back to gallery
design language·quoin

Quoin

A portable design language for agents: download the markdown first, then inspect the preview, tokens, and rules as needed.

Download DESIGN.md

Portable DESIGN.md source of truth for most agents and apps.

the spec

specification

philosophy
summary
Quoin is the editorial ink atelier — a design language for serious visual-culture tools (magazine issue-planning rooms, print archives, art-direction boards, works-on-paper catalogs). It treats the interface like a locked-up forme on a studio table: warm paper, mostly black printing ink, measured columns, printed register rules, and generous editorial whitespace — then one electric signal at a time to call the lead. The ink rule is the layout material; colour is a register mark, never a fill. A quoin is the locking wedge that holds the forme square in the chase: the page is set, ruled, and locked before it goes to press.
values
Ink-first authorityThe rule as structureElectric restraintWorks-on-paper materialityGesture under controlFine-art seriousness
anti-values
×Rainbow creativity×Template minimalism×Crypto gloss×Decorative illustration
tokens
colors14 items
bg
#F4F1EA
surface
#FBFAF6
surface_2
#ECE7DC
text
#14110C
muted
#6B6357
border
#14110C
accent
#F23B2E
on_accent
#FBFAF6
accent_2
#0057FF
accent_3
#C8FF00
success
#177245
warning
#B36A00
error
#B00020
info
#0057FF
typography9 items
base size
17px
body font
IBM Plex Sans
heading font
Libre Baskerville
mono font
IBM Plex Mono
heading weight
700
heading transform
none
letter spacing
-0.02em
line height
1.5
google fonts url
https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500;600&family=IBM+Plex+Sans:wght@400;500;600;700&family=Libre+Baskerville:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&display=swap
radii5 items
none
0px
sm
0px
md
0px
lg
0px
pill
9999px
shadows2 items
sm
0 1px 0 rgba(20,17,12,0.20)
md
7px 7px 0 rgba(20,17,12,0.10)
spacing2 items
base
8px
scale
4px, 8px, 12px, 16px, 24px, 32px, 48px, 64px, 96px
surfaces4 items
treatment
paper
card style
Warm-paper panels with a 1px ink rule and a double-rule header (border-top 3px double + border-bottom 1px); a lead panel adds a 2px vermilion left edge and a small diamond pin. Offset block shadow, never a soft glow.
bg pattern
grain
paper texture
Layered radial-gradient noise at very low opacity over warm studio paper (#F4F1EA); a fresher sheet (#FBFAF6) lifts panels and a warm neutral (#ECE7DC) insets material notes.
borders4 items
default width
1px
accent width
2px
style
solid
character
The ink rule is the layout material: thin frames for panels, 3px double-rules for section headers, faint baseline register lines crossing surfaces, and single hairlines between ledger rows.
motion3 items
duration
160ms
easing
cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)
philosophy
Snappy, editorial, almost mechanical — a state change feels like a mark placed on paper. The settled state is the default and renders with no JavaScript; motion is added on top and respects prefers-reduced-motion.
rules
composition
Build screens as editorial spreads: a large title and deck zone, a folio rail, a main asymmetric grid, and caption-like metadata blocks.Use black horizontal and vertical rules to divide space before any background fill; the line is the primary layout material.Keep accent colour to one chosen signal per screen, covering under five percent of the visible area.Circle counts and folios in ink as margin marks rather than boxing them as metric cards.Let an occasional rough rotated gesture stroke cross a panel edge to keep the human hand visible without breaking alignment.
hierarchy
Headlines use Libre Baskerville at dramatic scale with tight tracking and compact line-height for an art-book editorial voice.Navigation, status labels, folios, and counts use IBM Plex Mono uppercase in small sizes with rule separators.Body copy uses IBM Plex Sans aligned to the grid; avoid centred marketing copy.Important actions are ink-black with a tiny vermilion accent pin, not a large coloured fill.The active or lead item receives a 2px vermilion left edge plus a small diamond pin at its grid origin.
density
Medium editorial density: generous gallery-wall whitespace and large typographic moments balanced by compact mono captions, small metadata, and tightly ruled annotation panels.
signature
Double-rule section headers (border-top 3px double + border-bottom 1px) act as magazine-section dividers, never generic card titles.Faint baseline register lines cross article panels so structure reads as printed paper.A lead item carries a 2px vermilion left edge and an absolute-positioned diamond pin — colour as signal, not fill.Gesture underlines are rough rotated inline-SVG strokes behind a chosen heading word.Edition counters and folios are circled in ink (9999px), the lead circled in vermilion.
layout
grid

