light · sans · soft · structured · cool
Character.AI
Cool zinc canvas, custom atHauss sans, and dark pill CTAs — a roleplay social product dressed in TikTok-grade neutrality.
By webdesignhot · character.ai
$ npx design-md add character-ai
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Adidas Pure-black sport-utility, AdihausDIN/adidasFG uppercase, three-stripe geometry — the engineering canon for global sportswear. Adobe Creative-suite chrome — paper-white canvas, magenta-to-orange wordmark gradient, and Adobe Clean carrying every product grid. AgentKit Three swappable themes for AI agent products — editorial dark, daylight bright, fintech cool-blue. Airbnb Pure-white marketplace canvas with one Rausch coral and Cereal — generous photography, soft pills, modest type. Airtable White-canvas editorial workflow software with full-bleed coral and forest signature cards punctuating a near-black pill-CTA system. Alibaba Electric orange `#ff6a00` + dense merchant grids — the global B2B wholesale floor as a website. Amazon Smile-orange CTA, Amazon Ember sans, dense product grids — the canonical everything-store interface. Amazon Web Services Squid-ink navy with Smile-orange CTAs — the densest tile-portal on the cloud-platform internet. Anthropic Editorial broadsheet for AI safety — cream canvas, Anthropic Serif body, terracotta clay accent, magazine geometry. Apple White-canvas product theatre — SF Pro Text, 980px pill CTAs, and a single-blue accent system. Apple Music Pink-red gradient hero with album-grid kinesthetics — SF Pro precision, signature `#fa233b` brand pink, glassy dark canvas. Apple TV+ Pure-black cinematic theatre with SF Pro and ruthless minimalism — content as the only voice. Arc Browser-as-personality marketing — buttery cream canvas, Marlin Soft display, hand-tooled blue-and-coral palette. Are.na Bare grey-and-orange minimalism — a single Helvetica-class sans, hairline borders, and a stubborn refusal to optimise for engagement. Asana Approachable work management in soft purple — Asana Sans at modest weights with a rainbow accent palette and warm sky-tinted whitespace. Astro Cosmos navy canvas with violet-to-orange brand gradient — Mona Sans display, Inter body, Astro''s star-chart MPA framework dressed as an observatory dashboard. ASUS Republic of Gamers red `#cd0000` on black with bold sans — Taiwan engineering meets esports brutalism. Audi Vorsprung durch Technik on near-black — Audi Type sans, four-rings precision, and a near-monochrome canvas with `#bb0a30` reserved for sport. Auth0 Twilight-blue dark canvas with TWK Lausanne 300 display + Aeonik body — the original identity-platform aesthetic. Axiom Deep-navy observability with a cyan electric accent — Inter for body, JetBrains Mono for every event label, and a structural grid that reads as logs at planet scale. Axios Smart-brevity in chromatic form — blocky white canvas, Tiempos-flavored Atiza serif, signature `Why it matters:` time-bars and bullet-first prose. Base Coinbase-adjacent L2 minimalism — coinbaseSans on white, signature electric blue Baseten White canvas with Inter and a signature `#6c5ce7` purple — ML model deployment dressed in approachable workshop chrome. BBC News Signature BBC red (`#bb1919`), Reith Sans + Reith Serif, the global broadcaster authority typography of the world''s public-service news. Bear Off-white canvas, a custom bearsans display, a red bear icon, and tealish handwritten underlines — a Markdown notes app dressed as a Mac Pro magazine. beehiiv Aggressive black-on-yellow newsletter punch — heavy display sans, hyper-flat cards, and a `#ffd60a` highway-yellow that reads like a tabloid front page. Binance Trading-floor near-black with a single high-voltage Binance Yellow doing all the brand work — BinanceNova for type, BinancePlex for numbers. Bloomberg Iconic black-orange financial broadsheet — BWHaasHead headlines, AvenirNextPForBBG chrome, terminal-grade data density. Bluesky Sky-blue `#0085ff` on bright white with Inter sans — the AT-Protocol social network rendered as airy, federated, open. Blur Pure-black canvas, neon `#ff8700` orange voltage, and JetBrains-Mono-default everywhere — brutalist NFT trader terminal as competitive instrument. BMW Corporate-blue calm — BMW Type Next on a cream-tinted white, dark navy hero bands, and the M-stripe triplet in reserve. BMW M Performance black on M-blue/M-violet/M-red — the motorsport variant that turns BMW corporate into track-day theatre. Booking.com Deep-blue commerce engine — Bookin Sans on white, yellow CTA voltage, dense booking-funnel maximalism. Bose Pure black canvas, Helvetica restraint, and premium-audio confidence — sound presented as engineering art. Brex Cool grey-blue surfaces, magenta-to-purple-to-indigo gradient, Söhne 600 — fintech as fast, modern, slightly flashy. Bugatti French-engineered austerity — pure black canvas, three Bugatti typefaces, and full-bleed photography as the only voltage. Bun Cream canvas with chunky pink accents and the wide-eyed mascot — a JS runtime dressed as a 1970s bakery sign. Cal.com Open-source calendly with one bold custom font — Cal Sans on a soft `#f4f4f4` paper canvas. Calm Signature `#0066ff` deep blue + Aktiv Grotesk + meditation-deep cool atmospheric calm. Capacities Cream-yellow canvas, Inter at 700 with a Crimson Pro serif fallback, and a yellow underline as page ornament — a PKM that thinks like a sketchbook. Cartesia Bright clinical white with a single deep-blue action — voice-AI presented as scientific instrument rather than consumer product. Cash App Electric `#00d54b` green on near-black, Cash Sans monospace-flavoured geometry, and p2p-money youth aesthetic. Chevrolet Gold-cross American classic — Louis sans on white with a `#cd9834` bowtie, a `#003876` corporate blue, and Camaro/Corvette red drama in reserve. Claude.ai Cream paper canvas, Anthropic Sans for body and Anthropic Serif for the headline — an AI assistant set in literary type. Clerk Geist + Suisse on near-black canvas with `#6c47ff` violet CTA — the drop-in-auth dev-tool aesthetic. ClickHouse Near-pure black canvas with electric yellow as the brand voltage — database performance dressed in voltmeter chrome. Cloudinary Media-API technical infrastructure in confident blue — Inter at modest weights with a deep navy-blue brand and a single chromatic accent for media moments. Cohere Stark white editorial canvas with deep green-black product bands and a CohereText/Unica77 type split. Coinbase Institutional-grade calm — pure white canvas, a single Coinbase Blue, and Coinbase Display set at weight 400 instead of 700. Composio Near-black canvas with deep-electric-blue voltage and a 2x2 terminal-mockup hero — agent infrastructure dressed as developer instrumentation. Corsair Yellow `#ffff00` lightning on black with Roboto — RGB-everything peripherals and PC components. Costco Warehouse blue + signature red, Helvetica utilitarian — bulk-buying signage translated to web. Coursera University-blue `#0056d2` on warm-white parchment with Source Sans — the canonical online-degree marketplace. Cursor Warm cream IDE-marketing — `#f7f7f4` canvas, `#26251e` ink, custom CursorGothic display, JetBrains Mono code, vivid orange accent. Datadog NationalWeb on white with the iconic `#632ca6` purple — observability dressed as an enterprise dashboard, structurally dense, chromatically restrained, multicolour where the data demands it. Deel A warm dark canvas with electric coral and orange accents — global payroll dressed as a confident product portrait. DeepSeek Deep-blue Chinese-tech minimalism — a research lab dressed in `#4d6bfe` and stark white space. Dell Pragmatic blue `#007db8` with custom Roboto-derivative — business-first PC commerce since the dorm room. Deno Inkwell black on warm white with the dinosaur mascot — TypeScript runtime as Eric Carle children's book. Descript Cream-pink canvas, a custom Brett display serif, and a wine-dark CTA — an AI video editor that ships like a magazine. Discord Indigo-ground hangout — gg sans body, ABC Ginto Nord display, 12-16px tile radii, white pill CTAs. Disney+ Deep navy gradient streaming hall with custom Inspire display sans and the unmistakable Disney+ wordmark arc. DoorDash Signature red-orange CTA, custom DoorDash Sans, delivery-funnel commerce — the dominant on-demand local marketplace. ElevenLabs Near-black voice-tech ground with white voice-wave aesthetic — Inter at studio scale, pill CTAs, and a single saturated accent that reads as both wayfinding and brand. Epic Games Pure-black canvas with custom Brutal Type / Heading Now display — Fortnite-saturated marketing meets PC-storefront merchandising. Ethereum Off-white canvas, ethereum-blue `#1c64f2` voltage, and Inter + serif duet — community-owned protocol as open documentation. Etsy Burnt-orange CTA, Graphik humanist sans, handcrafted-warmth aesthetic — the marketplace for makers and small batch. Excalidraw Literal hand-drawn whiteboard — wobbly SVG strokes, Virgil-style handwriting, and a deliberately primitive UI that turns digital sketching into nostalgia. Expedia Navy commerce + Mango yellow voltage — Expedia Sans, dense travel-funnel density with One Key loyalty colour-coding. Fantastical White paper, Effra geometric sans, full-round blue pills, and a rainbow of app-icon glass squares — a calendar app marketed like Apple''s Pro Apps. Ferrari Cinematic editorial in near-black — Rosso Corsa restraint, FerrariSans 500, and full-bleed cavallino photography. Figma Bright multi-color section bands with figmaSans display and figmaMono eyebrows — a marketing site that designs in scenes. Financial Times Salmon-pink page (`#fff1e5`) — the world''s most recognizable newspaper background, paired with Financier display + MetricWeb sans for global markets coverage. Fireworks AI Light canvas with Inter sans and a signature `#6720ff` purple-amber-orange spark — fast-inference platform dressed in speed-of-light kinetic chrome. Fly.io Mackinac display + Fragment Mono on a violet-saturated canvas — a PaaS that dresses like a small-press magazine. Ford American-truck heritage in corporate blue — Antenna sans, oval-script wordmark, and a deep `#003478` voltage that has carried the brand since 1927. Framer Black-on-white maximalism with electric gradient floods — Inter Display at heroic sizes, motion as a first-class material. Frontegg PP Neue Machina display + Neue Montreal body — plug-and-play user-management with deep-blue gravitas. Gemini (Google) Blue-into-violet gradient, Google Sans, soft Material 3 surfaces — Google''s house style applied to a chat interface. Ghost Warm-cream content CMS aesthetic — Inter for chrome, a soft serif for the writing surface, and a single confident green for action. GitHub Dark-canvas developer-platform marketing — Mona Sans variable headings, lime-green accent, near-black ground. GitHub Copilot Pure-white canvas, pure-black inverted CTAs, Mona Sans display — GitHub's editorial confidence applied to AI tooling. Grafana Dark observability canvas with the iconic `#f46800` orange — Inter for body, Roboto Mono everywhere a label hides, multi-colour chart palette ripped straight from a real dashboard. Granola White paper, a custom Quadrant book serif, and an olive-green CTA — an AI notepad that dresses like a stationery shop. Grubhub Friendly red-orange CTA, Sentinel display + Avenir body, dense delivery-app commerce — the long-running incumbent. HashiCorp Black canvas hosting a per-product color portfolio — Terraform purple, Vault yellow, Consul red, Waypoint cyan — multi-product identity made literal. Hashnode Developer publishing platform — deep navy canvas, electric blue brand, Inter sans + JetBrains Mono code chrome. HBO Max Deep purple-black premium streaming canvas with custom Sharp Grotesk and the unmistakable Max wordmark. Headspace Signature `#ffac1d` orange + custom round display + meditation-friendly playful warmth. Height AI-PM workspace dressed in chalk pastels — Inter at modest weights over a near-paper canvas, with a single confident accent and an AI-purple voltage moment. Honda Reliability-first restraint — HondaGlobalFont on white, signature red HP Cyan-blue `#0096d6` HP-circle on white with Forma DJR — the 84-year-old technology brand''s mainstream face. Hugging Face AI community canvas — deep blue-black ground, Source Sans Pro headlines, pill auth + 8px tile cards. Hulu Near-black canvas anchored on Hulu Green `#1ce783` with Graphik sans — the bright, cable-meets-streaming UI. IBM Carbon Design System made literal — pure-white canvas, IBM Plex Sans at light 300, square corners, and one assertive `#0f62fe` blue. Ideogram A bright white canvas with a single saturated violet cue — a typography-first AI image tool that lets the gallery do all the talking. Instacart Grocery-shopping-list practical — Instacart Sans on white, signature carrot green Kagi A premium search engine dressed in warm cream and Plex — the indie answer to ad-funded search. KAYAK Burnt-orange flight-search density — Open Sans on white, comparison-engine maximalism, price-graph data viz. Khan Academy Signature `#14bf96` mint green on white with Lato sans — free-for-everyone education in a warm, encouraging register. Kinde White canvas with Inter 72/500 display + dev-friendly pink-coral accent — the approachable auth-billing-access platform. Kit A cream newsletter canvas with a custom KitSans display, a Libre Franklin secondary, and a pastel-rainbow chip set — the editorial register reborn from ConvertKit. Kraken Kraken Purple `#7132f5` on white — Kraken-Brand display + Kraken-Product UI for a calmer, less-bombastic crypto exchange. Krea A pure-black studio with Suisse Intl set quietly at 60px — a creative-AI gallery that lets the work and the cobalt CTA carry the colour. Lamborghini Cathedral of darkness — true black canvas, Lamborghini Gold accents, and LamboType angled-terminal display. LangChain Deep navy canvas with Inter precision and a quietly confident teal accent — agent orchestration dressed as engineering documentation. Linear Dark-canvas product surface — pure-black ground, indigo accent, custom Inter weights, pill CTAs. LiveKit Realtime audio-video infra — Public Sans 300 weight on near-black, signature cyan LlamaIndex White canvas with Inter and a signature `#1b9aff` blue — RAG infrastructure dressed as a clean technical reference card. Logitech Soft consumer-tech blue gradients with Brown sans — design for the way you work, play, and create. Lovable Pink-into-violet gradient on white — vibe-coding dressed in playful, friendly chromatics. Magic Eden Mint-cream canvas, magenta-mint accent duet, and a custom Foundry display — Solana-native marketplace as boutique gallery. Mailchimp Cavendish-yellow chunkiness — a custom display serif (Cooper Light), the signature `#ffe01b` block, and a brand voice that hugs you while it ships campaigns. Mastercard Cream-canvas editorial fintech, circular-portrait orbits, MarkForMC at 450 weight — institutional-but-warm payments brand. MasterClass Pure-black cinema with custom display serif and editorial reverence — celebrity-instructor learning as a premium streaming product. Medium Editorial reading-first publishing — magazine-grade serif body, GT Super display, signature green-on-white pill CTAs. Mercedes-Benz Three-pointed-star authority — MBCorpo on near-black canvas, silver-blue Mercury A near-pure white canvas with a literary serif headline and a signature mercury-mint accent — banking dressed as a quiet magazine. Meta Optimistic blue (#0467df) on a white corporate canvas — Optimistic Display headlines, generous space, social-platform conglomerate at rest. Microsoft Fluent surfaces — off-white canvas, Segoe UI Variable Display, and a Cortana-blue action color carrying every product. Midjourney A deep cosmic canvas where JetBrains Mono headlines float over a wide-gamut OKLCH rainbow — a research lab dressed as a chapel. MiniMax Stark monochrome canvas broken open by vibrant gradient product cards — coral, magenta, blue, purple as model identity. Mintlify Documentation-platform marketing — pure white canvas, mint-green accent, Inter at tight tracking, near-black pill CTAs. Miro Canary-yellow Mistral Butter-yellow canvas, Arial as a deliberate