
- Print contrast and typographic authority
- Illustrated speculation inside functional UI
- Energetic poster colour used like highlighters, with restraint
- Depth from the gutter and the dot, never from a drop shadow

### Anti-Values

- Soft anonymous SaaS minimalism
- Cream proof-sheet drop-shadow cards (that is the refinement — do not repeat it)
- Blue-glow cyberpunk and glassmorphism
- Rounded pill-heavy components and pastel washes

## Tokens

### Colors

| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#F2C14E` |
| surface | `#F9E6B4` |
| surface_2 | `#E8A92E` |
| gutter | `#FBF6EA` |
| text | `#16130C` |
| muted | `#6E5A2E` |
| border | `#16130C` |
| accent | `#E8341C` |
| on_accent | `#FBF6EA` |
| accent_2 | `#1F4FE0` |
| on_accent_2 | `#FBF6EA` |
| success | `#1B7A3D` |
| warning | `#C2820E` |
| error | `#C2392F` |
| info | `#1F4FE0` |

### Typography

- **Base Size**: 17px
- **Body Font**: Newsreader
- **Heading Font**: Archivo Black
- **Mono Font**: Spline Sans Mono
- **Heading Weight**: 400
- **Heading Transform**: uppercase
- **Letter Spacing**: -0.02em
- **Display Line Height**: 0.92
- **Line Height**: 1.6
- **Scale Ratio**: 1.25
- **Google Fonts Url**: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Archivo+Black&family=Newsreader:ital,opsz,wght@0,6..72,400;0,6..72,500;0,6..72,600;1,6..72,400&family=Spline+Sans+Mono:wght@400;500;700&display=swap

### Radii

- **None**: 0px
- **Sm**: 0px
- **Md**: 0px
- **Lg**: 0px
- **Full**: 9999px

### Shadows

- **Sm**: none
- **Md**: none
- **Lg**: none
- **Note**: no drop shadows — depth is the gutter between panels and the Ben-Day dot

### Spacing

- **Base**: 8px
- **Scale**: [4,8,12,16,24,32,48,64,96]

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: newsprint-pulp
- **Bg Pattern**: ben-day-halftone
- **Card Style**: comic panels: golden pulp fill, hard 3px ink keyline, zero radius, no drop shadow; held apart by a constant near-white gutter; sparse Ben-Day dot tints recoloured per role; caption boxes and balloons carry the voice

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 3px
- **Bold Width**: 5px
- **Style**: solid
- **Character**: heavy black comic keylines — structural inked frames, never grey hairlines and never a single coloured highlight edge; the gutter, not the border, makes the depth

### Motion

- **Duration**: 200ms
- **Easing**: cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.85, 0.25, 1)
- **Philosophy**: panels snap into the tier like frames pasted onto a page. The settled fully-rendered state is the default and visible with no JS; an inline script adds html.anim to gate the hidden start-state and respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Rules

### Composition

Build screens as comic tiers: rows of deliberately unequal panels (2+1, full-bleed splash, 1+3) separated by one constant gutter, paced by width rather than dashboard symmetry.

### Hierarchy

Section heads are oversized Archivo Black ALL-CAPS shouts under double ink rules; body drops to a Newsreader serif; metadata and kickers drop again to compact uppercase Spline Sans Mono in caption boxes — three explicit typographic gear changes.

### Density

High-density inside panels, released by the gutter and full-bleed splash/pull-quote moments between tiers.

### Signature

The gutter is the structure: hard-keyline comic panels butt to the frame and are pulled apart by a constant near-white channel, no drop shadow. Ben-Day halftone dots tint fills and stat zones, recoloured per role so a palette swap re-inks every dot. Caption boxes carry metadata and speech/thought balloons with a drawn ink tail carry the voice. Spot inks (vermillion, cobalt) act like highlighters.

## Layout

### Grid

Comic tier system: each row is a grid of unequal minmax(0,1fr) panels separated by a 10px gutter; min-width:0 children so grids never blow out. Rows vary (2+1, 1+2, 3-up, 3+1+1, full-bleed splash).

### Whitespace

The gutter is the whitespace — a constant channel between panels; generous padding inside panels; always pad above titles; titles never stuck to container tops.

