Tincture

# Tincture

## Philosophy

A dark botanical-apothecary design language. Tincture treats an interface the way a herbarium treats a pressing: every panel is a labelled specimen sheet mounted in a deep glass-cabinet ground, every sequence hangs off a living vertical stem, and the worth of a thing is read as concentration, drawn off and measured in a graduate, never shouted in red. Conceived from 'nature, distilled' as the apothecary's still rather than the geology of a riverbank.

### Values

- A deep herbarium-night ground where light pools only where it matters, never a recoloured white page
- Specimens mounted and labelled like dried plants under glass, calm and warm rather than steel-cut
- Structure that grows down a single vertical stem with leaf-node ticks, not snapped to equal columns
- Worth read as concentration in an apothecary graduate, the taller the warm column the more potent
- Accent as a contained highlighter bloom that pools behind what matters, never an edge-to-edge flood
- Separation by surface shift and warm-black shadow, never a grey border
- Deliberate, settled motion like pigment finding its level, layered over a fully rendered page

### Anti-Values

- Light minimal white or cream grounds dressed up as a dark theme
- Horizontal layered strata bands as the structural device
- Equal-column rigid grids that snap everything to a machine rhythm
- Accent colour poured edge to edge across a panel
- Grey borders, cold blue-grey casts, and flat sterile surfaces
- Symbol glyphs (arrows, triangles) standing in for real icons

### Visual Character

- Specimen plate: a mono label rail (provenance, dates, yield) mounted beside a serif description field on a surface-shifted sheet, separated by light and shadow not borders
- Stem axis: a single vertical hairline stem with rotated-square leaf-node ticks marking each step of a sequence, used on process, timelines and nav
- Essence column: an apothecary graduate whose warm fill height reads potency, coloured from the essence ramp so it recolours on palette swap
- Pressed-petal bloom: a soft blurred contained pool of accent seated behind a key heading or card, used as a highlighter never a flood
- Spectral optical serif headings at -0.02em over Inter body, Latin binomials in italic leaf-green
- Warm-black shadows on a deep #15201A herbarium-night ground with faint paper-tooth grain

## Tokens

### Colors

| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#15201A` |
| surface | `#1D2A22` |
| surface-2 | `#243329` |
| text | `#EDE7D6` |
| muted | `#9DA793` |
| border | `#33422F` |
| accent | `#E0A23A` |
| accent-2 | `#8FB36A` |
| accent-3 | `#C98A6B` |
| on-accent | `#15201A` |
| on-accent-2 | `#15201A` |
| success | `#8FB36A` |
| warning | `#E0A23A` |
| error | `#D06A52` |
| info | `#7BA6A0` |

### Typography

- **Base Size**: 17px
- **Body Font**: Inter
- **Heading Font**: Spectral
- **Mono Font**: Spline Sans Mono
- **Heading Weight**: 600
- **Heading Transform**: none
- **Letter Spacing**: -0.02em
- **Line Height**: 1.62
- **Google Fonts Url**: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Spectral:ital,wght@0,400;0,500;0,600;0,700;1,400;1,500&family=Inter:wght@400;500;600;700&family=Spline+Sans+Mono:wght@400;500&display=swap

### Radii

- **Sm**: 16px
- **Md**: 24px
- **Pill**: 9999px
- **Node**: 0 60% 60% 60%

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 2px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.30)
- **Md**: 0 18px 50px rgba(0,0,0,0.42), 0 4px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.30)
- **Glow**: 0 0 44px -6px rgba(224,162,58,0.28)

### Spacing

- **Base**: 8px
- **Scale**: ["4px","8px","12px","16px","24px","32px","48px","64px","96px","128px"]

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: herbarium-night paper tooth
- **Texture**: radial-gradient(circle at 1px 1px, rgba(237,231,214,0.035) 1px, transparent 0) 0 0 / 5px 5px

### Borders

- **Width**: 0
- **Style**: none
- **Character**: Separation through surface shift and warm-black shadow; the rare hairline is a faint warm green #33422F that fades at its ends, never grey
- **Focus Ring**: 0 0 0 4px rgba(224,162,58,0.16)

### Motion

- **Duration**: 420ms
- **Easing**: cubic-bezier(0.22, 0.61, 0.36, 1)
- **Character**: Deliberate and settled like pigment finding its level; reveal is layered over a fully rendered default and disabled under prefers-reduced-motion

### Essence Ramp

- **0**: #F2D89A
- **1**: #E7C06B
- **2**: #D9A246
- **3**: #BE7E2E
- **4**: #9C5F24
- **5**: #6E3F1E

## Rules

### Composition

Mounted specimen plates (mono label rail + serif field) on a dark cabinet ground; sequences hang off a single vertical stem axis; never equal rigid columns and never horizontal strata bands

