flowmanceNeil Design System
Neil is a one-screen photographer's portfolio for "Neil Kent". The home page has no hero and no sections: a dark #111111 frame with a hairline header and footer, and between them a gallery of bright studio product photos that slides sideways as you scroll. The photos carry all the colour (lemon yellow, sky blue, candy pink, orange, lilac); the UI is white, grey and a quiet serif.
Four signatures make it recognisable:
- The sideways gallery. A 600vh scroll track drives a sticky 100vh row of 3:2 photos, each 42% of the viewport wide with 70px between them, so about two and a half images show at once.
- Titles on the edge. Each project name, in Inter 500 at 3vw (43px at 1440), is centred on the photo's bottom edge, half on the image and half on the canvas. A grey Fraunces 300 category line sits below it.
- Sans + serif pairing. Inter for names, labels and UI; Fraunces (light and regular) for captions, paragraphs and quotes. The logo uses both: Neil in Inter and Kent in Fraunces 300.
- The rotating line-star. A thin asterisk of straight lines, fixed at the centre of the screen at 40% width and 10% opacity, turns slowly as you scroll and shows between and behind the photos.
Neil is a dark-only design.
Colors
Surfaces
#111111Page background (the fixed header and footer have no fill of their own), the view cursor, fields
#222222Social icon hover circle, button hover
#111111Ink
#111111Text on primary
#FFFFFFText on primary-hover
#FFFFFFProject titles, logo, Menu, footer links, quotes
#808080Paragraphs, project categories, copyright, field text (--grey)
#FFFFFF · 60%MENU eyebrow in the overlay, placeholders, the cart count
#FFFFFFAction
#FFFFFFThe white button (Send Message)
#222222Button hover
Lines & effects
#000000Full-screen menu (darker than the page)
#FFFFFF · 20%1px rule under the header, above the footer, and field borders
#FFFFFF · 15%Blog dividers on inner pages
#FFFFFF · 24%Contact-page field borders
Typography
Inter · headline-menu
The quick brown fox jumpsOverlay menu links (About, News, Contact). 120px · 500 · 1
Inter · title-project
The quick brown fox jumpsGallery project names (CSS 3vw). 43px · 500 · 1
Inter · logo
The quick brown fox jumpsNeil Kent. 24px · 400 · 1.08
Fraunces · caption-serif
The quick brown fox jumpsProject categories (Strategy, Web Design, Marketing). 22px · 300 · 1
Fraunces · body
The quick brown fox jumpsParagraphs, in ink-muted. 21px · 300 · 1.24
Inter · label-menu
The quick brown fox jumpsMenu / Close toggle. 18px · 600 · 1.1
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Breakpoints | 991px, 767px, 479px |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
xs | 10px | |
sm | 20px | |
md | 35px | |
lg | 40px | |
xl | 70px | |
2xl | 120px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
title-offset | 45px | |
item-gap | 70px | |
section | 120px |
Border radius
Surfaces
How the surfaces stack, from the page background up. Hex codes and roles are in Colors above.
Motion
| Sideways gallery | The 600vh track moves the sticky row horizontally while the page scrolls |
| Line-star | Rotates continuously with scroll |
| Menu open | Overlay fades in, opacity 300ms ease; Menu rolls to Close |
| Menu link hover | Inter word rolls out, Fraunces copy rolls in, about 300–400ms |
| View cursor | The 100px circle follows the mouse, centred with translate(-50%, -50%) |
| Fade-up | Opacity 0 → 1 and y 20px → 0, 300ms ease |
| Page load | Loader fades, content opacity 0 → 1 over 1000ms outQuart |
| Button hover | transition: all .3s |
Do’s and don’ts
- Keep the page #111111 with a 1px #FFFFFF33 rule under the header and above the footer.
- Run work as a horizontal scroll of 3:2 photos, 42% wide with 70px gaps.
- Centre each Inter 500 project name on the image's bottom edge, with a grey Fraunces 300 category line below.
- Set paragraphs and captions in Fraunces 300 at #808080; set names and UI in Inter.
- Use bright, single-backdrop product photos to bring all the colour.
- Keep the white 3px-radius button as the only filled control.
- Add an accent colour, shadows, gradients on UI, or rounded photo corners.
- Put titles fully inside the image or fully below it; they straddle the edge.
- Use Fraunces for names or buttons, or Inter for descriptions.
- Put #808080 ink-muted text on the #222222 hover surface: it is only about 4.0:1 there. Keep grey text on #111111.
- Make the line-star stronger than 10% opacity or use it as a foreground element.
- Fill the home page with sections and headings; it is one framed gallery.
Example prompt
Any page in the Neil style
More design systems like this
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Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Neil 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/neil.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