### Density

Dense within panels, generous between tiers.

### Responsive

Renders ~390px to 2560px+. Wide tiers relax to two-up on tablet and stack to a single vertical column of panels on mobile, with the gutter as vertical breathing room. Non-essential nav links and table columns hidden on mobile; no horizontal overflow. Ultra-wide caps and centres the page; only the hero splash spans 100vw.

### Breakpoints

- **Lg**: 1200px+
- **Md**: 860-1199px
- **Sm**: 560-859px
- **Xs**: below 560px

## Guidance

### Do

- Lay screens out as comic tiers held apart by the gutter; vary panel widths for pacing.
- Tint with sparse Ben-Day dots recoloured per role; keep small labels legible over them.
- Carry metadata in caption boxes and primary voice in balloons with a drawn tail.
- Shout section heads in Archivo Black ALL-CAPS under double ink rules; keep ink black and golden pulp constant; use vermillion and cobalt like highlighters.

### Don't

- Do not float cards on drop shadows or add a single coloured accent edge — depth is the gutter and the dot.
- Do not revert to the refinement's cream proof-sheet with offset spot-plate shadows.
- Do not round the corners of panels or controls, or trap the nav in a pill bar.
- Do not use emoji or symbol glyphs in copy; use SVG primitives.

### Accessibility

Body 17px+ serif on golden pulp at high contrast; mono labels kept legible over the sparse dot screen; focus is a 3px cobalt outline on every control; semantic pips and caption-box edges carry state in colour plus a text lead word; respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

overprint

### Summary

Imagery is risograph comic-ink overprint composed as comic splash panels: dense black contour linework, coarse Ben-Day halftone screens, and a few flat spot-colour passes (black, vermillion, cobalt) deliberately misregistered, on golden newsprint pulp — the same misregistered overprint language the CSS speaks, pulled onto a bold amber sheet.

### Subjects

- deep-space explorers and cosmonauts
- ringed planets and orbital diagrams
- survey rovers and relay anchors
- star maps and contour bursts
- speculative pulp landscapes

### Usage

Use a full-bleed risograph overprint splash panel for the landing hero and feature imagery; keep the golden-pulp/black/vermillion/cobalt plate palette; let the registration offset and halftone show. Never use smooth digital illustration, photography, a cream ground, or a fourth bright colour.

---
version: "alpha"
name: "Benday"
description: "A serialized science-fiction product language printed like a comic page on golden newsprint pulp. A second reading of the Avant-Comics brief: where the proof-sheet take stacks floating keyline cards with offset spot-plate shadows, Benday..."
colors:
  bg: "#F2C14E"
  surface: "#F9E6B4"
  surface_2: "#E8A92E"
  gutter: "#FBF6EA"
  text: "#16130C"
  muted: "#6E5A2E"
  border: "#16130C"
  accent: "#E8341C"
  on_accent: "#FBF6EA"
  accent_2: "#1F4FE0"
  on_accent_2: "#FBF6EA"
  success: "#1B7A3D"
  warning: "#C2820E"
  error: "#C2392F"
  info: "#1F4FE0"
typography:
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: "Archivo Black"
    fontSize: "2.075rem"
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: "Archivo Black"
    fontSize: "1.66rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.15
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  body-md:
    fontFamily: "Newsreader"
    fontSize: "17px"
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.6
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  label-md:
    fontFamily: "Spline Sans Mono"
    fontSize: "0.75rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: "0.08em"
rounded:
  none: "0px"
  sm: "0px"
  md: "0px"
  lg: "0px"
  full: "9999px"
spacing:
  base: "8px"
  xs: "4px"
  sm: "8px"
  md: "12px"
  lg: "16px"
  xl: "24px"
  2xl: "32px"
  3xl: "48px"
  4xl: "64px"
  step-8: "96px"
components:
  color-reference-bg:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.bg}"
  color-reference-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
  color-reference-surface_2:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface_2}"
  color-reference-gutter:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.gutter}"
  color-reference-text:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.text}"
  color-reference-muted:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.muted}"
  color-reference-border:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.border}"
  color-reference-accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent}"
  color-reference-on_accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.on_accent}"
  color-reference-accent_2:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent_2}"
  color-reference-on_accent_2:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.on_accent_2}"
  color-reference-success:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.success}"
  color-reference-warning:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.warning}"
  color-reference-error:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.error}"
  color-reference-info:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.info}"
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent}"
    textColor: "{colors.on_accent}"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  card-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  input-default:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    height: "44px"
---