### Hierarchy

Spectral serif headings anchor sections; mono labels carry provenance; tincture amber leads as the one primary highlighter; worth reads as essence-column fill not red shouting

### Density

Low to moderate; content breathes with generous spacing and padding above every title; nothing crowds or overflows its container

### Signature

Specimen plate, vertical stem axis with leaf-node ticks, essence-column graduate, and contained pressed-petal bloom

## Layout

### Grid

Specimen-sheet layouts: a fixed mono label rail beside a flexible mounting field, plus stem-anchored vertical sequences; cards use minmax(0,1fr) so children shrink not overflow

### Whitespace

Generous; section gaps 96-128px desktop, always padding above titles

### Density

low-to-moderate

### Responsive

Single column under 880px; label rail wraps to an inline baseline strip; graduates go 2-up then 1-up; hero veil flips to a top-to-bottom wash on mobile; full-bleed hero only spans 100vw, contained content caps at ~1180px

### Breakpoints

- **Mobile**: 390px
- **Tablet**: 768px
- **Desktop**: 1440px
- **Wide**: 2560px

## Guidance

### Do

- Keep the deep herbarium-night ground; let light pool only where it matters
- Mount content as labelled specimen plates separated by surface shift and warm shadow
- Hang sequences off a single vertical stem with leaf-node ticks
- Read importance as essence-column fill, coloured from the essence ramp
- Use the amber as the one primary highlighter and pool it as a contained bloom
- Set headings in Spectral at -0.02em and binomials in italic leaf-green
- Pad generously above every title and respect prefers-reduced-motion

### Don't

- Never recolour a light or cream minimal page and call it dark
- Never use horizontal strata bands as the structural device
- Never flood accent colour edge to edge across a panel
- Never separate content with grey borders or cold blue-grey casts
- Never give a card a single accent edge or nest cards
- Never use symbol glyphs or emoji in place of real SVG icons

### Accessibility

Body text #EDE7D6 on #15201A exceeds WCAG AAA for normal text; amber and leaf-green meet AA on the dark ground; status is paired with text labels and dots, never colour alone; 44px+ touch targets; visible amber focus ring on every control; motion disabled under prefers-reduced-motion.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

marl

### Summary

Granulating watercolour-and-gouache wash specimens glowing out of a dark herbarium cabinet: pressed plants, herbs, and seed-heads rendered wet-into-wet with pigment settling into warm paper tooth, luminous against deep shadow.

### Subjects

- pressed foxglove and wild-herb specimens
- seed-heads and umbels
- a single luminous botanical against a dark cabinet ground
- tinctures catching lamplight

### Usage

One full-bleed hero specimen for the landing; the same wash technique for feature and avatar imagery, always warm, muted, earthy and luminous against dark.

---
version: "alpha"
name: "Tincture"
description: "Agent-curated design language exported from Katagami as DESIGN.md."
colors:
  bg: "#15201A"
  surface: "#1D2A22"
  surface-2: "#243329"
  text: "#EDE7D6"
  muted: "#9DA793"
  border: "#33422F"
  accent: "#E0A23A"
  accent-2: "#8FB36A"
  accent-3: "#C98A6B"
  on-accent: "#15201A"
  on-accent-2: "#15201A"
  success: "#8FB36A"
  warning: "#E0A23A"
  error: "#D06A52"
  info: "#7BA6A0"
typography:
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: "Spectral"
    fontSize: "2.075rem"
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: "Spectral"
    fontSize: "1.66rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.15
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  body-md:
    fontFamily: "Inter"
    fontSize: "17px"
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: "-0.02em"
  label-md:
    fontFamily: "Spline Sans Mono"
    fontSize: "0.75rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: "0.08em"
rounded:
  sm: "16px"
  md: "24px"
  pill: "9999px"
  node: "0px"
spacing:
  base: "8px"
  xs: "4px"
  sm: "8px"
  md: "12px"
  lg: "16px"
  xl: "24px"
  2xl: "32px"
  3xl: "48px"
  4xl: "64px"
  step-8: "96px"
  step-9: "128px"
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-accent-2:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent-2}"
  color-reference-accent-3:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent-3}"
  color-reference-on-accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.on-accent}"
  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: "#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"
---

# Tincture

## Overview

A dark botanical-apothecary design language. Tincture treats an interface the way a herbarium treats a pressing: every panel is a labelled specimen sheet mounted in a deep glass-cabinet ground, every sequence hangs off a living vertical stem, and the worth of a thing is read as concentration, drawn off and measured in a graduate, never shouted in red. Conceived from 'nature, distilled' as the apothecary's still rather than the geology of a riverbank.

