flowmanceTempus Design System
Tempus is a calm, dark agency template. The page is near-black charcoal with white General Sans at one weight (500), a few rounded pills, and lots of screenshot and photo cards doing the talking. Chrome is reduced to two fixed elements: the Tempus wordmark top-left and a Menu pill top-right, both inverting the colour of whatever scrolls under them.
Three signatures make it recognisable:
- The inverting corner chrome. The logo and the white Menu pill are position: fixed with mix-blend-mode: difference, so they flip from light to dark as content passes beneath (in the screenshots the pill reads as warm off-white on charcoal, and the logo cuts through card edges).
- The full-screen white menu. Menu opens a white overlay with four huge black links (Work, About, Blog, Contact) at 7vw and line height 0.9, the current one underlined by a 3px black bar.
- One weight, many greys. Every piece of type is General Sans 500 (400 only for the lead and quotes). Hierarchy comes from size and from white at 100 / 50 / 46 / 40%, not from bold.
Tempus is dark-only, with the white menu overlay as its single light surface.
Colors
Surfaces
#151619Page background, hero, footer
#1A1B1FGrey section bands and feature cards
#222327Buttons and raised chips
#2F313AThe lighter steps of the swatch strip, small raised tiles
#373942The lighter steps of the swatch strip, small raised tiles
#FFFFFFThe Menu pill and the full-screen menu overlay
Ink
#FFFFFFText on primary
#151619Text on primary-hover
#151619Text on inverse-canvas
#FFFFFFHeadings, titles, labels, links
#FFFFFF · 40%Body paragraphs (p { color: #fff6 })
#FFFFFF · 46%The hero lead
#FFFFFF · 50%Footer copyright line
#FFFFFFAction
#222327The dark pill button
#FFFFFF · 70%Button hover: light pill, charcoal text
#2E5CFFWebflow royal blue; appears once as a fade-out gradient
Lines & effects
#FFFFFF · 11%Cart borders and the rule between sections
#FFFFFF · 40%The 1px left rule on blockquotes
#FF1B6BThe 59° frame gradient behind the hero screenshot collage
#45CAFFThe 59° frame gradient behind the hero screenshot collage
#12141DCart drawer background
Typography
General Sans · display-hero
The quick brown fox jumpsMeet Tempus. 86.4px · 500 · 1.0
General Sans · headline-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsSection headlines; measured only on the closing Browse our templates. 50px · 500 · 1.1
General Sans · quote
The quick brown fox jumpsBlockquotes, with a 1px white-40% left rule and 25px indent. 36px · 400 · 1.06
General Sans · title-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsCart and card titles. 24px · 500 · 1.25
General Sans · body-lg
The quick brown fox jumpsHero lead, white at 46%. 23px · 400 · 1.3
General Sans · label-menu
The quick brown fox jumpsThe Menu pill. 17px · 500 · 1.18
Spacing & shape
| Purpose | Value |
|---|---|
| Container | max 1200px (a 1100px medium container for the footer), centred, flex column |
| Section rhythm | 110px top and bottom, 5% sides (72px at 1440px); 80px at ≤991 and 60px at ≤479 |
| Breakpoints | 991px, 767px and 479px |
Spacing scale
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
xs | 10px | |
sm | 16px | |
md | 20px | |
lg | 30px | |
xl | 40px | |
2xl | 60px |
Layout spacing
| Token | Value | Preview |
|---|---|---|
card-y | 67px | |
section-side | 72px | |
menu | 100px | |
section | 110px | |
hero-top | 150px |
Border radius
Surfaces
How the surfaces stack, from the page background up. Hex codes and roles are in Colors above.
Motion
| Scroll reveal | Start at opacity 0, y 20px; animate to opacity 1, y 0 over 500ms outExpo |
| Slow fade | opacity 0 → 1, 1000ms outQuart on page load |
| Collage parallax | Screenshot columns move between y 100px and y −100px (and −50px) while scrolling in view |
| Mouse drift | Small ±5px x and y shifts on mouse move, 500ms |
| Menu open | Overlay display to flex, size change 500ms, links fade in; Menu swaps to Close |
| Button hover | transition: all 0.3s to the light pill |
Do’s and don’ts
- Use #151619 for the page and #1A1B1F for bands and cards, nothing lighter than #373942 for dark surfaces.
- Set everything in General Sans 500; size alone makes the hierarchy.
- Keep the logo and Menu pill fixed in the corners with mix-blend-mode: difference.
- Use #222327 pills (30px radius, 53px tall) that hover to white 70% with #151619 text.
- Put the soft 11px 11px 30px #00000026 shadow on image previews only.
- Open each content group with a small white square and a 16px label.
- Use bold, uppercase or letter spacing.
- Set paragraphs brighter than 40% white or use ink-muted (about 3.8:1) below 17px; for small meta use white at 50% or full white.
- Use #2E5CFF or the pink-cyan gradient on buttons or text; the gradient is only a hero frame.
- Use EB Garamond; it loads but the design doesn't use it.
- Add borders to cards. Cards separate by surface step and shadow.
- Put a second navigation bar on the page; navigation lives in the full-screen menu.
Example prompt
Any page in the Tempus style
More design systems like this
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Get All AccessUpgrade to All AccessHow to use the Tempus 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/tempus.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