luxury · dark · sans · photography · cinematic · premium
Mercedes-Benz
Three-pointed-star authority — MBCorpo on near-black canvas, silver-blue
By webdesignhot · www.mercedes-benz.com
$ npx design-md add mercedes-benz
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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. Character.AI Cool zinc canvas, custom atHauss sans, and dark pill CTAs — a roleplay social product dressed in TikTok-grade neutrality. 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. 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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Tokens design.md/v1.5
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#000000 - bg-elevated
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#ffffff - surface
#1a1a1a - surface-strong
#2a2a2a - surface-light
#f5f5f5 - surface-on-light
#ffffff - text AAA · 21.0
#ffffff - text-strong
#ffffff - text-body
#a8a8a8 - text-muted
#7a7a7a - text-faint AA·LG · 3.0
#5a5a5a - text-on-light
#000000 - text-body-on-light
#3a3a3a - brand AAA · 8.2
#00adef - brand-hover
#0095d0 - brand-active
#007fb3 - brand-soft
#d4f1fc - brand-deep
#003d5b - on-brand
#ffffff - accent-amg-red
#cc0000 - accent-amg-yellow
#fdca00 - accent-maybach-rose
#ddc090 - border — · 1.5
#2a2a2a - border-soft
#1a1a1a - border-on-light
#d8d8d8 - link
#ffffff - link-hover
#00adef - ring
#00adef - ring-on-light
#000000 - success
#00a651 - warning
#ffa500 - danger
#cc0000 - info
#00adef
Ship faster than ever.
display-mega "MBCorpo Title" 88px w400 -0.88px
Ship faster than ever.
display-xl "MBCorpo Title" 64px w400 -0.64px
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
spec-value "MBCorpo Title" 64px w400 -0.64px
Ship faster than ever.
display-lg "MBCorpo Title" 48px w400 -0.48px
Ship faster than ever.
display-md "MBCorpo Title" 32px w400 -0.16px
Ship faster than ever.
display-sm "MBCorpo Title" 24px w500
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
title-md "MBCorpo Text" 18px w700
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body-lg "MBCorpo Text" 18px w400
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
title-sm "MBCorpo Text" 16px w700
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body "MBCorpo Text" 14px w400
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
button "MBCorpo Text" 14px w500 1.4px
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
nav-link "MBCorpo Text" 13px w500 0.8px
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body-sm "MBCorpo Text" 12px w400
npx design-md add linear
code "SF Mono" 12px w400
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
caption "MBCorpo Text" 11px w400
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
eyebrow "MBCorpo Text" 11px w500 1.6px
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
spec-label "MBCorpo Text" 11px w500 1.6px
- step-0 4px
- step-1 8px
- step-2 12px
- step-3 16px
- step-4 24px
- step-5 32px
- step-6 40px
- step-7 48px
- step-8 64px
- step-9 80px
- step-10 96px
- step-11 128px
- none
0px - xs
2px - sm
4px - md
6px - lg
8px - xl
12px - xxl
16px - pill
9999px
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Mercedes-Benz's digital surface inherits the flagship-luxury cinema of S-Class print campaigns more than the spec-sheet density of typical OEM sites. The black canvas is borrowed from luxury fashion (Bottega Veneta, Chanel) where pure black signals flagship rather than mass-market. The silver-blue `#00adef` is a strategic re-deployment of the EQ electric-program hue across the entire brand surface — it functions as the interactive voltage where competitors use red or yellow. Tracked uppercase navigation and CTA labels borrow from German design heritage (Bauhaus, Ulm School) — disciplined, engineered, intentional. What it rejects: ornamental gradients (except in EQ-content), warm color temperatures, casual sentence-case CTAs, anything that competes with the three-pointed-star authority.
- Disciplined uppercase tracking, geometric typography, function-over-decoration
- Luxury-fashion black canvas as flagship signal, single-accent restraint
- Full-viewport cinematic hero photography, photographic depth as primary chrome
- Editorial pacing on flagship products, generous whitespace rhythm
- EV-program color discipline borrowed back to the parent brand
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---
name: Mercedes-Benz
tagline: Three-pointed-star authority — MBCorpo on near-black canvas, silver-blue #00adef accent, tracked uppercase nav.
author: webdesignhot
source_url: https://www.mercedes-benz.com
spec: design.md/v1.5
quality: curated
featured: false
categories: [automotive]
tags: [luxury, dark, sans, photography, cinematic, premium]
preview_swatch: ['#000000', '#00adef', '#ffffff']
related: [bmw, ferrari, tesla]
description: 'Mercedes-Benz''s site reads as luxury-flagship cinema — black-canvas-by-default, holding white display headlines in MBCorpo Text and a single chromatic voltage in the brand''s signature **silver-blue** `#00adef` (the EQ electric-program hue, but functioning as the brand interactive accent across the marketing surface). The black canvas `#000000` is pure black — Mercedes deliberately refuses near-blacks; the absolute black ground is part of the luxury-flagship voice. Section rhythm alternates full-bleed cinematic hero photography (S-Class portraits, AMG track sequences, EQS interior detail) with tighter editorial bands holding spec callouts and feature comparisons. The three-pointed star dominates the chrome — center-top in nav, watermarked over hero photography, embossed in the closing footer. Custom typeface MBCorpo carries every text role; CTA labels render uppercase with generous tracking. The discipline is German engineering elevated to flagship-luxury voice.'
colors:
bg: '#000000' # pure black canvas — luxury flagship voice
bg-elevated: '#0a0a0a' # near-black tier — cards, surface variant on dark
bg-light: '#ffffff' # paper-white editorial bands (configurator, dealer locator)
surface: '#1a1a1a' # canvas-elevated — feature cards, spec panels on dark
surface-strong: '#2a2a2a' # heavier panel on dark
surface-light: '#f5f5f5' # neutral grey panel on light editorial bands
surface-on-light: '#ffffff' # card surface on white editorial bands
text: '#ffffff' # ink — display + body on dark canvas
text-strong: '#ffffff' # body-strong — same hex as ink
text-body: '#a8a8a8' # default running body copy on dark
text-muted: '#7a7a7a' # captions, metadata on dark
text-faint: '#5a5a5a' # disabled, footer secondary on dark
text-on-light: '#000000' # pure black on light editorial bands
text-body-on-light: '#3a3a3a' # running body on white
brand: '#00adef' # Mercedes silver-blue (EQ electric-program hue)
brand-hover: '#0095d0' # press state
brand-active: '#007fb3' # deeper press
brand-soft: '#d4f1fc' # softest tint — selected nav, badge bg on light
brand-deep: '#003d5b' # deep navy used in EQ-content gradients
on-brand: '#ffffff' # white on silver-blue
accent-amg-red: '#cc0000' # AMG sub-brand accent — track content, performance callouts
accent-amg-yellow: '#fdca00' # AMG performance accent (Lewis Hamilton, F1 program)
accent-maybach-rose: '#ddc090' # Maybach sub-brand champagne tone
border: '#2a2a2a' # 1px hairline on dark
border-soft: '#1a1a1a' # softer divider on dark
border-on-light: '#d8d8d8' # 1px hairline on light editorial band
link: '#ffffff' # inline links inherit ink + underline
link-hover: '#00adef' # silver-blue shift on hover
ring: '#00adef' # focus ring on dark
ring-on-light: '#000000' # focus ring on light
success: '#00a651' # confirmation
warning: '#ffa500' # validation warnings
danger: '#cc0000' # form errors (shares AMG red)
info: '#00adef' # info badges (shares brand silver-blue)
typography:
display:
family: '"MBCorpo Title", "MBCorpo Text", "Daimler CS", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif'
weights: [400, 500, 700]
opentype-features: []
body:
family: '"MBCorpo Text", "Daimler CS", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif'
weights: [400, 500, 700]
opentype-features: []
mono:
family: '"SF Mono", Menlo, Consolas, monospace'
weights: [400]
scale:
display-mega: { size: 88, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.05, tracking: '-0.88px', family: display, notes: 'Homepage hero h1 — model name over cinema photograph' }
display-xl: { size: 64, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.10, tracking: '-0.64px', family: display, notes: 'Subsidiary heroes, model-line headlines' }
display-lg: { size: 48, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.15, tracking: '-0.48px', family: display, notes: 'Section heads, feature band headlines' }
display-md: { size: 32, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.25, tracking: '-0.16px', family: display, notes: 'Sub-section heads, card titles in feature grid' }
display-sm: { size: 24, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.30, tracking: 'normal', family: display, notes: 'Component titles, navigation flyout heads' }
title-md: { size: 18, weight: 700, lineHeight: 1.35, tracking: 'normal', family: body, notes: 'Card titles, list section labels' }
title-sm: { size: 16, weight: 700, lineHeight: 1.40, tracking: 'normal', family: body, notes: 'Small section titles' }
body-lg: { size: 18, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.55, tracking: 'normal', family: body, notes: 'Editorial body, intro paragraphs' }
body: { size: 14, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.55, tracking: 'normal', family: body, notes: 'Default running text — Mercedes uses 14 as default body' }
body-sm: { size: 12, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.50, tracking: 'normal', family: body, notes: 'Footer body, fine print' }
caption: { size: 11, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.45, tracking: 'normal', family: body, notes: 'Photo captions' }
eyebrow: { size: 11, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.40, tracking: '1.6px', family: body, notes: 'Section eyebrows above display heads — uppercase, generous tracking' }
button: { size: 14, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.00, tracking: '1.4px', family: body, notes: 'CTA labels — uppercase, generous tracking' }
nav-link: { size: 13, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.40, tracking: '0.8px', family: body, notes: 'Top-nav menu items — uppercase' }
spec-value: { size: 64, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.05, tracking: '-0.64px', family: display, notes: 'Engine spec values' }
spec-label: { size: 11, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.40, tracking: '1.6px', family: body, notes: 'Spec metric labels — uppercase' }
code: { size: 12, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.50, tracking: 'normal', family: mono, notes: 'Rare — developer-only surfaces' }
radius:
none: 0 # spec tables, hero photo containers
xs: 2 # decorative chips
sm: 4 # text inputs, small badges
md: 6 # secondary cards, compact UI
lg: 8 # default CTA radius — disciplined, not pill
xl: 12 # primary feature cards
xxl: 16 # photo cards
pill: 9999 # avatar plates only (rare)
spacing:
base: 4
scale: [4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 64, 80, 96, 128]
layout:
page-width: 1440
prose-width: 720
header-height: 72
hero-height: '100vh on homepage; 800px on model pages'
section-padding: 96
card-grid-gutter: 24
components:
top-nav:
bg: '#000000'
text: '#ffffff'
typography: 'MBCorpo Text 13/500 0.8px uppercase'
height: 72