Desktop uses a 12-column grid at max-width 1360px with 24px gutters, a folio rail, and asymmetric 5/4/3 spans aligned to a visible baseline rhythm.

whitespace
Whitespace reads like gallery wall space — warm studio paper sharply bounded by ink rules, with warm neutral inset panels only where material notes or archive context require them.
density
Medium-density editorial workspace: large serif display, compact mono metadata, ruled panels that hold dense publication-planning information without feeling like a SaaS dashboard.
responsive
From ~390px mobile to 2560px+ ultra-wide. At 1080px collapse the asymmetric grid to a single column and reduce headline scale; on mobile stack all panels, hide non-essential nav and table columns, make controls full width, and never overflow horizontally; on ultra-wide cap and centre the contained content while only the full-bleed hero spans 100vw.
breakpoints
desktop
1081px and up: 12 columns with folio rail
tablet
561px-1080px: single-column stacked panels, rail collapsed into a top bar
mobile
560px and below: single column, stacked full-width controls, hidden secondary columns
ultrawide
2200px and up: content cap 1600px, only the hero spans 100vw
guidance
do
  • Use warm studio paper (#F4F1EA) as the ground and introduce a fresher sheet or warm neutral only inside panels and material notes.
  • Apply -0.02em letter spacing globally, including captions, buttons, metadata, and form controls.
  • Use black ruled borders as the first hierarchy tool before adding colour, shadow, or filled surfaces.
  • Choose one saturated accent per composition: vermilion for the lead, cobalt for focus and action, chartreuse for a selection.
  • Make headings editorial and typographic; pair large serif display with compact mono folios and sans body copy.
  • Style every input, select, checkbox, switch, slider, button, and table with the same ink-rule system and a custom focus.
  • Use rough gesture lines sparingly to emphasise curatorial judgement or hand annotation.
  • Keep border radius at 0px for panels and 9999px only for circled edition marks and small pills.
avoid
  • Do not give a card a single lone accent edge, or fill a large area with vermilion, cobalt, or chartreuse; accents stay small register marks.
  • Do not use gradient text or buttons, pastel washes, glassmorphism, or crypto-style glows.
  • Do not use generic rounded SaaS cards or random radius values such as 8px, 12px, 20px, or 32px.
  • Do not centre every element or build a component catalog; create a real editorial workspace scene.
  • Do not let sketch marks reduce readability or make controls look unfinished.
  • Do not use default browser styles for selects, checkboxes, switches, sliders, or focus states.
  • Do not mix multiple display fonts or use rejected LLM-default fonts like Poppins, Montserrat, DM Sans, or Space Grotesk.
imagery
pairs with

reglure

summary
Black pen-and-ink plates on warm studio paper, crossed by printed register lines, with one small electric register mark as the only colour. Imagery functions as annotation, frame, or compositional tension — never decorative illustration.
subjects
letterpress chase and locked-up formemagazine layout sheet with measured columnscompositor's setting rules and galley proofscontact sheets and works-on-paper platesstudio desk and archive material
usage
One full-bleed landing hero in the Réglure technique; elsewhere keep imagery to margins, captions, contact sheets, and annotation overlays. End every prompt with NO text, NO letters, NO logos.
katagami spec
# Quoin

## Philosophy

Quoin is the editorial ink atelier — a design language for serious visual-culture tools (magazine issue-planning rooms, print archives, art-direction boards, works-on-paper catalogs). It treats the interface like a locked-up forme on a studio table: warm paper, mostly black printing ink, measured columns, printed register rules, and generous editorial whitespace — then one electric signal at a time to call the lead. The ink rule is the layout material; colour is a register mark, never a fill. A quoin is the locking wedge that holds the forme square in the chase: the page is set, ruled, and locked before it goes to press.

