Vercel Design System — Colours, Type and a Ready Prompt

A live page in this style is not built yet — the CSS variables and the prompt below are enough to reproduce it.

At a glance

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Vercel, in one page

Vercel is a developer-platform brand — the page is a deployment dashboard's marketing surface, written for engineers who already know the syntax. It earns that posture with one of the cleanest stark systems on the web: near-white {colors.canvas-soft} body background, ink-near-black {colors.ink} text, a 200-step gray scale that gives every divider, border, and disabled state its own deliberate step. The only place the brand introduces colour at marketing scale is the multi-stop mesh gradient ({colors.gradient-develop-start} → {colors.gradient-preview-end} → {colors.gradient-ship-start} → cyan / magenta / amber) that floats in atmospheric backdrops, never miniaturised to a swatch. That gradient is the entire decoration system.

Type is the second decisive voice. The brand's own custom geometric sans (Geist) carries display, body, button — everything narrative — at weight 600 for display, 500 for buttons, 400 for body. A matching monospaced face (Geist Mono) carries technical labels: terminal mockups, code blocks, sometimes filename captions. Headlines are sentence-case with aggressive negative letter-spacing (-2.4px at 48 px hero) — the brand never letter-spaces positively, never goes uppercase outside of mono labels.

Surfaces use a four-step ladder: {colors.canvas} (pure white for cards), {colors.canvas-soft} 98% (the page body), {colors.canvas-soft-2} 95% (occasional inset region), {colors.primary} (the deep ink-near-black used as the polarity-flipped band when a section needs the dark mode treatment). Shadows are exceptionally subtle — every elevated card carries a stacked shadow built from 0px 1px 1px #00000005 + 0px 2px 2px #0000000a + an inset border. Cards never float on heavy drop-shadow; they sit on the page held by hairline + soft glow.

Key Characteristics:

A single black-ink primary CTA {colors.primary} carries every conversion target, paired with white-on-white button-secondary for the secondary action. The brand uses 100 px pill shape for marketing CTAs and a tight 6 px square shape for in-app nav buttons.
A multi-stop mesh gradient (cyan-blue-magenta-amber) is the only decorative chrome — used at hero scale and inside feature-band atmospheric backdrops. It is the brand.
Every section eyebrow and small label uses the monospace face {typography.caption-mono} or {typography.code}; everything else is in the geometric sans.
Subtle stacked-shadow elevation — three offsets layered with 4-12 % black opacity — never a single heavy drop-shadow.
A complete 100–1000 gray + blue + red + amber + green + teal + purple + pink colour scale exists as a system token set, but the marketing surface uses only the 100, 1000, and 700-level tones; the rest stay in the design-system tokens for in-product surfaces.
An "Active CPU" pricing rhythm: pricing-card lays out 3-up on the pricing page with pricing-card-featured (Pro tier) polarity-flipped to {colors.primary} against white-card siblings.

Do's and don'ts

Do

Reserve {colors.primary} (#171717) for primary CTAs across the page. Black ink IS the conversion target.
Use {rounded.pill} 100 px for every marketing-scale CTA and {rounded.sm} 6 px for nav-scale buttons. The two pill scales coexist deliberately.
Set every headline in {typography.display-*} weight 600, sentence-case, often period-terminated. Aggressive negative tracking is part of the voice.
Use the brand mesh gradient as atmospheric decoration at hero scale only — never miniaturise it to an icon, never reduce to a single colour.
Layer stacked shadows (multiple small offsets with inset hairline) rather than single heavy drops. The brand's elevation is calmer than Material.
Cycle page surfaces in {colors.canvas-soft} → {colors.canvas} → {colors.primary} polarity-flipped bands; the dark band IS the depth cue.
Set every code block and technical eyebrow in {typography.code} / {typography.caption-mono}. Mono is the voice of the platform.