layout: 'three-pointed-star left, horizontal menu (Models / Owners / Shopping / Brand / Innovation) center, utilities right'
border-bottom: '1px solid #2a2a2a'
sticky: true
three-pointed-star:
height: 40
placement: 'top-left of nav, watermarked over hero photography'
notes: 'The iconic star with surrounding ring — non-negotiable nav element'
button-primary:
bg: '#00adef'
text: '#ffffff'
padding: '14px 32px'
height: 48
radius: 8
border: 'none'
font: 'MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase'
transition: 'background-color 200ms ease'
use: 'Configure, Schedule a Test Drive, Find a Dealer'
button-primary-hover:
bg: '#0095d0'
notes: 'Color-only hover'
button-secondary-on-dark:
bg: '#ffffff'
text: '#000000'
padding: '14px 32px'
height: 48
radius: 8
font: 'MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase'
use: 'Secondary primary action on dark cinema band'
button-outline-on-dark:
bg: 'transparent'
text: '#ffffff'
border: '1px solid #ffffff'
padding: '13px 31px'
height: 48
radius: 8
font: 'MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase'
use: 'Tertiary action on dark hero band'
button-outline-on-light:
bg: 'transparent'
text: '#000000'
border: '1px solid #000000'
padding: '13px 31px'
height: 48
radius: 8
use: 'Outline button on light editorial band'
button-text:
bg: 'transparent'
text: '#ffffff'
font: 'MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase'
decoration: 'animated arrow indicator (→) appears on hover'
use: 'Inline editorial actions (Discover, Read More)'
hero-band-cinema:
bg: '#000000'
text: '#ffffff'
photo: 'full-bleed cinematic, 100vh on desktop'
headline: 'MBCorpo Title 88/400 -0.88px'
cta-arrangement: 'one silver-blue primary + one outline-on-dark secondary'
padding: 0
eyebrow: 'eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase, silver-blue, above headline'
hero-band-light:
bg: '#ffffff'
text: '#000000'
headline: 'MBCorpo Title 64/400 -0.64px'
padding: '96px 48px'
feature-card:
bg: '#1a1a1a'
text: '#ffffff'
radius: 12
border: 'none'
padding: 32
notes: 'Title display-md + body + button-text; image fills top edge-to-edge'
feature-card-light:
bg: '#ffffff'
text: '#000000'
radius: 12
border: '1px solid #d8d8d8'
padding: 32
spec-cell:
bg: 'transparent'
text: '#ffffff'
typography: 'MBCorpo Title 64/400 -0.64px'
label: 'spec-label 11/500 1.6px uppercase'
padding: '32px 0'
text-input-on-dark:
bg: 'transparent'
text: '#ffffff'
border-bottom: '1px solid #5a5a5a'
border-x: 'none'
border-top: 'none'
radius: 0
padding: '12px 0'
height: 48
font: 'MBCorpo Text 14/400'
notes: 'Underline-only input — luxury form convention'
focus: 'border-bottom shifts to #00adef'
text-input-on-light:
bg: 'transparent'
text: '#000000'
border-bottom: '1px solid #5a5a5a'
notes: 'Same underline-only convention on light'
badge-pill:
bg: 'rgba(0, 173, 239, 0.15)'
text: '#00adef'
radius: 9999
padding: '4px 12px'
font: 'eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase'
cta-band-dark:
bg: '#000000'
text: '#ffffff'
typography: 'MBCorpo Title 48/400 -0.48px'
padding: 96
cta: 'single silver-blue primary, centered'
footer-dark:
bg: '#000000'
text: '#7a7a7a'
columns: 4
padding: '64px 48px'
border-top: '1px solid #2a2a2a'
footer-link:
text: '#a8a8a8'
font: '12/400'
hover: 'text shifts to #ffffff'
lineage:
summary: 'Mercedes-Benz''s digital surface inherits the flagship-luxury cinema of S-Class print campaigns more than the spec-sheet density of typical OEM sites. The black canvas is borrowed from luxury fashion (Bottega Veneta, Chanel) where pure black signals flagship rather than mass-market. The silver-blue `#00adef` is a strategic re-deployment of the EQ electric-program hue across the entire brand surface — it functions as the interactive voltage where competitors use red or yellow. Tracked uppercase navigation and CTA labels borrow from German design heritage (Bauhaus, Ulm School) — disciplined, engineered, intentional. What it rejects: ornamental gradients (except in EQ-content), warm color temperatures, casual sentence-case CTAs, anything that competes with the three-pointed-star authority.'
influences:
- name: 'Bauhaus / Ulm School of Design'
role: 'Disciplined uppercase tracking, geometric typography, function-over-decoration'
url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_School_of_Design'
- name: 'Bottega Veneta / Chanel'
role: 'Luxury-fashion black canvas as flagship signal, single-accent restraint'
url: 'https://www.bottegaveneta.com'
- name: 'Apple product pages'
role: 'Full-viewport cinematic hero photography, photographic depth as primary chrome'
url: 'https://www.apple.com'
- name: 'Vogue / Wallpaper* magazine'
role: 'Editorial pacing on flagship products, generous whitespace rhythm'
url: 'https://www.vogue.com'
- name: 'BMW iX brand voice'
role: 'EV-program color discipline borrowed back to the parent brand'
url: 'https://www.bmw.com/en/all-models/bmw-i/iX.html'
motion:
ease-standard: 'cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)'
ease-emphasized: 'cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)'
ease-flagship: 'cubic-bezier(0.65, 0, 0.35, 1)'
duration-fast: 150
duration-standard: 240
duration-slow: 400
duration-cinema: 800
hero-parallax: 'subtle 0.4 scroll-coefficient on cinema hero photograph'
star-hover-rotate: 'three-pointed star rotates 22.5° on hover over 360ms'
spec-counter: 'count-up 800ms ease-flagship on spec values when scrolled into view'
reduced-motion: 'respects prefers-reduced-motion: reduce — parallax disabled, count-ups become static, star-rotate disabled'
breakpoints:
mobile: 640
tablet: 1024
desktop: 1280
wide: 1536
shadows:
flat: 'none'
hover-card: 'rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px'
modal: 'rgba(0,0,0,0.4) 0 32px 64px -16px'
ring: '0 0 0 2px #00adef'
ring-on-light: '0 0 0 2px #000000'
notes: 'Shadows minimal on dark canvas — depth comes from photographic lighting and surface brightness steps'
accessibility:
contrast-text-on-bg: 21.0 # #ffffff on #000000 — AAA
contrast-body-on-bg: 7.6 # #a8a8a8 on #000000 — AAA at body sizes
contrast-text-on-brand: 3.0 # #ffffff on #00adef — fails AA Normal at body; reserved for AA Large (18px+) or buttons (interactive context)
contrast-text-on-light: 21.0 # #000000 on #ffffff — AAA
focus-ring: '2px solid #00adef on dark; 2px solid #000000 on light, at 2px offset'
reduced-motion-honored: true
touch-target-min: 48 # CTA height — exceeds WCAG 44
dark-mode: 'native — Mercedes-Benz is dark-by-default. Light editorial bands (configurator, dealer locator, owners portal) are scoped exceptions. The site never inverts globally; dark is the canonical canvas.'
---
## 1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Mercedes-Benz's website is what happens when an S-Class print campaign learns it can move. The page opens onto a pure-black canvas (`#000000` — Mercedes refuses near-blacks; the absolute black is part of the luxury-flagship voice) and a single full-bleed cinematic photograph fills the viewport top — an S-Class portrait at twilight, an AMG GT carving through Hockenheim, an EQS interior detail of brushed aluminum and Nappa leather. The headline floats over the photograph in pure white **MBCorpo Title** at 88px, weight 400 — never bold. The voice is declarative-flagship, not announce-y.
The chromatic discipline is monk-like. White display type, grey body copy, pure black canvas, and exactly one chromatic voltage: **silver-blue** `#00adef` — strategically re-deployed from the EQ electric program across the entire brand surface so it functions as the interactive accent where other automotives use red or yellow. The silver-blue appears on primary CTA fills, hover-state link colors, EQ-content highlights, and selected-state indicators. Body text is never silver-blue. Backgrounds are never silver-blue. When it does appear, it carries the cool authority of brushed German metal under showroom lighting.
Section rhythm alternates between full-bleed cinematic dark hero bands and tighter editorial dark bands holding spec callouts and feature comparisons. White editorial bands appear inside scoped contexts only — the configurator, dealer locator, owners portal — where data density and clarity outweigh atmosphere. The white never dominates; it's a contextual surface, not a theme.
Typography runs **MBCorpo Title** for display sizes and **MBCorpo Text** for body — a custom Daimler-commissioned cut by Konst & Teknik (Stockholm) released around 2020 to replace the older "Daimler CS" typeface. MBCorpo carries subtle humanist proportions with geometric construction; weight 400 dominates display (never bold), weight 500 powers CTAs and uppercase labels. Tracked uppercase navigation (`0.8px`) and CTA labels (`1.4px`) are the German-design-heritage tell — Bauhaus/Ulm School discipline elevated to flagship-luxury voice. Body copy runs at 14px (smaller than competitor defaults at 16) — German-engineering density inside a luxury context.
The three-pointed star is non-negotiable chrome. Top-left of every nav, watermarked over hero photography, embossed in the closing footer. The star is the brand. Everything else — typography, color, photograph — is in service of the star.
**Key Characteristics:**
- Pure-black `#000000` canvas — refuses near-blacks; the absolute black is the luxury-flagship signal
- Single chromatic voltage: silver-blue `#00adef` — the EQ hue strategically deployed brand-wide
- Three-pointed star center-top in nav, watermarked over photography — non-negotiable chrome
- Custom MBCorpo Title (display) + MBCorpo Text (body) typeface family — Daimler-commissioned 2020
- Display copy at weight 400 — never bold display headlines
- Tracked uppercase nav (`0.8px`) and CTA labels (`1.4px`) — Bauhaus discipline, flagship voice
- Full-bleed cinematic photography in dark hero bands as primary visual depth
- Body copy at 14px default — engineering density inside luxury context
- Underline-only text inputs (no box) — luxury-form convention
- 8px CTA radius — disciplined, not pill, not fully sharp
## 2. Color Palette & Roles
### Primary
- **Pure Black** (`#000000`): The canvas. Mercedes refuses near-blacks. Absolute black is the luxury-flagship voice signal.
- **Pure White** (`#ffffff`): Display text, CTA secondary fill, button-secondary background — the voice rising through the cinema.
- **Silver-Blue** (`#00adef`): The single high-voltage chromatic moment. Primary CTA fill, hover-state links, EQ-content highlights, selected indicators.
### Brand & Dark
- **Silver-Blue Hover** (`#0095d0`): Press state — slight saturation drop on click.
- **Silver-Blue Active** (`#007fb3`): Deep press feedback.
- **Silver-Blue Soft** (`#d4f1fc`): Selected-tab background, badge tint on light, very-soft brand surface.
- **Silver-Blue Deep** (`#003d5b`): Used in EQ-program gradient bands (`linear-gradient(180deg, #003d5b, #00adef 64%)`).
### Accent
- **AMG Red** (`#cc0000`): Reserved for AMG sub-brand contexts — track content, performance callouts, GT-class highlights. Never appears outside AMG context.
- **AMG Yellow** (`#fdca00`): Reserved for AMG F1 program (Lewis Hamilton, Petronas livery callouts). Race-specific.
- **Maybach Rose** (`#ddc090`): Reserved for Maybach sub-brand champagne contexts.
- No additional saturated brand colors. Mercedes deliberately refuses chromatic variety; the sub-brands carry their own scoped accents.
### Interactive
- **Link** (`#ffffff`): Inline body links inherit ink + underline.
- **Link Hover** (`#00adef`): Silver-blue shift on hover for inline links inside body copy.
- **Button Primary** (`#00adef`): Primary CTA fill.