### Values

- {"name":"Ink-first authority","description":"Black is the primary drawing instrument — type, rules, marks, and counts feel printed or drawn, not filled with decorative colour."}
- {"name":"The rule as structure","description":"Double-rule headers and faint baseline register lines build hierarchy before any fill or surface; the line is the first layout tool."}
- {"name":"Electric restraint","description":"One signal per view — vermilion calls the lead, cobalt carries focus and action, chartreuse marks a selection — each under about five percent of the surface."}
- {"name":"Works-on-paper materiality","description":"The ground is warm studio paper with a faint tooth, not glass or white; surfaces suggest a sheet on the desk."}
- {"name":"Gesture under control","description":"A rough hand-drawn stroke breaks a panel edge to keep the human hand visible under the grid, never reducing readability."}
- {"name":"Fine-art seriousness","description":"Editorial, disciplined, alive with the tension between hand-drawn gesture and publication-grid precision — never playful, retro, or decorative."}

### Anti-Values

- {"name":"Rainbow creativity","description":"Never use multiple saturated accents at once or turn the screen into an art-school palette sampler."}
- {"name":"Template minimalism","description":"Never rely on pure-white borderless cards with soft shadows; identity comes from ruled structure, ink marks, and editorial hierarchy."}
- {"name":"Crypto gloss","description":"No gradient buttons, glassy panels, neon haze, or inflated rounded cards."}
- {"name":"Decorative illustration","description":"Linework must function as rule, annotation, frame, or compositional tension — never cute ornament."}

## Tokens

### Colors

| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#F4F1EA` |
| surface | `#FBFAF6` |
| surface_2 | `#ECE7DC` |
| text | `#14110C` |
| muted | `#6B6357` |
| border | `#14110C` |
| accent | `#F23B2E` |
| on_accent | `#FBFAF6` |
| accent_2 | `#0057FF` |
| accent_3 | `#C8FF00` |
| success | `#177245` |
| warning | `#B36A00` |
| error | `#B00020` |
| info | `#0057FF` |

### Typography

- **Base Size**: 17px
- **Body Font**: IBM Plex Sans
- **Heading Font**: Libre Baskerville
- **Mono Font**: IBM Plex Mono
- **Heading Weight**: 700
- **Heading Transform**: none
- **Letter Spacing**: -0.02em
- **Line Height**: 1.5
- **Google Fonts Url**: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500;600&family=IBM+Plex+Sans:wght@400;500;600;700&family=Libre+Baskerville:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&display=swap

### Radii

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

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 1px 0 rgba(20,17,12,0.20)
- **Md**: 7px 7px 0 rgba(20,17,12,0.10)

### Spacing

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

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: paper
- **Card Style**: Warm-paper panels with a 1px ink rule and a double-rule header (border-top 3px double + border-bottom 1px); a lead panel adds a 2px vermilion left edge and a small diamond pin. Offset block shadow, never a soft glow.
- **Bg Pattern**: grain
- **Paper Texture**: Layered radial-gradient noise at very low opacity over warm studio paper (#F4F1EA); a fresher sheet (#FBFAF6) lifts panels and a warm neutral (#ECE7DC) insets material notes.

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 1px
- **Accent Width**: 2px
- **Style**: solid
- **Character**: The ink rule is the layout material: thin frames for panels, 3px double-rules for section headers, faint baseline register lines crossing surfaces, and single hairlines between ledger rows.