anti-tech statement, and zero-radius rectangles — French AI as a brutalist art-school manifesto. Modal Serverless GPU infra in lime-green — `#0c0c0c` canvas, electric `#7fee64` accent, custom Modal Mono on every chip and code block. Monday.com Project management in confident red-pink — Poppins display at bold weights with a colorful saturated palette and a playfully energetic visual rhythm. MongoDB Signature MongoDB green Motion AI-calendar productivity in green-and-purple — Inter at modest weights with a green-to-purple voltage gradient signaling the AI scheduler, anchored by a clean white canvas. MSI Dragon-red `#ff0000` on jet black with bold display sans — the Taipei dragon-heritage gaming hardware brand. Mux Video API for developers — Aeonik on light-cream, Rotonto display, JetBrainsMono CTAs, sharp 0px corners. Neon Serverless Postgres dressed in late-night green — a near-black canvas with a single electric mint accent. Netflix Pure-black streaming theatre with signature `#e50914` red and Netflix Sans — the canonical media-tile grid. Nike Pure black, pure white, Helvetica Now — pill CTAs and full-bleed athletic photography on a single soft cloud gray. Notion Off-white canvas with Lyon serif accents and a custom NotionInter — a workspace dressed as a literary magazine. Nuxt Forest-green `#00dc82` glow on a near-black canvas — Vue-flavored warmth dressed for the cosmos. NVIDIA Engineering-grade canvas — pure black hero / paper-white body / one violently saturated `#76b900` green that carries every CTA and corner square. Omnivore Open-source read-it-later — near-white reading canvas, focused emerald-on-paper brand, archival elegance after the Eleven Labs sunset. OpenAI Pure white canvas, OpenAI Sans set in calm 500-weight, and a single black pill for the only action that matters — try ChatGPT. OpenRouter Pure-black canvas with custom display typography and pragmatic mono — LLM-router infrastructure dressed as a terminal billing dashboard. OpenSea Pure-black canvas, electric `#2081e2` blue, and Inter at trader-pro density — the original NFT marketplace as financial terminal. Optimism Pure-white canvas, signature `#ff0420` red voltage, and Inter at confident L2 register — Ethereum rollup as bold optimistic infrastructure. Ory White canvas with Inter 48/400 display + signature deep-navy `#0f172a` CTA — open-source-first identity for technical teams. Oura Pure-black canvas with Inter precision and gold-stamped scores — the premium-ring health-precision aesthetic. Paper Website A literal sheet-of-paper website — single literary serif, off-white sheet canvas, narrow reading columns, ink-blue links. PayPal Dual-blue corporate trust — PayPal Sans Big over white, with a deep-navy ink and a sky-blue counterpoint. Peloton Signature `#cb1e4e` red on midnight ink, Inter display, instructor-led premium-fitness storefront. Perplexity Cream paper canvas, custom pplxSans, and the unmistakable Tropic-cyan accent — a reference-library answer engine dressed in warm tones. Pinecone White canvas with Inter and a signature `#1cb0d0` cyan — vector database technical-marketing dressed in clean blueprint chrome. Plaid Pale blue trust on white, classical Stripe-adjacent type, and a Benjamin-Franklin-as-mascot moment of personality. Plain B2B support tool with a Dinamo grotesk and a single radioactive `#1ad379` action — Linear-restraint applied to support. PlanetScale Pure-black canvas, blood-red accent, mono-set numerals — a database brand styled like a financial terminal. Polar Dev-tool obsidian — 8rem editorial display headlines, indigo accents, Louize serif moments. Polygon Deep purple `#8247e5` voltage, soft surface ladder, and Inter at enterprise calm — Ethereum L2 as institutional infrastructure. Porsche Engineering-purity black-on-white — Porsche Next at 96px regular, Rosso PostHog Cream-canvas analytics with mustard-yellow CTAs and IBM Plex — open-source craft, not SaaS gloss. Postmark Postal-yellow #ffde00 + warm-black #1c1d1f + paper-white canvas — the transactional email API designed like a friendly post office sign. Prime Video Amazon-blue streaming canvas with Ember sans and the dense, utility-first marketplace UI vocabulary. PropelAuth White canvas with SF Pro Rounded display 60/900 + deep-navy ink — B2B multi-tenant auth with Apple-tinted polish. Qwik Electric purple-to-blue gradient on near-black — resumable execution dressed as a lightning bolt. Railway Ship software peacefully — IBM Plex Serif headlines on a deep eggplant canvas, with a single confident violet for action. Raindrop.io White paper, system-ui sans, soft watercolor blob backgrounds, and a vivid `#0b7ed0` blue CTA — a bookmark manager that ships like a creative-tool sketch. Ramp Off-yellow `#fcfb70` and black-on-white editorial — finance ops dressed as a printed annual report. Raycast Near-black canvas, glowing keycaps, monospaced shortcut chips — a marketing site that thinks like a launcher. Razer Neon `#44d62c` snake-green on jet black with Roboto — the For Gamers, By Gamers visual signature. Readwise Pastel-orange book-club warmth — soft cream canvas, friendly Tiempos serif accents, and a tangerine that signals 'this is your library.' Reddit Front-page-of-the-internet orange — community-card density, IBM Plex Sans display, and a confident Remix Signature `#3992ff` blue on pure white with Inter — a nested-routes web framework dressed as a manifesto poster. Render Lavender on white — a PaaS that swapped Heroku purple for a candy-bright #8a05ff and kept the airy whitespace. Replicate AI-API marketing — light page chrome, dark hero canvas, rb-Freigeist Neue display, JetBrains Mono code, sharp 0px corners. Replit Saturated turquoise on `#0e1525` ink — the cloud-IDE aesthetic with IBM Plex DNA and a JetBrains Mono soul. Resend Pure-black canvas with Domaine Display serif at 96px and Commit Mono code chips — email infra that thinks in italics. Retool Pragmatic blue #3a55fc + Inter + dense product mocks — the internal-tool platform that designed itself like a well-organised admin panel. Reuters Global newswire restraint — signature orange (`#ff8000`), Knowledge Medium custom sans, broadsheet rigor for the world''s oldest news agency. Riot Games Crimson `#d13639` red on near-black with custom Riot Beam display — esports-tournament drama and competitive-MOBA editorial. Rive Chunky animated display type and saturated playful colour — interactive graphics platform that wears its motion design on its sleeve. Roblox Bright `#ed1d24` red on white with Builder Sans — the youth-block-builder playground turned multi-billion-game social platform. RunPod Deep slate canvas with Inter and a signature `#673ab7` purple — accessible GPU cloud dressed in friendly developer chrome. Runway A near-black research canvas with ABC Normal headlines pulled tight at -2.5px — a film studio, an ML lab, and a brutalist gallery in one shell. Salesforce Cloud-trust dashboards — Salesforce Sans on a sky-blue ground, with Astro the bear standing guard over a dense CRM portal. SAP Enterprise-ERP precision in cobalt — SAP72 sans, signal-blue accents, and a calm white canvas built for trust. Segment Twilio Segment's customer-data-platform canvas — Whitney SSm humanist sans, navy-on-white, single confident `#1866ee` blue. Semafor Paper-cream canvas (`#f8f5d7`) with FeatureFlatHeadline serif and signature flag-style topic columns — global-news editorial built for the post-Twitter era. SendGrid Functional API-blue on white — the email-platform dashboard aesthetic, now folded under the Twilio umbrella. Sentry Deep-aubergine observability — Dammit Sans display, Rubik body, JetBrains Mono code, signature violet #7553ff and pill CTAs. shadcn/ui Copy-paste components in pure black-on-white — the most influential design system not actually shipped as a library. Shopify Dark-first commerce theatre — 96px NeueHaasGrotesk at weight 330, electric mint focus rings, and stacked multi-layer shadows. Signal Privacy-first messaging in `#3a76f0` Signal blue with Inter sans — minimal, ad-free, end-to-end-encrypted by default. Slack Aubergine workspace marketing — Salesforce-Avant-Garde headlines, all-caps 4px CTAs, white canvas with `#4a154b` accents. SolidJS Deep navy with a blue-to-cyan brand gradient — reactive primitives dressed as a circuit diagram. Sonos Pure black canvas, Inter typography, and audio-system minimalism — speakers presented as gallery objects. SoundCloud Signature `#ff5500` orange on `#f2f2f2` paper with Interstate sans — waveform-first audio social UI. SpaceX Pure-black cinematic photography, D-DIN aerospace stencil type, ghost-button minimalism — the interface disappears. Spotify Electric `#1ed760` green on near-black canvas with Spotify Mix sans — the canonical streaming-audio tile grid. Square Pure black on pure white, Square Sans grids, and retail-POS minimalism — commerce as black-and-white geometry. Starbucks Forest-green storefront — SoDoSans, full-pill buttons, warm-cream canvas, and a floating Frap CTA the brand calls home. Steam Deep blue-gray `#1b2838` with Motiva Sans — the utilitarian PC-gaming library that runs the world's largest digital storefront. SteelSeries Esports orange `#ff6900` on near-black with Inter — Danish precision peripherals for competitive play. Strava Signature `#fc4c02` orange + Inter on white — endurance-athlete data-driven storefront with map-overlay heritage. Stripe Editorial fintech polish — light Söhne headlines at weight 300, navy-not-black text, signature `#533afd` purple CTAs. Stytch Paper-cream canvas with Booton display + Chivo Mono body — passwordless-modern auth, joined Twilio. Substack Magazine-on-the-internet — Spectral serif body at 19px, Cahuenga display, signature `#ff6719` orange CTAs. Suno A near-black booth with cream Neue Montreal and a hot-pink cue light — a music studio, a record sleeve, and a chat app fused into one canvas. Sunsama Thoughtful daily planning in warm cream and ink — Inter at modest weights over a paper-cream canvas with sage and rose accents and a calm, unhurried voice. Supabase Off-black canvas, signature emerald `#3ecf8e`, Circular as display, Postgres-grade type discipline. Superhuman White paper canvas, a custom Super Sans variable, and a single confident lavender — premium email dressed as a stationery brand. Supreme Box-logo red, Courier monospace, skate-deadpan minimalism — the most influential streetwear store on the web. Svelte Hot orange #ff3e00 against clean white with a confident sans — the framework that wears its flame as a wordmark. Tailwind CSS The system applied to itself — Inter Variable on white canvas, signature cyan #06b6d4, every component built from Tailwind utilities. Tana Pure black canvas, a custom tanaClassic serif at 83px, and a pale-pistachio CTA — a knowledge graph dressed as a literary supplement. Target Bullseye red CTA, Helvetica Neue, photographic hero — friendly mass-market design with confident chromatic restraint. Telegram Cloud-blue messaging — Tesla Cinematic showroom on white — one Electric Blue CTA, Universal Sans, and viewport-height car photography. The Atlantic Modern serif headlines on cream-paper, signature Atlantic orange `#fbb33b`, long-form magazine reading rendered for the web. The Economist Deep cinnabar red `#e3120b`, Milo serif body, Econ Sans labels — the global-affairs weekly rendered with cover-illustration discipline. The Guardian Guardian Egyptian slab serif, signature navy `#052962`, structured ruled hierarchy with bold section accents. The New York Times Cheltenham serif headlines on paper-white, signature breaking-news red, the canonical American broadsheet rendered for the web. The New Yorker Adobe Caslon Pro + Irvin headline cap — a century of editorial gravitas in cream paper, ink black, and signature cartoon line. The Washington Post Postoni serif blackletter masthead, "Democracy Dies in Darkness" tagline, sober ink-on-paper political broadsheet. Things Cool light-blue canvas, system-ui sans, vivid Things-blue accent — a task manager that ships like an Apple Pro Display. Threads Instagram-adjacent text-first social — pure-black canvas, system-sans clarity, and a quiet brand restraint built from the @ glyph alone. TikTok Electric cyan-magenta on pure black — vertical-video voltage with custom Proxima Nova display and a bold neon brand grammar. tldraw Casual whiteboard sketchy — hand-drawn UI primitives, dotted-grid canvas, and a soft pastel palette that wears its toy-like energy with confidence. Together AI Deep navy on near-white with Inter sans — open-source LLM cloud rendered as developer-platform infrastructure. Toyota Japanese-reliability mainstream — `#eb0a1e` Toyota red on white, ToyotaType sans, and a calm-confident marketing surface for the world's most-sold automotive brand. Turbo Vercel-grade pure-black canvas with a magenta-to-blue Turbo gradient — the build system that wears its speed as a sweep. Turso SQLite at the edge — a deep-teal canvas with a CRT-bright cyan accent (#00face) that reads as a glowing edge node. Twilio Signal-red `#f22f46` against clean white — communications APIs given the visual weight of a broadcast colour. Twitch Purple `#9146ff` on `#0e0e10` canvas with Inter — the live-streaming UI built around chat, raids, and gaming density. Uber Eats Pure-black ground, Uber Move custom sans, Uber-app continuity — the operating system of food delivery. Udemy Signature `#a435f0` purple on white with Sailec sans — the open course-marketplace bazaar made approachable. Uniqlo Signature red `#ff0000`, Helvetica Neue system stack, japanese-utility-functional grid — the LifeWear engine. v0 A near-white prompt canvas with GeistSans and pure OKLCH grayscale — Vercel''s AI builder dressed as the calmest text editor on the internet. Venmo A single confident `#3d95ce` blue, Aktiv Grotesk geometry, and a social-feed informality — payments dressed as group chat. Vercel Brutalist developer-product polish — near-white canvas, near-pure black-on-near-white type, Geist sans + mono, conic-gradient accents. Vite Electric purple #646cff + Manrope display + a literal lightning-bolt mark — the build tool that designed itself to feel as fast as it is. Vodafone Vodafone Red broadcast band, monumental 144px display, two-tier button system — corporate-newsroom telecom design. Volkswagen People's-car blue — the deep `#001e50` corporate hue, custom VW Sans, and a friendly-German marketing surface that sells everyday mobility with confidence. Walmart Spark-yellow on big-box blue, Antonio Display + Bogle sans — everyday low prices made loud. Warp Near-black canvas, neon-lime cursor, real terminal screenshots — a marketing site that boots like a shell. Weaviate White canvas with Inter and a signature `#1cdb46` open-source green — modular vector database dressed in approachable engineering chrome. webdesignhot AI-era editorial dark — pure black with one acid-lime accent. Webflow Indigo-to-purple gradient discipline with a precise structural sans — the visual builder that markets itself like a design conference. WHOOP Lime `#a0d10b` voltage on jet-black, Inter precision, recovery-data athlete-grade aesthetic. WIRED Newsstand-density editorial grid, sharp-corner buttons, mono ALL-CAPS kickers — Conde Nast meets engineering lab. Wise A flexible bright-lime green on cream-white — money that travels in sans-serif and a single confident accent. Workday HR-warm professional in tangerine — Adelle Sans humanist curves, signature `#f37721` orange, and a calm white people-first canvas. WorkOS Pure-white canvas with Untitled Sans 80/500 display + indigo-violet h2 — the B2B-enterprise gravitas aesthetic. X Pure-black canvas with Chirp display — algorithmic minimalism, single-letter wordmark, ruthless type discipline. Y Combinator Brutalist orange monolith — system-font sans on white canvas, signature `#f26625` orange-red blocks with hard 0px corners. You.com Crisp white developer-doc canvas, custom Lumen Sans, and the indigo `#5368EE` accent — a search API rebrand done as enterprise infrastructure. YouTube YouTube Sans + Roboto + signature `#ff0000` red — content-density at planetary scale. Zora Cream-white canvas, electric purple-orange duet, and a custom display — onchain creator network as zine cover.