# Benday

## Overview

A serialized science-fiction product language printed like a comic page on golden newsprint pulp. A second reading of the Avant-Comics brief: where the proof-sheet take stacks floating keyline cards with offset spot-plate shadows, Benday reads the same brief as a comic page — panels stitched edge to edge and held apart only by the gutter, Ben-Day halftone dots tinting the inks, and caption boxes and speech balloons carrying the narrative voice. The page is loud, four-colour and sequential; depth comes from the gutter and the dot, never from a drop shadow.

### Values

- Narrative sequencing over neutral utility
- Print contrast and typographic authority
- Illustrated speculation inside functional UI
- Energetic poster colour used like highlighters, with restraint
- Depth from the gutter and the dot, never from a drop shadow

### Anti-Values

- Soft anonymous SaaS minimalism
- Cream proof-sheet drop-shadow cards (that is the refinement — do not repeat it)
- Blue-glow cyberpunk and glassmorphism
- Rounded pill-heavy components and pastel washes

## Colors

Use the YAML color tokens as the normative palette. The prose below names the roles agents should preserve when generating UI.

| Token | Value |
|-------|-------|
| bg | `#F2C14E` |
| surface | `#F9E6B4` |
| surface_2 | `#E8A92E` |
| gutter | `#FBF6EA` |
| text | `#16130C` |
| muted | `#6E5A2E` |
| border | `#16130C` |
| accent | `#E8341C` |
| on_accent | `#FBF6EA` |
| accent_2 | `#1F4FE0` |
| on_accent_2 | `#FBF6EA` |
| success | `#1B7A3D` |
| warning | `#C2820E` |
| error | `#C2392F` |
| info | `#1F4FE0` |

## Typography

Load the fonts from Google Fonts: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Archivo+Black&family=Newsreader:ital,opsz,wght@0,6..72,400;0,6..72,500;0,6..72,600;1,6..72,400&family=Spline+Sans+Mono:wght@400;500;700&display=swap

- **Headline-Lg**: Archivo Black, 2.075rem, weight 700, line-height 1.1.
- **Headline-Md**: Archivo Black, 1.66rem, weight 600, line-height 1.15.
- **Body-Md**: Newsreader, 17px, weight 400, line-height 1.6.
- **Label-Md**: Spline Sans Mono, 0.75rem, weight 600, line-height 1.

## Layout

### Spacing Tokens

- **Base**: `8px`
- **Xs**: `4px`
- **Sm**: `8px`
- **Md**: `12px`
- **Lg**: `16px`
- **Xl**: `24px`
- **2xl**: `32px`
- **3xl**: `48px`
- **4xl**: `64px`
- **Step-8**: `96px`

### Grid

Comic tier system: each row is a grid of unequal minmax(0,1fr) panels separated by a 10px gutter; min-width:0 children so grids never blow out. Rows vary (2+1, 1+2, 3-up, 3+1+1, full-bleed splash).

### Whitespace

The gutter is the whitespace — a constant channel between panels; generous padding inside panels; always pad above titles; titles never stuck to container tops.

### Density

Dense within panels, generous between tiers.

### Responsive

Renders ~390px to 2560px+. Wide tiers relax to two-up on tablet and stack to a single vertical column of panels on mobile, with the gutter as vertical breathing room. Non-essential nav links and table columns hidden on mobile; no horizontal overflow. Ultra-wide caps and centres the page; only the hero splash spans 100vw.