### Motion

- **Duration**: 160ms
- **Easing**: cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)
- **Philosophy**: Snappy, editorial, almost mechanical — a state change feels like a mark placed on paper. The settled state is the default and renders with no JavaScript; motion is added on top and respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Rules

### Composition

- Build screens as editorial spreads: a large title and deck zone, a folio rail, a main asymmetric grid, and caption-like metadata blocks.
- Use black horizontal and vertical rules to divide space before any background fill; the line is the primary layout material.
- Keep accent colour to one chosen signal per screen, covering under five percent of the visible area.
- Circle counts and folios in ink as margin marks rather than boxing them as metric cards.
- Let an occasional rough rotated gesture stroke cross a panel edge to keep the human hand visible without breaking alignment.

### Hierarchy

- Headlines use Libre Baskerville at dramatic scale with tight tracking and compact line-height for an art-book editorial voice.
- Navigation, status labels, folios, and counts use IBM Plex Mono uppercase in small sizes with rule separators.
- Body copy uses IBM Plex Sans aligned to the grid; avoid centred marketing copy.
- Important actions are ink-black with a tiny vermilion accent pin, not a large coloured fill.
- The active or lead item receives a 2px vermilion left edge plus a small diamond pin at its grid origin.

### Density

Medium editorial density: generous gallery-wall whitespace and large typographic moments balanced by compact mono captions, small metadata, and tightly ruled annotation panels.

### Signature

- Double-rule section headers (border-top 3px double + border-bottom 1px) act as magazine-section dividers, never generic card titles.
- Faint baseline register lines cross article panels so structure reads as printed paper.
- A lead item carries a 2px vermilion left edge and an absolute-positioned diamond pin — colour as signal, not fill.
- Gesture underlines are rough rotated inline-SVG strokes behind a chosen heading word.
- Edition counters and folios are circled in ink (9999px), the lead circled in vermilion.

## Layout

### Grid

Desktop uses a 12-column grid at max-width 1360px with 24px gutters, a folio rail, and asymmetric 5/4/3 spans aligned to a visible baseline rhythm.

### Whitespace

Whitespace reads like gallery wall space — warm studio paper sharply bounded by ink rules, with warm neutral inset panels only where material notes or archive context require them.

### Density

Medium-density editorial workspace: large serif display, compact mono metadata, ruled panels that hold dense publication-planning information without feeling like a SaaS dashboard.

### Responsive

From ~390px mobile to 2560px+ ultra-wide. At 1080px collapse the asymmetric grid to a single column and reduce headline scale; on mobile stack all panels, hide non-essential nav and table columns, make controls full width, and never overflow horizontally; on ultra-wide cap and centre the contained content while only the full-bleed hero spans 100vw.

### Breakpoints

- **Desktop**: 1081px and up: 12 columns with folio rail
- **Tablet**: 561px-1080px: single-column stacked panels, rail collapsed into a top bar
- **Mobile**: 560px and below: single column, stacked full-width controls, hidden secondary columns
- **Ultrawide**: 2200px and up: content cap 1600px, only the hero spans 100vw

## Guidance

### Do

- Use warm studio paper (#F4F1EA) as the ground and introduce a fresher sheet or warm neutral only inside panels and material notes.
- Apply -0.02em letter spacing globally, including captions, buttons, metadata, and form controls.
- Use black ruled borders as the first hierarchy tool before adding colour, shadow, or filled surfaces.
- Choose one saturated accent per composition: vermilion for the lead, cobalt for focus and action, chartreuse for a selection.
- Make headings editorial and typographic; pair large serif display with compact mono folios and sans body copy.
- Style every input, select, checkbox, switch, slider, button, and table with the same ink-rule system and a custom focus.
- Use rough gesture lines sparingly to emphasise curatorial judgement or hand annotation.
- Keep border radius at 0px for panels and 9999px only for circled edition marks and small pills.

