Clarity

Public services, developer tools, documentation-first platforms, and accessibility-conscious products — teams that are judged on whether every visitor, on any device or assistive technology, can read the page and complete the task. Typical owners: a government agency publishing guidance and forms, an open-source project maintaining reference docs, a compliance or civic-tech team that must clear WCAG audits and mean it.

Plain, exact, and useful. Say what the thing is and what to do next; cut adjectives before nouns. Prefer a verified number to a claim, a labelled step to a flourish. The tone is that of good public writing: calm, literal, and confident because it is correct — never salesy, never clever for its own sake.

Pure white (#ffffff) canvas with near-black (#0d0d0d) text — a 19.4:1 reading contrast — and cobalt blue (#0052cc) reserved for decisive action, links, and focus rings. A deliberately visible mid-grey border (#767676, 4.5:1) draws crisp structural rules; #dceeff is the only tint, used sparingly for controlled emphasis. System sans-serif for both headings and body (no serif, no webfont) at 16px / 1.75 line-height, sharp 0.375rem radius, generous 5rem section rhythm. In dark mode the same logic holds on a near-black slate (#0b0d10) with near-white text (#f4f6f8, 18:1) and a lifted cobalt (#5c9bff) that stays unmistakably cobalt.