Cicero

# Cicero

## Philosophy

Cicero frames software as a premium field journal: a dominant reading column, annotated margins, and numbered figure plates printed in oxblood and ink. Named for the typographic unit of measure, it is built on typeset rhythm — information arrives authored, paced, and cited, with the gravity and whitespace of a serious periodical.

### Values

- reading-first hierarchy over dashboard noise
- every claim arrives as a numbered, cross-referenced figure plate
- warm paper texture with precise typeset annotation
- the accent is a highlighter, never a flood

### Anti-Values

- generic SaaS card farms and white-minimal defaults
- cold neon futurism without readability
- uniform sans that flattens the serif/mono contrast
- gadget chrome, loud gradients, and one-sided accent edges

### Visual Character

- Large high-contrast serif headlines sit in wide asymmetric columns while compact uppercase mono rails create a deliberate periodical rhythm across the page.
- Every exhibit is a numbered figure plate: a gravure duotone image inset on a paper margin, a hairline oxblood rule, a short uppercase mono caption (FIG. NN), crop-mark brackets, and at most one leader line to a numbered tag.
- Thin mono labels, issue markers, folio dates, and captions form a layer of technical annotation around the primary reading column.
- Oxblood appears as underlines, quote bars, progress rules, active marks, chart strokes, and tag outlines — never filled buttons or saturated floods.
- Images, pull quotes, metrics, and margin notes are arranged in uneven but baseline-aligned columns with generous gutters — page composition, not a uniform component grid.

## Tokens

### Colors

| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#f3ede4` |
| surface | `#fbf7f0` |
| surface_2 | `#f7f1e8` |
| text | `#161412` |
| muted | `#6f655b` |
| border | `#e1d6c8` |
| accent | `#b13a2e` |
| on_accent | `#fbf7f0` |
| primary | `#161412` |
| secondary | `#655d56` |
| success | `#2f6a53` |
| warning | `#9a6a2c` |
| error | `#a8392f` |
| info | `#3f6178` |

### Typography

- **Base Size**: 17px
- **Body Font**: Manrope
- **Heading Font**: Instrument Serif
- **Mono Font**: IBM Plex Mono
- **Heading Weight**: 400
- **Heading Transform**: none
- **Letter Spacing**: -0.02em
- **Display Letter Spacing**: -0.04em
- **Body Line Height**: 1.58
- **Display Line Height**: 1.06
- **Scale Ratio**: 1.25
- **Google Fonts Url**: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Instrument+Serif:ital@0;1&family=Manrope:wght@400;500;600;700;800&family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500;600&display=swap

### Radii

- **None**: 0px
- **Container**: 24px
- **Control**: 9999px

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 12px 24px rgba(22,20,18,0.05)
- **Md**: 0 18px 40px rgba(22,20,18,0.08)
- **Lg**: 0 28px 80px rgba(22,20,18,0.12)

### Spacing

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

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: warm paper sheets
- **Card Style**: warm paper panels (#fbf7f0), 24px rounded sheet silhouette, near-invisible warm hairline border, restrained backdrop blur on the lead figure plate, one three-step shadow scale
- **Bg Pattern**: very subtle paper grain (faint layered radial tints), no washes

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 1px
- **Accent Width**: 2px
- **Style**: solid
- **Character**: near-invisible warm oxford hairline rules; a separate 2px sharp oxblood rule carries figure captions and quote bars — never a one-sided edge on a rounded card

### Motion

- **Duration**: 280ms
- **Easing**: cubic-bezier(0.22,1,0.36,1)
- **Philosophy**: page pacing and editorial reveal — slow fades, parallax plate drift, rule-line and caption sequencing on scroll; settled state is the no-JS default; respects prefers-reduced-motion

## Rules

### Composition

Compose every screen as an annotated feature spread: a dominant lead-story column, narrower annotation rails, and small utility clusters that never overpower the reading path. Each exhibit is a numbered figure plate.

### Hierarchy

Dramatic serif display (Instrument Serif) for narrative headlines, uppercase mono microtype (IBM Plex Mono) for labels, figure numbers, folio markers and timestamps, Manrope for body. The serif/mono contrast is the rhythm.

### Density

Moderate and breathable; high-information zones (tables, ledgers) get margin, hairline separators, and caption structure so the page still reads as edited.

### Signature

The figure plate — a captioned, cross-referenced exhibit (image or data) beneath a hairline oxblood rule, framed by crop-marks, optionally pinned by a leader line to a numbered tag. The same convention drives imagery via the paired Gravure art style.

## Layout

### Grid

Desktop uses an asymmetric editorial grid with a dominant ~7-column story area, a ~3-column annotation rail, and small utility clusters; interior panels use nested split grids for article-and-data pairings.