Don't

Don't introduce a sixth accent colour. The brand operates with ink + gray + the four-pair gradient palette; new accents flatten the voice.
Don't render headlines in all-caps. Sentence-case + negative tracking is non-negotiable.
Don't drop a single heavy drop-shadow on cards. The brand's elevation is built from stacked small offsets + inset hairline rings.
Don't render the brand gradient at icon scale or in a single-colour reduced form. The gradient lives at hero scale only.
Don't promote the geometric sans to weight 700. The brand's display ceiling is 600.
Don't pair the marketing 100-px pill CTA shape with the 6-px nav radius on the same screen — pick a scale and stay there.
Don't set body paragraphs in the mono face. The mono is for code + technical labels only.

Copy this into your AI builder

Paste it as-is. Every value below was measured from the original site, not guessed.

Assembled from the measured tokens — the source document has no prompt block.

Build a page in the Vercel design language. Follow the measured tokens below — do not substitute your own palette.

Colors:
- primary: #171717
- on-primary: #ffffff
- ink: #171717
- body: #4d4d4d
- mute: #888888
- hairline: #ebebeb
- hairline-strong: #a1a1a1
- canvas: #ffffff
- canvas-soft: #fafafa
- canvas-soft-2: #f5f5f5

Type:
- families: Geist, Inter, -apple-system, Geist Mono
- scale: 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 32
- weights: 400, 500, 600

Shape:
- radius: 0, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 64, 100
- elevation: `ex-toast` — Toast notification surface — feature-card shape + medium shadow.

Spacing: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 64, 96

Rules:
- Reserve `{colors.primary}` (`#171717`) for primary CTAs across the page. Black ink IS the conversion target.
- Use `{rounded.pill}` 100 px for every marketing-scale CTA and `{rounded.sm}` 6 px for nav-scale buttons. The two pill scales coexist deliberately.
- Set every headline in `{typography.display-*}` weight 600, sentence-case, often period-terminated. Aggressive negative tracking is part of the voice.
- Use the brand mesh gradient as atmospheric decoration at hero scale only — never miniaturise it to an icon, never reduce to a single colour.
- Layer stacked shadows (multiple small offsets with inset hairline) rather than single heavy drops. The brand's elevation is calmer than Material.
- Cycle page surfaces in `{colors.canvas-soft}` → `{colors.canvas}` → `{colors.primary}` polarity-flipped bands; the dark band IS the depth cue.

Avoid:
- Don't introduce a sixth accent colour. The brand operates with ink + gray + the four-pair gradient palette; new accents flatten the voice.
- Don't render headlines in all-caps. Sentence-case + negative tracking is non-negotiable.
- Don't drop a single heavy drop-shadow on cards. The brand's elevation is built from stacked small offsets + inset hairline rings.
- Don't render the brand gradient at icon scale or in a single-colour reduced form. The gradient lives at hero scale only.
- Don't promote the geometric sans to weight 700. The brand's display ceiling is 600.
- Don't pair the marketing 100-px pill CTA shape with the 6-px nav radius on the same screen — pick a scale and stay there.

Keep every value literal. If a token is given, use that exact value.

The specification

Colour paletteRead the full spec

Brand & Accent

Ink ({colors.primary} — #171717): The single primary CTA color. Black-near-pure ink that carries every Sign Up pill, every footer CTA, the dark-band polarity-flip. Used as text color throughout the page on light surfaces. (Resolved from --ds-gray-1000.)
Cyan ({colors.cyan} — #50e3c2): A signature mint-cyan used in the brand gradient and inside Geist-system spotlight tokens. Visible inside the hero gradient stops.
Highlight Pink ({colors.highlight-pink} — #ff0080): The brand's highlight magenta, used as the high-saturation stop in the preview-gradient pair.
Violet ({colors.violet} — #7928ca): The deep purple used as the start of the preview-gradient and inside developer-console highlights.
Link Blue ({colors.link} — #0070f3): The brand's primary link color and the legacy --geist-success semantic.