- **Button Hover** (`#0095d0`): Press state.
- **Disabled** (`#5a5a5a`): Faint — disabled CTAs and form fields.
### Neutral Scale
- **Ink White** `#ffffff` — display, headings, primary text on dark canvas
- **Body Strong** `#ffffff` — same as ink (Mercedes uses identical hex for both roles)
- **Body Default** `#a8a8a8` — running paragraph text on dark canvas
- **Muted** `#7a7a7a` — captions, photo metadata on dark
- **Faint** `#5a5a5a` — disabled, footer secondary on dark
- **Hairline** `#2a2a2a` — 1px divider on dark
- **Surface Strong** `#2a2a2a` — heavier panel on dark (rare)
- **Surface** `#1a1a1a` — feature cards, spec panels on dark — one tier above canvas
- **Bg Elevated** `#0a0a0a` — subtle near-black above canvas
### Surface & Borders
- **bg** is `#000000` pure black — the canonical canvas.
- **bg-elevated** `#0a0a0a` is a barely-perceptible tier above bg, used for nested surfaces.
- **surface** `#1a1a1a` is the feature-card background — clearly elevated from canvas without competing.
- **bg-light** `#ffffff` for scoped editorial bands only (configurator, dealer, owners).
- **border** is `#2a2a2a` 1px on dark; `#d8d8d8` 1px on light.
- **border-soft** `#1a1a1a` (same hex as surface) for the softest dividers — visible only as a single-pixel tonal step.
### Shadow Colors
- Mercedes uses **minimal shadow tiers** on the dark canvas:
- **Hover Card**: `rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px` — visible on hovered feature cards (the dark canvas allows higher shadow alpha).
- **Modal**: `rgba(0,0,0,0.4) 0 32px 64px -16px` — single deep tier for dialogs.
- **Focus Ring**: `0 0 0 2px #00adef` (dark) / `0 0 0 2px #000000` (light).
- Most depth comes from photographic lighting and surface brightness steps (`#000000` → `#1a1a1a` → `#2a2a2a`), not from drop-shadow tiers.
### Semantic
- **Success** (`#00a651`): Confirmation states — order placed, build saved, dealer-contact submitted.
- **Warning** (`#ffa500`): Validation warnings on configurator.
- **Danger** (`#cc0000`): Form errors — shares AMG red hex deliberately. Sub-brand red and danger are visually identical.
- **Info** (`#00adef`): Info badges, callout backgrounds — shares the brand silver-blue.
## 3. Typography Rules
### Font Family
- **Display**: `MBCorpo Title` — the Daimler-commissioned display cut, originally released 2020 by Konst & Teknik (Stockholm). Geometric construction with subtle humanist terminals; engineered for high-impact display.
- **Body**: `MBCorpo Text` — the body companion to MBCorpo Title, with adjusted x-height and stroke contrast for paragraph reading at 14px default.
- **Fallback chain**: `"Daimler CS", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif` — Daimler CS is the legacy Mercedes typeface (replaced 2020 but still licensed for fallback).
- **Mono companion**: `SF Mono / Menlo / Consolas` — appears only on developer or technical-spec pages (rare).
- **OpenType features**: Default ligatures only. No tabular figures called out — MBCorpo's natural figures align well enough in spec tables. No `ss01` or alternate sets.
- **No italics** — Mercedes brand voice is always upright.
### Hierarchy
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | OT Features | Notes |
|------|------|------|--------|-------------|----------------|-------------|-------|
| Display Mega | MBCorpo Title | 88 | 400 | 1.05 | -0.88px | — | Homepage hero h1 — model name over cinema photograph |
| Display XL | MBCorpo Title | 64 | 400 | 1.10 | -0.64px | — | Subsidiary heroes, model-line headlines |
| Display Lg | MBCorpo Title | 48 | 400 | 1.15 | -0.48px | — | Section heads, feature band headlines |
| Display Md | MBCorpo Title | 32 | 400 | 1.25 | -0.16px | — | Sub-section heads, card titles |
| Display Sm | MBCorpo Title | 24 | 500 | 1.30 | normal | — | Component titles, navigation flyout heads |
| Title Md | MBCorpo Text | 18 | 700 | 1.35 | normal | — | Card titles, list section labels |
| Title Sm | MBCorpo Text | 16 | 700 | 1.40 | normal | — | Small section titles |
| Body Lg | MBCorpo Text | 18 | 400 | 1.55 | normal | — | Editorial body, intro paragraphs |
| Body | MBCorpo Text | 14 | 400 | 1.55 | normal | — | Default running text — Mercedes uses 14 as default body |
| Body Sm | MBCorpo Text | 12 | 400 | 1.50 | normal | — | Footer body, fine print |
| Caption | MBCorpo Text | 11 | 400 | 1.45 | normal | — | Photo captions |
| Eyebrow | MBCorpo Text | 11 | 500 | 1.40 | 1.6px | — | Section eyebrows above display heads — uppercase |
| Button | MBCorpo Text | 14 | 500 | 1.00 | 1.4px | — | CTA labels — uppercase, generous tracking |
| Nav Link | MBCorpo Text | 13 | 500 | 1.40 | 0.8px | — | Top-nav menu items — uppercase |
| Spec Value | MBCorpo Title | 64 | 400 | 1.05 | -0.64px | — | Engine spec values |
| Spec Label | MBCorpo Text | 11 | 500 | 1.40 | 1.6px | — | Spec metric labels — uppercase |
| Code | SF Mono | 12 | 400 | 1.50 | normal | — | Rare — developer surfaces |
### Principles
- **Display weight stays at 400.** MBCorpo Title carries enough geometric presence at regular weight; bolding it would feel shouted. Mercedes is flagship-confident, not announce-y.
- **Negative letter-spacing on display only.** -0.16px to -0.88px on display sizes; body stays at normal. The compression is a magazine-cover convention.
- **Tracked uppercase on CTAs (`1.4px`) and nav (`0.8px`).** German design heritage — Bauhaus/Ulm School discipline. CTA labels render uppercase; sentence-case is reserved for body links.
- **Eyebrow labels above display heads are uppercase + tracked + silver-blue.** Section context cue — `eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase silver-blue`.
- **Body default is 14px.** Smaller than competitor defaults (Apple 17, Porsche 16) — German engineering density inside a luxury context.
- **No italics, no decorative weights.** Voice is always upright.
- **MBCorpo licensed.** Open-source substitute: **Inter** at 400 with `-1%` letter-spacing for display, **Inter** at 500 uppercase with `1.4px` tracking for CTAs.
## 4. Component Stylings
### Buttons
All primary surface buttons use **8px border-radius** — the disciplined corner that sits between Ferrari's 0px sharp and Porsche's 12px softened.
**Primary (Silver-Blue)** — the singular high-voltage action:
- Background `#00adef`, text `#ffffff`, font `MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase`
- Padding `14px 32px`, height `48px`, border-radius `8px`, no border
- Transition `background-color 200ms ease`
- Hover: background `#0095d0` (color-only, no transform)
- Active: background `#007fb3`
- Use case: Configure, Schedule a Test Drive, Find a Dealer
**Secondary on Dark (White)** — primary action when silver-blue is reserved:
- Background `#ffffff`, text `#000000`, same dimensions and typography
- Use case: secondary primary action on dark cinema bands
**Outline on Dark** — alternative action on dark hero band:
- Background transparent, text `#ffffff`, border `1px solid #ffffff`
- Padding `13px 31px` (1px less to compensate for border), height `48px`
- Same `MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase` typography
- Hover: background `rgba(255,255,255,0.06)` fill
- Use case: tertiary CTA paired with primary on hero band
**Outline on Light** — alternative on white editorial band:
- Background transparent, text `#000000`, border `1px solid #000000`
- Same dimensions and typography
- Use case: alternative CTA on configurator and dealer surfaces
**Text** — inline editorial actions:
- Background transparent, text `#ffffff`, no border
- Same `MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase`
- Decoration: animated arrow indicator (→) appears on hover, sliding in from the right
- Use case: "Discover", "Read More" inside body copy
### Hero Bands
**Cinema (default hero)** — full-bleed cinematic photograph:
- Background `#000000` underneath, but the photograph fills the viewport edge-to-edge at 100vh
- Eyebrow above headline: `MBCorpo Text 11/500 1.6px uppercase silver-blue` ("THE NEW S-CLASS")
- Display headline floats over the photograph in `MBCorpo Title 88/400 -0.88px` pure white
- One silver-blue primary + one outline-on-dark secondary, side-by-side on desktop
- Zero padding — the photo fills edge-to-edge
**Light Editorial** — white-canvas hero variant:
- Background `#ffffff`, text `#000000`
- Headline in `MBCorpo Title 64/400 -0.64px`
- Padding `96px 48px`
- Used for owners portal, configurator entry, dealer locator
### Cards
**Feature Card (Dark)** — image-first dark surface card:
- Background `#1a1a1a`, text `#ffffff`, radius `12px`, padding `32px`
- Image fills top edge-to-edge; title `display-md 32/400 -0.16px` and body sit beneath
- Hover: `rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px` shadow fades in over 240ms; card lifts 4px
- Use case: Models grid, AMG performance grid, EQ-content cards
**Feature Card (Light)** — white-canvas variant:
- Background `#ffffff`, text `#000000`, border `1px solid #d8d8d8`, radius `12px`, padding `32px`
- Use case: configurator option cards, dealer cards
### Spec Surfaces
**Spec Cell** — engineering-spec callout:
- Transparent background
- Value in `MBCorpo Title 64/400 -0.64px` (white on dark, black on light)
- Label below in `spec-label 11/500 1.6px uppercase`
- Padding `32px 0`
- Use: hp, top speed, 0-100 km/h, range, charging time
**CTA Band Dark** — pre-footer band:
- Background `#000000`, centered display headline `MBCorpo Title 48/400 -0.48px`
- Single silver-blue primary CTA centered below
- Padding `96px` vertical
### Forms & Inputs
**Text Input on Dark** — luxury underline-only input:
- Background transparent, text `#ffffff`
- No border-x, no border-top — only `border-bottom: 1px solid #5a5a5a`
- Radius `0` (the underline IS the input frame)
- Padding `12px 0`, height `48px`
- Font `MBCorpo Text 14/400`
- Focus: border-bottom shifts to `#00adef`; floating label rises and shrinks to `eyebrow 11/500`
- This underline-only convention is a luxury form signature — the input doesn't feel like a software box
**Text Input on Light** — same underline-only convention on white editorial bands
### Tags & Badges
**Badge Pill** — small uppercase pill:
- Background `rgba(0, 173, 239, 0.15)` (silver-blue 15% alpha), text `#00adef`, radius `9999px`
- Padding `4px 12px`, font `eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase`
- Use: "EQ", "AMG", "Maybach" sub-brand callouts; "New", "Concept" status
### Navigation
**Top Nav (Dark)** — default nav on every page:
- Background `#000000`, text `#ffffff`, height `72px`, border-bottom `1px solid #2a2a2a`
- Layout: three-pointed star top-left (40px tall), horizontal menu (Models / Owners / Shopping / Brand / Innovation) center, utility icons (search, language, account) right
- Menu items render in `MBCorpo Text 13/500 0.8px uppercase`
- Hover: silver-blue 1px underline grows beneath active item; star rotates 22.5° on hover
### Footer
**Footer Dark** — closing dark footer on every page:
- Background `#000000`, text `#7a7a7a`, border-top `1px solid #2a2a2a`
- 4-column link list at desktop covering Models / Owners / Brand / Connect
- Padding `64px 48px`
- Three-pointed star embossed centered at the very top above link columns
## 5. Layout Principles
### Spacing System
- **Base unit:** 4px.