### Whitespace

Generous and directional — large vertical spacing around headline blocks, measured gutters between annotation modules to preserve periodical pacing.

### Density

Reading-first; data is allowed but always typeset and captioned.

### Responsive

- **Desktop**: asymmetric editorial spread (story + rail + utility)
- **Tablet**: stacked main-and-side sections with two-column internals
- **Mobile**: single reading column, full-width modules, non-essential nav hidden, tables scroll only where necessary

### Breakpoints

- **Desktop**: 1440px+ keeps the multi-column spread
- **Tablet**: 900px collapses to stacked editorial sections
- **Mobile**: 390px becomes one reading column; grids use minmax(0,1fr) so children shrink, never overflow

## Guidance

### Do

- Treat long-form content, captions, figure numbers, and cross-references as first-class design material.
- Make every exhibit a numbered figure plate beneath a hairline oxblood rule.
- Pair warm paper surfaces with precise rule lines and one restrained oxblood accent.
- Build hierarchy from typography, spacing, and annotation, not oversized buttons or bright fills.
- Keep one button clearly primary (oxblood fill); keep the rest quieter, sharing one shape and height.
- Explicitly style every form control — inputs, selects, textareas, toggles, pills — as typographic editorial elements.
- Let navigation breathe as part of the page; never trap it in a floating pill bar or boxed widget.

### Don't

- Do not default to a white ground or turn the language into a generic analytics dashboard.
- Do not replace the serif-and-microtype contrast with uniform sans.
- Do not flood panels with oxblood, heavy colour, gradients, or gadget chrome.
- Do not give a card a single one-sided accent edge, or nest cards.
- Do not use browser-default form controls or unstyled tables.
- Do not mix arbitrary radii (10px, 18px, 28px) or use symbol glyphs in copy — use SVG primitives.
- Do not put emoji on buttons.

### Accessibility

Maintain WCAG AA contrast (ink on paper, oxblood used at AA-legible sizes), visible oxblood focus rings on all controls, readable 17px body copy, table rows 14.5px+, keyboard-usable controls with clear mono labels, and prefers-reduced-motion honoured.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

gravure

### Summary

Documentary technology photography printed as a warm paper-cream and ink-black halftone duotone — figure plates inset on a clean paper margin, a hairline oxblood rule beneath a short FIG. caption, crop-mark brackets, and at most one leader line to a numbered tag. Hands-on fabrication scenes, architectural detail, printed matter, and abstracted systems diagrams suit the periodical tone.

### Subjects

- silicon wafers and fabrication
- hands-on inspection scenes
- architectural and machine detail
- printed matter and typesetting
- abstracted systems diagrams

### Usage

The landing hero is a full-bleed gravure plate (FIG. 01 — WAFER) with a clean upper margin for the headline overlay. Inline figures are smaller plates with their own FIG. captions and rules.

---
version: "alpha"
name: "Cicero"
description: "Agent-curated design language exported from Katagami as DESIGN.md."
colors:
  bg: "#f3ede4"
  surface: "#fbf7f0"
  surface_2: "#f7f1e8"
  text: "#161412"
  muted: "#6f655b"
  border: "#e1d6c8"
  accent: "#b13a2e"
  on_accent: "#fbf7f0"
  primary: "#161412"
  secondary: "#655d56"
  success: "#2f6a53"
  warning: "#9a6a2c"
  error: "#a8392f"
  info: "#3f6178"
typography:
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: "Instrument Serif"
    fontSize: "2.075rem"
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: "Instrument Serif"
    fontSize: "1.66rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.15
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  body-md:
    fontFamily: "Manrope"
    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"
  container: "24px"
  control: "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-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}"
  color-reference-secondary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.secondary}"
  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.primary}"
    textColor: "#ffffff"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: "{rounded.none}"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  card-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "{rounded.none}"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  input-default:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "{rounded.none}"
    height: "44px"
---

# Cicero

## Overview

Cicero frames software as a premium field journal: a dominant reading column, annotated margins, and numbered figure plates printed in oxblood and ink. Named for the typographic unit of measure, it is built on typeset rhythm — information arrives authored, paced, and cited, with the gravity and whitespace of a serious periodical.