Surface

Canvas ({colors.canvas} — #ffffff): The pure-white card / dialog / modal surface.
Canvas Soft ({colors.canvas-soft} — #fafafa): The default page background — 98 % white. Almost every section sits on this tone.
Canvas Soft 2 ({colors.canvas-soft-2} — #f5f5f5): A slightly deeper inset surface for "code editor inner background", template-card hover states, and dropdown menus.
Hairline ({colors.hairline} — #ebebeb): 1 px dividers — table rows, card borders, input borders.
Hairline Strong ({colors.hairline-strong} — #a1a1a1): The 500-level gray, used as the slightly-stronger divider on light bands and as the deemphasised text color.

Text

Ink ({colors.ink} — #171717): Every heading and body paragraph on light surfaces.
Body ({colors.body} — #4d4d4d): Secondary text — sub-headings, body captions, nav-link inactive text, footer column body.
Mute ({colors.mute} — #888888): Lowest-priority text — placeholder text, fine print, low-key labels.
On Primary ({colors.on-primary} — #ffffff): All text on {colors.primary} surfaces.

Semantic

Success / Link ({colors.success} — #0070f3): The brand's legacy success indicator doubles as the primary link color. Visible underline-on-hover for inline body links.
Link Deep ({colors.link-deep} — #0761d1): The pressed / visited tone for inline links.
Link Bg Soft ({colors.link-bg-soft} — #d3e5ff): Soft pastel blue fill for "what's new" pill banners and informational badges.
Error ({colors.error} — #ee0000): Validation red for destructive actions and form errors.
Error Soft ({colors.error-soft} — #f7d4d6): Soft pastel red for destructive-state backgrounds.
Error Deep ({colors.error-deep} — #c50000): Pressed / deep destructive state.
Warning ({colors.warning} — #f5a623): Caution / pending status indicator.
Warning Soft ({colors.warning-soft} — #ffefcf) / Warning Deep ({colors.warning-deep} — #ab570a): Background + pressed variants.

Brand Gradient

The brand's signature decoration is a three-pair gradient stack:

Develop ({colors.gradient-develop-start} #007cf0 → {colors.gradient-develop-end} #00dfd8) — the blue-to-teal pair used to mark the "deploy" / "develop" rhythm.
Preview ({colors.gradient-preview-start} #7928ca → {colors.gradient-preview-end} #ff0080) — the violet-to-pink pair used for "preview" surfaces.
Ship ({colors.gradient-ship-start} #ff4d4d → {colors.gradient-ship-end} #f9cb28) — the coral-to-amber pair used for "ship" surfaces.

The three pairs collapse into a single multi-color mesh gradient when used as the hero atmospheric backdrop. Treat the gradient as one unified object — do not crop down to a single colour, do not reorder the stops, and do not miniaturise. Used at hero scale only.

Type scaleRead the full spec

Font Family

Two custom faces carry the entire system:

A custom geometric sans (extracted as Geist) for every display, body, button, link, and label. Weights 400 / 500 / 600 are the working set; the face never appears in 700 or heavier. Display sizes are tracked aggressively negative (-2.4 px at 48 px hero, -1.28 px at 32 px section); body stays at neutral or slightly-negative tracking.
A custom monospaced face (extracted as Geist Mono) for terminal mockups, code blocks, and small mono-caption labels — anything that wants to signal "technical." Weight 400 only at 12 – 13 px. Tracking neutral.

A condensed display sans (Space Grotesk) is loaded as a third face for occasional editorial moments but does not render as the primary face anywhere in the captured surfaces.

