A single brand red holds the system together, balanced against a disciplined trio of canvas white, charcoal institutional, and secondary greys.
A dual-scale system — monumental uppercase display stretches up to 144px while body copy stays calm at 16-18px. Three working weights: 800 display, 700 UI, 400 reading.
A two-tier primary system — rectangles for form and utility, pills for editorial content. Both are equally primary; context picks the shape.
No drop shadows — cards separate through spacing, a tight 6px radius, and the image aspect ratio.
Sharp 2px corners, 1px charcoal border, 16px body text — input chrome is intentionally quiet.
8px base unit — fine-grained below, generous above. 32px and 38px are the template's universal rhythm constants.
Two load-bearing shapes: sharp 2px rectangles for form and utility, fully-rounded 60px pills for editorial content CTAs.
The system is deliberately flat. Elevation comes from a surface shift — switching from white editorial canvas to charcoal institutional panel — rather than a drop shadow.