### Values

- reading-first hierarchy over dashboard noise
- every claim arrives as a numbered, cross-referenced figure plate
- warm paper texture with precise typeset annotation
- the accent is a highlighter, never a flood

### Anti-Values

- generic SaaS card farms and white-minimal defaults
- cold neon futurism without readability
- uniform sans that flattens the serif/mono contrast
- gadget chrome, loud gradients, and one-sided accent edges

### Visual Character

- Large high-contrast serif headlines sit in wide asymmetric columns while compact uppercase mono rails create a deliberate periodical rhythm across the page.
- Every exhibit is a numbered figure plate: a gravure duotone image inset on a paper margin, a hairline oxblood rule, a short uppercase mono caption (FIG. NN), crop-mark brackets, and at most one leader line to a numbered tag.
- Thin mono labels, issue markers, folio dates, and captions form a layer of technical annotation around the primary reading column.
- Oxblood appears as underlines, quote bars, progress rules, active marks, chart strokes, and tag outlines — never filled buttons or saturated floods.
- Images, pull quotes, metrics, and margin notes are arranged in uneven but baseline-aligned columns with generous gutters — page composition, not a uniform component grid.

## 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 | `#f3ede4` |
| surface | `#fbf7f0` |
| surface_2 | `#f7f1e8` |
| text | `#161412` |
| muted | `#6f655b` |
| border | `#e1d6c8` |
| accent | `#b13a2e` |
| on_accent | `#fbf7f0` |
| primary | `#161412` |
| secondary | `#655d56` |
| success | `#2f6a53` |
| warning | `#9a6a2c` |
| error | `#a8392f` |
| info | `#3f6178` |

## Typography

- **Headline-Lg**: Instrument Serif, 2.075rem, weight 700, line-height 1.1.
- **Headline-Md**: Instrument Serif, 1.66rem, weight 600, line-height 1.15.
- **Body-Md**: Manrope, 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 an asymmetric editorial grid with a dominant ~7-column story area, a ~3-column annotation rail, and small utility clusters; interior panels use nested split grids for article-and-data pairings.

### Whitespace

Generous and directional — large vertical spacing around headline blocks, measured gutters between annotation modules to preserve periodical pacing.

### Density

Reading-first; data is allowed but always typeset and captioned.

### Responsive

- **Desktop**: asymmetric editorial spread (story + rail + utility)
- **Tablet**: stacked main-and-side sections with two-column internals
- **Mobile**: single reading column, full-width modules, non-essential nav hidden, tables scroll only where necessary

### Breakpoints

- **Desktop**: 1440px+ keeps the multi-column spread
- **Tablet**: 900px collapses to stacked editorial sections
- **Mobile**: 390px becomes one reading column; grids use minmax(0,1fr) so children shrink, never overflow

## Elevation & Depth

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 12px 24px rgba(22,20,18,0.05)
- **Md**: 0 18px 40px rgba(22,20,18,0.08)
- **Lg**: 0 28px 80px rgba(22,20,18,0.12)

## Shapes

### Rounded

- **None**: `0px`
- **Container**: `24px`
- **Control**: `9999px`

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: warm paper sheets
- **Card Style**: warm paper panels (#fbf7f0), 24px rounded sheet silhouette, near-invisible warm hairline border, restrained backdrop blur on the lead figure plate, one three-step shadow scale
- **Bg Pattern**: very subtle paper grain (faint layered radial tints), no washes

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 1px
- **Accent Width**: 2px
- **Style**: solid
- **Character**: near-invisible warm oxford hairline rules; a separate 2px sharp oxblood rule carries figure captions and quote bars — never a one-sided edge on a rounded card

## Components

### Composition

Compose every screen as an annotated feature spread: a dominant lead-story column, narrower annotation rails, and small utility clusters that never overpower the reading path. Each exhibit is a numbered figure plate.

### Hierarchy

Dramatic serif display (Instrument Serif) for narrative headlines, uppercase mono microtype (IBM Plex Mono) for labels, figure numbers, folio markers and timestamps, Manrope for body. The serif/mono contrast is the rhythm.

### Density

Moderate and breathable; high-information zones (tables, ledgers) get margin, hairline separators, and caption structure so the page still reads as edited.

### Signature

The figure plate — a captioned, cross-referenced exhibit (image or data) beneath a hairline oxblood rule, framed by crop-marks, optionally pinned by a leader line to a numbered tag. The same convention drives imagery via the paired Gravure art style.