### Don't

- Do not give a card a single lone accent edge, or fill a large area with vermilion, cobalt, or chartreuse; accents stay small register marks.
- Do not use gradient text or buttons, pastel washes, glassmorphism, or crypto-style glows.
- Do not use generic rounded SaaS cards or random radius values such as 8px, 12px, 20px, or 32px.
- Do not centre every element or build a component catalog; create a real editorial workspace scene.
- Do not let sketch marks reduce readability or make controls look unfinished.
- Do not use default browser styles for selects, checkboxes, switches, sliders, or focus states.
- Do not mix multiple display fonts or use rejected LLM-default fonts like Poppins, Montserrat, DM Sans, or Space Grotesk.

### Accessibility

Keep text near-black on warm paper or fresher-sheet surfaces; never place small text on a saturated accent field. Use a visible 2px cobalt focus ring on every control, keep touch targets at least 44px, and provide text labels beside symbolic ink marks. The fully-rendered state is visible with no JavaScript and motion respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

reglure

### Summary

Black pen-and-ink plates on warm studio paper, crossed by printed register lines, with one small electric register mark as the only colour. Imagery functions as annotation, frame, or compositional tension — never decorative illustration.

### Subjects

- letterpress chase and locked-up forme
- magazine layout sheet with measured columns
- compositor's setting rules and galley proofs
- contact sheets and works-on-paper plates
- studio desk and archive material

### Usage

One full-bleed landing hero in the Réglure technique; elsewhere keep imagery to margins, captions, contact sheets, and annotation overlays. End every prompt with NO text, NO letters, NO logos.
DESIGN.md
---
version: "alpha"
name: "Quoin"
description: "Agent-curated design language exported from Katagami as DESIGN.md."
colors:
  bg: "#F4F1EA"
  surface: "#FBFAF6"
  surface_2: "#ECE7DC"
  text: "#14110C"
  muted: "#6B6357"
  border: "#14110C"
  accent: "#F23B2E"
  on_accent: "#FBFAF6"
  accent_2: "#0057FF"
  accent_3: "#C8FF00"
  success: "#177245"
  warning: "#B36A00"
  error: "#B00020"
  info: "#0057FF"
typography:
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: "Libre Baskerville"
    fontSize: "2.075rem"
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: "Libre Baskerville"
    fontSize: "1.66rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.15
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  body-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Sans"
    fontSize: "17px"
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  label-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Mono"
    fontSize: "0.75rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: "0.08em"
rounded:
  none: "0px"
  sm: "0px"
  md: "0px"
  lg: "0px"
  pill: "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-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-accent_3:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent_3}"
  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: "#000000"
    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"
---

# Quoin

## Overview

Quoin is the editorial ink atelier — a design language for serious visual-culture tools (magazine issue-planning rooms, print archives, art-direction boards, works-on-paper catalogs). It treats the interface like a locked-up forme on a studio table: warm paper, mostly black printing ink, measured columns, printed register rules, and generous editorial whitespace — then one electric signal at a time to call the lead. The ink rule is the layout material; colour is a register mark, never a fill. A quoin is the locking wedge that holds the forme square in the chase: the page is set, ruled, and locked before it goes to press.

### Values

- {"name":"Ink-first authority","description":"Black is the primary drawing instrument — type, rules, marks, and counts feel printed or drawn, not filled with decorative colour."}
- {"name":"The rule as structure","description":"Double-rule headers and faint baseline register lines build hierarchy before any fill or surface; the line is the first layout tool."}
- {"name":"Electric restraint","description":"One signal per view — vermilion calls the lead, cobalt carries focus and action, chartreuse marks a selection — each under about five percent of the surface."}
- {"name":"Works-on-paper materiality","description":"The ground is warm studio paper with a faint tooth, not glass or white; surfaces suggest a sheet on the desk."}
- {"name":"Gesture under control","description":"A rough hand-drawn stroke breaks a panel edge to keep the human hand visible under the grid, never reducing readability."}
- {"name":"Fine-art seriousness","description":"Editorial, disciplined, alive with the tension between hand-drawn gesture and publication-grid precision — never playful, retro, or decorative."}