### Breakpoints

- **Lg**: 1200px+
- **Md**: 860-1199px
- **Sm**: 560-859px
- **Xs**: below 560px

## Elevation & Depth

### Shadows

- **Sm**: none
- **Md**: none
- **Lg**: none
- **Note**: no drop shadows — depth is the gutter between panels and the Ben-Day dot

## Shapes

### Rounded

- **None**: `0px`
- **Sm**: `0px`
- **Md**: `0px`
- **Lg**: `0px`
- **Full**: `9999px`

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: newsprint-pulp
- **Bg Pattern**: ben-day-halftone
- **Card Style**: comic panels: golden pulp fill, hard 3px ink keyline, zero radius, no drop shadow; held apart by a constant near-white gutter; sparse Ben-Day dot tints recoloured per role; caption boxes and balloons carry the voice

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 3px
- **Bold Width**: 5px
- **Style**: solid
- **Character**: heavy black comic keylines — structural inked frames, never grey hairlines and never a single coloured highlight edge; the gutter, not the border, makes the depth

## Components

### Composition

Build screens as comic tiers: rows of deliberately unequal panels (2+1, full-bleed splash, 1+3) separated by one constant gutter, paced by width rather than dashboard symmetry.

### Hierarchy

Section heads are oversized Archivo Black ALL-CAPS shouts under double ink rules; body drops to a Newsreader serif; metadata and kickers drop again to compact uppercase Spline Sans Mono in caption boxes — three explicit typographic gear changes.

### Density

High-density inside panels, released by the gutter and full-bleed splash/pull-quote moments between tiers.

### Signature

The gutter is the structure: hard-keyline comic panels butt to the frame and are pulled apart by a constant near-white channel, no drop shadow. Ben-Day halftone dots tint fills and stat zones, recoloured per role so a palette swap re-inks every dot. Caption boxes carry metadata and speech/thought balloons with a drawn ink tail carry the voice. Spot inks (vermillion, cobalt) act like highlighters.

## shadcn/ui Usage

When the target app uses shadcn/ui, copy DESIGN.md with shadcn instead of the plain DESIGN.md. It contains the same Katagami design-language source plus the shadcn/ui primitives, imports, theme variables, component recipes, and preview-shot guidance.

DESIGN.md with shadcn: `/language/en-019ef801-59c9-74d3-8018-5bf93c313038/DESIGN.with-shadcn.md`.

Machine-readable companions for automation: `/language/en-019ef801-59c9-74d3-8018-5bf93c313038/shadcn.json` (registry theme), `/language/en-019ef801-59c9-74d3-8018-5bf93c313038/shadcn-components.md` (component recipes) and `/language/en-019ef801-59c9-74d3-8018-5bf93c313038/shadcn-shots.json` (preview shots). The human-facing handoff is still DESIGN.md with shadcn.

Install recommended primitives with `npx shadcn@latest add button card input textarea select dialog sheet tabs badge separator checkbox switch slider tooltip dropdown-menu table`.

Use these primitives in shadcn apps:
- button
- card
- input
- textarea
- select
- dialog
- sheet
- tabs
- badge
- separator
- checkbox
- switch
- slider
- tooltip
- dropdown-menu
- table

Implementation rule for agents: import shadcn primitives from `@/components/ui/*`, apply the generated CSS variables first, then compose the language-specific recipes from the companion MD. Katagami remains the source of truth; shadcn names are the implementation surface.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do Lay screens out as comic tiers held apart by the gutter; vary panel widths for pacing.
- Do Tint with sparse Ben-Day dots recoloured per role; keep small labels legible over them.
- Do Carry metadata in caption boxes and primary voice in balloons with a drawn tail.
- Do Shout section heads in Archivo Black ALL-CAPS under double ink rules; keep ink black and golden pulp constant; use vermillion and cobalt like highlighters.
- Don't Do not float cards on drop shadows or add a single coloured accent edge — depth is the gutter and the dot.
- Don't Do not revert to the refinement's cream proof-sheet with offset spot-plate shadows.
- Don't Do not round the corners of panels or controls, or trap the nav in a pill bar.
- Don't Do not use emoji or symbol glyphs in copy; use SVG primitives.

### Accessibility

Body 17px+ serif on golden pulp at high contrast; mono labels kept legible over the sparse dot screen; focus is a 3px cobalt outline on every control; semantic pips and caption-box edges carry state in colour plus a text lead word; respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

overprint

### Summary

Imagery is risograph comic-ink overprint composed as comic splash panels: dense black contour linework, coarse Ben-Day halftone screens, and a few flat spot-colour passes (black, vermillion, cobalt) deliberately misregistered, on golden newsprint pulp — the same misregistered overprint language the CSS speaks, pulled onto a bold amber sheet.