## 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-019efa19-e69d-7a83-918c-ca9f01a0b8c3/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 Treat long-form content, captions, figure numbers, and cross-references as first-class design material.
- Do Make every exhibit a numbered figure plate beneath a hairline oxblood rule.
- Do Pair warm paper surfaces with precise rule lines and one restrained oxblood accent.
- Do Build hierarchy from typography, spacing, and annotation, not oversized buttons or bright fills.
- Do Keep one button clearly primary (oxblood fill); keep the rest quieter, sharing one shape and height.
- Do Explicitly style every form control — inputs, selects, textareas, toggles, pills — as typographic editorial elements.
- Do Let navigation breathe as part of the page; never trap it in a floating pill bar or boxed widget.
- Don't Do not default to a white ground or turn the language into a generic analytics dashboard.
- Don't Do not replace the serif-and-microtype contrast with uniform sans.
- Don't Do not flood panels with oxblood, heavy colour, gradients, or gadget chrome.
- Don't Do not give a card a single one-sided accent edge, or nest cards.
- Don't Do not use browser-default form controls or unstyled tables.
- Don't Do not mix arbitrary radii (10px, 18px, 28px) or use symbol glyphs in copy — use SVG primitives.
- Don't Do not put emoji on buttons.

### Accessibility

Maintain WCAG AA contrast (ink on paper, oxblood used at AA-legible sizes), visible oxblood focus rings on all controls, readable 17px body copy, table rows 14.5px+, keyboard-usable controls with clear mono labels, and prefers-reduced-motion honoured.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

gravure

### Summary

Documentary technology photography printed as a warm paper-cream and ink-black halftone duotone — figure plates inset on a clean paper margin, a hairline oxblood rule beneath a short FIG. caption, crop-mark brackets, and at most one leader line to a numbered tag. Hands-on fabrication scenes, architectural detail, printed matter, and abstracted systems diagrams suit the periodical tone.

### Subjects

- silicon wafers and fabrication
- hands-on inspection scenes
- architectural and machine detail
- printed matter and typesetting
- abstracted systems diagrams

### Usage

The landing hero is a full-bleed gravure plate (FIG. 01 — WAFER) with a clean upper margin for the headline overlay. Inline figures are smaller plates with their own FIG. captions and rules.

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema/registry-item.json",
  "name": "cicero",
  "type": "registry:theme",
  "title": "Cicero shadcn Theme",
  "cssVars": {
    "theme": {},
    "light": {
      "background": "#f3ede4",
      "foreground": "#161412",
      "card": "#fbf7f0",
      "card-foreground": "#161412",
      "popover": "#fbf7f0",
      "popover-foreground": "#161412",
      "primary": "#161412",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#655d56",
      "secondary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "muted": "#6f655b",
      "muted-foreground": "#161412",
      "accent": "#b13a2e",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#a8392f",
      "border": "#e1d6c8",
      "input": "#e1d6c8",
      "ring": "#b13a2e",
      "chart-1": "#161412",
      "chart-2": "#655d56",
      "chart-3": "#b13a2e",
      "chart-4": "#2f6a53",
      "chart-5": "#9a6a2c",
      "sidebar": "#fbf7f0",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#161412",
      "sidebar-primary": "#161412",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#3f6178",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#e1d6c8",
      "sidebar-ring": "#b13a2e",
      "radius": "0.625rem"
    },
    "dark": {
      "background": "#0f1115",
      "foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "card": "#181b22",
      "card-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "popover": "#181b22",
      "popover-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "primary": "#161412",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#252a33",
      "secondary-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "muted": "#252a33",
      "muted-foreground": "#a1a1aa",
      "accent": "#b13a2e",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#a8392f",
      "border": "#303642",
      "input": "#303642",
      "ring": "#b13a2e",
      "chart-1": "#161412",
      "chart-2": "#655d56",
      "chart-3": "#b13a2e",
      "chart-4": "#2f6a53",
      "chart-5": "#9a6a2c",
      "sidebar": "#181b22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "sidebar-primary": "#161412",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#b13a2e",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#303642",
      "sidebar-ring": "#b13a2e",
      "radius": "0.625rem"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "katagami",
    "languageId": "en-019efa19-e69d-7a83-918c-ca9f01a0b8c3",
    "slug": "cicero",
    "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",
        "bg",
        "border",
        "error",
        "info",
        "muted",
        "on_accent",
        "primary",
        "secondary",
        "success",
        "surface",
        "surface_2",
        "text",
        "warning"
      ],
      "typography": [
        "base_size",
        "body_font",
        "body_line_height",
        "display_letter_spacing",
        "display_line_height",
        "google_fonts_url",
        "heading_font",
        "heading_transform",
        "heading_weight",
        "letter_spacing",
        "mono_font",
        "scale_ratio"
      ],
      "radii": [
        "container",
        "control",
        "none"
      ],
      "shadows": [
        "lg",
        "md",
        "sm"
      ],
      "spacing": [
        "base",
        "scale"
      ],
      "surfaces": [
        "bg_pattern",
        "card_style",
        "treatment"
      ],
      "borders": [
        "accent_width",
        "character",
        "default_width",
        "style"
      ],
      "motion": [
        "duration",
        "easing",
        "philosophy"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```