- **Scale:** `4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 64 / 80 / 96 / 128`.
- **Section padding:** 96px for major bands; 128px reserved for the homepage hero photo band.
- **Card internal padding:** 32px for feature cards.
- **Gutters:** 24px between cards in 3-up grids; 32px in 2-up hero splits.
### Grid & Container
- Max content width: **1440px** on editorial bands. Hero photography goes full-bleed.
- Editorial body: 12-column grid.
- Feature card grids: 2-up at desktop for hero splits, 3-up for benefit grids, 4-up for model line tiles.
- Footer: 4-column at desktop.
### Whitespace Philosophy
Generous flagship-luxury pacing. Cinematic hero photography occupies viewport-height canvases. Below them, body sections sit in tighter editorial layouts on dark canvas with disciplined density. The alternation between cinema-bands (atmosphere) and editorial-bands (data) creates magazine-spread pacing. White editorial bands (configurator, dealer locator) carry tighter density than the dark cinema bands; the contrast in density itself signals context shift.
### Section Cadence
The homepage rhythm: cinema-band → editorial-band → cinema-band → spec/feature-band → AMG-or-EQ-spotlight → CTA-band-dark → footer-dark. Each section's role is signalled by its background color + photography choice before the content even renders. Light editorial bands appear only inside scoped contexts (configurator, dealer, owners portal).
## 6. Shapes & Radius Scale
| Tier | Token | Value | Use |
|------|-------|-------|-----|
| None | `none` | 0 | Spec table cells, hero photo containers, underline-only inputs |
| Tight | `xs` | 2 | Decorative chip elements |
| Standard | `sm` | 4 | Text-box inputs (rare; underline-only is preferred) |
| Comfortable | `md` | 6 | Secondary cards, compact UI |
| Default CTA | `lg` | 8 | All primary/secondary/outline buttons — the brand corner |
| Card | `xl` | 12 | Primary feature cards |
| Photo Card | `xxl` | 16 | Photo-led model cards |
| Pill | `pill` | 9999 | Avatar plates, badge pills only |
The **8px CTA radius** sits between Ferrari's 0px (luxury-precision sharp) and Porsche's 12px (consumer-friendly relaxed). Mercedes's 8px is **disciplined-flagship** — corner enough to read as engineered, not so much that it reads as soft consumer-tech. There is no compound-radius geometry on the site.
## 7. Depth & Elevation
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|-------|-----------|-----|
| 0 (Flat) | `#000000` canvas, no shadow | Body bands, footer, content surfaces |
| 1 (Card) | `#1a1a1a` background, no border, no shadow | Feature cards, default cards |
| 2 (Hover Card) | `rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px` shadow + 4px translateY | Hovered feature card |
| 3 (Light Band) | `#ffffff` background | Configurator, dealer locator, owners portal |
| 4 (Modal) | `rgba(0,0,0,0.4) 0 32px 64px -16px` | Dialogs, configurator save |
| 5 (Photographic) | Full-bleed cinema imagery | Hero band, AMG track sequences — depth via lens, not chrome |
### Shadow Philosophy
Mercedes uses minimal shadow tiers — depth comes primarily from photographic lighting (the hero photo carries its own depth from cinematography) and surface brightness steps (`#000000` → `#0a0a0a` → `#1a1a1a` → `#2a2a2a`). The dark canvas allows higher shadow alpha (`0.3` rather than the `0.08` typical on light canvases) — when shadows do appear, they read clearly without dominating.
### Decorative Depth
- **Full-bleed cinematic photography** is the brand's primary depth treatment.
- **EQ gradient bands** `linear-gradient(180deg, #003d5b, #00adef 64%)`: silver-blue gradient used inside electric-program bands.
- **Surface brightness steps** carry the structural elevation.
## 8. Interaction & Motion
### Easing Curves
- **Standard**: `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)` — material-style ease for most micro-interactions
- **Emphasized**: `cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)` — stronger entrance for cinema bands and section reveals
- **Flagship**: `cubic-bezier(0.65, 0, 0.35, 1)` — slow swing used on hero parallax and 800ms count-ups
### Duration Buckets
- **Fast** (150ms): button background-color transitions, link underline-grow
- **Standard** (240ms): card hover-lift, shadow fade-in, modal entrance
- **Slow** (400ms): section entrance fades, hero band reveals
- **Cinema** (800ms): spec value count-ups, hero parallax scroll-coefficient
### Per-Component Micro-States
- **Button Primary (Silver-Blue)** — hover: background-color transitions to `#0095d0` over 150ms. No transform. Active: background drops to `#007fb3`.
- **Button Outline** — hover: background fills to `rgba(255,255,255,0.06)` (dark) or `rgba(0,0,0,0.04)` (light) over 150ms.
- **Feature Card** — hover: 4px translateY lift + `rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px` shadow fades in over 240ms.
- **Three-Pointed Star** — hover: rotates 22.5° over 360ms ease-emphasized.
- **Link** — hover: underline transitions from invisible to 1px solid + color shifts to silver-blue over 150ms.
- **Nav Item** — hover: 1px silver-blue underline grows beneath the active item over 150ms.
- **Spec Counter** — first-paint into-view: count-up animation from 0 to final value over 800ms ease-flagship.
- **Text Input (underline-only)** — focus: border-bottom shifts from `#5a5a5a` to `#00adef` over 240ms; floating label rises from inside the input to above-the-line over 240ms.
### Page Transitions
Page-to-page transitions: 240ms cross-fade between hero photographs. Internal scroll-into-view triggers fade-up entrances on cinema bands (400ms emphasized). The hero photograph holds a `0.4` parallax coefficient on scroll — moving slower than the foreground content.
### Reduced Motion Strategy
Respects `prefers-reduced-motion: reduce`. Under reduced motion:
- Hero parallax disabled
- Three-pointed-star hover rotation disabled
- Spec count-ups become static (final value renders immediately)
- Card hover-lift becomes shadow-only fade (no translateY)
- All scroll-triggered animations collapse to opacity transitions over 200ms
## 9. Accessibility & A11y
### Contrast Pairs (WCAG)
- **Text on Canvas**: `#ffffff` on `#000000` = 21.0:1 — AAA at all sizes
- **Body on Canvas**: `#a8a8a8` on `#000000` = 7.6:1 — AAA at body sizes
- **Muted on Canvas**: `#7a7a7a` on `#000000` = 4.6:1 — AA at body sizes
- **Text on Brand**: `#ffffff` on `#00adef` = 3.0:1 — fails AA Normal at body sizes; reserved for AA Large (18px+) buttons (interactive context where 3:1 is acceptable)
- **Black on Brand**: `#000000` on `#00adef` = 7.0:1 — AAA — used as fallback button text when contrast is critical
- **Text on Light**: `#000000` on `#ffffff` = 21.0:1 — AAA
### Focus Indicators
- **Ring color**: `#00adef` (silver-blue) on dark; `#000000` on light
- **Ring style**: `2px solid` at `2px` offset from element's outer edge
- **Focus-visible only**: ring appears only on keyboard focus, not mouse-click focus
- **Underline-only inputs** receive ring as a thicker `2px solid #00adef` border-bottom on focus, replacing the `1px #5a5a5a` default
### ARIA Patterns
- **Combobox** (model search, dealer locator): `role="combobox"` with `aria-expanded`, `aria-controls`, `aria-activedescendant`. Listbox panel uses `role="listbox"` with `aria-selected` on options.
- **Dialog** (configurator save, dealer contact, sign-in): `role="dialog"` with `aria-modal="true"`, `aria-labelledby` pointing to the dialog title, focus trap on open.
- **Tabs** (model trim selector, configurator step navigation): `role="tablist"` with `aria-selected` on the active tab. Arrow-key navigation.
- **Carousel** (homepage hero, AMG gallery): exposed as `role="region"` with `aria-roledescription="carousel"`. Each slide is `role="group"`.
### Keyboard Nav Order
Tab order: skip-to-content link → three-pointed-star (home link) → primary nav (Models, Owners, Shopping, Brand, Innovation) → utilities (search, language, account) → hero CTAs (primary first, then outline) → editorial body content top-to-bottom → footer columns → cookie banner if present.
### Screen Reader Hints
- The three-pointed star carries `aria-label="Mercedes-Benz home"` rather than alt-text, since it serves as the home link.
- Spec values carry `aria-label="3.4 seconds, 0 to 100 kilometers per hour"` for full unit context.
- Photo captions are wrapped in `<figcaption>` inside `<figure>`.
- Decorative cinema photography uses `aria-hidden="true"`.
- AMG and EQ sub-brand badges expose their full intent: `aria-label="AMG performance variant"`.
### Reduced Motion Handling
`@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)` overrides scroll-triggered transforms, parallax, count-ups, and the three-pointed-star rotation. Documented in §8.
## 10. Responsive Behavior
### Breakpoints
| Name | Width | Key Changes |
|------|-------|-------------|
| Mobile | < 640px | Hero h1 88→32px; cinema photograph crops vertically; feature card grid 1-up; nav collapses to hamburger; spec cells 1-up |
| Tablet | 640–1024px | Hero h1 64px; feature card grid 2-up; nav still hamburger; spec cells 2-up |
| Desktop | 1024–1280px | Hero h1 88px; feature card grid 3-up; horizontal nav appears; spec cells 4-up |
| Wide | > 1280px | Editorial body content caps at 1440px; hero photography continues full-bleed; section padding increases to 128px |
### Touch Targets
- Primary CTA at 48px height — exceeds WCAG AAA (44 × 44).
- Nav items render with 24px vertical padding for an effective 56px tap area on mobile hamburger menu.
- Star at 40px in the desktop nav, scales to 32px on mobile while preserving 48px tap area.
### Collapsing Strategy
- **Top nav** switches to hamburger below 1024px; the three-pointed star remains top-left at 32px.
- **Hero photograph** reframes per breakpoint via art direction.
- **Feature card grid**: 4-up → 3-up → 2-up → 1-up.
- **Spec cells**: 4-up at desktop, 2-up at tablet, 1-up at mobile.
- **Footer**: 4-column at desktop, accordion-collapsed at mobile.
### Image Behavior
- Hero photography uses `<picture>` with mobile-cropped + desktop-wide art direction.
- AVIF with WebP fallback and JPEG floor.
- All photography uses `loading="lazy"` except the homepage hero (eager).
### Container Queries
Used selectively on configurator pages where the spec panel reflows based on container width.
## 11. Content & Voice
### Tone
**Flagship-luxury, declarative, German-precise.** The voice reads like the chief designer narrating a model launch — measured, confident, intentional. Sentences are short on the homepage and longer on heritage pages. Italian (Ferrari) and English-romantic (Aston Martin) flourishes are absent. The brand voice is engineered. There is no "innovative", no "revolutionary" — those words are beneath the brand.
### Microcopy Patterns
- **Buttons**: action-verb + noun, uppercase. "CONFIGURE", "SCHEDULE A TEST DRIVE", "FIND A DEALER", "DISCOVER THE RANGE". Never "Click here", never "Learn more about our..."