Hierarchy

Token	Size	Weight	Line Height	Letter Spacing	Use
`{typography.display-xl}`	48px	600	48px	-2.4px	Hero headline ("Build and deploy on the AI Cloud.").
`{typography.display-lg}`	32px	600	40px	-1.28px	Section headlines ("Your frontend, delivered.", "A compute model for all workloads.").
`{typography.display-md}`	24px	600	32px	-0.96px	Card-cluster headlines, pricing-tier names.
`{typography.display-sm}`	20px	600	28px	-0.6px	Inline display micro-headings.
`{typography.body-lg}`	18px	400	28px	0	Lead paragraphs under section headlines.
`{typography.body-md}`	16px	400	24px	0	Default body paragraph.
`{typography.body-md-strong}`	16px	500	24px	0	Bolded inline body.
`{typography.body-sm}`	14px	400	20px	-0.28px	Secondary body, nav-link text, button-md labels.
`{typography.body-sm-strong}`	14px	500	20px	-0.28px	Nav CTA labels, table-row emphasis.
`{typography.caption}`	12px	400	16px	0	Footer secondary lines, badge labels.
`{typography.caption-mono}`	12px	400	16px	0	Section eyebrows and label captions that want a technical voice.
`{typography.code}`	13px	400	20px	0	Inline code, terminal mockups, command snippets.
`{typography.button-md}`	14px	500	20px	0	Small / nav-scale button labels.
`{typography.button-lg}`	16px	500	24px	0	Marketing-scale pill button labels.

Principles

Negative tracking is part of the voice. Display sizes use aggressive -2.4 to -0.6 px tracking. Reverting to default tracking breaks the brand.
Sentence-case headlines, period-terminated. Headlines like "Build and deploy on the AI Cloud." end with a deliberate period — that punctuation is part of the brand's voice.
Mono for the technical layer only. Section eyebrows, code blocks, terminal mockups. Body paragraphs never set in mono.
Weight 600 is the display ceiling. The geometric sans never appears at 700 / 800. The brand reads as a calmer system because of this.

Note on Font Substitutes

The two primary faces are proprietary (custom-cut for the brand). Open-source substitutes:

Geometric sans — *Inter* (400 / 500 / 600) is the closest stylistic match; font-feature-settings: "ss01", "ss02" enables the geometric alternates. *Satoshi* is a passable second choice.
Monospace — *JetBrains Mono* (400) at 12 – 13 px matches the technical voice. *IBM Plex Mono* is the second-best option.

Components and layoutRead the full spec

Buttons

button-primary — the canonical 100-px-radius black pill, marketing scale.

Background {colors.primary}, text {colors.on-primary}, label set in {typography.button-lg}, padding 0px {spacing.sm} 12 px, shape {rounded.pill} 100 px. Renders ~48 px tall when paired with the marketing flex layout.

button-secondary — the white pill paired with the black primary inside marketing bands.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, same typography + padding as button-primary, shape {rounded.pill}.

button-primary-sm — the smaller-scale primary pill used inside nav and pricing-card CTAs.

Background {colors.primary}, text {colors.on-primary}, label set in {typography.button-md} (14 px / 500), shape {rounded.pill}.

button-secondary-sm — the smaller-scale white pill paired with button-primary-sm.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, same typography + shape as button-primary-sm.

tab-ghost — the centred-row tab pill ("AI Apps / Web Apps / Ecommerce / Marketing / Platforms").

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, label set in {typography.body-sm}, padding 0px {spacing.md}, shape {rounded.pill-sm} 64 px.

icon-button-circular — the circular icon container (often a "?" or arrow inside).

Background {colors.canvas}, dark icon, 1 px solid hairline border, shape {rounded.full}.

Nav CTAs:

nav-cta-signup — the small black "Sign Up" button in the nav row.

Background {colors.primary}, text {colors.on-primary}, label {typography.body-sm-strong}, padding 0px {spacing.xs}, height 28 px, shape {rounded.sm} 6 px (the brand's --geist-radius).

nav-cta-login — the white "Log In" button in the nav.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, same typography / height / shape as nav-cta-signup.

nav-cta-ask-ai — the small "Ask AI" button with a faint border.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, 1 px solid {colors.hairline} border (extracted as 0px solid rgb(235, 235, 235)), same typography / height / shape.

Cards & Containers

card-marketing — the canonical marketing feature card (3-up section cards).

