flowmanceMedian Design System
Median is a warm, quiet agency site on a white page where everything on the white canvas, from the logo to body copy, is set in one taupe (#9F8170); text on photos and on the taupe band is white. Almost every word is uppercase Inter Tight (the skewed Our Work title is mixed case). The type does the work: a three-line hero at 150px, a skewed "Our Work" title that shrinks as you scroll, and big menu words. Photography is square-cut and muted, so the page reads like a beige catalogue.
Four signatures make it recognisable:
- Taupe on white, nothing else. Headings, body text, links, icons, borders and the filled buttons all use #9F8170. There is no black text on the home page and no second brand colour.
- Gradient column lines. About 23 thin vertical lines run behind the whole page, each a linear-gradient(#FFFFFF 10%, #9F8170 50%, #FFFFFF 90%), so they fade in and out at the top and bottom of each band.
- The selection frame. One hero word (STUDIO) sits inside a 3px #FFB700 yellow frame with square corner handles and a yellow cursor, like an object selected in a design tool. It is the only warm accent.
- All caps, everywhere. text-transform: uppercase is set on body, so paragraphs, buttons, tags and names are all capitals.
Median is a light-only design.
Colors
Surfaces
#FFFFFFPage background (--black in the Webflow variables is white)
#FFFFFFSame as canvas
#333333Form input text and placeholder
#999999Form input text and placeholder
#9F8170The tilted marquee band and button text
Ink
#FFFFFFText on primary
#9F8170Headings, links, nav icons, logo, borders (--color)
#9F8170Body text is the same taupe as headings
#000000Prices on the pricing and cart pages only
#FFFFFFTitles on project photos
#FFFFFF · 70%Meta lines on project photos
#FFFFFFText on inverse-canvas
Action
#9F8170Filled pill buttons and the form submit
#B29787.button:hover, a lighter taupe
#FFB700The 3px hero selection frame and its handles (2px on one small frame)
#FF0E0EThe remove-item dot in the cart
Lines & effects
#9F81702px borders on outline tags, link underlines and count badges
Typography
Inter Tight · display-hero
The quick brown fox jumpsHero THE DIGITAL / INNOVATION / STUDIO, centred, three lines. 150px · 600 · 1.1
Inter Tight · headline-lg
The quick brown fox jumps.title-1, the largest in-page section title. 60px · 600 · 1.2
Inter Tight · title-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsSmall section titles such as the client strip heading. 27px · 600 · 1.2
Inter Tight · body-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsLead lines (form text is 18 / 400). 18px · 500 · 1.3
Inter Tight · label
The quick brown fox jumpsButtons. 16px · 600 · 1.25
Inter Tight · eyebrow
The quick brown fox jumpsFooter pill tags. 14px · 700 · 1.1 · 1px
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Container | max 1200px, centred, flex-direction: column |
| Section rhythm | .section is 150px top and bottom (80px at ≤991, 50px at ≤767 and ≤479) |
| Breakpoints | 991px, 767px and 479px, plus a min-width: 768px set |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
hair | 5px | |
xs | 8px | |
sm | 16px | |
md | 30px | |
lg | 40px | |
xl | 80px | |
2xl | 100px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
section-logos | 50px | |
gutter | 72px | |
section-work | 100px | |
nav-height | 120px | |
section | 150px | |
hero-top | 175px | |
hero-bottom | 200px |
Border radius
Motion
| Fade-in on scroll | opacity 0 → 1, 1000ms outQuart |
| Headline line reveal | Lines start at y 200% with skewY 7°, then move to y 0% and skewY 0°; 500ms setup, 1100ms outQuint rise |
| Slide-in blocks | x/y offset to 0px, 1000ms outQuart |
| Menu word roll | Inside a 74px mask, the word moves y −100px while a copy moves from 100px to 0; 500ms |
| Work title on scroll | Page-scroll scale and skew of Our Work (scrubbed) |
| Image hover | filter change, 300ms ease; scale 0.8 → 1 at 300ms outQuad on small icons |
| Arrow nudge | x ±6px, 500ms |
| Button fill | background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.645, 0.045, 0.355, 1) |
| Links, tags | all 0.3s; tags fade to 0.76 opacity |
Do’s and don’ts
- Use #9F8170 for all text, icons, borders and filled buttons on the #FFFFFF canvas; text on photos and the taupe band is white.
- Set all text uppercase in Inter Tight: headings 600, body 500, letter spacing 0.
- Keep body text at 17px weight 500 or larger, because taupe on white is only about 3.6:1.
- Put the gradient column lines (#FFFFFF 10% → #9F8170 50% → #FFFFFF 90%) behind long sections.
- Use 30px pills for buttons and outline tags with 2px taupe borders, and square-cut photos.
- Use #FFB700 only for one selection-frame moment per page.
- Add a second brand colour, grey text ramps, or black body text.
- Round photos or cards; only buttons, tags and badges are round.
- Use drop shadows, except the one 1px 10px 15px #0000001A under the tilted marquee band.
- Set small text (under 16px) in taupe for long reading; keep small sizes to tags and labels.
- Use Oswald for anything except a blog blockquote.
- Use lowercase-only styling or mixed-case headings, except the skewed Our Work title.
Example prompt
Any page in the Median style
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All Access unlocks all 398 design systems, ready for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, v0 and Lovable, plus 400+ templates on all 5 platforms.
Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Median 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/median.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