- **Eyebrows**: uppercase context cue above display heads. "THE NEW S-CLASS", "MERCEDES-AMG GT", "THE EQ FAMILY".
- **Error message recipe**: `[What went wrong]. [What to do.]` — e.g. "We couldn't reach our servers. Please try again in a moment."
- **Success confirmations**: terse. "Your build is saved." "Your appointment is confirmed." No exclamation marks.
- **Form labels**: capitalized noun phrases that float above the underline-only input. "Email Address", "Phone Number", "Preferred Dealer".
### Empty States
- **No results**: "No models match your filters. Try widening your search or browse the full lineup."
- **Saved build empty**: "Your saved configurations will appear here. Begin a new configuration to save it."
- **Dealer locator no results**: "No dealers within 100 miles. Try a wider radius or browse our authorized service network."
### CTA Verb Conventions
- **CONFIGURE** — the primary verb on every model page (not "Build" or "Customize")
- **DISCOVER** — secondary verb for editorial content (not "Explore" or "Learn More")
- **SCHEDULE A TEST DRIVE** — for test-drive (not "Book a test drive")
- **FIND A DEALER** — for dealer locator
- **READ MORE** — for editorial articles
- **SIGN IN** — for owner/account pages (never "Login" — Mercedes uses two words)
## 12. Dark Mode & Theming
Mercedes-Benz is **dark-by-default**. The site never offers a user-facing light/dark toggle. The light editorial bands (configurator, dealer locator, owners portal) are scoped contextual surfaces — not a "light mode." The site never inverts globally. The three-pointed star, the silver-blue CTA, and the canvas all stay constant.
When light editorial bands appear inside dark pages, the token swap is local and predictable:
- `bg`: `#000000` → `#ffffff`
- `text`: `#ffffff` → `#000000`
- `text-body`: `#a8a8a8` → `#3a3a3a`
- `border`: `#2a2a2a` → `#d8d8d8`
- `surface`: `#1a1a1a` → `#f5f5f5`
- `brand` and `on-brand` stay unchanged: silver-blue CTAs render identically on both grounds
## 13. Lineage & Influences
Mercedes-Benz's digital surface inherits the flagship-luxury cinema of S-Class print campaigns more than the spec-sheet density of typical OEM sites. The pure-black canvas borrows from luxury fashion (Bottega Veneta, Chanel) where black signals flagship rather than mass-market. The silver-blue `#00adef` is a strategic re-deployment of the EQ electric-program hue across the entire brand surface — it functions as the interactive voltage where competitors use red (Ferrari, Honda) or yellow (Renault).
Tracked uppercase navigation (`0.8px`) and CTA labels (`1.4px`) borrow from German design heritage — Bauhaus, Ulm School of Design, the same lineage that gave us Braun and Vitsoe. Disciplined, engineered, intentional. The full-bleed cinematic photographic-hero pattern is borrowed from Apple-era product launches; the magazine-pacing rhythm from Vogue and Wallpaper*.
What it rejects: ornamental gradients (except in scoped EQ-content), warm color temperatures, casual sentence-case CTAs, anything that competes with the three-pointed-star authority.
**Named influences:**
- Bauhaus / Ulm School of Design — disciplined uppercase tracking, geometric typography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_School_of_Design)
- Bottega Veneta / Chanel — luxury-fashion black canvas as flagship signal (https://www.bottegaveneta.com)
- Apple product pages — full-viewport cinematic hero photography (https://www.apple.com)
- Vogue / Wallpaper* magazine — editorial pacing on flagship products (https://www.vogue.com)
- BMW iX brand voice — EV-program color discipline borrowed back to the parent brand
## 14. Do's and Don'ts
### Do
- Reserve silver-blue `#00adef` for primary CTAs, hover-state links, EQ-content highlights, and selected indicators — used scarcely.
- Use pure black `#000000` as canvas — not near-black, not warm-black. The absolute black is the luxury-flagship signal.
- Render CTA labels uppercase in MBCorpo Text 14/500 with `1.4px` tracking.
- Render nav items uppercase in `13/500 0.8px tracking`.
- Place an uppercase silver-blue eyebrow above every display headline ("THE NEW S-CLASS").
- Use MBCorpo Title at weight 400 for display sizes — never bold display headlines.
- Pair every cinema hero with a full-bleed photograph — the photograph IS the depth.
- Use 8px CTA corners — the brand's disciplined-flagship signature.
- Use underline-only inputs (no box) — luxury-form convention.
- The three-pointed star center-top in nav, watermarked over photography — non-negotiable.
### Don't
- Don't introduce a saturated brand color other than silver-blue, AMG red (scoped), and Maybach champagne (scoped).
- Don't use near-black or warm-black canvas — Mercedes uses `#000000` absolute black.
- Don't bold display copy. MBCorpo Title at 400 carries flagship presence.
- Don't use sentence-case CTA labels. Uppercase + `1.4px` tracking is the brand voice.
- Don't use box-style text inputs on luxury surfaces. Underline-only is the convention.
- Don't add ornamental gradients outside scoped EQ-content bands.
- Don't compress the 96px section rhythm. The whitespace is part of flagship pacing.
- Don't use AMG red or AMG yellow outside AMG sub-brand contexts.
- Don't translate "CONFIGURE" to "BUILD" or "CUSTOMIZE" — the brand verb is "CONFIGURE".
- Don't use 0px sharp corners. Mercedes is 8px disciplined, not Italian-Modernist sharp.
- Don't add italic or decorative type. MBCorpo is always upright.
## 15. Agent Prompt Guide
### Quick Color Reference
- Primary CTA: `#00adef` (Silver-Blue)
- Background: `#000000` (Pure Black Canvas)
- Surface: `#1a1a1a` (Canvas-Elevated)
- Headings: `#ffffff` (Ink White)
- Body text: `#a8a8a8` (Body Default)
- Muted: `#7a7a7a`
- Border: `#2a2a2a` (Hairline on dark)
- CTA hover: `#0095d0` (Silver-Blue Hover)
- Light band bg: `#ffffff`
- Focus ring: `#00adef` 2px on dark / `#000000` 2px on light
### Example Component Prompts
- "Create a Mercedes-Benz hero band with full-bleed cinematic photography of an S-Class at twilight, 100vh tall on pure-black `#000000` canvas. Above the headline, an uppercase silver-blue eyebrow 'THE NEW S-CLASS' in MBCorpo Text 11/500 with 1.6px tracking. The headline 'A Class of Its Own.' floats over the photograph in MBCorpo Title 88px weight 400 with -0.88px letter-spacing in pure white. Below it, two side-by-side CTAs: a silver-blue `#00adef` 'CONFIGURE' button (MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase, 14×32 padding, 48px tall, 8px corners) and a transparent outline-on-dark 'DISCOVER' button (1px white border, same dimensions)."
- "Design a Mercedes feature card on `#1a1a1a` surface inside a dark band: 12px radius, no border, 32px padding. 16:9 photograph at top edge-to-edge, then a title in MBCorpo Title 32/400 -0.16px white, 16px gap, body copy in MBCorpo Text 14/400 `#a8a8a8`, 24px gap, and a 'DISCOVER →' text button in 14/500 1.4px uppercase with the arrow indicator sliding in on hover. On card hover: 4px translateY lift with `rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px` shadow over 240ms."
- "Build a Mercedes underline-only text input: transparent background, no border-x or border-top, only `border-bottom: 1px solid #5a5a5a`. Floating label 'Email Address' begins inside the input in MBCorpo Text 14/400 `#7a7a7a`; on focus, the label rises and shrinks to eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase silver-blue, and the border-bottom shifts from `#5a5a5a` to `#00adef`. 12×0 padding, 48px tall, no radius."
- "Build a Mercedes spec cell: transparent background, 32px vertical padding, value in MBCorpo Title 64px weight 400 with -0.64px tracking pure white ('523'), label below in MBCorpo Text 11/500 with 1.6px uppercase tracking ('HORSEPOWER'). Group four spec cells in a 4-up row at desktop."
- "Build a Mercedes top nav: 72px tall on `#000000`, three-pointed star top-left at 40px (rotates 22.5° on hover over 360ms). Horizontal menu (MODELS / OWNERS / SHOPPING / BRAND / INNOVATION) center in MBCorpo Text 13/500 with 0.8px uppercase tracking. Utility icons (search, language, account) far right. 1px solid `#2a2a2a` border-bottom. On hover over a nav item, a silver-blue 1px underline grows from invisible to full width over 150ms."
- "Design a Mercedes pre-footer CTA band: pure-black `#000000` background, centered display headline 'Begin Your Journey.' in MBCorpo Title 48/400 -0.48px white, 96px vertical padding. Single silver-blue 'CONFIGURE YOUR MERCEDES' CTA centered below in 14/500 1.4px uppercase, 8px corners, 48px tall."
### Iteration Guide
1. Focus on ONE component at a time. Reference its YAML key (`button-primary`, `hero-band-cinema`).
2. Variants live as separate entries inside `components:` rather than as nested modifiers.
3. CTAs default to 8px corners — disciplined-flagship. Never 0px (Ferrari), never 12px (Porsche).
4. Use color tokens (`brand`, `text`, `surface`) — never inline hex on multiple components.
5. Hover states on CTAs change color only — feature cards may lift 4px with shadow.
6. MBCorpo Title 400 for display, MBCorpo Text 400 for body, 500 for CTAs/eyebrows. Uppercase + tracking on CTAs and nav.
7. Silver-blue stays scarce — primary CTAs, hover-state links, EQ-content highlights only.
8. Use the explicit spacing ladder (4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 64 / 80 / 96 / 128).
9. Three-pointed star is the chrome — center-top in nav, watermarked over hero photo, embossed in footer.
1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Mercedes-Benz’s website is what happens when an S-Class print campaign learns it can move. The page opens onto a pure-black canvas (#000000 — Mercedes refuses near-blacks; the absolute black is part of the luxury-flagship voice) and a single full-bleed cinematic photograph fills the viewport top — an S-Class portrait at twilight, an AMG GT carving through Hockenheim, an EQS interior detail of brushed aluminum and Nappa leather. The headline floats over the photograph in pure white MBCorpo Title at 88px, weight 400 — never bold. The voice is declarative-flagship, not announce-y.
The chromatic discipline is monk-like. White display type, grey body copy, pure black canvas, and exactly one chromatic voltage: silver-blue #00adef — strategically re-deployed from the EQ electric program across the entire brand surface so it functions as the interactive accent where other automotives use red or yellow. The silver-blue appears on primary CTA fills, hover-state link colors, EQ-content highlights, and selected-state indicators. Body text is never silver-blue. Backgrounds are never silver-blue. When it does appear, it carries the cool authority of brushed German metal under showroom lighting.
Section rhythm alternates between full-bleed cinematic dark hero bands and tighter editorial dark bands holding spec callouts and feature comparisons. White editorial bands appear inside scoped contexts only — the configurator, dealer locator, owners portal — where data density and clarity outweigh atmosphere. The white never dominates; it’s a contextual surface, not a theme.
