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IDEO : Human-centered design

www.ideo.com
coolsans-onlydarkboldhigh-contrastminimalagencyeditorial
IDEO : Human-centered design
Agent-readable design overview — paste into any LLM.
DESIGN.md

IDEO : Human-centered design — Design System

North Star

A design firm whose own site embodies its brief: bold human-centered ideas in a high-contrast, no-nonsense voice.

Theme: light Category: agency Tags: cool · sans-only · dark · bold · high-contrast · minimal · agency · editorial

Description

IDEO leans hard into a near-black canvas with a single radioactive-yellow accent for headlines, CTAs, and FAQ chevrons. Massive display type sets the tone (Human-centered ingenuity), while editorial photography of work, people, and case studies fills card grids underneath. Sans-serif throughout, generous vertical rhythm, and a unified design-system feel: black, yellow, gray, no third color. The site is its own portfolio.

Colors

NameHexGroupRoleTailwind
neutral-50-1#ffffffneutralneutral step 50zinc-50 (Δ0.015)
green-100#d9ff00greengreen step 100
neutral-800-1#151f27neutralneutral step 800
neutral-700#333333neutralneutral step 700
blue-400#7b92a5blueblue step 400
blue-600-1#0000eeblueblue step 600
neutral-800-2#212d3aneutralneutral step 800gray-800 (Δ0.015)
neutral-950#000000neutralneutral step 950
neutral-400#959494neutralneutral step 400
neutral-50-2#f5f8faneutralneutral step 50slate-50 (Δ0.007)
blue-700#253342blueblue step 700
blue-600-2#516383blueblue step 600
blue-600-3#536575blueblue step 600

Surfaces (Elevation)

LevelNameHexPurpose
0background#ffffffPage background
1surface-1#959494Cards / elevated panels
2surface-2#333333Elevation tier 2
3surface-floor#151f27Elevation tier 3

Elevation philosophy. Cards stay flat against the dark canvas with a thin lighter border. The yellow accent is the only true 'foreground' tier — everything else lives in a quiet two-tone hierarchy.

Typography

Fhoscar — weight 400

body

Manrope — weight 400

body

Type Scale

RoleSizeLine-heightTracking
display90px0.98
h240px1
h340px1
ui-action25px1.16
ui-input25px1.4
body14px1.43
link14px1.43

Spacing & Radius

Radius

  • none: 0
  • xs: 2px

Spacing

  • base: 1px

Layout

Vertical rhythm: hero headline → card grid of recent projects → second display headline → photo grid of people → FAQ accordion. Generous whitespace; sections breathe.

Imagery

Editorial photography of design work, case studies, and people — color-rich photos floating on the dark canvas. Yellow occasionally appears as a graphic element overlaid on imagery.

Do

  • Pair the near-black background (#0E0E0E) with a single high-saturation yellow accent
  • Use display-scale headlines as the primary navigational rhythm
  • Frame photos in soft-cornered cards with thin borders, never shadowed
  • Reserve yellow for CTAs, expand chevrons, and important inline emphasis

Don't

  • Don't introduce a third color — black, yellow, gray IS the system
  • Don't soften the contrast; the punch is the personality
  • Don't use serif type — IDEO's voice is engineered sans, not editorial
  • Don't shadow the cards — clean borders on the dark canvas do the elevation