### Anti-Values

- {"name":"Rainbow creativity","description":"Never use multiple saturated accents at once or turn the screen into an art-school palette sampler."}
- {"name":"Template minimalism","description":"Never rely on pure-white borderless cards with soft shadows; identity comes from ruled structure, ink marks, and editorial hierarchy."}
- {"name":"Crypto gloss","description":"No gradient buttons, glassy panels, neon haze, or inflated rounded cards."}
- {"name":"Decorative illustration","description":"Linework must function as rule, annotation, frame, or compositional tension — never cute ornament."}

## 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 | `#F4F1EA` |
| surface | `#FBFAF6` |
| surface_2 | `#ECE7DC` |
| text | `#14110C` |
| muted | `#6B6357` |
| border | `#14110C` |
| accent | `#F23B2E` |
| on_accent | `#FBFAF6` |
| accent_2 | `#0057FF` |
| accent_3 | `#C8FF00` |
| success | `#177245` |
| warning | `#B36A00` |
| error | `#B00020` |
| info | `#0057FF` |

## Typography

- **Headline-Lg**: Libre Baskerville, 2.075rem, weight 700, line-height 1.1.
- **Headline-Md**: Libre Baskerville, 1.66rem, weight 600, line-height 1.15.
- **Body-Md**: IBM Plex Sans, 17px, weight 400, line-height 1.5.
- **Label-Md**: IBM Plex 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

Desktop uses a 12-column grid at max-width 1360px with 24px gutters, a folio rail, and asymmetric 5/4/3 spans aligned to a visible baseline rhythm.

### Whitespace

Whitespace reads like gallery wall space — warm studio paper sharply bounded by ink rules, with warm neutral inset panels only where material notes or archive context require them.

### Density

Medium-density editorial workspace: large serif display, compact mono metadata, ruled panels that hold dense publication-planning information without feeling like a SaaS dashboard.

### Responsive

From ~390px mobile to 2560px+ ultra-wide. At 1080px collapse the asymmetric grid to a single column and reduce headline scale; on mobile stack all panels, hide non-essential nav and table columns, make controls full width, and never overflow horizontally; on ultra-wide cap and centre the contained content while only the full-bleed hero spans 100vw.

### Breakpoints

- **Desktop**: 1081px and up: 12 columns with folio rail
- **Tablet**: 561px-1080px: single-column stacked panels, rail collapsed into a top bar
- **Mobile**: 560px and below: single column, stacked full-width controls, hidden secondary columns
- **Ultrawide**: 2200px and up: content cap 1600px, only the hero spans 100vw

## Elevation & Depth

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 1px 0 rgba(20,17,12,0.20)
- **Md**: 7px 7px 0 rgba(20,17,12,0.10)

## Shapes

### Rounded

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

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: paper
- **Card Style**: Warm-paper panels with a 1px ink rule and a double-rule header (border-top 3px double + border-bottom 1px); a lead panel adds a 2px vermilion left edge and a small diamond pin. Offset block shadow, never a soft glow.
- **Bg Pattern**: grain
- **Paper Texture**: Layered radial-gradient noise at very low opacity over warm studio paper (#F4F1EA); a fresher sheet (#FBFAF6) lifts panels and a warm neutral (#ECE7DC) insets material notes.

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 1px
- **Accent Width**: 2px
- **Style**: solid
- **Character**: The ink rule is the layout material: thin frames for panels, 3px double-rules for section headers, faint baseline register lines crossing surfaces, and single hairlines between ledger rows.