Typography runs MBCorpo Title for display sizes and MBCorpo Text for body — a custom Daimler-commissioned cut by Konst & Teknik (Stockholm) released around 2020 to replace the older “Daimler CS” typeface. MBCorpo carries subtle humanist proportions with geometric construction; weight 400 dominates display (never bold), weight 500 powers CTAs and uppercase labels. Tracked uppercase navigation (0.8px) and CTA labels (1.4px) are the German-design-heritage tell — Bauhaus/Ulm School discipline elevated to flagship-luxury voice. Body copy runs at 14px (smaller than competitor defaults at 16) — German-engineering density inside a luxury context.
The three-pointed star is non-negotiable chrome. Top-left of every nav, watermarked over hero photography, embossed in the closing footer. The star is the brand. Everything else — typography, color, photograph — is in service of the star.
Key Characteristics:
- Pure-black
#000000canvas — refuses near-blacks; the absolute black is the luxury-flagship signal - Single chromatic voltage: silver-blue
#00adef— the EQ hue strategically deployed brand-wide - Three-pointed star center-top in nav, watermarked over photography — non-negotiable chrome
- Custom MBCorpo Title (display) + MBCorpo Text (body) typeface family — Daimler-commissioned 2020
- Display copy at weight 400 — never bold display headlines
- Tracked uppercase nav (
0.8px) and CTA labels (1.4px) — Bauhaus discipline, flagship voice - Full-bleed cinematic photography in dark hero bands as primary visual depth
- Body copy at 14px default — engineering density inside luxury context
- Underline-only text inputs (no box) — luxury-form convention
- 8px CTA radius — disciplined, not pill, not fully sharp
2. Color Palette & Roles
Primary
- Pure Black (
#000000): The canvas. Mercedes refuses near-blacks. Absolute black is the luxury-flagship voice signal. - Pure White (
#ffffff): Display text, CTA secondary fill, button-secondary background — the voice rising through the cinema. - Silver-Blue (
#00adef): The single high-voltage chromatic moment. Primary CTA fill, hover-state links, EQ-content highlights, selected indicators.
Brand & Dark
- Silver-Blue Hover (
#0095d0): Press state — slight saturation drop on click. - Silver-Blue Active (
#007fb3): Deep press feedback. - Silver-Blue Soft (
#d4f1fc): Selected-tab background, badge tint on light, very-soft brand surface. - Silver-Blue Deep (
#003d5b): Used in EQ-program gradient bands (linear-gradient(180deg, #003d5b, #00adef 64%)).
Accent
- AMG Red (
#cc0000): Reserved for AMG sub-brand contexts — track content, performance callouts, GT-class highlights. Never appears outside AMG context. - AMG Yellow (
#fdca00): Reserved for AMG F1 program (Lewis Hamilton, Petronas livery callouts). Race-specific. - Maybach Rose (
#ddc090): Reserved for Maybach sub-brand champagne contexts. - No additional saturated brand colors. Mercedes deliberately refuses chromatic variety; the sub-brands carry their own scoped accents.
Interactive
- Link (
#ffffff): Inline body links inherit ink + underline. - Link Hover (
#00adef): Silver-blue shift on hover for inline links inside body copy. - Button Primary (
#00adef): Primary CTA fill. - Button Hover (
#0095d0): Press state. - Disabled (
#5a5a5a): Faint — disabled CTAs and form fields.
Neutral Scale
- Ink White
#ffffff— display, headings, primary text on dark canvas - Body Strong
#ffffff— same as ink (Mercedes uses identical hex for both roles) - Body Default
#a8a8a8— running paragraph text on dark canvas - Muted
#7a7a7a— captions, photo metadata on dark - Faint
#5a5a5a— disabled, footer secondary on dark - Hairline
#2a2a2a— 1px divider on dark - Surface Strong
#2a2a2a— heavier panel on dark (rare) - Surface
#1a1a1a— feature cards, spec panels on dark — one tier above canvas - Bg Elevated
#0a0a0a— subtle near-black above canvas
Surface & Borders
- bg is
#000000pure black — the canonical canvas. - bg-elevated
#0a0a0ais a barely-perceptible tier above bg, used for nested surfaces. - surface
#1a1a1ais the feature-card background — clearly elevated from canvas without competing. - bg-light
#fffffffor scoped editorial bands only (configurator, dealer, owners). - border is
#2a2a2a1px on dark;#d8d8d81px on light. - border-soft
#1a1a1a(same hex as surface) for the softest dividers — visible only as a single-pixel tonal step.
Shadow Colors
- Mercedes uses minimal shadow tiers on the dark canvas:
- Hover Card:
rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px— visible on hovered feature cards (the dark canvas allows higher shadow alpha). - Modal:
rgba(0,0,0,0.4) 0 32px 64px -16px— single deep tier for dialogs. - Focus Ring:
0 0 0 2px #00adef(dark) /0 0 0 2px #000000(light).
- Hover Card:
- Most depth comes from photographic lighting and surface brightness steps (
#000000→#1a1a1a→#2a2a2a), not from drop-shadow tiers.
Semantic
- Success (
#00a651): Confirmation states — order placed, build saved, dealer-contact submitted. - Warning (
#ffa500): Validation warnings on configurator. - Danger (
#cc0000): Form errors — shares AMG red hex deliberately. Sub-brand red and danger are visually identical. - Info (
#00adef): Info badges, callout backgrounds — shares the brand silver-blue.
3. Typography Rules
Font Family
- Display:
MBCorpo Title— the Daimler-commissioned display cut, originally released 2020 by Konst & Teknik (Stockholm). Geometric construction with subtle humanist terminals; engineered for high-impact display. - Body:
MBCorpo Text— the body companion to MBCorpo Title, with adjusted x-height and stroke contrast for paragraph reading at 14px default. - Fallback chain:
"Daimler CS", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif— Daimler CS is the legacy Mercedes typeface (replaced 2020 but still licensed for fallback). - Mono companion:
SF Mono / Menlo / Consolas— appears only on developer or technical-spec pages (rare). - OpenType features: Default ligatures only. No tabular figures called out — MBCorpo’s natural figures align well enough in spec tables. No
ss01or alternate sets. - No italics — Mercedes brand voice is always upright.
Hierarchy
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | OT Features | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display Mega | MBCorpo Title | 88 | 400 | 1.05 | -0.88px | — | Homepage hero h1 — model name over cinema photograph |
| Display XL | MBCorpo Title | 64 | 400 | 1.10 | -0.64px | — | Subsidiary heroes, model-line headlines |
| Display Lg | MBCorpo Title | 48 | 400 | 1.15 | -0.48px | — | Section heads, feature band headlines |
| Display Md | MBCorpo Title | 32 | 400 | 1.25 | -0.16px | — | Sub-section heads, card titles |
| Display Sm | MBCorpo Title | 24 | 500 | 1.30 | normal | — | Component titles, navigation flyout heads |
| Title Md | MBCorpo Text | 18 | 700 | 1.35 | normal | — | Card titles, list section labels |
| Title Sm | MBCorpo Text | 16 | 700 | 1.40 | normal | — | Small section titles |
| Body Lg | MBCorpo Text | 18 | 400 | 1.55 | normal | — | Editorial body, intro paragraphs |
| Body | MBCorpo Text | 14 | 400 | 1.55 | normal | — | Default running text — Mercedes uses 14 as default body |
| Body Sm | MBCorpo Text | 12 | 400 | 1.50 | normal | — | Footer body, fine print |
| Caption | MBCorpo Text | 11 | 400 | 1.45 | normal | — | Photo captions |
| Eyebrow | MBCorpo Text | 11 | 500 | 1.40 | 1.6px | — | Section eyebrows above display heads — uppercase |
| Button | MBCorpo Text | 14 | 500 | 1.00 | 1.4px | — | CTA labels — uppercase, generous tracking |
| Nav Link | MBCorpo Text | 13 | 500 | 1.40 | 0.8px | — | Top-nav menu items — uppercase |
| Spec Value | MBCorpo Title | 64 | 400 | 1.05 | -0.64px | — | Engine spec values |
| Spec Label | MBCorpo Text | 11 | 500 | 1.40 | 1.6px | — | Spec metric labels — uppercase |
| Code | SF Mono | 12 | 400 | 1.50 | normal | — | Rare — developer surfaces |
Principles
- Display weight stays at 400. MBCorpo Title carries enough geometric presence at regular weight; bolding it would feel shouted. Mercedes is flagship-confident, not announce-y.
- Negative letter-spacing on display only. -0.16px to -0.88px on display sizes; body stays at normal. The compression is a magazine-cover convention.
- Tracked uppercase on CTAs (
1.4px) and nav (0.8px). German design heritage — Bauhaus/Ulm School discipline. CTA labels render uppercase; sentence-case is reserved for body links. - Eyebrow labels above display heads are uppercase + tracked + silver-blue. Section context cue —
eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase silver-blue. - Body default is 14px. Smaller than competitor defaults (Apple 17, Porsche 16) — German engineering density inside a luxury context.
- No italics, no decorative weights. Voice is always upright.
- MBCorpo licensed. Open-source substitute: Inter at 400 with
-1%letter-spacing for display, Inter at 500 uppercase with1.4pxtracking for CTAs.
4. Component Stylings
Buttons
All primary surface buttons use 8px border-radius — the disciplined corner that sits between Ferrari’s 0px sharp and Porsche’s 12px softened.