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1440 × 900
mobile · 390 × 844
Tokens design.md/v1.5
- bg
#f4f4f5 - bg-soft
#fafafa - bg-elevated
#ffffff - surface
#ffffff - surface-hover
#f8f8f9 - surface-strong
#e4e4e7 - text AAA · 13.6
#26272b - text-strong
#0f0f12 - text-medium
#3f3f46 - text-muted
#6b6c70 - text-soft
#8a8b8f - text-faint — · 2.3
#a1a1a6 - on-brand
#fafafa - on-cta
#fafafa - brand AA·LG · 3.2
#9b6cff - brand-strong
#7e4cff - brand-deep
#5a2ee0 - brand-soft
#ede4ff - brand-faint
#f7f2ff - brand-glow
rgba(155, 108, 255, 0.32) - cta-bg
#202024 - cta-bg-strong
#0f0f12 - cta-text
#fafafa - social-bg
#131316 - social-bg-hover
#202024 - social-text
#fafafa - link
#202024 - link-hover
#9b6cff - selected-bg
#ede4ff - disabled-bg
#e4e4e7 - disabled-text
#a1a1a6 - border — · 1.3
rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) - border-strong — · 1.5
rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20) - border-soft
rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06) - border-focus
#9b6cff - border-focus-cta
#202024 - success-bg
#dcfce7 - success-text
#15803d - warning-bg
#fef3c7 - warning-text
#854d0e - danger-bg
#fee2e2 - danger-text
#b91c1c - info-bg
#ede4ff - info-text
#5a2ee0 - shadow-rgb
38, 39, 43 - shadow-glow
155, 108, 255
Ship faster than ever.
display-hero atHauss 64px w700 -1.28px
Ship faster than ever.
display atHauss 48px w600 -0.96px
Ship faster than ever.
h1 atHauss 36px w600 -0.72px
Built for teams that ship.
h2 atHauss 28px w600 -0.56px
A complete kit
h3 atHauss 24px w600 -0.48px
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
h4 atHauss 20px w600 -0.4px
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
h5 atHauss 18px w500
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body-large atHauss 18px w400
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body atHauss 16px w400
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body-small atHauss 14px w400
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
label-cta atHauss 14px w500
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
caption atHauss 13px w400
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
caption-tabular ui-monospace 13px w500
npx design-md add linear
code ui-monospace 13px w400
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
eyebrow atHauss 12px w600 0.04em
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
label atHauss 12px w500
- step-0 1px
- step-1 2px
- step-2 4px
- step-3 6px
- step-4 8px
- step-5 12px
- step-6 16px
- step-7 20px
- step-8 24px
- step-9 32px
- step-10 40px
- step-11 48px
- step-12 64px
- step-13 80px
- step-14 96px
- micro
4px - sm
8px - md
12px - social
12px - lg
16px - card
16px - xl
20px - pill
30px - pill-full
9999px
Text link →
Card preview
A complete kit — everything your product needs.
Hero, pricing, FAQ, dashboard, docs — every layout your product needs.
New
Stable
v1.0
Character.AI runs counter-positioning against its category. Where Replika, Janitor, Talkie lean into purple-glow cyber or kawaii pastel, Character.AI dresses itself in zinc-grey neutrality — a `#f4f4f5` Tailwind-zinc canvas, custom atHauss humanist sans, and a near-black `#202024` primary pill at 30px radius. Social-login rectangles drop to `#131316` at 12px radius — TikTok and Discord run almost identical login surfaces. The lavender `#9b6cff` brand mark surfaces only inside the product UI; the marketing site stays defiantly platform-coded. The play is legitimacy: a 10M-character marketplace presented as infrastructure.
- Dark social-login rectangles + neutral marketing surface as a model for "platform, not fandom"
- Zinc-neutral marketing pages and dark pill CTAs in a consumer-social register
- Cousin in the off-white + custom-sans editorial register, though Character.AI runs cool-zinc rather than warm-cream
- 12px rectangle button conventions — Character.AI's social buttons inherit the radius and dark fill
- The `#f4f4f5` canvas is zinc-100; the entire grayscale ramp tracks Tailwind's zinc tokens
- Reference for atHauss's humanist-with-sharp-terminals construction
Export
4 formats · paste-ready
Tailwind
theme.extend block for tailwind.config.js
CSS variables
:root { --bg, --text, --brand, … } you can paste anywhere
DTCG JSON
W3C Design Tokens Community Group format
Figma Variables
Importable into Figma → Variables → Import
---
name: Character.AI
tagline: 'Cool zinc canvas, custom atHauss sans, and dark pill CTAs — a roleplay social product dressed in TikTok-grade neutrality.'
author: webdesignhot
source_url: https://character.ai
spec: design.md/v1.5
quality: curated
featured: false
categories: [ai, social]
tags: [light, sans, soft, structured, cool]
preview_swatch: ['#f4f4f5', '#202024', '#9b6cff']
related: [discord, notion, replicate]
description: 'Character.AI''s public-facing site uses a cool zinc-grey `#f4f4f5` canvas, a custom **atHauss** sans (a tight humanist face that resembles GT Walsheim with sharper terminals), and a near-black `#202024` pill CTA at 30px radius for the primary "Sign Up to Chat" call-to-action. Where roleplay/companion competitors lean into either glow-purple cyber aesthetics or kawaii pastel, Character.AI runs the *opposite* play — a TikTok/Discord-grade neutral with zinc surfaces, dark `#131316` social-login rectangles at 12px radius, and zero ornamentation. The signature lavender `#9b6cff` brand mark surfaces inside the product UI on character-card backgrounds and accent gradients, but the marketing site stays defiantly platform-coded. The result reads as platform infrastructure, not fandom, which is exactly the legitimacy posture a 10M-character marketplace needs.'
colors:
# Primary
bg: '#f4f4f5' # cool zinc-100 body bg — defining canvas
bg-soft: '#fafafa' # softer surface for elevated panels
bg-elevated: '#ffffff' # cards lift to white
surface: '#ffffff' # default card surface
surface-hover: '#f8f8f9' # hover wash on white cards
surface-strong: '#e4e4e7' # zinc-200 strong panel
text: '#26272b' # zinc-900 body text rgb(38,39,43)
text-strong: '#0f0f12' # heading-strong, near-black with blue undertone
text-medium: '#3f3f46' # zinc-700 secondary heading
text-muted: '#6b6c70' # zinc-500 secondary copy
text-soft: '#8a8b8f' # zinc-400 helper / metadata
text-faint: '#a1a1a6' # zinc-300 disabled
on-brand: '#fafafa' # off-white label on near-black CTA
on-cta: '#fafafa' # off-white label on primary pill
# Brand & Accent (lavender lives mostly in-product)
brand: '#9b6cff' # Character lavender — in-product accent, marketing micro-use
brand-strong: '#7e4cff' # pressed lavender
brand-deep: '#5a2ee0' # deep accent on white
brand-soft: '#ede4ff' # tonal pill bg
brand-faint: '#f7f2ff' # quietest lavender tint
brand-glow: 'rgba(155, 108, 255, 0.32)' # in-product card-hover glow
# CTA / Action chrome
cta-bg: '#202024' # primary pill near-black with mild blue undertone
cta-bg-strong: '#0f0f12' # active / pressed state
cta-text: '#fafafa' # off-white label
social-bg: '#131316' # Google / Apple social-login button
social-bg-hover: '#202024' # hover collapses to primary CTA tone
social-text: '#fafafa' # off-white label
# Interactive
link: '#202024' # near-black link colour, underline on hover
link-hover: '#9b6cff' # lavender on hover only — the marketing site's only colour moment
selected-bg: '#ede4ff' # selected character card / row
disabled-bg: '#e4e4e7' # disabled control fill
disabled-text: '#a1a1a6' # disabled label
# Borders
border: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)' # zinc-tinted hairline (default)
border-strong: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)' # emphasized rule
border-soft: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)' # quietest division
border-focus: '#9b6cff' # focus-ring lavender
border-focus-cta: '#202024' # focus-ring on light bgs near a CTA
# Semantic
success-bg: '#dcfce7'
success-text: '#15803d'
warning-bg: '#fef3c7'
warning-text: '#854d0e'
danger-bg: '#fee2e2'
danger-text: '#b91c1c'
info-bg: '#ede4ff'
info-text: '#5a2ee0'
# Shadow tints
shadow-rgb: '38, 39, 43' # zinc-900 tinted shadows
shadow-glow: '155, 108, 255' # lavender focus glow
typography:
display:
family: 'atHauss, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif'
weights: [400, 500, 600, 700]
opentype-features: ['ss01', 'liga', 'kern']
body:
family: 'atHauss, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif'
weights: [400, 500, 600]
opentype-features: ['kern']
mono:
family: 'ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, Consolas, monospace'
weights: [400, 500]
opentype-features: ['tnum']
scale:
display-hero: { size: 64, weight: 700, lineHeight: 1.05, tracking: '-1.28px', family: display }
display: { size: 48, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.1, tracking: '-0.96px', family: display }
h1: { size: 36, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.15, tracking: '-0.72px', family: display }
h2: { size: 28, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.2, tracking: '-0.56px', family: display }
h3: { size: 24, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.25, tracking: '-0.48px', family: display }
h4: { size: 20, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.3, tracking: '-0.4px', family: display }
h5: { size: 18, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.35, family: display }
eyebrow: { size: 12, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.4, tracking: '0.04em', family: display, transform: uppercase }
body-large: { size: 18, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.5, family: body }
body: { size: 16, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.5, family: body }
body-small: { size: 14, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.5, family: body }
caption: { size: 13, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.4, family: body }
caption-tabular: { size: 13, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.4, family: mono, opentype: 'tnum' }
label: { size: 12, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.3, family: body }
label-cta: { size: 14, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.2, family: body }
code: { size: 13, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.5, family: mono }
radius:
micro: 4
sm: 8
md: 12
lg: 16
xl: 20
card: 16
social: 12
pill: 30 # primary CTA pill radius (observed)
pill-full: 9999
spacing:
base: 4
scale: [1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 40, 48, 64, 80, 96]
layout:
page-width: 1200
prose-width: 640
hero-prose-width: 720
site-gutter: 'clamp(16px, 4vw, 48px)'
header-height: 64
grid-columns: 12
section-rhythm: '64-96px'
components:
button-primary:
background: '#202024'
text: '#fafafa'
padding: '12px 20px'
radius: 30
border: 'none'
font: 'atHauss 500 / 14px'
hover-bg: '#0f0f12'
active-bg: '#000000'
use: 'Sign Up to Chat — the headline pill carrying every primary entry into the product'
button-social:
background: '#131316'
text: '#fafafa'
padding: '12px 16px'
radius: 12
border: 'none'
font: 'atHauss 500 / 14px'
hover-bg: '#202024'
use: 'Continue with Google / Continue with Apple — slightly darker, slightly squarer to read as platform-standard'
button-secondary:
background: '#ffffff'
text: '#26272b'
padding: '12px 20px'
radius: 30
border: '1px solid rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)'
font: 'atHauss 500 / 14px'
hover-bg: '#f8f8f9'
use: 'Outlined twin — same pill shape, hairline border'
button-ghost:
background: 'transparent'
text: '#26272b'
padding: '8px 12px'
radius: 12
font: 'atHauss 500 / 14px'
hover-bg: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)'
use: 'Quiet third action — nav links, inline actions'
card-character:
background: '#ffffff'
border: '1px solid rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08)'
radius: 16
padding: '12px'
use: 'Character card in discovery rail — square avatar top, name + tagline below, 16px radius white panel'
card-feature:
background: '#ffffff'
border: '1px solid rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)'
radius: 16
padding: '24px'
use: 'Feature highlight card on marketing strip — generous padding, hairline border'
input:
background: '#ffffff'
border: '1px solid rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)'
radius: 12
padding: '12px 16px'
font: 'atHauss 400 / 16px'
placeholder-color: '#8a8b8f'
focus-ring: '0 0 0 2px #9b6cff'
use: 'Email / username on sign-up sheet — 12px radius matches social-button radius'
badge-tag:
background: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)'
text: '#3f3f46'
padding: '4px 10px'
radius: 9999
font: 'atHauss 500 / 12px'
use: 'Character tag — Anime / Movie / Game category chip in discovery'
badge-lavender:
background: '#ede4ff'
text: '#5a2ee0'
padding: '4px 10px'
radius: 9999
font: 'atHauss 500 / 12px'
use: 'In-product status pill — c.ai+ / Premium / New character indicator'
modal-signup:
background: '#ffffff'
border: 'none'
radius: 20
padding: '32px'
shadow: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12) 0 24px 48px -12px'
use: 'Sign-up modal — 20px radius, soft shadow, contains primary pill + social rectangles'
nav-link:
background: 'transparent'
text: '#26272b'
padding: '8px 12px'
font: 'atHauss 500 / 14px'
hover-text: '#0f0f12'
use: 'Top nav links — quiet zinc-900, no underline'
avatar:
background: '#ede4ff'
radius: 9999
use: 'Character / user avatar — circular, lavender fallback bg with initial in atHauss 500'
motion:
ease-standard: 'cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)'
ease-emphasized: 'cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)'
ease-out: 'cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)'
ease-snappy: 'cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1)'
duration-instant: 80
duration-fast: 120
duration-standard: 200
duration-slow: 320
duration-page: 400
reduced-motion: 'respects prefers-reduced-motion: reduce — translate transforms become opacity fades, durations halved, character-card hover lift disabled'
breakpoints:
mobile: 640
tablet: 1024
desktop: 1280
wide: 1440
shadows:
none: 'none'
ambient: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.04) 0 1px 3px'
standard: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08) 0 8px 24px -8px'
elevated: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) 0 16px 32px -12px'
modal: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px'
card-hover: 'rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08) 0 12px 24px -8px'
ring: '0 0 0 2px #9b6cff'
ring-cta: '0 0 0 2px #ffffff, 0 0 0 4px #202024'
accessibility:
contrast-text-on-bg: 13.1 # #26272b on #f4f4f5 — AAA at body sizes
contrast-text-on-cta: 13.6 # #fafafa on #202024 — AAA
contrast-text-on-social: 18.2 # #fafafa on #131316 — AAA
contrast-text-muted-on-bg: 5.4 # #6b6c70 on #f4f4f5 — AA at body
contrast-text-on-brand: 4.8 # #fafafa on #9b6cff — AA at body sizes
focus-ring: '2px solid #9b6cff with 2px white offset on light surfaces; 2px solid #ffffff with 2px outer #202024 on dark CTAs'
reduced-motion-honored: true
keyboard-nav: 'visible focus on every interactive surface; modal sign-up sheet traps focus; ESC dismisses; tab order matches visual'
prose-line-length: 'capped at 640px for marketing prose; 720px for hero copy'
aria-patterns: 'Sign-up modal uses role=dialog + aria-modal=true + aria-labelledby; social buttons use proper button semantics with aria-label noting provider; character cards use role=link with descriptive aria-label combining character name + tagline'
dark-mode: optional # in-product UI ships a dark theme; marketing surface holds light
lineage:
summary: 'Character.AI runs counter-positioning against its category. Where Replika, Janitor, Talkie lean into purple-glow cyber or kawaii pastel, Character.AI dresses itself in zinc-grey neutrality — a `#f4f4f5` Tailwind-zinc canvas, custom atHauss humanist sans, and a near-black `#202024` primary pill at 30px radius. Social-login rectangles drop to `#131316` at 12px radius — TikTok and Discord run almost identical login surfaces. The lavender `#9b6cff` brand mark surfaces only inside the product UI; the marketing site stays defiantly platform-coded. The play is legitimacy: a 10M-character marketplace presented as infrastructure.'
