flowmanceArticle Dark Design System
Article Dark is a calm, magazine-like blog template on a near-black page. Nothing is pure white: all text is a warm stone grey (#B3B2AF and #C1C1BE), and the only button is a pale grey #AAA9A5 with dark text. Large Satoshi headlines with tight tracking, thin charcoal hairlines between sections and soft 10px cards make it feel like a printed editorial layout rather than a tech product. The colour comes entirely from photography: red, pink and wood tones in fashion and print-mockup images.
The measured page is the template's intro page: a hero followed by grids of preview cards (HOME STYLES, ARTICLE STYLES, COMPANY STYLES). The blog layouts themselves appear inside those previews; their values here come from the shared CSS classes.
Four signatures make it recognisable:
- No white. Ink is #C1C1BE and body text #B3B2AF on #121212, so contrast stays soft and warm.
- Bold-plus-light titles. Uppercase titles pair a weight-600 word with a weight-400 word in the same size: HOME STYLES, ALL ARTICLES, PRESS MENTIONS, GET IN TOUCH.
- Hairline sections. Every section starts under a full-width 1px #333333 rule, with the title about 60px below it.
- Dark title cards on photos. In the blog layouts, post titles sit in small #121212 boxes laid over the corner of a photo, with a 38px square arrow chip in the corner.
Article Dark is a dark-only design.
Colors
Surfaces
#121212Page and nav background (--dark)
#171717Footer, newsletter field
#222222Preview cards on the intro page
#313131The dark circle that fills buttons on hover
#171717Newsletter input fill
Ink
#121212Text on primary
#121212Text on secondary
#C1C1BELinks, small titles, card labels, the footer (--second-color)
#B3B2AFBody text, the hero headline, section titles, nav links (--main-color)
Action
#AAA9A5Main buttons: Buy Article — $79, Subscribe (--third-color)
#313131The .button-overlay circle that grows over the button on hover
#C1C1BEForm submit buttons
Lines & effects
#333333Nav bottom border, section hairlines, the 1px nav divider, input borders
#C1C1BE · 24%Newsletter field border
#C1C1BEThe 1px bottom rule of the search field
#FFFFFF · 50%The 0.5px ring around the round arrow icon
Typography
Satoshi · display-hero
The quick brown fox jumpsTake your blog to the next level with Articlē. 101px · 500 · 0.95 · -2px
Satoshi · headline-search
The quick brown fox jumpsThe search overlay input and placeholder. 36px · 400 · 1.17
Satoshi · body-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsHero lead A stylish, contemporary template…. 23px · 500 · 1.2
Satoshi · title-section
The quick brown fox jumpsFirst word of section titles (HOME), footer titles. 22px · 600 · 1.1
Satoshi · label-nav
The quick brown fox jumpsNav links. 17px · 600 · 1.18
Satoshi · caption
The quick brown fox jumpsSmall labels (.figma-text). 13px · 500 · 1.6
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Container | full width with 2% side padding (29px at 1440px), 3% at ≤767px; content tops out at 1400px |
| Section rhythm | the intro section uses 100px top and 200px bottom (40px and 150px at ≤991px) |
| Breakpoints | 991px, 767px and 479px, plus a min-width: 768px step |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
xs | 5px | |
sm | 9px | |
md | 20px | |
lg | 25px | |
xl | 30px | |
2xl | 50px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
gutter | 29px | |
nav-height | 88px | |
section-top | 100px | |
instagram | 120px | |
section-bottom | 200px |
Border radius
Surfaces
How the surfaces stack, from the page background up. Hex codes and roles are in Colors above.
Motion
| Text roll (buttons and links) | Label y 0% → −100%, copy y 103% → 0%, 500ms outQuint |
| Button fill | .button-overlay circle grows (size 500ms) behind the label |
| Text colour | Text colour 500ms outQuint on hover |
| Fade | opacity 300ms ease in and out; 200ms ease for small reveals |
| Lift | y 0 → −30px and back, 300ms ease |
| Slide-in | x −30px → 0 500ms outQuart, or x 30px → 0 800ms outExpo |
| Nav on scroll | y 0 ↔ −38px over 500ms with page scroll |
| CSS | .button transitions all 300ms |
Do’s and don’ts
- Keep all text in the warm greys: #B3B2AF for body and display, #C1C1BE for links and small titles.
- Pair weights in uppercase titles: first word 600, rest 400, both 22px.
- Open every section with a full-width 1px #333333 rule.
- Use 10px radius on cards and buttons, 6px on images inside cards, 7px on chips and fields.
- Lay post titles in dark #121212 boxes over the corner of the photo, with a 38px arrow chip.
- Use the grey #AAA9A5 button with #121212 text and the growing #313131 circle on hover.
- Use #FFFFFF for text or a saturated accent colour for buttons or links.
- Add drop shadows, gradients or glass blur.
- Set the hero in bold; it is weight 500 with −2px tracking.
- Jump between surfaces by more than one step (#121212 → #171717 → #222222 → #313131).
- Put text on a photo without its dark title box.
- Use long durations; keep hover motion at 300–500ms.
Example prompt
Any page in the Article Dark style
More design systems like this
Blog design systems, the same colors first.
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Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Article Dark 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/article.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