Primary (Silver-Blue) — the singular high-voltage action:
- Background
#00adef, text#ffffff, fontMBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase - Padding
14px 32px, height48px, border-radius8px, no border - Transition
background-color 200ms ease - Hover: background
#0095d0(color-only, no transform) - Active: background
#007fb3 - Use case: Configure, Schedule a Test Drive, Find a Dealer
Secondary on Dark (White) — primary action when silver-blue is reserved:
- Background
#ffffff, text#000000, same dimensions and typography - Use case: secondary primary action on dark cinema bands
Outline on Dark — alternative action on dark hero band:
- Background transparent, text
#ffffff, border1px solid #ffffff - Padding
13px 31px(1px less to compensate for border), height48px - Same
MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercasetypography - Hover: background
rgba(255,255,255,0.06)fill - Use case: tertiary CTA paired with primary on hero band
Outline on Light — alternative on white editorial band:
- Background transparent, text
#000000, border1px solid #000000 - Same dimensions and typography
- Use case: alternative CTA on configurator and dealer surfaces
Text — inline editorial actions:
- Background transparent, text
#ffffff, no border - Same
MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase - Decoration: animated arrow indicator (→) appears on hover, sliding in from the right
- Use case: “Discover”, “Read More” inside body copy
Hero Bands
Cinema (default hero) — full-bleed cinematic photograph:
- Background
#000000underneath, but the photograph fills the viewport edge-to-edge at 100vh - Eyebrow above headline:
MBCorpo Text 11/500 1.6px uppercase silver-blue(“THE NEW S-CLASS”) - Display headline floats over the photograph in
MBCorpo Title 88/400 -0.88pxpure white - One silver-blue primary + one outline-on-dark secondary, side-by-side on desktop
- Zero padding — the photo fills edge-to-edge
Light Editorial — white-canvas hero variant:
- Background
#ffffff, text#000000 - Headline in
MBCorpo Title 64/400 -0.64px - Padding
96px 48px - Used for owners portal, configurator entry, dealer locator
Cards
Feature Card (Dark) — image-first dark surface card:
- Background
#1a1a1a, text#ffffff, radius12px, padding32px - Image fills top edge-to-edge; title
display-md 32/400 -0.16pxand body sit beneath - Hover:
rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24pxshadow fades in over 240ms; card lifts 4px - Use case: Models grid, AMG performance grid, EQ-content cards
Feature Card (Light) — white-canvas variant:
- Background
#ffffff, text#000000, border1px solid #d8d8d8, radius12px, padding32px - Use case: configurator option cards, dealer cards
Spec Surfaces
Spec Cell — engineering-spec callout:
- Transparent background
- Value in
MBCorpo Title 64/400 -0.64px(white on dark, black on light) - Label below in
spec-label 11/500 1.6px uppercase - Padding
32px 0 - Use: hp, top speed, 0-100 km/h, range, charging time
CTA Band Dark — pre-footer band:
- Background
#000000, centered display headlineMBCorpo Title 48/400 -0.48px - Single silver-blue primary CTA centered below
- Padding
96pxvertical
Forms & Inputs
Text Input on Dark — luxury underline-only input:
- Background transparent, text
#ffffff - No border-x, no border-top — only
border-bottom: 1px solid #5a5a5a - Radius
0(the underline IS the input frame) - Padding
12px 0, height48px - Font
MBCorpo Text 14/400 - Focus: border-bottom shifts to
#00adef; floating label rises and shrinks toeyebrow 11/500 - This underline-only convention is a luxury form signature — the input doesn’t feel like a software box
Text Input on Light — same underline-only convention on white editorial bands
Tags & Badges
Badge Pill — small uppercase pill:
- Background
rgba(0, 173, 239, 0.15)(silver-blue 15% alpha), text#00adef, radius9999px - Padding
4px 12px, fonteyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase - Use: “EQ”, “AMG”, “Maybach” sub-brand callouts; “New”, “Concept” status
Navigation
Top Nav (Dark) — default nav on every page:
- Background
#000000, text#ffffff, height72px, border-bottom1px solid #2a2a2a - Layout: three-pointed star top-left (40px tall), horizontal menu (Models / Owners / Shopping / Brand / Innovation) center, utility icons (search, language, account) right
- Menu items render in
MBCorpo Text 13/500 0.8px uppercase - Hover: silver-blue 1px underline grows beneath active item; star rotates 22.5° on hover
Footer
Footer Dark — closing dark footer on every page:
- Background
#000000, text#7a7a7a, border-top1px solid #2a2a2a - 4-column link list at desktop covering Models / Owners / Brand / Connect
- Padding
64px 48px - Three-pointed star embossed centered at the very top above link columns
5. Layout Principles
Spacing System
- Base unit: 4px.
- Scale:
4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 64 / 80 / 96 / 128. - Section padding: 96px for major bands; 128px reserved for the homepage hero photo band.
- Card internal padding: 32px for feature cards.
- Gutters: 24px between cards in 3-up grids; 32px in 2-up hero splits.
Grid & Container
- Max content width: 1440px on editorial bands. Hero photography goes full-bleed.
- Editorial body: 12-column grid.
- Feature card grids: 2-up at desktop for hero splits, 3-up for benefit grids, 4-up for model line tiles.
- Footer: 4-column at desktop.
Whitespace Philosophy
Generous flagship-luxury pacing. Cinematic hero photography occupies viewport-height canvases. Below them, body sections sit in tighter editorial layouts on dark canvas with disciplined density. The alternation between cinema-bands (atmosphere) and editorial-bands (data) creates magazine-spread pacing. White editorial bands (configurator, dealer locator) carry tighter density than the dark cinema bands; the contrast in density itself signals context shift.
Section Cadence
The homepage rhythm: cinema-band → editorial-band → cinema-band → spec/feature-band → AMG-or-EQ-spotlight → CTA-band-dark → footer-dark. Each section’s role is signalled by its background color + photography choice before the content even renders. Light editorial bands appear only inside scoped contexts (configurator, dealer, owners portal).
6. Shapes & Radius Scale
| Tier | Token | Value | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | none | 0 | Spec table cells, hero photo containers, underline-only inputs |
| Tight | xs | 2 | Decorative chip elements |
| Standard | sm | 4 | Text-box inputs (rare; underline-only is preferred) |
| Comfortable | md | 6 | Secondary cards, compact UI |
| Default CTA | lg | 8 | All primary/secondary/outline buttons — the brand corner |
| Card | xl | 12 | Primary feature cards |
| Photo Card | xxl | 16 | Photo-led model cards |
| Pill | pill | 9999 | Avatar plates, badge pills only |
The 8px CTA radius sits between Ferrari’s 0px (luxury-precision sharp) and Porsche’s 12px (consumer-friendly relaxed). Mercedes’s 8px is disciplined-flagship — corner enough to read as engineered, not so much that it reads as soft consumer-tech. There is no compound-radius geometry on the site.
7. Depth & Elevation
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (Flat) | #000000 canvas, no shadow | Body bands, footer, content surfaces |
| 1 (Card) | #1a1a1a background, no border, no shadow | Feature cards, default cards |
| 2 (Hover Card) | rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24px shadow + 4px translateY | Hovered feature card |
| 3 (Light Band) | #ffffff background | Configurator, dealer locator, owners portal |
| 4 (Modal) | rgba(0,0,0,0.4) 0 32px 64px -16px | Dialogs, configurator save |
| 5 (Photographic) | Full-bleed cinema imagery | Hero band, AMG track sequences — depth via lens, not chrome |
Shadow Philosophy
Mercedes uses minimal shadow tiers — depth comes primarily from photographic lighting (the hero photo carries its own depth from cinematography) and surface brightness steps (#000000 → #0a0a0a → #1a1a1a → #2a2a2a). The dark canvas allows higher shadow alpha (0.3 rather than the 0.08 typical on light canvases) — when shadows do appear, they read clearly without dominating.
Decorative Depth
- Full-bleed cinematic photography is the brand’s primary depth treatment.
- EQ gradient bands
linear-gradient(180deg, #003d5b, #00adef 64%): silver-blue gradient used inside electric-program bands. - Surface brightness steps carry the structural elevation.
8. Interaction & Motion
Easing Curves
- Standard:
cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)— material-style ease for most micro-interactions - Emphasized:
cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)— stronger entrance for cinema bands and section reveals - Flagship:
cubic-bezier(0.65, 0, 0.35, 1)— slow swing used on hero parallax and 800ms count-ups
Duration Buckets
- Fast (150ms): button background-color transitions, link underline-grow
- Standard (240ms): card hover-lift, shadow fade-in, modal entrance
- Slow (400ms): section entrance fades, hero band reveals
- Cinema (800ms): spec value count-ups, hero parallax scroll-coefficient
Per-Component Micro-States
- Button Primary (Silver-Blue) — hover: background-color transitions to
#0095d0over 150ms. No transform. Active: background drops to#007fb3. - Button Outline — hover: background fills to
rgba(255,255,255,0.06)(dark) orrgba(0,0,0,0.04)(light) over 150ms. - Feature Card — hover: 4px translateY lift +
rgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24pxshadow fades in over 240ms. - Three-Pointed Star — hover: rotates 22.5° over 360ms ease-emphasized.
- Link — hover: underline transitions from invisible to 1px solid + color shifts to silver-blue over 150ms.
- Nav Item — hover: 1px silver-blue underline grows beneath the active item over 150ms.
- Spec Counter — first-paint into-view: count-up animation from 0 to final value over 800ms ease-flagship.
- Text Input (underline-only) — focus: border-bottom shifts from
#5a5a5ato#00adefover 240ms; floating label rises from inside the input to above-the-line over 240ms.
Page Transitions
Page-to-page transitions: 240ms cross-fade between hero photographs. Internal scroll-into-view triggers fade-up entrances on cinema bands (400ms emphasized). The hero photograph holds a 0.4 parallax coefficient on scroll — moving slower than the foreground content.
Reduced Motion Strategy
Respects prefers-reduced-motion: reduce. Under reduced motion:
- Hero parallax disabled
- Three-pointed-star hover rotation disabled
- Spec count-ups become static (final value renders immediately)
- Card hover-lift becomes shadow-only fade (no translateY)
- All scroll-triggered animations collapse to opacity transitions over 200ms
9. Accessibility & A11y
Contrast Pairs (WCAG)
- Text on Canvas:
#ffffffon#000000= 21.0:1 — AAA at all sizes - Body on Canvas:
#a8a8a8on#000000= 7.6:1 — AAA at body sizes - Muted on Canvas:
#7a7a7aon#000000= 4.6:1 — AA at body sizes - Text on Brand:
#ffffffon#00adef= 3.0:1 — fails AA Normal at body sizes; reserved for AA Large (18px+) buttons (interactive context where 3:1 is acceptable) - Black on Brand:
#000000on#00adef= 7.0:1 — AAA — used as fallback button text when contrast is critical - Text on Light:
#000000on#ffffff= 21.0:1 — AAA
Focus Indicators
- Ring color:
#00adef(silver-blue) on dark;#000000on light - Ring style:
2px solidat2pxoffset from element’s outer edge - Focus-visible only: ring appears only on keyboard focus, not mouse-click focus
- Underline-only inputs receive ring as a thicker
2px solid #00adefborder-bottom on focus, replacing the1px #5a5a5adefault
ARIA Patterns
- Combobox (model search, dealer locator):
role="combobox"witharia-expanded,aria-controls,aria-activedescendant. Listbox panel usesrole="listbox"witharia-selectedon options. - Dialog (configurator save, dealer contact, sign-in):
role="dialog"witharia-modal="true",aria-labelledbypointing to the dialog title, focus trap on open. - Tabs (model trim selector, configurator step navigation):
role="tablist"witharia-selectedon the active tab. Arrow-key navigation. - Carousel (homepage hero, AMG gallery): exposed as
role="region"witharia-roledescription="carousel". Each slide isrole="group".
Keyboard Nav Order
Tab order: skip-to-content link → three-pointed-star (home link) → primary nav (Models, Owners, Shopping, Brand, Innovation) → utilities (search, language, account) → hero CTAs (primary first, then outline) → editorial body content top-to-bottom → footer columns → cookie banner if present.
Screen Reader Hints
- The three-pointed star carries
aria-label="Mercedes-Benz home"rather than alt-text, since it serves as the home link. - Spec values carry
aria-label="3.4 seconds, 0 to 100 kilometers per hour"for full unit context. - Photo captions are wrapped in
<figcaption>inside<figure>. - Decorative cinema photography uses
aria-hidden="true". - AMG and EQ sub-brand badges expose their full intent:
aria-label="AMG performance variant".
Reduced Motion Handling
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) overrides scroll-triggered transforms, parallax, count-ups, and the three-pointed-star rotation. Documented in §8.
10. Responsive Behavior
Breakpoints
| Name | Width | Key Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile | < 640px | Hero h1 88→32px; cinema photograph crops vertically; feature card grid 1-up; nav collapses to hamburger; spec cells 1-up |
| Tablet | 640–1024px | Hero h1 64px; feature card grid 2-up; nav still hamburger; spec cells 2-up |
| Desktop | 1024–1280px | Hero h1 88px; feature card grid 3-up; horizontal nav appears; spec cells 4-up |
| Wide | > 1280px | Editorial body content caps at 1440px; hero photography continues full-bleed; section padding increases to 128px |
Touch Targets
- Primary CTA at 48px height — exceeds WCAG AAA (44 × 44).