influences:
- name: Discord
role: 'Dark social-login rectangles + neutral marketing surface as a model for "platform, not fandom"'
url: https://discord.com
- name: TikTok
role: 'Zinc-neutral marketing pages and dark pill CTAs in a consumer-social register'
url: https://www.tiktok.com
- name: Notion
role: 'Cousin in the off-white + custom-sans editorial register, though Character.AI runs cool-zinc rather than warm-cream'
url: https://www.notion.com
- name: Apple Sign-In + Google Sign-In
role: '12px rectangle button conventions — Character.AI''s social buttons inherit the radius and dark fill'
url: https://developer.apple.com/sign-in-with-apple/
- name: Tailwind CSS zinc scale
role: 'The `#f4f4f5` canvas is zinc-100; the entire grayscale ramp tracks Tailwind''s zinc tokens'
url: https://tailwindcss.com
- name: GT Walsheim
role: 'Reference for atHauss''s humanist-with-sharp-terminals construction'
url: https://www.schick-toikka.com/gt-walsheim
---
## 1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Character.AI's marketing surface opens onto a cool zinc-grey `#f4f4f5` canvas — the Tailwind zinc-100 hue lifted whole — with a 36px headline ("Get access to 10M+ Characters") set in custom **atHauss** at 600 weight and `-0.72px` tracking. The primary CTA is a near-black `#202024` pill at 30px radius; the social-login twins (Continue with Google, Continue with Apple) sit just below as slightly darker `#131316` rectangles at 12px radius. The chromatic and shape choices are deliberately understated for a roleplay product. The lavender brand accent that animates the in-product UI (`#9b6cff`) is barely visible on the marketing surface; instead the page reads as platform infrastructure — closer in posture to Discord or TikTok's developer pages than to a companion-AI competitor.
The strategic move is **counter-positioning**. Open Replika, Janitor, Pi, Talkie — the roleplay/companion category leans into either purple-glow cyber aesthetics that signal "fandom platform" or kawaii pastel that signals "imaginative play." Character.AI rejects both. The cool zinc canvas, the custom humanist sans (atHauss reads like GT Walsheim with sharper terminals), the near-black pill, and the dual-radius CTA system all signal *legitimacy*. The implicit promise: a 10M-character marketplace presented as infrastructure, with the imaginative work happening *inside the app*, not on the marketing page.
The dual-radius CTA pattern is the brand's most distinctive structural choice. Primary action is a **30px-radius pill** (almost fully rounded but not quite — a near-pill shape that reads as friendly without being cartoonish). Secondary social buttons are **12px-radius rectangles** — a 2.5× shape difference from the primary pill that creates immediate visual hierarchy. Most products use a single radius vocabulary; Character.AI's split is what gives the sign-up flow its distinct rhythm.
Atmospheric vocabulary: *zinc-platform, near-black-pill, social-rectangle, custom-humanist, lavender-restrained-to-product, TikTok-Discord-cousin, no-glow, no-cyber, legitimacy-not-fandom, 10M-marketplace.* The page reads as a platform's front door, not a roleplay portal.
**Key Characteristics**
- Cool zinc-100 `#f4f4f5` canvas — the Tailwind-borrowed defining surface
- Custom **atHauss** sans at 600 weight with `-0.72px` tracking on h1
- Near-black `#202024` primary pill at **30px radius** — the signature shape
- Darker `#131316` social-login rectangles at **12px radius** — dual-radius vocabulary
- Lavender `#9b6cff` reserved almost entirely for in-product UI
- Cards lift to white via tonal contrast, not shadow
- 16px card radius for character cards in discovery rails
- Single-family type system — no serif counterpoint, no mono on marketing
- Generous 1.5 line-height across body — humanist breathing room
- Counter-positioning against fandom register: zinc-neutral, not purple-cyber
## 2. Color Palette & Roles
### Primary
- **bg** `#f4f4f5` — cool zinc-100; the defining canvas, drawn straight from Tailwind's neutral-zinc scale.
- **text** `#26272b` — zinc-900 body text; warmer than `#000` but cooler than slate.
- **bg-soft** `#fafafa` — barely-grey for elevated bands.
- **surface** `#ffffff` — pure white card lift; cards always pop above the zinc bg.
- **cta-bg** `#202024` — near-black with mild blue undertone (the brand fingerprint). Primary CTA.
- **cta-text** `#fafafa` — off-white label, never pure white.
### Brand & Accent (lavender)
- **brand** `#9b6cff` — Character lavender; in-product card backgrounds, accent gradients, hover-glow on character tiles.
- **brand-strong** `#7e4cff` — pressed lavender.
- **brand-deep** `#5a2ee0` — accent text on white (badge text, link hover).
- **brand-soft** `#ede4ff` — tonal pill bg for status indicators (`c.ai+`, `Premium`).
- **brand-faint** `#f7f2ff` — quietest lavender tint, used as section background in promotional bands.
- **brand-glow** `rgba(155, 108, 255, 0.32)` — in-product card-hover glow effect.
### CTA / Action chrome (the dual-shape system)
- **primary-pill-bg** `#202024` — 30px radius, the headline action shape.
- **social-rectangle-bg** `#131316` — 12px radius, slightly darker.
- **outline-button-bg** `#ffffff` — 30px radius matching primary, hairline border.
The chromatic delta between `#202024` and `#131316` is small (visible only in close comparison) but intentional. The social buttons are *darker* than primary because they want to read as platform-standard (Apple SIWA + Google buttons are typically `#000` or near-black), while the primary CTA reads as the brand's own action.
### Interactive
- **link** `#26272b` — near-black, underline on hover.
- **link-hover** `#9b6cff` — lavender; the only chromatic moment on the marketing site.
- **selected-bg** `#ede4ff` — selected character card or row (in-product mostly).
- **disabled-bg** `#e4e4e7` — disabled control fill.
- **disabled-text** `#a1a1a6` — disabled label.
- **focus-ring** `#9b6cff` — 2px solid lavender with 2px white offset on light surfaces; on dark CTA focus uses a 2px white inner ring + 2px `#202024` outer.
### Neutral Scale (zinc ramp)
- **zinc-900** `#0f0f12` — heading-strong, the deepest text.
- **zinc-800** `#26272b` — primary body text.
- **zinc-700** `#3f3f46` — secondary heading emphasis.
- **zinc-500** `#6b6c70` — secondary copy, helper.
- **zinc-400** `#8a8b8f` — placeholder, soft caption.
- **zinc-300** `#a1a1a6` — disabled, faint metadata.
- **zinc-200** `#e4e4e7` — strong panel.
- **zinc-100** `#f4f4f5` — the canvas itself.
### Surface & Borders
- **surface-0 (page)** — `#f4f4f5` zinc-100.
- **surface-1 (panel)** — `#fafafa` lifted band.
- **surface-2 (card)** — `#ffffff` white card.
- **surface-3 (hover)** — `#f8f8f9` interactive hover.
- **border** `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)` — zinc-tinted hairline (the default).
- **border-strong** `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)` — emphasized rule.
- **border-soft** `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)` — quietest division.
### Shadow Colors
Shadows on the marketing surface are **near-absent**. The sign-up modal is the one place a real shadow appears: `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px`. Card-hover gets a subtle zinc-tinted shadow only in-product. Elsewhere, depth is value contrast on zinc.
### Semantic
- **success** — `#dcfce7` / `#15803d`. Used for "Profile saved", "Character published".
- **warning** — `#fef3c7` / `#854d0e`. Used for moderation flags, age-gate warnings.
- **danger** — `#fee2e2` / `#b91c1c`. Used for blocked content, account suspension.
- **info** — `#ede4ff` / `#5a2ee0`. Reuses lavender pair — signals "Character.AI brand info".
## 3. Typography Rules
### Font Family
- **Display & Body**: **atHauss**, a custom humanist sans with sharp terminals (closer to GT Walsheim than to Inter or Söhne). Loaded with weights 400 / 500 / 600 / 700. The face has a slightly taller x-height than Inter, which is what gives Character.AI's body type its distinctive "modern but readable" cadence.
- **Fallback**: `ui-sans-serif → system-ui → -apple-system → Segoe UI → Roboto → Helvetica Neue → Arial → sans-serif`. The chain prioritises platform-default sans on every OS — keeping the marketing surface looking native to the user's device when atHauss fails to load.
- **Mono**: System mono only (`ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, Consolas, monospace`). Character.AI does not ship a custom mono and barely uses mono on the marketing surface — a single weight 400 / 500 only.
- **OpenType features**: `kern` always; `ss01` on display (cleaner alt-`a`); `tnum` on the rare tabular number block (in-product analytics).
### Hierarchy
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | OT Features | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| display-hero | atHauss | 64 | 700 | 1.05 | -1.28px | ss01 | Marketing landing hero (rare) |
| display | atHauss | 48 | 600 | 1.1 | -0.96px | — | Section openers |
| h1 | atHauss | 36 | 600 | 1.15 | -0.72px | — | Standard hero ("Get access to 10M+ Characters") |
| h2 | atHauss | 28 | 600 | 1.2 | -0.56px | — | Section heading |
| h3 | atHauss | 24 | 600 | 1.25 | -0.48px | — | Subsection / card heading |
| h4 | atHauss | 20 | 600 | 1.3 | -0.4px | — | Inline heading |
| h5 | atHauss | 18 | 500 | 1.35 | normal | — | Lead-in |
| eyebrow | atHauss | 12 | 600 | 1.4 | 0.04em | uppercase | Section label |
| body-large | atHauss | 18 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | Lede |
| body | atHauss | 16 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | Default body |
| body-small | atHauss | 14 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | Secondary copy |
| caption | atHauss | 13 | 400 | 1.4 | normal | — | Helper text |
| caption-tabular | mono | 13 | 500 | 1.4 | normal | tnum | Token / metric |
| label | atHauss | 12 | 500 | 1.3 | normal | — | Form labels, tags |
| label-cta | atHauss | 14 | 500 | 1.2 | normal | — | Button text |
| code | mono | 13 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | API doc inline (rare) |
### Principles
- **Negative tracking on display, generous on body.** Headlines compress at `-0.72px` to `-1.28px`; body holds at normal tracking with 1.5 line-height — the gap is the tone.