## Components

### Composition

- Build screens as editorial spreads: a large title and deck zone, a folio rail, a main asymmetric grid, and caption-like metadata blocks.
- Use black horizontal and vertical rules to divide space before any background fill; the line is the primary layout material.
- Keep accent colour to one chosen signal per screen, covering under five percent of the visible area.
- Circle counts and folios in ink as margin marks rather than boxing them as metric cards.
- Let an occasional rough rotated gesture stroke cross a panel edge to keep the human hand visible without breaking alignment.

### Hierarchy

- Headlines use Libre Baskerville at dramatic scale with tight tracking and compact line-height for an art-book editorial voice.
- Navigation, status labels, folios, and counts use IBM Plex Mono uppercase in small sizes with rule separators.
- Body copy uses IBM Plex Sans aligned to the grid; avoid centred marketing copy.
- Important actions are ink-black with a tiny vermilion accent pin, not a large coloured fill.
- The active or lead item receives a 2px vermilion left edge plus a small diamond pin at its grid origin.

### Density

Medium editorial density: generous gallery-wall whitespace and large typographic moments balanced by compact mono captions, small metadata, and tightly ruled annotation panels.

### Signature

- Double-rule section headers (border-top 3px double + border-bottom 1px) act as magazine-section dividers, never generic card titles.
- Faint baseline register lines cross article panels so structure reads as printed paper.
- A lead item carries a 2px vermilion left edge and an absolute-positioned diamond pin — colour as signal, not fill.
- Gesture underlines are rough rotated inline-SVG strokes behind a chosen heading word.
- Edition counters and folios are circled in ink (9999px), the lead circled in vermilion.

## 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-019ef8bb-aef6-7e13-8bd3-1dc2cadae95e/DESIGN.with-shadcn.md`.

The shadcn page also exposes optional machine-readable files for automation, but the human-facing handoff is 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 Use warm studio paper (#F4F1EA) as the ground and introduce a fresher sheet or warm neutral only inside panels and material notes.
- Do Apply -0.02em letter spacing globally, including captions, buttons, metadata, and form controls.
- Do Use black ruled borders as the first hierarchy tool before adding colour, shadow, or filled surfaces.
- Do Choose one saturated accent per composition: vermilion for the lead, cobalt for focus and action, chartreuse for a selection.
- Do Make headings editorial and typographic; pair large serif display with compact mono folios and sans body copy.
- Do Style every input, select, checkbox, switch, slider, button, and table with the same ink-rule system and a custom focus.
- Do Use rough gesture lines sparingly to emphasise curatorial judgement or hand annotation.
- Do Keep border radius at 0px for panels and 9999px only for circled edition marks and small pills.
- Don't Do not give a card a single lone accent edge, or fill a large area with vermilion, cobalt, or chartreuse; accents stay small register marks.
- Don't Do not use gradient text or buttons, pastel washes, glassmorphism, or crypto-style glows.
- Don't Do not use generic rounded SaaS cards or random radius values such as 8px, 12px, 20px, or 32px.
- Don't Do not centre every element or build a component catalog; create a real editorial workspace scene.
- Don't Do not let sketch marks reduce readability or make controls look unfinished.
- Don't Do not use default browser styles for selects, checkboxes, switches, sliders, or focus states.
- Don't Do not mix multiple display fonts or use rejected LLM-default fonts like Poppins, Montserrat, DM Sans, or Space Grotesk.

### Accessibility

Keep text near-black on warm paper or fresher-sheet surfaces; never place small text on a saturated accent field. Use a visible 2px cobalt focus ring on every control, keep touch targets at least 44px, and provide text labels beside symbolic ink marks. The fully-rendered state is visible with no JavaScript and motion respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

reglure

### Summary

Black pen-and-ink plates on warm studio paper, crossed by printed register lines, with one small electric register mark as the only colour. Imagery functions as annotation, frame, or compositional tension — never decorative illustration.

