flowmanceBasalt Design System
Basalt is a dark, precise template for data and developer-tool companies. It feels like a well-designed terminal crossed with a print journal: near-black canvas (#0A0A0B), light serif headlines in Fraunces, tiny monospace labels in uppercase, and every edge drawn with a faint hairline. There is no colour and no rounding; the only tint is a mint status dot.
Four signatures make it recognisable:
- Two-tone serif headlines. Fraunces at weight 360 with slight negative tracking. The first clause is ink, the second is grey ink-subtle: Six homes. / One system.; Realtime data, / one command away.
- Corner brackets. Cards and the outline button are framed by a 1px hairline ring plus small L-shaped brackets at each corner in a brighter line (line-strong), like crop marks.
- Mono everything small. Eyebrows (PAGES, MARKETING, HOME 03), buttons (START BUILDING ↗) and section markers are Martian Mono uppercase, 10–11px, often after a small filled square ■.
- Square geometry. Buttons, cards, inputs and images all have 0px radius. Only the status dot and the theme toggle are round.
Basalt is dark by default; a round sun toggle bottom-left switches theme, but only the dark theme was measured.
Colors
Surfaces
#0A0A0BPage background and form fields
#111113Homepage preview cards, dropdowns
#17171AInner-page cards, the theme toggle
#0A0A0BInk
#0A0A0BText on primary
#EDEDEAHeadlines, titles, nav links, button fill
#B4B4B9Body copy and leads
#7A7A81Mono eyebrows, the grey second clause of headlines, placeholders
Action
#EDEDEAThe filled button: off-white with black mono text
#EDEDEA#9FD4A8Live/status dot, with a 4px ring at 14% and an 8px halo at about 5%
#9FD4A8 · 14%Lines & effects
#EDEDEA · 8%Every card ring (as a 1px inset shadow), section rules, stat dividers
#EDEDEA · 40%Corner brackets on cards and the outline button
#EDEDEA · 4%The faint 1px square grid pattern behind the nav area
Typography
Fraunces · display-wordmark
The quick brown fox jumpsMeasured twice in the last (footer) section, most likely a giant basalt wordmark (not in the screenshots). 328px · 360 · 1.0 · -11.48px
Fraunces · headline-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsH2s: Six ways in, same foundation., Every page a launch needs. 60px · 360 · 1.0 · -1.2px
Inter Tight · title-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsCard titles (Terminal, Integrations), H3s. 24px · 500 · 1.2 · -0.6px
Fraunces · logo
The quick brown fox jumpsbasalt next to the hexagon mark. 23px · 360 · 1.0 · -0.46px
Inter Tight · body-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsHero lead. 20px · 400 · 1.5 · -0.2px
Inter Tight · label
The quick brown fox jumpsNav links Homes, Product, with a chevron. 14px · 400 · 1.3
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Container | 1400px max with 40px side gutters; the gutter edges are drawn as full-height 1px line rules, so the page sits in a frame |
| Section rhythm | sections carry no padding; each is separated by a full-width line rule with small corner ticks where it meets the frame |
| Breakpoints | Webflow defaults, 991px, 767px and 479px |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
hair | 1px | |
xs | 14px | |
sm | 16px | |
md | 24px | |
lg | 32px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
column-gap | 16px | |
section-bottom | 25px | |
gutter | 40px | |
nav | 72px |
Border radius
Surfaces
How the surfaces stack, from the page background up. Hex codes and roles are in Colors above.
Motion
| Block entrance | From y 40px, scale 0.98, opacity 0 to rest, expo.out, about 1.4–2.1s including stagger, triggered at top 95% |
| Hero scroll-out | To y 60px, opacity 0, expo.out, 1.2s, over the first screen of scroll |
| Cursor follow | quickTo-style tweens on x and y, 0.5s power3 (hex columns rising under the cursor in Home 01) |
| Headline split | SplitText on headings |
| Card hover | box-shadow 0.2s, color 0.2s; backgrounds 0.2–0.25s |
| Arrow nudge | transform 0.22s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) |
| Button press | transform 0.16s cubic-bezier(0.23, 1, 0.32, 1) |
| Dropdown | opacity, transform, filter 0.15s; visibility switches after 0.15s |
Do’s and don’ts
- Use #0A0A0B for the page and step cards to #111113 and #17171A.
- Set headlines in Fraunces 360 with about −2% tracking, and grey the second clause with ink-subtle #7A7A81.
- Draw every edge as a 1px inset ring in #EDEDEA at 8%, and add 40% corner brackets to cards and secondary buttons.
- Put Martian Mono 11px uppercase eyebrows above titles and use Martian Mono 10px uppercase for all buttons.
- Keep everything square (0px), with ↗ as the only button glyph.
- Write stat numbers in Fraunces, with real units.
- Round corners, or add drop shadows or glows (except the mint status ring).
- Add a brand colour; #9FD4A8 is for status only.
- Use ink-subtle #7A7A81 for body text on cards: it is 4.43:1 on surface-1 and 4.2:1 on surface-2. Keep it for 11px+ uppercase mono labels and display-size grey clauses.
- Set headlines in bold or in the sans; Fraunces stays at 360.
- Use sentence-case mono buttons, or buttons taller than 38px.
- Animate entrances with bounce; use expo.out and keep hovers at 0.15–0.25s.
Example prompt
Any page in the Basalt style
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Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Basalt 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/basalt.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