- **600 is the heading weight.** atHauss at 600 reads as confident-but-friendly; 700 is reserved for the rare display-hero. Never go below 500 for h1-h4.
- **Single-family type system.** No serif pull-quotes, no editorial counter-voice. The marketing surface speaks in one humanist register.
- **Body line-height of 1.5 on a 16px base.** Standard humanist breathing room — comfortable for the long character-bio paragraphs.
- **Mono is rare.** Only used for in-product token counts or metric numbers. No mono badges on marketing.
- **Letter-spacing in pixels on display.** atHauss tracking values are quoted in `-0.72px` not `-0.02em` — the px-anchored spec is the brand's house style.
- **No italic body emphasis.** Use weight 500 on body for emphasis; italic is reserved for in-product character action descriptors like *Charlie laughs*.
## 4. Component Stylings
### Buttons
**Primary pill (30px radius)** — `#202024` bg, `#fafafa` text, atHauss 500 / 14px, padding `12px 20px`. Hover deepens to `#0f0f12`; active to `#000000`. The "Sign Up to Chat" pill is the headline action across every entry point.
**Social rectangle (12px radius)** — `#131316` bg, `#fafafa` text, atHauss 500 / 14px, padding `12px 16px`. Hover collapses to `#202024` (matching primary). Used for Continue with Google / Continue with Apple. The shape difference from primary pill is intentional — social buttons read as platform-standard.
**Secondary outlined pill (30px radius)** — `#ffffff` bg, `#26272b` text, `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)` border, atHauss 500 / 14px. Same radius as primary but inverted chrome.
**Ghost (12px radius)** — transparent, `#26272b` text, hover wash `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)`. Used for nav links and inline actions.
### Cards
**Character card** — `#ffffff` bg, `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08)` border, **16px radius**, `12px` padding. Layout: square avatar top (16px radius matching card), character name in atHauss 600 / 14px below, tagline in atHauss 400 / 13px / `#6b6c70`. Hover lifts: `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08) 0 12px 24px -8px` shadow with subtle `1.02` scale (in-product only).
**Feature card** — `#ffffff` bg, `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)` border, 16px radius, `24px` padding. Used in marketing strip for product highlights.
### Badges, Tags, Pills
**Tag chip (neutral)** — `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)` bg, `#3f3f46` text, atHauss 500 / 12px, pill radius (9999). Used for character tags: `Anime`, `Movie`, `Game`, `Anime Game Character`.
**Lavender status pill** — `#ede4ff` bg, `#5a2ee0` text, atHauss 500 / 12px, pill radius. Used for `c.ai+`, `Premium`, `New`. The lavender appears here.
### Inputs & Forms
**Default input** — `#ffffff` bg, `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)` border, **12px radius**, `12px 16px` padding, atHauss 400 / 16px, `#8a8b8f` placeholder. Focus ring `0 0 0 2px #9b6cff` with 2px white offset. The 12px radius matches social-button radius (forms read as platform-grade).
**Form labels** — atHauss 500 / 14px, `#26272b`, `8px` margin-bottom from input.
**Helper text** — atHauss 400 / 13px, `#6b6c70`, `4px` margin-top from input.
**Error state** — border `#fee2e2`; helper text flips to `#b91c1c`.
### Navigation
**Top nav** — 64px header height, `#f4f4f5` bg (matches page), no border, no shadow. Wordmark left in atHauss 600. Nav links right at atHauss 500 / 14px / `#26272b`. Right-most cluster: ghost "Log in" button + primary "Sign Up" pill.
**Footer nav** — flat list set in atHauss 400 / 14px / `#6b6c70`, 4-column grid on desktop.
### Modal / Sign-up sheet
**Sign-up modal** — `#ffffff` bg, **20px radius** (slightly larger than card radius), `32px` padding, `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px` shadow. Backdrop `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.6)`. Contains primary pill at top + social rectangles below + "Continue as guest" ghost link at bottom. Initial focus on first input; ESC dismisses.
### Avatars
**Character avatar** — 9999 radius circle, `#ede4ff` lavender fallback bg with character initial in atHauss 500. Sizes ladder: 32 / 40 / 48 / 64 / 96px.
### Tooltips
**Tooltip** — `#202024` bg, `#fafafa` text, 8px radius, atHauss 400 / 13px, `8px 12px` padding, `200ms` fade-in.
### Toasts
**Toast** — `#ffffff` bg, `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)` border, 12px radius, ambient shadow, `12px 16px` padding. Slide-up from bottom, `320ms` ease-out.
## 5. Layout Principles
### Spacing System
Base unit **4px**. Scale: `1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 40, 48, 64, 80, 96`. Component padding lives in 8–24; section padding in 64–96. Slightly denser than infrastructure-AI brands (Cartesia, Anthropic) to signal "social platform, not paper preview."
### Grid & Container
- **Page max-width**: 1200px, centred, `clamp(16px, 4vw, 48px)` site gutter.
- **Hero prose-width**: 720px max.
- **Marketing prose-width**: 640px (denser than infrastructure prose).
- **Grid columns**: 12, 24px gutter.
- **Character discovery rail**: 4-up grid on desktop, 3-up tablet, 2-up mobile.
- **Feature grid**: typically 3-up for marketing strip.
### Whitespace Philosophy
Between sections: 64–96px on desktop, 48px on mobile — denser than infrastructure brands. The page is sign-up-gated; the marketing strip below is intentionally compact, designed to be scrolled past quickly to reach the auth flow.
### Section Cadence
The page alternates **`#f4f4f5` zinc canvas** and **`#ffffff` white** bands every 1–2 sections to chunk the narrative. There is no dark band on marketing — dark surfaces live in-product (chat UI, character editor).
## 6. Shapes & Radius Scale
| Tier | Value | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | 4px | Inline tags, dense form chips |
| Small | 8px | Tooltips, inline pills |
| Medium | 12px | Inputs, social-rectangle CTAs, ghost buttons |
| Card | 16px | Character cards, feature cards, default panels |
| Large | 20px | Modal sheets, large promotional cards |
| Pill | 30px | Primary CTA pill — the brand signature |
| Pill-full | 9999px | Status badges, character tags, avatars |
The dual primary radii — **30px pill + 12px social rectangle** — are the brand's structural fingerprint. Most products run a single radius vocabulary; Character.AI's split creates immediate hierarchy in the sign-up CTA cluster. Don't collapse the difference.
## 7. Depth & Elevation
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (flat) | No shadow, no border | Page bg, zinc canvas |
| 1 (hairline) | `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08–0.12)` border, no shadow | Cards, inputs |
| 2 (tonal) | White card on zinc bg, no shadow | Default character card lift |
| 3 (ambient) | `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.04) 0 1px 3px` | Toasts (subtle) |
| 4 (elevated) | `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) 0 16px 32px -12px` | Card-hover in-product, tooltip |
| 5 (modal) | `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px` | Sign-up modal sheet |
### Shadow Philosophy
Character.AI's marketing surface is **flat-on-zinc**. Cards lift via white-on-zinc-100 value contrast, not blur. The only place a real shadow appears is the sign-up modal. In-product, the character-card hover gets a subtle zinc-tinted shadow plus a 1.02 scale — but that's a product UI move, not a marketing one. Shadows are zinc-tinted (never neutral black, never lavender).
## 8. Interaction & Motion
### Easing curves
- **Standard** — `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)` — default for hover, focus.
- **Emphasized** — `cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)` — incoming elements (modal opens, toasts).
- **Out** — `cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)` — overshoot-free decelerate.
- **Snappy** — `cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1)` — character-card hover lift, scale transitions.
### Duration buckets
- **Instant** — 80ms — focus ring, button press.
- **Fast** — 120ms — hover bg shift, link underline reveal.
- **Standard** — 200ms — default transition.
- **Slow** — 320ms — card hover lift, modal opens.
- **Page** — 400ms — route transition between marketing pages.
### Per-component micro-states
- **Primary pill hover** — bg shifts `#202024 → #0f0f12` over `120ms ease-standard`. No translate.
- **Social rectangle hover** — bg shifts `#131316 → #202024` over `120ms`. The chromatic collapse to primary CTA tone signals "this is a primary path too."
- **Character card hover** — translate Y `-2px` + ambient shadow + 1.02 scale (in-product) over `320ms ease-snappy`. Marketing version stays static.
- **Link hover** — colour shift `#26272b → #9b6cff` over `120ms`. The lavender is the brand peeking through.
- **Input focus** — 2px lavender ring fades in `80ms`; border colour swaps to `#9b6cff` simultaneously.
- **Modal open** — backdrop fades 0 → 0.6 over `200ms`; modal scales `0.96 → 1` + translates Y `+8px → 0` over `320ms ease-emphasized`.
### Page transitions
Marketing pages are mostly static; section anchors use `scroll-behavior: smooth` over `400ms`. In-product chat transitions use a fade-through pattern with `ease-out`.
### Reduced-motion strategy
`prefers-reduced-motion: reduce` is fully honoured. Translate transforms become opacity fades. Scale animations become opacity-only. Durations halve. Smooth scroll disables. Character card hover lift disables entirely.
## 9. Accessibility & A11y
### Contrast pairs (computed)
| Pair | Ratio | WCAG |
|---|---|---|
| `#26272b` on `#f4f4f5` (body) | 13.1:1 | AAA |
| `#fafafa` on `#202024` (CTA) | 13.6:1 | AAA |
| `#fafafa` on `#131316` (social) | 18.2:1 | AAA |
| `#6b6c70` on `#f4f4f5` (muted) | 5.4:1 | AA at body |
| `#fafafa` on `#9b6cff` (lavender CTA) | 4.8:1 | AA at body |
| `#5a2ee0` on `#ede4ff` (badge) | 7.2:1 | AAA |
| `#3f3f46` on `rgba(38,39,43,0.06)` flat (tag) | 9.0:1 | AAA |
### Focus indicators
**2px solid `#9b6cff`** with **2px white offset** on light surfaces. On dark CTAs (where lavender wouldn't read) the focus uses **2px white inner ring + 2px outer `#202024`** — this is the Stripe-derived pattern adapted for Character.AI's dual-shape CTA system.
### ARIA patterns
- **Sign-up modal** — `role="dialog"` + `aria-modal="true"` + `aria-labelledby` referencing the modal title + `aria-describedby` for the lede. Initial focus on first input; ESC dismisses; tab cycles within modal.
- **Character card (link)** — `role="link"` with `aria-label` combining character name + tagline + interaction count for screen readers.
- **Social buttons** — proper `<button>` semantics with `aria-label="Continue with Google"` (the visible "Continue with Google" text suffices, but explicit aria-label is defensive).
- **Tag chips** — `role="button"` (when filterable) with `aria-pressed` to indicate selected state.
- **Tooltips** — `role="tooltip"` + `aria-describedby` on trigger.
### Keyboard navigation
- Tab order matches reading order — wordmark, nav links, primary CTA, hero, feature strip, footer.
- ESC dismisses modals, tooltips, dropdowns.
- Enter activates links, primary buttons; Space activates buttons.
- Arrow keys move within character-card discovery rail when focus enters the rail.
- Skip-to-content link on first Tab.
### Screen reader hints
- Character cards announce: `[Character Name], [Tagline], [N] interactions, [Tag list]`.
- Lavender brand mark uses `aria-hidden="true"` for decorative SVG; visible "Character.AI" wordmark remains.
- The 30px-radius primary pill and 12px social rectangle both render as standard `<button>` — no custom ARIA needed beyond labels.
### Reduced motion
Honoured globally. See §8.
## 10. Responsive Behavior
### Breakpoints
| Name | Min-width | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| mobile | 0 | Single column, 16px gutter, hero copy at 28px |
| tablet | 640px | 2-up character grid, hero at 32px |
| desktop | 1024px | 3-up grid, hero at 36px |
| wide | 1280px | 4-up character discovery, full nav visible |
| max | 1440px | Container caps at 1200px |
### Touch targets
All interactive elements honour **44×44px minimum**. The primary pill at `12px 20px` padding renders at ~44px tall. Social buttons at the same padding render at ~44px. Character cards on mobile expand their hit area to the full card.
### Collapsing strategy
- **Hero** — single-column on mobile (copy → CTA → social buttons stacked). Desktop has a side illustration in some variants.
- **Character discovery rail** — 4 → 3 → 2 columns by breakpoint.
- **Feature grid** — 3-up desktop, 2-up tablet, 1-up mobile.
- **Top nav** — links collapse into a hamburger drawer at <1024px; primary "Sign Up" pill remains visible in the header.
- **Sign-up modal** — desktop modal becomes a full-page sheet on mobile, sliding up from the bottom.
### Image behaviour
- All character avatars are AVIF with WebP fallback.
- `loading="lazy"` on every below-the-fold avatar.
- `aspect-ratio: 1` on avatar containers prevents CLS.
- Hero illustration centre-aligns and caps at 480px on mobile.
### Container queries
Used on the character card — at `@container (max-width: 200px)` the avatar shifts to a 16:9 aspect (rare condensed state).
## 11. Content & Voice
### Tone
**Approachable, platform-neutral, slightly playful in-product.** The marketing surface speaks the way Discord and TikTok speak about themselves to new users — enthusiastic without being childish, clear about the product, leaving the imaginative work for inside the app. "Get access to 10M+ Characters" — direct, scaled, factual.
In-product the tone shifts to support **roleplay register**: the character speaks in their own voice, action descriptors are italicised (*Sherlock raises an eyebrow*), the platform stays out of the way.
### Microcopy patterns
- **Button verbs (marketing)** — "Sign Up to Chat", "Continue with Google", "Continue with Apple", "Log in", "Try the app".
- **Button verbs (in-product)** — "Send", "Regenerate", "New chat", "Save", "Publish character".
- **Error messages** — `[Field]: [problem].` Example: "Email: please enter a valid email address."
- **Success confirmations** — minimal: "Saved", "Published", "Sent".
- **Empty states** — "Start chatting with [Character]" / "No conversations yet. Find your first Character below."
- **Moderation copy** — clear, non-judgemental: "This message was hidden for safety. [Learn more]."