### Values

- A deep herbarium-night ground where light pools only where it matters, never a recoloured white page
- Specimens mounted and labelled like dried plants under glass, calm and warm rather than steel-cut
- Structure that grows down a single vertical stem with leaf-node ticks, not snapped to equal columns
- Worth read as concentration in an apothecary graduate, the taller the warm column the more potent
- Accent as a contained highlighter bloom that pools behind what matters, never an edge-to-edge flood
- Separation by surface shift and warm-black shadow, never a grey border
- Deliberate, settled motion like pigment finding its level, layered over a fully rendered page

### Anti-Values

- Light minimal white or cream grounds dressed up as a dark theme
- Horizontal layered strata bands as the structural device
- Equal-column rigid grids that snap everything to a machine rhythm
- Accent colour poured edge to edge across a panel
- Grey borders, cold blue-grey casts, and flat sterile surfaces
- Symbol glyphs (arrows, triangles) standing in for real icons

### Visual Character

- Specimen plate: a mono label rail (provenance, dates, yield) mounted beside a serif description field on a surface-shifted sheet, separated by light and shadow not borders
- Stem axis: a single vertical hairline stem with rotated-square leaf-node ticks marking each step of a sequence, used on process, timelines and nav
- Essence column: an apothecary graduate whose warm fill height reads potency, coloured from the essence ramp so it recolours on palette swap
- Pressed-petal bloom: a soft blurred contained pool of accent seated behind a key heading or card, used as a highlighter never a flood
- Spectral optical serif headings at -0.02em over Inter body, Latin binomials in italic leaf-green
- Warm-black shadows on a deep #15201A herbarium-night ground with faint paper-tooth grain

## 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 | `#15201A` |
| surface | `#1D2A22` |
| surface-2 | `#243329` |
| text | `#EDE7D6` |
| muted | `#9DA793` |
| border | `#33422F` |
| accent | `#E0A23A` |
| accent-2 | `#8FB36A` |
| accent-3 | `#C98A6B` |
| on-accent | `#15201A` |
| on-accent-2 | `#15201A` |
| success | `#8FB36A` |
| warning | `#E0A23A` |
| error | `#D06A52` |
| info | `#7BA6A0` |

## Typography

- **Headline-Lg**: Spectral, 2.075rem, weight 700, line-height 1.1.
- **Headline-Md**: Spectral, 1.66rem, weight 600, line-height 1.15.
- **Body-Md**: Inter, 17px, weight 400, line-height 1.5.
- **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`
- **Step-9**: `128px`

### Grid

Specimen-sheet layouts: a fixed mono label rail beside a flexible mounting field, plus stem-anchored vertical sequences; cards use minmax(0,1fr) so children shrink not overflow

### Whitespace

Generous; section gaps 96-128px desktop, always padding above titles

### Density

low-to-moderate

### Responsive

Single column under 880px; label rail wraps to an inline baseline strip; graduates go 2-up then 1-up; hero veil flips to a top-to-bottom wash on mobile; full-bleed hero only spans 100vw, contained content caps at ~1180px

### Breakpoints

- **Mobile**: 390px
- **Tablet**: 768px
- **Desktop**: 1440px
- **Wide**: 2560px

## Elevation & Depth

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 2px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.30)
- **Md**: 0 18px 50px rgba(0,0,0,0.42), 0 4px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.30)
- **Glow**: 0 0 44px -6px rgba(224,162,58,0.28)

## Shapes

### Rounded

- **Sm**: `16px`
- **Md**: `24px`
- **Pill**: `9999px`
- **Node**: `0px`

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: herbarium-night paper tooth
- **Texture**: radial-gradient(circle at 1px 1px, rgba(237,231,214,0.035) 1px, transparent 0) 0 0 / 5px 5px

### Borders

- **Width**: 0
- **Style**: none
- **Character**: Separation through surface shift and warm-black shadow; the rare hairline is a faint warm green #33422F that fades at its ends, never grey
- **Focus Ring**: 0 0 0 4px rgba(224,162,58,0.16)

## Components

### Composition

Mounted specimen plates (mono label rail + serif field) on a dark cabinet ground; sequences hang off a single vertical stem axis; never equal rigid columns and never horizontal strata bands

### Hierarchy

Spectral serif headings anchor sections; mono labels carry provenance; tincture amber leads as the one primary highlighter; worth reads as essence-column fill not red shouting

