
Tristyan / living style guide
The visual guide
Dark grey and bone white, with pops of colour. Shared colours, type and components for the project collection.
Colour with a purpose.
Charcoal and bone carry the page. Blue identifies a link, mint marks something ready to try, and orange marks work in progress. The same roles carry through light and dark appearances.
Bright pops belong in small marks, status dots and image details. Text uses a darker or lighter companion shade. The light-theme mint and orange text shades are tuned for readable contrast on bone.
Readable pairs Live contrast readings
These are opaque text/background pairs from the current theme. AA for normal text requires at least 4.5:1; decorative marks and rules have different jobs.
| Text / background | Ratio | Normal text |
|---|
Colour token reference Copy a CSS variable
The values below are read from the site’s CSS. Switch the appearance at the top of the page to inspect the other theme.
| Token / purpose | Current value | Copy |
|---|
A reading rhythm.
Literata carries page and project headings. Fira Sans carries descriptions, small section labels, navigation and actions. Keep those two voices consistent; monospace is reserved for actual code in this guide.
Page title
Literata · --serif
Projects.
Project heading
Literata · --serif
Tiny Stunts
Body
Fira Sans · --body
Race miniature cars in your browser, upgrade your vehicles, and build custom stunt circuits.
Labels & details
Fira Sans · --body
02 / Miniature racing / Playable beta
Navigation
Fira Sans · --body
Projects Guide Auto
Masthead
Fira Sans · --body
tristyan.
Keep paragraphs comfortably narrow. Long titles wrap; descriptions remain complete. Use sentence case for reading text and reserve capitals for compact labels.
One clear next step.
Every project uses the same action hierarchy. A solid button opens the project; quieter controls let someone watch or look around first.
Play opens Tiny Stunts in a new tab. Watch plays the existing film below. View gallery opens its full gallery in the local collection.
- Primary
- Ink fill, paper text. Use a concrete verb: Play, Open or Try. Keep one principal action per project.
- Video
- Link colour in a text row; a labelled Watch action beside the launch button. Keep it outside the image so it cannot obscure the work.
- Gallery
- A View gallery text link beneath the caption, plus an expand control at the image corner. Keep browsing distinct from launching the project.
- Keyboard focus
- A visible outline with room around it. Every link and control works with a keyboard; hover adds emphasis without moving the layout.
Words carry the status; colour is a supporting cue.
Give the work the space.
Available projects form one continuous collection. Each has the same title, description, action and media rhythm. Keep a compact directory above them, alongside the page title on wide screens. Group readiness with project metadata; keep launch and watch actions together. Work in progress uses the same language at a quieter scale.

On the working collection, all ready projects remain visible. Edge arrows change images in place. Expand opens the same image in the full gallery. Films start only when requested and pause when someone navigates to another section. Image frames use the source proportions; 16:9 is the fallback because it is the most common shape in this collection.
- Framing
- Keep the subject visible. Use each original image’s proportions and contain the whole image. Do not crop artwork, product identity or interface details to force a shared shape. Video follows its actual metadata.
- Media stage
- A steady dark surface supports images and video in both themes. Keep captions outside the image. Integrated media controls stay at the edges and preserve the subject.
- Honest previews
- Name artwork, screenshots and video accurately. Label concepts as planned and date historical development captures. A real Play or Visit link distinguishes available work from Coming soon.
- Shared links
- The 1200 × 630 sharing image uses the same bone paper, type and four ready projects. Its compact image tiles contain the complete originals. The page and gallery retain each source’s own proportions.
Room to breathe.
Use a small spacing scale. Keep related details close, leave more room between entries, and let a fine rule separate sections.
Spacing scale
Reading measure
The collection is at most wide, with text beside media. Descriptions use a 38ch reading measure on desktop, 44ch on phones. The guide has a reading column. On phones, text and media stack.
A quiet edge
corners and a single rule. Shape supports the content without adding another visual theme.
Room for a fingertip
Interactive targets are at least high.
A little feedback.
Motion acknowledges an action and then settles. Keep feedback quick, avoid continuous decoration, and honour the system’s reduced-motion preference.
- Quick feedback
- for colour and emphasis.
- Short movement
- with a gentle ease. The specimen uses the shared motion token.
- Reduced motion
- Remove movement and smooth scrolling. A clear state change still explains what happened.