flowmanceDakota Lee Design System
Dakota Lee is a stark, full-width portfolio for a single designer. Pure black, pure white, one family (Unbounded, uppercase) and long 2px white rules that run edge to edge. It feels like a printed index: big words on ruled lines, then a calm list of projects with the title on the left and the image on the right.
Four signatures make it recognisable:
- Ruled hero rows. DIGITAL and DESIGNER are set at 160px on separate rows, each row closed by a full-width 2px white line, and the second word is pushed further right than the first.
- The portrait through the type. A red-orange-lit profile portrait rises from below the rules and sits between the letters of DESIGNER, so parts of its two Es disappear behind it while the other letters stay in front.
- Full-width, almost no margin. Sections pad only 2% at the sides (about 29px at 1440px) and the container is 100% wide; the rules and images run nearly to the window edge.
- Project rows. Each project is a two-column row: an uppercase 53px title top-left, its categories bottom-left (LOGO, USER INTERFACE), and a square-cornered 1.38:1 image filling the right half. Rows are 100px apart.
Dakota Lee is a dark-only design.
Colors
Surfaces
#000000Page and the fixed nav (Webflow variable --linen, despite the name)
#090909The cart drawer, the only off-black
#FFFFFFForm inputs: white boxes with black text
#E1E1E1With field: Form inputs: white boxes with black text
#494949Placeholder text on field
Ink
#000000Text on primary
#FFFFFFText on primary-hover
#FFFFFFAll text (Webflow variable --black, despite the name)
#FFFFFFSame as ink: body copy is full white, not dimmed
#000000#FFFFFFAction
#FFFFFFThe button: white fill, black uppercase text, 1px white border
#FF2F00Button hover: fill and border turn red-orange, text white
#FF2F00--burntsienna: button hover and the 4px blockquote rule
Lines & effects
#FFFFFF2px rules: under the nav, under each hero row, under section titles, under service titles
#FFFFFF · 20%Cart drawer border
Typography
Unbounded · display-hero
The quick brown fox jumpsHero rows DIGITAL, DESIGNER; footer ©2024. 160px · 500 · 1.2
Unbounded · headline-xl
The quick brown fox jumpsSection titles MY WORK, CONTACT ME, indented about 70px. 80px · 600 · 1.4
Unbounded · body-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsService descriptions and lead text. 20px · 500 · 1.6
Unbounded · quote
The quick brown fox jumpsBlockquote with a 4px #FF2F00 left rule. 17px · 700 · 1.4
Unbounded · logo
The quick brown fox jumpsDAKOTA LEE text logo. 16px · 600 · 1.5
Unbounded · label-nav
The quick brown fox jumpsHOME, WORK, BLOG, CART [0]. 16px · 600 · 1.25
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Container | 100% wide (no max width); the container token of 1440px is only the measured width at a 1440px viewport |
| Breakpoints | 991px, 767px and 479px (Webflow defaults) |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
xs | 8px | |
sm | 16px | |
md | 30px | |
lg | 50px | |
xl | 100px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
rule | 2px | |
footer-bottom | 20px | |
section-x | 29px | |
footer-top | 30px | |
section | 100px | |
hero-y | 110px |
Border radius
Surfaces
How the surfaces stack, from the page background up. Hex codes and roles are in Colors above.
Motion
| Fade-in | opacity 0 → 1, 1000ms outQuart |
| Scale-in | scale 0 → 1, 500ms outExpo |
| Hero portrait drift | Moves x/y ±80px with the mouse, 500ms |
| Hero row reveal | Width and size changes, 500ms ease |
| Icon hover | scale 1 → 1.1 and a small rotate, 100ms ease |
| Nav link line | Width change, 300ms ease |
| Nav on scroll | Reacts to scroll direction (page scroll up and down); returns to y 0 over 200ms ease |
| Button hover | Colours, CSS transition: all .2s |
Do’s and don’ts
- Keep the page pure black #000000 with white #FFFFFF Unbounded text, all uppercase.
- Rule the page with 2px full-width white lines under the nav, hero rows and section titles.
- Use 2% side padding and a 100%-wide container; let rules and images reach the edges.
- Lay out projects as title-left, image-right rows (1fr minmax(200px, 1fr), 50px gap, 100px apart).
- Keep images and inputs square-cornered; the only radius is the 4px button.
- Keep the hover button label at 14px weight 600; white on #FF2F00 is about 3.7:1 and only fine at that weight and size or larger.
- Add greys, opacity tints or a second accent; #FF2F00 is for hover and the blockquote rule only.
- Add shadows, cards, glass or rounded images.
- Use lowercase or letter spacing on headlines.
- Centre the headlines; hero rows are staggered left-to-right and section titles are indented.
- Use the CSS variable names literally; --black is white and --linen is black.
- Use Inter; only Unbounded loads.
Example prompt
Any page in the Dakota Lee style
More design systems like this
Portfolio design systems, the same colors first.
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Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Dakota Lee 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/dakota.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