### Density

Low to moderate; content breathes with generous spacing and padding above every title; nothing crowds or overflows its container

### Signature

Specimen plate, vertical stem axis with leaf-node ticks, essence-column graduate, and contained pressed-petal bloom

## 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-019efb69-985a-7d02-b7d9-b117137213a2/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 Keep the deep herbarium-night ground; let light pool only where it matters
- Do Mount content as labelled specimen plates separated by surface shift and warm shadow
- Do Hang sequences off a single vertical stem with leaf-node ticks
- Do Read importance as essence-column fill, coloured from the essence ramp
- Do Use the amber as the one primary highlighter and pool it as a contained bloom
- Do Set headings in Spectral at -0.02em and binomials in italic leaf-green
- Do Pad generously above every title and respect prefers-reduced-motion
- Don't Never recolour a light or cream minimal page and call it dark
- Don't Never use horizontal strata bands as the structural device
- Don't Never flood accent colour edge to edge across a panel
- Don't Never separate content with grey borders or cold blue-grey casts
- Don't Never give a card a single accent edge or nest cards
- Don't Never use symbol glyphs or emoji in place of real SVG icons

### Accessibility

Body text #EDE7D6 on #15201A exceeds WCAG AAA for normal text; amber and leaf-green meet AA on the dark ground; status is paired with text labels and dots, never colour alone; 44px+ touch targets; visible amber focus ring on every control; motion disabled under prefers-reduced-motion.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

marl

### Summary

Granulating watercolour-and-gouache wash specimens glowing out of a dark herbarium cabinet: pressed plants, herbs, and seed-heads rendered wet-into-wet with pigment settling into warm paper tooth, luminous against deep shadow.

### Subjects

- pressed foxglove and wild-herb specimens
- seed-heads and umbels
- a single luminous botanical against a dark cabinet ground
- tinctures catching lamplight

### Usage

One full-bleed hero specimen for the landing; the same wash technique for feature and avatar imagery, always warm, muted, earthy and luminous against dark.

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema/registry-item.json",
  "name": "tincture",
  "type": "registry:theme",
  "title": "Tincture shadcn Theme",
  "cssVars": {
    "theme": {},
    "light": {
      "background": "#15201A",
      "foreground": "#EDE7D6",
      "card": "#1D2A22",
      "card-foreground": "#EDE7D6",
      "popover": "#1D2A22",
      "popover-foreground": "#EDE7D6",
      "primary": "#EDE7D6",
      "primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "secondary": "#f4f4f5",
      "secondary-foreground": "#111111",
      "muted": "#9DA793",
      "muted-foreground": "#EDE7D6",
      "accent": "#E0A23A",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#D06A52",
      "border": "#33422F",
      "input": "#33422F",
      "ring": "#E0A23A",
      "chart-1": "#EDE7D6",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#E0A23A",
      "chart-4": "#8FB36A",
      "chart-5": "#E0A23A",
      "sidebar": "#1D2A22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#EDE7D6",
      "sidebar-primary": "#EDE7D6",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "sidebar-accent": "#7BA6A0",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#33422F",
      "sidebar-ring": "#E0A23A",
      "radius": "24px"
    },
    "dark": {
      "background": "#0f1115",
      "foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "card": "#181b22",
      "card-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "popover": "#181b22",
      "popover-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "primary": "#EDE7D6",
      "primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "secondary": "#252a33",
      "secondary-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "muted": "#252a33",
      "muted-foreground": "#a1a1aa",
      "accent": "#E0A23A",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#D06A52",
      "border": "#303642",
      "input": "#303642",
      "ring": "#E0A23A",
      "chart-1": "#EDE7D6",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#E0A23A",
      "chart-4": "#8FB36A",
      "chart-5": "#E0A23A",
      "sidebar": "#181b22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "sidebar-primary": "#EDE7D6",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "sidebar-accent": "#E0A23A",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#303642",
      "sidebar-ring": "#E0A23A",
      "radius": "24px"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "katagami",
    "languageId": "en-019efb69-985a-7d02-b7d9-b117137213a2",
    "slug": "tincture",
    "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",
        "on-accent-2",
        "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": [
        "md",
        "node",
        "pill",
        "sm"
      ],
      "shadows": [
        "glow",
        "md",
        "sm"
      ],
      "spacing": [
        "base",
        "scale"
      ],
      "surfaces": [
        "texture",
        "treatment"
      ],
      "borders": [
        "character",
        "focus_ring",
        "style",
        "width"
      ],
      "motion": [
        "character",
        "duration",
        "easing"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```