Colour & material

Each project owns a five-step accent ramp and a material vocabulary. The ramp drives sigils, focus states, active controls, diagrams, and restrained highlights.

Project families

Project	Accent family	Material direction
Greenways	Emerald, verdigris, turquoise	Glass smalti, ivory limestone, living trees, pale gold
Hestia	Garnet, oxblood, ember	Red glass, black onyx, brushed brass, velvet
Hoplite	Cyan, teal, ice	Cyan glass, pale stone, dark green marble, clipped foliage
Historia	Lapis, midnight, cyan	Lapis smalti, black marble, ivory, gold leaf
Hodos	Malachite, celadon, pearl	Mother-of-pearl, green glass, silk, aged mirror
Tahto	Opal, alabaster, champagne gold, mother-of-pearl	Opal glass, carved alabaster, gold smalti, clear water, living reeds
Ignatius	Obsidian, charcoal, ochre, yellow	Black basalt, yellow glass, gold smalti, blackened steel
Visual Language	Emerald, turquoise, sapphire	Peacock glass, warm ivory ground, deep teal stone and restrained gold
Statstrade	Legion red, oxblood, bronze	Red smalti, basalt, travertine, porphyry, bronze

Accent ramps

A ramp contains real tonal separation. Adjacent steps should remain distinguishable when used as neighbouring mosaic regions.

:root[data-project="visual-language"] {
  --gw-accent-1: #0b4e41;
  --gw-accent-2: #087f72;
  --gw-accent-3: #19b7b7;
  --gw-accent-4: #1855a3;
  --gw-accent-5: #e4c778;
}

Grounds and surfaces

Use calm mineral grounds around detailed imagery. Light mode favours warm ivory and pale stone rather than pure white. Dark mode uses near-black mineral tones rather than blue-black SaaS gradients.

Metallic accents

Gold and bronze indicate resolution, craft, or structure. They are not default button colours. Reserve them for meaningful architectural or editorial moments.

Avoid

• neon gradients without material cause;
• one accent colour covering every surface;
• fake glassmorphism as a substitute for depth;
• sepia filters applied to otherwise modern imagery;
• decorative texture behind small body text.