flowmanceArbiter Design System
Arbiter is an editorial template for a trial-law firm. It reads like a serious magazine cover: a warm off-white page, enormous tightly tracked Switzer headlines, and single words swapped into a condensed Caslon italic for emphasis. Small Roboto Mono uppercase labels carry the facts (cities, dates, counts), and one signal red (#D4401F) marks numerals, dots and a square full stop. Photography is quiet, warm and architectural.
Four signatures make it recognisable:
- Sans headline, serif italic word. Most big titles mix Switzer 500 with Libre Caslon Condensed italic: Counsel / for the hardest / rooms., Six practices, one standard., The people on your file., …tell you plainly where you stand. The italic word may be red.
- Red marks. A 6px red dot before every mono section label (● OUR POSITION (01)), red italic numerals on cards and rows (01, 05), and a red square full stop after rooms.
- Mono meta everywhere. Roboto Mono 12px uppercase with 0.72px tracking: three live city clocks in the nav (CHICAGO 18:27, NEW YORK 19:27, LONDON 00:27), (EST. 1998) — INDEPENDENT, counts in brackets (06).
- The image pill. A small photo cropped to a pill (a stone lion) sits inside the hero headline and expands to full screen as you scroll.
Colors
Surfaces
#F6F6F3Page background
#FFFFFFRare white fills (3 uses)
#191919Result cards
#111110The dark CTA band at the end of the page (u-theme-dark)
Ink
#F6F6F3Text on primary
#191919Headlines, body, labels
#191919Same as ink: body text is full ink
#747474Bracketed counts (01), accolade sub-lines, small meta
#A3A39CThe grey phrase in the hero lead (firm of trial lawyers); large text only
#FFFFFFNav text over images (the nav stays legible over dark areas)
#F6F6F3Text on dark cards and the dark band
#F6F6F3 · 65%Text on dark cards and the dark band
Action
#191919The main pill button
#191919#D4401FDots, italic numerals, emphasised italic words, the square full stop (26 text, 14 fill uses)
Lines & effects
#DBDBD21px rules above cards and between rows, outline buttons, progress track
#191919Progress fill and the active rule
#F6F6F3 · 10%Rules on dark
Typography
Switzer · display-wordmark
The quick brown fox jumpsThe footer Arbiter© wordmark, one span per letter. 368px · 500 · 0.85 · -11.05px
Switzer · headline
The quick brown fox jumpsSection titles (H2) and the manifesto (line height 1.02 there). 60px · 500 · 0.98 · -2.1px
Libre Caslon Condensed · title-index
The quick brown fox jumpsRed practice numerals 01–06. 56px · 300 · 0.9
Libre Caslon Condensed · quote-serif
The quick brown fox jumpsLarger serif lines (8 uses). 44px · 300 · 1.1 · -1.54px
Switzer · body-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsLeads; the nav logo (about 18px). 18px · 600 · 1.4
Switzer · label
The quick brown fox jumpsButtons; partner roles and practices use the same size and weight at line height 1.45. 14px · 600 · 1.0
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Section header | the title left in headline, the dotted mono label with count right-aligned on the title's baseline |
| Section rhythm | about 160px between sections (sections carry no padding; spacing is inside) |
| Breakpoints | Webflow defaults (991, 767, 479) |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
hair | 1px | |
sm | 16px | |
md | 24px | |
lg | 32px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
gutter | 32px | |
footer-top | 64px | |
section | 160px |
Border radius
Surfaces
How the surfaces stack, from the page background up. Hex codes and roles are in Colors above.