### CTA verb conventions
The brand uses **specific** verbs:
1. **Sign Up to Chat** — top hero, the canonical conversion phrase.
2. **Continue with [Provider]** — social path, follows OAuth conventions.
3. **Try the app** / **Open the app** — secondary, for users who already have accounts.
4. **Explore Characters** — discovery entry, used on logged-out marketing.
Avoided: *Discover*, *Unlock*, *Get started* (too vague), *Join now* (too sales-y).
### Empty states
- Empty conversation list: "No conversations yet. Find your first Character below."
- Empty character grid: "We couldn't find characters matching that search. Try a different keyword."
- Empty saved characters: "Save your favourite Characters here for quick access."
### Tone anchors
- Direct about scale ("10M+ Characters") because scale is the brand's product-market fit.
- Use second person ("you", "your") in marketing — it's a consumer product.
- Avoid corporate/enterprise verbs (no "leverage", "robust", "innovative").
- In-product, let characters do the talking — Character.AI's voice is the platform's voice; the character's voice is the user's voice.
## 12. Dark Mode & Theming
The marketing surface is **light-only**. The in-product UI ships a **dark theme** that flips the canvas to `#0f0f12` (zinc-950 with blue undertone, matching the primary CTA's pressed state) with text at `#fafafa` and lavender accents shifting to a slightly desaturated `#a784ff` for body-level contrast.
### In-product dark theme tokens
```yaml
colors-dark:
bg: '#0f0f12' # zinc-950 with blue undertone
bg-soft: '#1a1a1f'
surface: '#202024' # cards on zinc-950
surface-hover: '#2a2a30'
text: '#fafafa'
text-muted: '#a1a1a6'
text-soft: '#6b6c70'
brand: '#a784ff' # desaturated lavender for dark
brand-soft: '#2a1f4a'
cta-bg: '#fafafa' # CTA inverts on dark — light pill
cta-text: '#0f0f12'
border: 'rgba(250, 250, 250, 0.12)'
border-strong: 'rgba(250, 250, 250, 0.20)'
```
The dark theme inverts the CTA — primary action becomes a `#fafafa` light pill on dark, mirroring the light-mode dark-pill. This preserves the brand's pill-shape vocabulary across themes.
The marketing surface holds **light** because sign-up flows are higher conversion on light bgs; dark is reserved for the chat product where users spend hours reading.
## 13. Lineage & Influences
Character.AI runs **counter-positioning** against its category. Where Replika, Janitor, Talkie, and similar roleplay/companion products lean into purple-glow cyber or kawaii-pastel aesthetics that signal "fandom platform," Character.AI dresses itself in **zinc-grey neutrality**: a `#f4f4f5` canvas borrowed from Tailwind's zinc scale, a custom **atHauss** sans (humanist with sharp terminals, closer to GT Walsheim than Inter), and a near-black `#202024` primary pill at 30px radius. The social-login rectangles drop to a darker `#131316` at 12px radius — TikTok and Discord run almost identical login surfaces, and Character.AI is signalling membership in *that* register, not in the fandom one.
The lavender `#9b6cff` brand mark surfaces only inside the product UI; the marketing site stays defiantly neutral. The play is legitimacy: a 10M-character marketplace presented as infrastructure, with the implicit promise that the imagination happens *inside the app*, not on the marketing page.
The dual-radius CTA system (30px pill + 12px rectangle) is structurally borrowed from Apple Sign-In + Google Sign-In conventions — Character.AI extends those platform-button shapes onto its own primary pill, creating a sign-up flow that visually integrates with the platform-standard auth UX.
**Named influences**:
- **Discord** ([https://discord.com](https://discord.com)) — Dark social-login rectangles + neutral marketing surface as a model for "platform, not fandom."
- **TikTok** ([https://www.tiktok.com](https://www.tiktok.com)) — Zinc-neutral marketing pages and dark pill CTAs in a consumer-social register.
- **Notion** ([https://www.notion.com](https://www.notion.com)) — Cousin in the off-white + custom-sans editorial register, though Character.AI runs cool-zinc rather than warm-cream.
- **Apple Sign-In + Google Sign-In** — 12px rectangle button conventions; Character.AI's social buttons inherit the radius and dark fill.
- **Tailwind CSS zinc scale** ([https://tailwindcss.com](https://tailwindcss.com)) — The `#f4f4f5` canvas is zinc-100; the entire grayscale ramp tracks Tailwind's zinc tokens.
- **GT Walsheim / Schick Toikka** — Reference for atHauss's humanist-with-sharp-terminals construction.
## 14. Do's and Don'ts
### Do
- **Keep the canvas cool zinc (`#f4f4f5`).** Warm cream collapses Character.AI into the Anthropic/Notion register and weakens the platform posture.
- **Pair the 30px primary pill with 12px social-login rectangles.** The dual-shape ladder is part of the brand recognition.
- **Use atHauss at 600 for headlines** with `-0.72px` tracking. The negative tracking gives the marketing the slight authority it needs.
- **Reserve lavender `#9b6cff` for in-product accents and link-hover.** The marketing site stays neutral.
- **Use `#202024` for primary CTA, `#131316` for social.** The chromatic delta is small but intentional.
- **Honour the 16px card radius for character cards.** It's softer than the 12px input radius — friendly without being cartoonish.
- **Use white-on-zinc value contrast for card lift.** No drop shadow.
- **Set the focus ring as 2px `#9b6cff` with 2px white offset.** Lavender is the brand's accessibility colour.
- **Italicise character action descriptors in-product** (*Charlie laughs*) — that's the roleplay register.
- **Honour `prefers-reduced-motion`.** Card hover scale + translate disable when user opts out.
### Don't
- **Don't introduce purple-glow or cyber aesthetics on the marketing page.** That register belongs to the roleplay competitor set.
- **Don't drop shadows on cards on the marketing surface.** Depth is value contrast on zinc.
- **Don't soften the dark CTAs to dark-grey or navy.** `#202024` near-black with mild blue undertone is the signature.
- **Don't collapse the dual radius (30px + 12px) into a single shape.** The split is structural to the brand.
- **Don't use atHauss at 700 unless absolutely necessary.** 600 is the default; 700 is reserved for display-hero.
- **Don't use kawaii/pastel illustrations.** Character art is character-illustration-grade (in-product), not illustration-cute.
- **Don't write marketing copy in the first person ("we").** The brand speaks in second person to the user.
- **Don't add a third radius to the primary CTA cluster.** Pill + rectangle is the rule.
- **Don't introduce a serif counter-voice** (no editorial pull-quotes). Single-family humanist throughout.
- **Don't use Tailwind slate or gray instead of zinc.** Zinc has the cool-blue undertone; slate is too neutral, gray is too warm.
- **Don't add gradient backgrounds on the marketing surface.** Solid zinc and white only.
- **Don't lavender-fill the primary CTA.** Lavender is for hover, badge, and in-product chrome — never the headline pill.
## 15. Agent Prompt Guide
### Quick Color Reference
```
bg: #f4f4f5
surface: #ffffff
text: #26272b
text-muted: #6b6c70
cta-bg: #202024
cta-text: #fafafa
social-bg: #131316
brand-lavender: #9b6cff
brand-soft: #ede4ff
border: rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)
```
### Example Component Prompts
1. *"Create a Character.AI-style sign-up hero: zinc-100 `#f4f4f5` canvas, headline 'Get access to 10M+ Characters' in atHauss 600 / 36px / -0.72px tracking / `#26272b`. Below the headline: a primary `#202024` pill 'Sign Up to Chat' at 30px radius / `#fafafa` text / 12px 20px padding. Then two social buttons stacked — `#131316` rectangles at 12px radius / `#fafafa` text / 12px 16px padding — labelled 'Continue with Google' and 'Continue with Apple'. Below: a 'Log in' ghost link at 12px radius."*
2. *"Design a Character.AI-style character discovery card: white `#ffffff` panel, 16px radius, `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08)` border, 12px padding. Square avatar at top (16px radius matching card), character name in atHauss 600 / 14px below, 1-line tagline in atHauss 400 / 13px / `#6b6c70` below that, then a tag chip row using `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)` bg / `#3f3f46` text at pill radius."*
3. *"Build a Character.AI-style sign-up modal: white background, 20px radius, `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px` shadow, 32px padding. Backdrop `rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.6)`. Heading 'Welcome to Character.AI' in atHauss 600 / 24px. Email input at 12px radius / `1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)` border. Then primary pill 'Continue' at 30px radius. Below: divider 'OR' then social rectangles."*
4. *"Create a Character.AI-style discovery rail: 4-column grid on desktop (1200px container), 24px gutter. Each cell is a character card (white panel / 16px radius / hairline border). Above the rail: a section title in atHauss 600 / 28px and an eyebrow above that in atHauss 600 / 12px / uppercase / 0.04em tracking / `#6b6c70`."*
5. *"Build a Character.AI-style nav bar: 64px height, `#f4f4f5` bg matching page, no border. Wordmark left ('character.ai' in atHauss 600 / 18px). Right cluster: nav links in atHauss 500 / 14px (`#26272b`), then ghost 'Log in' button (transparent, 12px radius), then primary `#202024` pill 'Sign Up' at 30px radius."*
6. *"Design a Character.AI-style chat row (in-product, dark theme): `#0f0f12` bg, character avatar circle 40px on the left (lavender `#ede4ff` fallback). Character name in atHauss 600 / 14px / `#fafafa`, message in atHauss 400 / 16px / `#fafafa` / 1.5 line-height below. Action descriptors *italicised* in `#a1a1a6`. Hover row bg `#1a1a1f`."*
### Iteration Guide
1. **Start with the canvas at `#f4f4f5`.** If your bg is white or warm-cream, you're in the wrong brand register.
2. **Verify the dual-radius CTA pattern.** Primary at 30px pill, social at 12px rectangle — both must coexist in the sign-up cluster.
3. **Replace any "Discover" or "Get started" CTA copy with "Sign Up to Chat".** That's the canonical phrase.
4. **Set headlines in atHauss 600 with `-0.72px` tracking.** Not Inter, not 700.
5. **Audit lavender usage — keep it to in-product accents, badges, link-hover.** Don't lavender-fill the CTA.
6. **Verify card radius is 16px, not 12px or 20px.** Character cards are softer than inputs, gentler than modals.
7. **Confirm no gradient backgrounds.** Solid zinc and white only.
8. **Replace any drop-shadow card lift with white-on-zinc value contrast.** Shadows live on the modal only.
1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Character.AI’s marketing surface opens onto a cool zinc-grey #f4f4f5 canvas — the Tailwind zinc-100 hue lifted whole — with a 36px headline (“Get access to 10M+ Characters”) set in custom atHauss at 600 weight and -0.72px tracking. The primary CTA is a near-black #202024 pill at 30px radius; the social-login twins (Continue with Google, Continue with Apple) sit just below as slightly darker #131316 rectangles at 12px radius. The chromatic and shape choices are deliberately understated for a roleplay product. The lavender brand accent that animates the in-product UI (#9b6cff) is barely visible on the marketing surface; instead the page reads as platform infrastructure — closer in posture to Discord or TikTok’s developer pages than to a companion-AI competitor.
The strategic move is counter-positioning. Open Replika, Janitor, Pi, Talkie — the roleplay/companion category leans into either purple-glow cyber aesthetics that signal “fandom platform” or kawaii pastel that signals “imaginative play.” Character.AI rejects both. The cool zinc canvas, the custom humanist sans (atHauss reads like GT Walsheim with sharper terminals), the near-black pill, and the dual-radius CTA system all signal legitimacy. The implicit promise: a 10M-character marketplace presented as infrastructure, with the imaginative work happening inside the app, not on the marketing page.
The dual-radius CTA pattern is the brand’s most distinctive structural choice. Primary action is a 30px-radius pill (almost fully rounded but not quite — a near-pill shape that reads as friendly without being cartoonish). Secondary social buttons are 12px-radius rectangles — a 2.5× shape difference from the primary pill that creates immediate visual hierarchy. Most products use a single radius vocabulary; Character.AI’s split is what gives the sign-up flow its distinct rhythm.
Atmospheric vocabulary: zinc-platform, near-black-pill, social-rectangle, custom-humanist, lavender-restrained-to-product, TikTok-Discord-cousin, no-glow, no-cyber, legitimacy-not-fandom, 10M-marketplace. The page reads as a platform’s front door, not a roleplay portal.
Key Characteristics
- Cool zinc-100
#f4f4f5canvas — the Tailwind-borrowed defining surface - Custom atHauss sans at 600 weight with
-0.72pxtracking on h1 - Near-black
#202024primary pill at 30px radius — the signature shape - Darker
#131316social-login rectangles at 12px radius — dual-radius vocabulary - Lavender
#9b6cffreserved almost entirely for in-product UI - Cards lift to white via tonal contrast, not shadow
- 16px card radius for character cards in discovery rails
- Single-family type system — no serif counterpoint, no mono on marketing
- Generous 1.5 line-height across body — humanist breathing room
- Counter-positioning against fandom register: zinc-neutral, not purple-cyber
2. Color Palette & Roles
Primary
- bg
#f4f4f5— cool zinc-100; the defining canvas, drawn straight from Tailwind’s neutral-zinc scale. - text
#26272b— zinc-900 body text; warmer than#000but cooler than slate. - bg-soft
#fafafa— barely-grey for elevated bands. - surface
#ffffff— pure white card lift; cards always pop above the zinc bg. - cta-bg
#202024— near-black with mild blue undertone (the brand fingerprint). Primary CTA. - cta-text
#fafafa— off-white label, never pure white.
Brand & Accent (lavender)
- brand
#9b6cff— Character lavender; in-product card backgrounds, accent gradients, hover-glow on character tiles. - brand-strong
#7e4cff— pressed lavender. - brand-deep
#5a2ee0— accent text on white (badge text, link hover). - brand-soft
#ede4ff— tonal pill bg for status indicators (c.ai+,Premium). - brand-faint
#f7f2ff— quietest lavender tint, used as section background in promotional bands. - brand-glow
rgba(155, 108, 255, 0.32)— in-product card-hover glow effect.
CTA / Action chrome (the dual-shape system)
- primary-pill-bg
#202024— 30px radius, the headline action shape. - social-rectangle-bg
#131316— 12px radius, slightly darker. - outline-button-bg
#ffffff— 30px radius matching primary, hairline border.