### Subjects

- deep-space explorers and cosmonauts
- ringed planets and orbital diagrams
- survey rovers and relay anchors
- star maps and contour bursts
- speculative pulp landscapes

### Usage

Use a full-bleed risograph overprint splash panel for the landing hero and feature imagery; keep the golden-pulp/black/vermillion/cobalt plate palette; let the registration offset and halftone show. Never use smooth digital illustration, photography, a cream ground, or a fourth bright colour.

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema/registry-item.json",
  "name": "benday",
  "type": "registry:theme",
  "title": "Benday shadcn Theme",
  "cssVars": {
    "theme": {},
    "light": {
      "background": "#F2C14E",
      "foreground": "#16130C",
      "card": "#F9E6B4",
      "card-foreground": "#16130C",
      "popover": "#F9E6B4",
      "popover-foreground": "#16130C",
      "primary": "#16130C",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#f4f4f5",
      "secondary-foreground": "#111111",
      "muted": "#6E5A2E",
      "muted-foreground": "#16130C",
      "accent": "#E8341C",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#C2392F",
      "border": "#16130C",
      "input": "#16130C",
      "ring": "#E8341C",
      "chart-1": "#16130C",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#E8341C",
      "chart-4": "#1B7A3D",
      "chart-5": "#C2820E",
      "sidebar": "#F9E6B4",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#16130C",
      "sidebar-primary": "#16130C",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#1F4FE0",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#16130C",
      "sidebar-ring": "#E8341C",
      "radius": "0px"
    },
    "dark": {
      "background": "#0f1115",
      "foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "card": "#181b22",
      "card-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "popover": "#181b22",
      "popover-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "primary": "#16130C",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#252a33",
      "secondary-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "muted": "#252a33",
      "muted-foreground": "#a1a1aa",
      "accent": "#E8341C",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#C2392F",
      "border": "#303642",
      "input": "#303642",
      "ring": "#E8341C",
      "chart-1": "#16130C",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#E8341C",
      "chart-4": "#1B7A3D",
      "chart-5": "#C2820E",
      "sidebar": "#181b22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "sidebar-primary": "#16130C",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#E8341C",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#303642",
      "sidebar-ring": "#E8341C",
      "radius": "0px"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "katagami",
    "languageId": "en-019ef801-59c9-74d3-8018-5bf93c313038",
    "slug": "benday",
    "componentManifest": [
      "button",
      "card",
      "input",
      "textarea",
      "select",
      "dialog",
      "sheet",
      "tabs",
      "badge",
      "separator",
      "checkbox",
      "switch",
      "slider",
      "tooltip",
      "dropdown-menu",
      "table"
    ],
    "installCommand": "npx shadcn@latest add button card input textarea select dialog sheet tabs badge separator checkbox switch slider tooltip dropdown-menu table",
    "nativeTokenNames": {
      "colors": [
        "accent",
        "accent_2",
        "bg",
        "border",
        "error",
        "gutter",
        "info",
        "muted",
        "on_accent",
        "on_accent_2",
        "success",
        "surface",
        "surface_2",
        "text",
        "warning"
      ],
      "typography": [
        "base_size",
        "body_font",
        "display_line_height",
        "google_fonts_url",
        "heading_font",
        "heading_transform",
        "heading_weight",
        "letter_spacing",
        "line_height",
        "mono_font",
        "scale_ratio"
      ],
      "radii": [
        "full",
        "lg",
        "md",
        "none",
        "sm"
      ],
      "shadows": [
        "lg",
        "md",
        "note",
        "sm"
      ],
      "spacing": [
        "base",
        "scale"
      ],
      "surfaces": [
        "bg_pattern",
        "card_style",
        "treatment"
      ],
      "borders": [
        "bold_width",
        "character",
        "default_width",
        "style"
      ],
      "motion": [
        "duration",
        "easing",
        "philosophy"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```