Motion
| Hero pill to full screen | clipPath: inset(24% 38% 24% 38% round 1.5rem) → inset(0 round 0) and scale 1.4 → 1, 1s power2.inOut, scrubbed |
| Image reveal | clipPath: inset(100% 0 0 0) → inset, 1.4s expo.inOut, with scale 1.4 → 1 over 1.8s expo.out |
| Headline lines | SplitText yPercent 130 → 0, 1.2s staggered expo.out; also yPercent 60 → 0 with opacity, 1.05s |
| Word light-up | opacity 0.12 → 1, staggered over 3.8s, scrubbed |
| Stacked results | Covered card scale → 0.94, opacity → 0.55, 0.5s, scrubbed between card positions |
| Accordion | height 0 → auto and icon rotation 0 → 45°, 0.6s expo.inOut |
| Menu | yPercent −100 → 0, 0.9s expo.inOut; hamburger y ±3.2, rotation ±45°, 0.5s |
| Cursor follow | QuickTo 0.5–0.7s power3 |
Do’s and don’ts
- Mix Switzer 500 headlines with one Libre Caslon Condensed italic word at the same size.
- Mark section labels with a 6px #D4401F dot, a Roboto Mono 12px uppercase label and a bracketed count.
- Use #D4401F for italic numerals (01–06) and the square full stop.
- Keep body text #191919 on #F6F6F3, Switzer 16px/500, line height 1.5.
- Use the #191919 pill (48px, 16px 24px) with a red dot for the main action.
- Separate rows and cards with 1px #DBDBD2 rules.
- Fill buttons, bands or cards with red.
- Set a whole headline in serif, or use Inter Tight or Libre Caslon Display (loaded but unused).
- Add shadows, blur or gradients.
- Put #747474 below 12px or on long text: it is 4.3:1 on #F6F6F3. Keep ink-subtle for 12px mono counts and short meta.
- Use #A3A39C for anything under 18px.
- Set running text in #D4401F: it is 4.3:1 on #F6F6F3. Keep red for numerals and italic words at 17px+ and for dots and marks.
- Use more than one dark band; dark is for result cards and the closing CTA.
Example prompt
Any page in the Arbiter style
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Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Arbiter design system
Pick a file to see what it’s for and where it goes.
What it is
The whole design system in one markdown file, written for AI: every color, type style, spacing value, component and motion rule, plus do's, don'ts and a ready prompt.
Best for
Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor and v0, or any other AI tool that builds pages or code.
How to use it
- Put
DESIGN.mdin your project and mention it in your request, or save it as.cursor/rules/arbiter.mdc - For the rule file, start it with a front-matter block that sets
alwaysApply: true, so every chat uses it - Ask: “Build a pricing page using DESIGN.md.” Cursor follows the colors, fonts, spacing and rules
- Put
DESIGN.mdin the project root - Add one line to
CLAUDE.md: “Follow DESIGN.md for all UI.” - Ask for any page or component; Claude reads the file first
- Attach
DESIGN.mdto the chat (or paste it in) - Ask: “Build a landing page in this design system.”
- Keep the file in the chat or project knowledge, so follow-up pages stay on style
What it is
Every token as data, in the W3C Design Tokens format: colors with their roles, type styles, radius, spacing, and component tokens that point at them.
Best for
Figma (Tokens Studio), Style Dictionary and other design-token tools, and build scripts.
How to use it
- In Figma, open Tokens Studio, choose Import, and pick
tokens.json - Or point Style Dictionary’s
sourceat it to generate tokens for any platform - In code, import it like any JSON file
What it is
A Tailwind CSS v4 theme: every color, font, type style, radius and spacing value becomes a Tailwind utility, like bg-canvas, text-headline-lg or rounded-md.
Best for
Tailwind v4 projects, and AI builders that write Tailwind (v0, Lovable, Bolt).
How to use it
- Save
theme.cssnext to your main CSS file - Import it after Tailwind:
@import "tailwindcss"; @import "./theme.css"; - Use the classes:
bg-canvas text-ink rounded-md p-lg
What it is
The same tokens as plain CSS variables on :root. Component values point at the color variables, so changing one color updates everything that uses it.
Best for
Any website: plain CSS, Webflow custom code, Framer, WordPress.
How to use it
- Add it to your stylesheet, or in Webflow paste it into Site settings → Custom code inside a
<style>tag - Use the variables anywhere:
color: var(--color-ink) - Change a token once and every place that uses it follows