- Nav items render with 24px vertical padding for an effective 56px tap area on mobile hamburger menu.
- Star at 40px in the desktop nav, scales to 32px on mobile while preserving 48px tap area.
Collapsing Strategy
- Top nav switches to hamburger below 1024px; the three-pointed star remains top-left at 32px.
- Hero photograph reframes per breakpoint via art direction.
- Feature card grid: 4-up → 3-up → 2-up → 1-up.
- Spec cells: 4-up at desktop, 2-up at tablet, 1-up at mobile.
- Footer: 4-column at desktop, accordion-collapsed at mobile.
Image Behavior
- Hero photography uses
<picture>with mobile-cropped + desktop-wide art direction. - AVIF with WebP fallback and JPEG floor.
- All photography uses
loading="lazy"except the homepage hero (eager).
Container Queries
Used selectively on configurator pages where the spec panel reflows based on container width.
11. Content & Voice
Tone
Flagship-luxury, declarative, German-precise. The voice reads like the chief designer narrating a model launch — measured, confident, intentional. Sentences are short on the homepage and longer on heritage pages. Italian (Ferrari) and English-romantic (Aston Martin) flourishes are absent. The brand voice is engineered. There is no “innovative”, no “revolutionary” — those words are beneath the brand.
Microcopy Patterns
- Buttons: action-verb + noun, uppercase. “CONFIGURE”, “SCHEDULE A TEST DRIVE”, “FIND A DEALER”, “DISCOVER THE RANGE”. Never “Click here”, never “Learn more about our…”
- Eyebrows: uppercase context cue above display heads. “THE NEW S-CLASS”, “MERCEDES-AMG GT”, “THE EQ FAMILY”.
- Error message recipe:
[What went wrong]. [What to do.]— e.g. “We couldn’t reach our servers. Please try again in a moment.” - Success confirmations: terse. “Your build is saved.” “Your appointment is confirmed.” No exclamation marks.
- Form labels: capitalized noun phrases that float above the underline-only input. “Email Address”, “Phone Number”, “Preferred Dealer”.
Empty States
- No results: “No models match your filters. Try widening your search or browse the full lineup.”
- Saved build empty: “Your saved configurations will appear here. Begin a new configuration to save it.”
- Dealer locator no results: “No dealers within 100 miles. Try a wider radius or browse our authorized service network.”
CTA Verb Conventions
- CONFIGURE — the primary verb on every model page (not “Build” or “Customize”)
- DISCOVER — secondary verb for editorial content (not “Explore” or “Learn More”)
- SCHEDULE A TEST DRIVE — for test-drive (not “Book a test drive”)
- FIND A DEALER — for dealer locator
- READ MORE — for editorial articles
- SIGN IN — for owner/account pages (never “Login” — Mercedes uses two words)
12. Dark Mode & Theming
Mercedes-Benz is dark-by-default. The site never offers a user-facing light/dark toggle. The light editorial bands (configurator, dealer locator, owners portal) are scoped contextual surfaces — not a “light mode.” The site never inverts globally. The three-pointed star, the silver-blue CTA, and the canvas all stay constant.
When light editorial bands appear inside dark pages, the token swap is local and predictable:
bg:#000000→#fffffftext:#ffffff→#000000text-body:#a8a8a8→#3a3a3aborder:#2a2a2a→#d8d8d8surface:#1a1a1a→#f5f5f5brandandon-brandstay unchanged: silver-blue CTAs render identically on both grounds
13. Lineage & Influences
Mercedes-Benz’s digital surface inherits the flagship-luxury cinema of S-Class print campaigns more than the spec-sheet density of typical OEM sites. The pure-black canvas borrows from luxury fashion (Bottega Veneta, Chanel) where black signals flagship rather than mass-market. The silver-blue #00adef is a strategic re-deployment of the EQ electric-program hue across the entire brand surface — it functions as the interactive voltage where competitors use red (Ferrari, Honda) or yellow (Renault).
Tracked uppercase navigation (0.8px) and CTA labels (1.4px) borrow from German design heritage — Bauhaus, Ulm School of Design, the same lineage that gave us Braun and Vitsoe. Disciplined, engineered, intentional. The full-bleed cinematic photographic-hero pattern is borrowed from Apple-era product launches; the magazine-pacing rhythm from Vogue and Wallpaper*.
What it rejects: ornamental gradients (except in scoped EQ-content), warm color temperatures, casual sentence-case CTAs, anything that competes with the three-pointed-star authority.
Named influences:
- Bauhaus / Ulm School of Design — disciplined uppercase tracking, geometric typography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_School_of_Design)
- Bottega Veneta / Chanel — luxury-fashion black canvas as flagship signal (https://www.bottegaveneta.com)
- Apple product pages — full-viewport cinematic hero photography (https://www.apple.com)
- Vogue / Wallpaper* magazine — editorial pacing on flagship products (https://www.vogue.com)
- BMW iX brand voice — EV-program color discipline borrowed back to the parent brand
14. Do’s and Don’ts
Do
- Reserve silver-blue
#00adeffor primary CTAs, hover-state links, EQ-content highlights, and selected indicators — used scarcely. - Use pure black
#000000as canvas — not near-black, not warm-black. The absolute black is the luxury-flagship signal. - Render CTA labels uppercase in MBCorpo Text 14/500 with
1.4pxtracking. - Render nav items uppercase in
13/500 0.8px tracking. - Place an uppercase silver-blue eyebrow above every display headline (“THE NEW S-CLASS”).
- Use MBCorpo Title at weight 400 for display sizes — never bold display headlines.
- Pair every cinema hero with a full-bleed photograph — the photograph IS the depth.
- Use 8px CTA corners — the brand’s disciplined-flagship signature.
- Use underline-only inputs (no box) — luxury-form convention.
- The three-pointed star center-top in nav, watermarked over photography — non-negotiable.
Don’t
- Don’t introduce a saturated brand color other than silver-blue, AMG red (scoped), and Maybach champagne (scoped).
- Don’t use near-black or warm-black canvas — Mercedes uses
#000000absolute black. - Don’t bold display copy. MBCorpo Title at 400 carries flagship presence.
- Don’t use sentence-case CTA labels. Uppercase +
1.4pxtracking is the brand voice. - Don’t use box-style text inputs on luxury surfaces. Underline-only is the convention.
- Don’t add ornamental gradients outside scoped EQ-content bands.
- Don’t compress the 96px section rhythm. The whitespace is part of flagship pacing.
- Don’t use AMG red or AMG yellow outside AMG sub-brand contexts.
- Don’t translate “CONFIGURE” to “BUILD” or “CUSTOMIZE” — the brand verb is “CONFIGURE”.
- Don’t use 0px sharp corners. Mercedes is 8px disciplined, not Italian-Modernist sharp.
- Don’t add italic or decorative type. MBCorpo is always upright.
15. Agent Prompt Guide
Quick Color Reference
- Primary CTA:
#00adef(Silver-Blue) - Background:
#000000(Pure Black Canvas) - Surface:
#1a1a1a(Canvas-Elevated) - Headings:
#ffffff(Ink White) - Body text:
#a8a8a8(Body Default) - Muted:
#7a7a7a - Border:
#2a2a2a(Hairline on dark) - CTA hover:
#0095d0(Silver-Blue Hover) - Light band bg:
#ffffff - Focus ring:
#00adef2px on dark /#0000002px on light
Example Component Prompts
- “Create a Mercedes-Benz hero band with full-bleed cinematic photography of an S-Class at twilight, 100vh tall on pure-black
#000000canvas. Above the headline, an uppercase silver-blue eyebrow ‘THE NEW S-CLASS’ in MBCorpo Text 11/500 with 1.6px tracking. The headline ‘A Class of Its Own.’ floats over the photograph in MBCorpo Title 88px weight 400 with -0.88px letter-spacing in pure white. Below it, two side-by-side CTAs: a silver-blue#00adef‘CONFIGURE’ button (MBCorpo Text 14/500 1.4px uppercase, 14×32 padding, 48px tall, 8px corners) and a transparent outline-on-dark ‘DISCOVER’ button (1px white border, same dimensions).” - “Design a Mercedes feature card on
#1a1a1asurface inside a dark band: 12px radius, no border, 32px padding. 16:9 photograph at top edge-to-edge, then a title in MBCorpo Title 32/400 -0.16px white, 16px gap, body copy in MBCorpo Text 14/400#a8a8a8, 24px gap, and a ‘DISCOVER →’ text button in 14/500 1.4px uppercase with the arrow indicator sliding in on hover. On card hover: 4px translateY lift withrgba(0,0,0,0.3) 0 8px 24pxshadow over 240ms.” - “Build a Mercedes underline-only text input: transparent background, no border-x or border-top, only
border-bottom: 1px solid #5a5a5a. Floating label ‘Email Address’ begins inside the input in MBCorpo Text 14/400#7a7a7a; on focus, the label rises and shrinks to eyebrow 11/500 1.6px uppercase silver-blue, and the border-bottom shifts from#5a5a5ato#00adef. 12×0 padding, 48px tall, no radius.” - “Build a Mercedes spec cell: transparent background, 32px vertical padding, value in MBCorpo Title 64px weight 400 with -0.64px tracking pure white (‘523’), label below in MBCorpo Text 11/500 with 1.6px uppercase tracking (‘HORSEPOWER’). Group four spec cells in a 4-up row at desktop.”
- “Build a Mercedes top nav: 72px tall on
#000000, three-pointed star top-left at 40px (rotates 22.5° on hover over 360ms). Horizontal menu (MODELS / OWNERS / SHOPPING / BRAND / INNOVATION) center in MBCorpo Text 13/500 with 0.8px uppercase tracking. Utility icons (search, language, account) far right. 1px solid#2a2a2aborder-bottom. On hover over a nav item, a silver-blue 1px underline grows from invisible to full width over 150ms.” - “Design a Mercedes pre-footer CTA band: pure-black
#000000background, centered display headline ‘Begin Your Journey.’ in MBCorpo Title 48/400 -0.48px white, 96px vertical padding. Single silver-blue ‘CONFIGURE YOUR MERCEDES’ CTA centered below in 14/500 1.4px uppercase, 8px corners, 48px tall.”
Iteration Guide
- Focus on ONE component at a time. Reference its YAML key (
button-primary,hero-band-cinema). - Variants live as separate entries inside
components:rather than as nested modifiers. - CTAs default to 8px corners — disciplined-flagship. Never 0px (Ferrari), never 12px (Porsche).
- Use color tokens (
brand,text,surface) — never inline hex on multiple components. - Hover states on CTAs change color only — feature cards may lift 4px with shadow.
- MBCorpo Title 400 for display, MBCorpo Text 400 for body, 500 for CTAs/eyebrows. Uppercase + tracking on CTAs and nav.
- Silver-blue stays scarce — primary CTAs, hover-state links, EQ-content highlights only.
- Use the explicit spacing ladder (4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 64 / 80 / 96 / 128).
- Three-pointed star is the chrome — center-top in nav, watermarked over hero photo, embossed in footer.
Drop mercedes-benz into your project, then ship the actual sections in an afternoon.
1 · install design
npx design-md add mercedes-benz 2 · ship landing page
npx agentkit init --design mercedes-benz light corporate
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