Design systems are usually built for scale. Ours is built for speed. Different constraint, different shape.
The trap of comprehensive systems
Enterprise systems optimise for coverage: every edge case, every variant, every token. Useful at Google. Actively harmful when you have 24 hours to define a visual language.
Our minimal kit
- Two typefaces — one display, one text. That's it.
- A seven-step grayscale and one accent gradient.
- Four spacing sizes. Four radii. Three motion curves.
- Eight components that cover 90% of what a marketing site needs.
The discipline is what's missing, not what's added. Every decision below those eight components is a waste of calendar.
Why this ships better sites
Constraint compounds. A small kit forces composition to carry the concept instead of novelty. The result is sites that feel considered rather than crowded — and that read as senior work, not busy work.
Restraint is legible. Novelty, past a certain density, stops being legible and starts being noise.
What we skip on purpose
- Third and fourth colour accents.
- Dense iconography sets (we use 10–15 icons total).
- Multiple button variants beyond primary + ghost.
- Hover states that don't earn their frame rate.
The system is finished when there's nothing left to remove.