### Subjects

- letterpress chase and locked-up forme
- magazine layout sheet with measured columns
- compositor's setting rules and galley proofs
- contact sheets and works-on-paper plates
- studio desk and archive material

### Usage

One full-bleed landing hero in the Réglure technique; elsewhere keep imagery to margins, captions, contact sheets, and annotation overlays. End every prompt with NO text, NO letters, NO logos.
shadcn/ui theme
```json
{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema/registry-item.json",
  "name": "quoin",
  "type": "registry:theme",
  "title": "Quoin shadcn Theme",
  "cssVars": {
    "theme": {},
    "light": {
      "background": "#F4F1EA",
      "foreground": "#14110C",
      "card": "#FBFAF6",
      "card-foreground": "#14110C",
      "popover": "#FBFAF6",
      "popover-foreground": "#14110C",
      "primary": "#14110C",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#f4f4f5",
      "secondary-foreground": "#111111",
      "muted": "#6B6357",
      "muted-foreground": "#14110C",
      "accent": "#F23B2E",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#B00020",
      "border": "#14110C",
      "input": "#14110C",
      "ring": "#F23B2E",
      "chart-1": "#14110C",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#F23B2E",
      "chart-4": "#177245",
      "chart-5": "#B36A00",
      "sidebar": "#FBFAF6",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#14110C",
      "sidebar-primary": "#14110C",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#0057FF",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#14110C",
      "sidebar-ring": "#F23B2E",
      "radius": "0px"
    },
    "dark": {
      "background": "#0f1115",
      "foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "card": "#181b22",
      "card-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "popover": "#181b22",
      "popover-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "primary": "#14110C",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#252a33",
      "secondary-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "muted": "#252a33",
      "muted-foreground": "#a1a1aa",
      "accent": "#F23B2E",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#B00020",
      "border": "#303642",
      "input": "#303642",
      "ring": "#F23B2E",
      "chart-1": "#14110C",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#F23B2E",
      "chart-4": "#177245",
      "chart-5": "#B36A00",
      "sidebar": "#181b22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "sidebar-primary": "#14110C",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#F23B2E",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#303642",
      "sidebar-ring": "#F23B2E",
      "radius": "0px"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "katagami",
    "languageId": "en-019ef8bb-aef6-7e13-8bd3-1dc2cadae95e",
    "slug": "quoin",
    "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",
        "accent_3",
        "bg",
        "border",
        "error",
        "info",
        "muted",
        "on_accent",
        "success",
        "surface",
        "surface_2",
        "text",
        "warning"
      ],
      "typography": [
        "base_size",
        "body_font",
        "google_fonts_url",
        "heading_font",
        "heading_transform",
        "heading_weight",
        "letter_spacing",
        "line_height",
        "mono_font"
      ],
      "radii": [
        "lg",
        "md",
        "none",
        "pill",
        "sm"
      ],
      "shadows": [
        "md",
        "sm"
      ],
      "spacing": [
        "base",
        "scale"
      ],
      "surfaces": [
        "bg_pattern",
        "card_style",
        "paper_texture",
        "treatment"
      ],
      "borders": [
        "accent_width",
        "character",
        "default_width",
        "style"
      ],
      "motion": [
        "duration",
        "easing",
        "philosophy"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```
in the wild

embodiments

bespoke marketing landingopen full page ↗
landing · quoin
DESIGN.md

at a glance

Typography

headline-lgLibre Baskerville · 33px · 700

The quick brown fox jumps

headline-mdLibre Baskerville · 27px · 600

The quick brown fox jumps

body-mdIBM Plex Sans · 17px · 400

The quick brown fox jumps

label-mdIBM Plex Mono · 12px · 600

The quick brown fox jumps

shadcn/ui

implementation kit

built with

Agent-generated

remix lane

try a remix

Keep Quoinand swap a palette and an art style onto it — the landing & dashboard recolor live. The Studio does the same with all three lanes free.

UI language · fixed
Quoin
Palette
Art style
Landing Page
live preview · recolored + filled
lineage

Family

1 descendant
related

More like this