The chromatic delta between #202024 and #131316 is small (visible only in close comparison) but intentional. The social buttons are darker than primary because they want to read as platform-standard (Apple SIWA + Google buttons are typically #000 or near-black), while the primary CTA reads as the brand’s own action.
Interactive
- link
#26272b— near-black, underline on hover. - link-hover
#9b6cff— lavender; the only chromatic moment on the marketing site. - selected-bg
#ede4ff— selected character card or row (in-product mostly). - disabled-bg
#e4e4e7— disabled control fill. - disabled-text
#a1a1a6— disabled label. - focus-ring
#9b6cff— 2px solid lavender with 2px white offset on light surfaces; on dark CTA focus uses a 2px white inner ring + 2px#202024outer.
Neutral Scale (zinc ramp)
- zinc-900
#0f0f12— heading-strong, the deepest text. - zinc-800
#26272b— primary body text. - zinc-700
#3f3f46— secondary heading emphasis. - zinc-500
#6b6c70— secondary copy, helper. - zinc-400
#8a8b8f— placeholder, soft caption. - zinc-300
#a1a1a6— disabled, faint metadata. - zinc-200
#e4e4e7— strong panel. - zinc-100
#f4f4f5— the canvas itself.
Surface & Borders
- surface-0 (page) —
#f4f4f5zinc-100. - surface-1 (panel) —
#fafafalifted band. - surface-2 (card) —
#ffffffwhite card. - surface-3 (hover) —
#f8f8f9interactive hover. - border
rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)— zinc-tinted hairline (the default). - border-strong
rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)— emphasized rule. - border-soft
rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)— quietest division.
Shadow Colors
Shadows on the marketing surface are near-absent. The sign-up modal is the one place a real shadow appears: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px. Card-hover gets a subtle zinc-tinted shadow only in-product. Elsewhere, depth is value contrast on zinc.
Semantic
- success —
#dcfce7/#15803d. Used for “Profile saved”, “Character published”. - warning —
#fef3c7/#854d0e. Used for moderation flags, age-gate warnings. - danger —
#fee2e2/#b91c1c. Used for blocked content, account suspension. - info —
#ede4ff/#5a2ee0. Reuses lavender pair — signals “Character.AI brand info”.
3. Typography Rules
Font Family
- Display & Body: atHauss, a custom humanist sans with sharp terminals (closer to GT Walsheim than to Inter or Söhne). Loaded with weights 400 / 500 / 600 / 700. The face has a slightly taller x-height than Inter, which is what gives Character.AI’s body type its distinctive “modern but readable” cadence.
- Fallback:
ui-sans-serif → system-ui → -apple-system → Segoe UI → Roboto → Helvetica Neue → Arial → sans-serif. The chain prioritises platform-default sans on every OS — keeping the marketing surface looking native to the user’s device when atHauss fails to load. - Mono: System mono only (
ui-monospace, "SF Mono", Menlo, Consolas, monospace). Character.AI does not ship a custom mono and barely uses mono on the marketing surface — a single weight 400 / 500 only. - OpenType features:
kernalways;ss01on display (cleaner alt-a);tnumon the rare tabular number block (in-product analytics).
Hierarchy
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | OT Features | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| display-hero | atHauss | 64 | 700 | 1.05 | -1.28px | ss01 | Marketing landing hero (rare) |
| display | atHauss | 48 | 600 | 1.1 | -0.96px | — | Section openers |
| h1 | atHauss | 36 | 600 | 1.15 | -0.72px | — | Standard hero (“Get access to 10M+ Characters”) |
| h2 | atHauss | 28 | 600 | 1.2 | -0.56px | — | Section heading |
| h3 | atHauss | 24 | 600 | 1.25 | -0.48px | — | Subsection / card heading |
| h4 | atHauss | 20 | 600 | 1.3 | -0.4px | — | Inline heading |
| h5 | atHauss | 18 | 500 | 1.35 | normal | — | Lead-in |
| eyebrow | atHauss | 12 | 600 | 1.4 | 0.04em | uppercase | Section label |
| body-large | atHauss | 18 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | Lede |
| body | atHauss | 16 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | Default body |
| body-small | atHauss | 14 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | Secondary copy |
| caption | atHauss | 13 | 400 | 1.4 | normal | — | Helper text |
| caption-tabular | mono | 13 | 500 | 1.4 | normal | tnum | Token / metric |
| label | atHauss | 12 | 500 | 1.3 | normal | — | Form labels, tags |
| label-cta | atHauss | 14 | 500 | 1.2 | normal | — | Button text |
| code | mono | 13 | 400 | 1.5 | normal | — | API doc inline (rare) |
Principles
- Negative tracking on display, generous on body. Headlines compress at
-0.72pxto-1.28px; body holds at normal tracking with 1.5 line-height — the gap is the tone. - 600 is the heading weight. atHauss at 600 reads as confident-but-friendly; 700 is reserved for the rare display-hero. Never go below 500 for h1-h4.
- Single-family type system. No serif pull-quotes, no editorial counter-voice. The marketing surface speaks in one humanist register.
- Body line-height of 1.5 on a 16px base. Standard humanist breathing room — comfortable for the long character-bio paragraphs.
- Mono is rare. Only used for in-product token counts or metric numbers. No mono badges on marketing.
- Letter-spacing in pixels on display. atHauss tracking values are quoted in
-0.72pxnot-0.02em— the px-anchored spec is the brand’s house style. - No italic body emphasis. Use weight 500 on body for emphasis; italic is reserved for in-product character action descriptors like Charlie laughs.
4. Component Stylings
Buttons
Primary pill (30px radius) — #202024 bg, #fafafa text, atHauss 500 / 14px, padding 12px 20px. Hover deepens to #0f0f12; active to #000000. The “Sign Up to Chat” pill is the headline action across every entry point.
Social rectangle (12px radius) — #131316 bg, #fafafa text, atHauss 500 / 14px, padding 12px 16px. Hover collapses to #202024 (matching primary). Used for Continue with Google / Continue with Apple. The shape difference from primary pill is intentional — social buttons read as platform-standard.
Secondary outlined pill (30px radius) — #ffffff bg, #26272b text, 1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) border, atHauss 500 / 14px. Same radius as primary but inverted chrome.
Ghost (12px radius) — transparent, #26272b text, hover wash rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06). Used for nav links and inline actions.
Cards
Character card — #ffffff bg, 1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08) border, 16px radius, 12px padding. Layout: square avatar top (16px radius matching card), character name in atHauss 600 / 14px below, tagline in atHauss 400 / 13px / #6b6c70. Hover lifts: rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08) 0 12px 24px -8px shadow with subtle 1.02 scale (in-product only).
Feature card — #ffffff bg, 1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) border, 16px radius, 24px padding. Used in marketing strip for product highlights.
Badges, Tags, Pills
Tag chip (neutral) — rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06) bg, #3f3f46 text, atHauss 500 / 12px, pill radius (9999). Used for character tags: Anime, Movie, Game, Anime Game Character.
Lavender status pill — #ede4ff bg, #5a2ee0 text, atHauss 500 / 12px, pill radius. Used for c.ai+, Premium, New. The lavender appears here.
Inputs & Forms
Default input — #ffffff bg, 1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20) border, 12px radius, 12px 16px padding, atHauss 400 / 16px, #8a8b8f placeholder. Focus ring 0 0 0 2px #9b6cff with 2px white offset. The 12px radius matches social-button radius (forms read as platform-grade).
Form labels — atHauss 500 / 14px, #26272b, 8px margin-bottom from input.
Helper text — atHauss 400 / 13px, #6b6c70, 4px margin-top from input.
Error state — border #fee2e2; helper text flips to #b91c1c.
Navigation
Top nav — 64px header height, #f4f4f5 bg (matches page), no border, no shadow. Wordmark left in atHauss 600. Nav links right at atHauss 500 / 14px / #26272b. Right-most cluster: ghost “Log in” button + primary “Sign Up” pill.
Footer nav — flat list set in atHauss 400 / 14px / #6b6c70, 4-column grid on desktop.
Modal / Sign-up sheet
Sign-up modal — #ffffff bg, 20px radius (slightly larger than card radius), 32px padding, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px shadow. Backdrop rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.6). Contains primary pill at top + social rectangles below + “Continue as guest” ghost link at bottom. Initial focus on first input; ESC dismisses.
Avatars
Character avatar — 9999 radius circle, #ede4ff lavender fallback bg with character initial in atHauss 500. Sizes ladder: 32 / 40 / 48 / 64 / 96px.
Tooltips
Tooltip — #202024 bg, #fafafa text, 8px radius, atHauss 400 / 13px, 8px 12px padding, 200ms fade-in.
Toasts
Toast — #ffffff bg, 1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) border, 12px radius, ambient shadow, 12px 16px padding. Slide-up from bottom, 320ms ease-out.
5. Layout Principles
Spacing System
Base unit 4px. Scale: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 40, 48, 64, 80, 96. Component padding lives in 8–24; section padding in 64–96. Slightly denser than infrastructure-AI brands (Cartesia, Anthropic) to signal “social platform, not paper preview.”
Grid & Container
- Page max-width: 1200px, centred,
clamp(16px, 4vw, 48px)site gutter. - Hero prose-width: 720px max.
- Marketing prose-width: 640px (denser than infrastructure prose).
- Grid columns: 12, 24px gutter.
- Character discovery rail: 4-up grid on desktop, 3-up tablet, 2-up mobile.
- Feature grid: typically 3-up for marketing strip.
Whitespace Philosophy
Between sections: 64–96px on desktop, 48px on mobile — denser than infrastructure brands. The page is sign-up-gated; the marketing strip below is intentionally compact, designed to be scrolled past quickly to reach the auth flow.
Section Cadence
The page alternates #f4f4f5 zinc canvas and #ffffff white bands every 1–2 sections to chunk the narrative. There is no dark band on marketing — dark surfaces live in-product (chat UI, character editor).
6. Shapes & Radius Scale
| Tier | Value | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | 4px | Inline tags, dense form chips |
| Small | 8px | Tooltips, inline pills |
| Medium | 12px | Inputs, social-rectangle CTAs, ghost buttons |
| Card | 16px | Character cards, feature cards, default panels |
| Large | 20px | Modal sheets, large promotional cards |
| Pill | 30px | Primary CTA pill — the brand signature |
| Pill-full | 9999px | Status badges, character tags, avatars |
The dual primary radii — 30px pill + 12px social rectangle — are the brand’s structural fingerprint. Most products run a single radius vocabulary; Character.AI’s split creates immediate hierarchy in the sign-up CTA cluster. Don’t collapse the difference.
7. Depth & Elevation
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (flat) | No shadow, no border | Page bg, zinc canvas |
| 1 (hairline) | 1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08–0.12) border, no shadow | Cards, inputs |
| 2 (tonal) | White card on zinc bg, no shadow | Default character card lift |
| 3 (ambient) | rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.04) 0 1px 3px | Toasts (subtle) |
| 4 (elevated) | rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12) 0 16px 32px -12px | Card-hover in-product, tooltip |
| 5 (modal) | rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12px | Sign-up modal sheet |
Shadow Philosophy
Character.AI’s marketing surface is flat-on-zinc. Cards lift via white-on-zinc-100 value contrast, not blur. The only place a real shadow appears is the sign-up modal. In-product, the character-card hover gets a subtle zinc-tinted shadow plus a 1.02 scale — but that’s a product UI move, not a marketing one. Shadows are zinc-tinted (never neutral black, never lavender).
8. Interaction & Motion
Easing curves
- Standard —
cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)— default for hover, focus. - Emphasized —
cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)— incoming elements (modal opens, toasts). - Out —
cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)— overshoot-free decelerate. - Snappy —
cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1)— character-card hover lift, scale transitions.
Duration buckets
- Instant — 80ms — focus ring, button press.
- Fast — 120ms — hover bg shift, link underline reveal.
- Standard — 200ms — default transition.
- Slow — 320ms — card hover lift, modal opens.
- Page — 400ms — route transition between marketing pages.
Per-component micro-states
- Primary pill hover — bg shifts
#202024 → #0f0f12over120ms ease-standard. No translate. - Social rectangle hover — bg shifts
#131316 → #202024over120ms. The chromatic collapse to primary CTA tone signals “this is a primary path too.” - Character card hover — translate Y
-2px+ ambient shadow + 1.02 scale (in-product) over320ms ease-snappy. Marketing version stays static. - Link hover — colour shift
#26272b → #9b6cffover120ms. The lavender is the brand peeking through. - Input focus — 2px lavender ring fades in
80ms; border colour swaps to#9b6cffsimultaneously. - Modal open — backdrop fades 0 → 0.6 over
200ms; modal scales0.96 → 1+ translates Y+8px → 0over320ms ease-emphasized.
Page transitions
Marketing pages are mostly static; section anchors use scroll-behavior: smooth over 400ms. In-product chat transitions use a fade-through pattern with ease-out.
Reduced-motion strategy
prefers-reduced-motion: reduce is fully honoured. Translate transforms become opacity fades. Scale animations become opacity-only. Durations halve. Smooth scroll disables. Character card hover lift disables entirely.
9. Accessibility & A11y
Contrast pairs (computed)
| Pair | Ratio | WCAG |
|---|---|---|
#26272b on #f4f4f5 (body) | 13.1:1 | AAA |
#fafafa on #202024 (CTA) | 13.6:1 | AAA |
#fafafa on #131316 (social) | 18.2:1 | AAA |
#6b6c70 on #f4f4f5 (muted) | 5.4:1 | AA at body |
#fafafa on #9b6cff (lavender CTA) | 4.8:1 | AA at body |
#5a2ee0 on #ede4ff (badge) | 7.2:1 | AAA |
#3f3f46 on rgba(38,39,43,0.06) flat (tag) | 9.0:1 | AAA |
Focus indicators
2px solid #9b6cff with 2px white offset on light surfaces. On dark CTAs (where lavender wouldn’t read) the focus uses 2px white inner ring + 2px outer #202024 — this is the Stripe-derived pattern adapted for Character.AI’s dual-shape CTA system.