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.lg} 24 px, shape {rounded.md} 8 px (the --geist-marketing-radius). Carries Level 3 soft-stack shadow.

card-marketing-large — the larger marketing card used for "compute model" / "AI Gateway" callouts.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.lg} 12 px. Carries Level 4 float-stack shadow.

card-soft — the soft-tinted card used inside cluster groups (lighter than canvas-soft).

Background {colors.canvas-soft}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.lg}, shape {rounded.md}.

template-card — the deploy-template card in the "Deploy your first app" grid.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.md} 16 px, shape {rounded.md} 8 px. Hosts a 16:9 thumbnail at the top.

code-editor-mockup — the dark code-preview surface inside marketing bands.

Background {colors.primary}, text {colors.on-primary}, body in {typography.code} (13 px / Geist Mono), padding {spacing.lg} 24 px, shape {rounded.md} 8 px.

pricing-card — the default pricing-tier card.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.xl} 32 px, shape {rounded.lg} 12 px. Inside: tier name in {typography.display-md}, price in {typography.display-xl}, feature list in {typography.body-md} rows, CTA at the bottom.

pricing-card-featured — the polarity-flipped "Pro" tier card.

Background {colors.primary}, text {colors.on-primary}, same shape + padding as pricing-card. CTA inverts to button-secondary-sm (white pill on black card).

Inputs & Forms

form-input — the canonical text input.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, 1 px solid {colors.hairline} border, body in {typography.body-sm} (14 px), padding 0px {spacing.sm}, height 40 px (the brand's --geist-form-height), shape {rounded.sm} 6 px.

form-input-sm — small-height variant (32 px tall) for tight forms.

Same as form-input but height 32 px (the --geist-form-small-height).

form-input-lg — large-height variant (48 px tall) for hero CTAs.

Same as form-input but height 48 px (the --geist-form-large-height); body in {typography.body-md} 16 px.

Navigation

nav-bar — the sticky top nav.

Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, height 64 px (the brand's --header-height), padding {spacing.sm} {spacing.lg}. Layout: logo left, link row centre, "Ask AI / Log In / Sign Up" cluster right.

nav-link — the centred link row inside nav-bar.

Drop-in CSS variables

The same values as a theme block. Add the class to <body> and the site repaints.

body.theme-vercel {--page-bg: #ffffff;
  --page-bg-gradient: none;
  --text-color: #171717;
  --heading-color: #171717;
  --link-color: #0070f3;
  --link-hover-color: #0058c0;
  --border-color: #d5d5d5;
  --card-bg: #ffffff;
  --card-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(23,23,23,0.06);
  --card-hover-shadow: 0 6px 18px rgba(23,23,23,0.12);
  --header-bg: #171717;
  --header-text-color: #ffffff;
  --header-shadow: none;
  --footer-bg: #ffffff;
  --footer-text-color: #686868;
  --button-bg: #171717;
  --button-text-color: #ffffff;
  --button-hover-bg: #000000;
  --button-border: none;
  --button-border-radius: 12px;
  --button-secondary-bg: #f1f1f1;
  --button-secondary-text-color: #171717;
  --button-secondary-hover-bg: #e3e3e3;
  --button-secondary-border: 1px solid #d5d5d5;
  --prompt-bg: #f3f3f3;
  --prompt-text-color: #171717;
  --base-font: var(--font-inter);
  --heading-font: var(--font-helvetica);
  --card-border-radius: 12px;
}

Download theme.css

Visually close to

Measured with a deterministic colour + geometry comparison across 958 styles. Not a hand-picked list.

cal 83.6%
cursor 80.9%
elevenlabs 78.1%
coinbase 76.2%
expo 76.0%

Where this came from

Source document: volt/design-md/vercel/DESIGN.md · 40.1 KB
Repository: VoltAgent/awesome-design-md
Licence: MIT

Source text is reproduced under its original licence. Tokens, similarity scores and page structure are ours.