ARIA patterns
- Sign-up modal —
role="dialog"+aria-modal="true"+aria-labelledbyreferencing the modal title +aria-describedbyfor the lede. Initial focus on first input; ESC dismisses; tab cycles within modal. - Character card (link) —
role="link"witharia-labelcombining character name + tagline + interaction count for screen readers. - Social buttons — proper
<button>semantics witharia-label="Continue with Google"(the visible “Continue with Google” text suffices, but explicit aria-label is defensive). - Tag chips —
role="button"(when filterable) witharia-pressedto indicate selected state. - Tooltips —
role="tooltip"+aria-describedbyon trigger.
Keyboard navigation
- Tab order matches reading order — wordmark, nav links, primary CTA, hero, feature strip, footer.
- ESC dismisses modals, tooltips, dropdowns.
- Enter activates links, primary buttons; Space activates buttons.
- Arrow keys move within character-card discovery rail when focus enters the rail.
- Skip-to-content link on first Tab.
Screen reader hints
- Character cards announce:
[Character Name], [Tagline], [N] interactions, [Tag list]. - Lavender brand mark uses
aria-hidden="true"for decorative SVG; visible “Character.AI” wordmark remains. - The 30px-radius primary pill and 12px social rectangle both render as standard
<button>— no custom ARIA needed beyond labels.
Reduced motion
Honoured globally. See §8.
10. Responsive Behavior
Breakpoints
| Name | Min-width | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| mobile | 0 | Single column, 16px gutter, hero copy at 28px |
| tablet | 640px | 2-up character grid, hero at 32px |
| desktop | 1024px | 3-up grid, hero at 36px |
| wide | 1280px | 4-up character discovery, full nav visible |
| max | 1440px | Container caps at 1200px |
Touch targets
All interactive elements honour 44×44px minimum. The primary pill at 12px 20px padding renders at ~44px tall. Social buttons at the same padding render at ~44px. Character cards on mobile expand their hit area to the full card.
Collapsing strategy
- Hero — single-column on mobile (copy → CTA → social buttons stacked). Desktop has a side illustration in some variants.
- Character discovery rail — 4 → 3 → 2 columns by breakpoint.
- Feature grid — 3-up desktop, 2-up tablet, 1-up mobile.
- Top nav — links collapse into a hamburger drawer at <1024px; primary “Sign Up” pill remains visible in the header.
- Sign-up modal — desktop modal becomes a full-page sheet on mobile, sliding up from the bottom.
Image behaviour
- All character avatars are AVIF with WebP fallback.
loading="lazy"on every below-the-fold avatar.aspect-ratio: 1on avatar containers prevents CLS.- Hero illustration centre-aligns and caps at 480px on mobile.
Container queries
Used on the character card — at @container (max-width: 200px) the avatar shifts to a 16:9 aspect (rare condensed state).
11. Content & Voice
Tone
Approachable, platform-neutral, slightly playful in-product. The marketing surface speaks the way Discord and TikTok speak about themselves to new users — enthusiastic without being childish, clear about the product, leaving the imaginative work for inside the app. “Get access to 10M+ Characters” — direct, scaled, factual.
In-product the tone shifts to support roleplay register: the character speaks in their own voice, action descriptors are italicised (Sherlock raises an eyebrow), the platform stays out of the way.
Microcopy patterns
- Button verbs (marketing) — “Sign Up to Chat”, “Continue with Google”, “Continue with Apple”, “Log in”, “Try the app”.
- Button verbs (in-product) — “Send”, “Regenerate”, “New chat”, “Save”, “Publish character”.
- Error messages —
[Field]: [problem].Example: “Email: please enter a valid email address.” - Success confirmations — minimal: “Saved”, “Published”, “Sent”.
- Empty states — “Start chatting with [Character]” / “No conversations yet. Find your first Character below.”
- Moderation copy — clear, non-judgemental: “This message was hidden for safety. [Learn more].”
CTA verb conventions
The brand uses specific verbs:
- Sign Up to Chat — top hero, the canonical conversion phrase.
- Continue with [Provider] — social path, follows OAuth conventions.
- Try the app / Open the app — secondary, for users who already have accounts.
- Explore Characters — discovery entry, used on logged-out marketing.
Avoided: Discover, Unlock, Get started (too vague), Join now (too sales-y).
Empty states
- Empty conversation list: “No conversations yet. Find your first Character below.”
- Empty character grid: “We couldn’t find characters matching that search. Try a different keyword.”
- Empty saved characters: “Save your favourite Characters here for quick access.”
Tone anchors
- Direct about scale (“10M+ Characters”) because scale is the brand’s product-market fit.
- Use second person (“you”, “your”) in marketing — it’s a consumer product.
- Avoid corporate/enterprise verbs (no “leverage”, “robust”, “innovative”).
- In-product, let characters do the talking — Character.AI’s voice is the platform’s voice; the character’s voice is the user’s voice.
12. Dark Mode & Theming
The marketing surface is light-only. The in-product UI ships a dark theme that flips the canvas to #0f0f12 (zinc-950 with blue undertone, matching the primary CTA’s pressed state) with text at #fafafa and lavender accents shifting to a slightly desaturated #a784ff for body-level contrast.
In-product dark theme tokens
colors-dark:
bg: '#0f0f12' # zinc-950 with blue undertone
bg-soft: '#1a1a1f'
surface: '#202024' # cards on zinc-950
surface-hover: '#2a2a30'
text: '#fafafa'
text-muted: '#a1a1a6'
text-soft: '#6b6c70'
brand: '#a784ff' # desaturated lavender for dark
brand-soft: '#2a1f4a'
cta-bg: '#fafafa' # CTA inverts on dark — light pill
cta-text: '#0f0f12'
border: 'rgba(250, 250, 250, 0.12)'
border-strong: 'rgba(250, 250, 250, 0.20)'The dark theme inverts the CTA — primary action becomes a #fafafa light pill on dark, mirroring the light-mode dark-pill. This preserves the brand’s pill-shape vocabulary across themes.
The marketing surface holds light because sign-up flows are higher conversion on light bgs; dark is reserved for the chat product where users spend hours reading.
13. Lineage & Influences
Character.AI runs counter-positioning against its category. Where Replika, Janitor, Talkie, and similar roleplay/companion products lean into purple-glow cyber or kawaii-pastel aesthetics that signal “fandom platform,” Character.AI dresses itself in zinc-grey neutrality: a #f4f4f5 canvas borrowed from Tailwind’s zinc scale, a custom atHauss sans (humanist with sharp terminals, closer to GT Walsheim than Inter), and a near-black #202024 primary pill at 30px radius. The social-login rectangles drop to a darker #131316 at 12px radius — TikTok and Discord run almost identical login surfaces, and Character.AI is signalling membership in that register, not in the fandom one.
The lavender #9b6cff brand mark surfaces only inside the product UI; the marketing site stays defiantly neutral. The play is legitimacy: a 10M-character marketplace presented as infrastructure, with the implicit promise that the imagination happens inside the app, not on the marketing page.
The dual-radius CTA system (30px pill + 12px rectangle) is structurally borrowed from Apple Sign-In + Google Sign-In conventions — Character.AI extends those platform-button shapes onto its own primary pill, creating a sign-up flow that visually integrates with the platform-standard auth UX.
Named influences:
- Discord (https://discord.com) — Dark social-login rectangles + neutral marketing surface as a model for “platform, not fandom.”
- TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com) — Zinc-neutral marketing pages and dark pill CTAs in a consumer-social register.
- Notion (https://www.notion.com) — Cousin in the off-white + custom-sans editorial register, though Character.AI runs cool-zinc rather than warm-cream.
- Apple Sign-In + Google Sign-In — 12px rectangle button conventions; Character.AI’s social buttons inherit the radius and dark fill.
- Tailwind CSS zinc scale (https://tailwindcss.com) — The
#f4f4f5canvas is zinc-100; the entire grayscale ramp tracks Tailwind’s zinc tokens. - GT Walsheim / Schick Toikka — Reference for atHauss’s humanist-with-sharp-terminals construction.
14. Do’s and Don’ts
Do
- Keep the canvas cool zinc (
#f4f4f5). Warm cream collapses Character.AI into the Anthropic/Notion register and weakens the platform posture. - Pair the 30px primary pill with 12px social-login rectangles. The dual-shape ladder is part of the brand recognition.
- Use atHauss at 600 for headlines with
-0.72pxtracking. The negative tracking gives the marketing the slight authority it needs. - Reserve lavender
#9b6cfffor in-product accents and link-hover. The marketing site stays neutral. - Use
#202024for primary CTA,#131316for social. The chromatic delta is small but intentional. - Honour the 16px card radius for character cards. It’s softer than the 12px input radius — friendly without being cartoonish.
- Use white-on-zinc value contrast for card lift. No drop shadow.
- Set the focus ring as 2px
#9b6cffwith 2px white offset. Lavender is the brand’s accessibility colour. - Italicise character action descriptors in-product (Charlie laughs) — that’s the roleplay register.
- Honour
prefers-reduced-motion. Card hover scale + translate disable when user opts out.
Don’t
- Don’t introduce purple-glow or cyber aesthetics on the marketing page. That register belongs to the roleplay competitor set.
- Don’t drop shadows on cards on the marketing surface. Depth is value contrast on zinc.
- Don’t soften the dark CTAs to dark-grey or navy.
#202024near-black with mild blue undertone is the signature. - Don’t collapse the dual radius (30px + 12px) into a single shape. The split is structural to the brand.
- Don’t use atHauss at 700 unless absolutely necessary. 600 is the default; 700 is reserved for display-hero.
- Don’t use kawaii/pastel illustrations. Character art is character-illustration-grade (in-product), not illustration-cute.
- Don’t write marketing copy in the first person (“we”). The brand speaks in second person to the user.
- Don’t add a third radius to the primary CTA cluster. Pill + rectangle is the rule.
- Don’t introduce a serif counter-voice (no editorial pull-quotes). Single-family humanist throughout.
- Don’t use Tailwind slate or gray instead of zinc. Zinc has the cool-blue undertone; slate is too neutral, gray is too warm.
- Don’t add gradient backgrounds on the marketing surface. Solid zinc and white only.
- Don’t lavender-fill the primary CTA. Lavender is for hover, badge, and in-product chrome — never the headline pill.
15. Agent Prompt Guide
Quick Color Reference
bg: #f4f4f5
surface: #ffffff
text: #26272b
text-muted: #6b6c70
cta-bg: #202024
cta-text: #fafafa
social-bg: #131316
brand-lavender: #9b6cff
brand-soft: #ede4ff
border: rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.12)Example Component Prompts
-
“Create a Character.AI-style sign-up hero: zinc-100
#f4f4f5canvas, headline ‘Get access to 10M+ Characters’ in atHauss 600 / 36px / -0.72px tracking /#26272b. Below the headline: a primary#202024pill ‘Sign Up to Chat’ at 30px radius /#fafafatext / 12px 20px padding. Then two social buttons stacked —#131316rectangles at 12px radius /#fafafatext / 12px 16px padding — labelled ‘Continue with Google’ and ‘Continue with Apple’. Below: a ‘Log in’ ghost link at 12px radius.” -
“Design a Character.AI-style character discovery card: white
#ffffffpanel, 16px radius,1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.08)border, 12px padding. Square avatar at top (16px radius matching card), character name in atHauss 600 / 14px below, 1-line tagline in atHauss 400 / 13px /#6b6c70below that, then a tag chip row usingrgba(38, 39, 43, 0.06)bg /#3f3f46text at pill radius.” -
“Build a Character.AI-style sign-up modal: white background, 20px radius,
rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18) 0 24px 48px -12pxshadow, 32px padding. Backdroprgba(38, 39, 43, 0.6). Heading ‘Welcome to Character.AI’ in atHauss 600 / 24px. Email input at 12px radius /1px rgba(38, 39, 43, 0.20)border. Then primary pill ‘Continue’ at 30px radius. Below: divider ‘OR’ then social rectangles.” -
“Create a Character.AI-style discovery rail: 4-column grid on desktop (1200px container), 24px gutter. Each cell is a character card (white panel / 16px radius / hairline border). Above the rail: a section title in atHauss 600 / 28px and an eyebrow above that in atHauss 600 / 12px / uppercase / 0.04em tracking /
#6b6c70.” -
“Build a Character.AI-style nav bar: 64px height,
#f4f4f5bg matching page, no border. Wordmark left (‘character.ai’ in atHauss 600 / 18px). Right cluster: nav links in atHauss 500 / 14px (#26272b), then ghost ‘Log in’ button (transparent, 12px radius), then primary#202024pill ‘Sign Up’ at 30px radius.” -
“Design a Character.AI-style chat row (in-product, dark theme):
#0f0f12bg, character avatar circle 40px on the left (lavender#ede4fffallback). Character name in atHauss 600 / 14px /#fafafa, message in atHauss 400 / 16px /#fafafa/ 1.5 line-height below. Action descriptors italicised in#a1a1a6. Hover row bg#1a1a1f.”
Iteration Guide
- Start with the canvas at
#f4f4f5. If your bg is white or warm-cream, you’re in the wrong brand register. - Verify the dual-radius CTA pattern. Primary at 30px pill, social at 12px rectangle — both must coexist in the sign-up cluster.
- Replace any “Discover” or “Get started” CTA copy with “Sign Up to Chat”. That’s the canonical phrase.
- Set headlines in atHauss 600 with
-0.72pxtracking. Not Inter, not 700. - Audit lavender usage — keep it to in-product accents, badges, link-hover. Don’t lavender-fill the CTA.
- Verify card radius is 16px, not 12px or 20px. Character cards are softer than inputs, gentler than modals.
- Confirm no gradient backgrounds. Solid zinc and white only.
- Replace any drop-shadow card lift with white-on-zinc value contrast. Shadows live on the modal only.
Drop character-ai into your project, then ship the actual sections in an afternoon.
1 · install design
npx design-md add character-ai 2 · ship landing page
npx agentkit init --design character-ai bright sans
Discord
Indigo-ground hangout — gg sans body, ABC Ginto Nord display, 12-16px tile radii, white…
Docs
Install
Discord
webdesignhot
light editorial
Notion
Off-white canvas with Lyon serif accents and a custom NotionInter — a workspace dressed…
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Notion
webdesignhot
light dark
Replicate
AI-API marketing — light page chrome, dark hero canvas, rb-Freigeist Neue display, JetBr…
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Replicate
webdesignhot