Kilter

# Kilter

## Philosophy

A usable postmodern interface language that treats agentic software as an annotated press proof: Cranbrook-style typographic fracture, offset manga panels, terminal footnotes, and decorated-shed signals disciplined into a black-and-bone product system where mis-registration resolves into register.

### Values

- critical layering over neutral universality
- manga page rhythm as product structure
- explicit system state and provenance on the page
- high-taste restraint with pointed vermilion interruptions
- usable anti-interface grammar — deconstruction that clarifies workflow

### Anti-Values

- generic neon cyberpunk dashboards and code rain
- flat Memphis confetti without material logic
- illegible deconstruction that hides product state
- AI collage excess and decorative noise
- glass, glow, and soft gradient elevation

### Visual Character

- Bone paper body with 2px black ink panel frames, hard offset ink shadows (6px 6px 0), and sub-2 degree rotations applied only to major containers (dropped on mobile).
- Oversized transparent condensed words overprint behind content at ~5% opacity with mix-blend-multiply, clipped and pointer-events none, so typography becomes architecture.
- Blue annotation rails and monospaced terminal footnotes attach to panels with numbered chips, dashed leaders, and registration crosses.
- Vermilion is reserved for proof marks — narrow slashes, corner stamps, validation ticks — beside dangerous states only, never a fill or gradient.
- Interface structure is exposed through visible gutters, registration targets, crop marks, decorated-shed signs, and mono command-line captions.

### Lineage

> Descends from Cranbrook Academy deconstructive typography and manga/gekiga panel grammar, printed through offset-lithography and screenprint proofing conventions.

## Tokens

### Colors

| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#F1E7D2` |
| surface | `#FAF3E2` |
| surface_solid | `#FFFCF3` |
| text | `#141210` |
| muted | `#6B6455` |
| border | `#0B0B0B` |
| accent | `#1F44E5` |
| accent_2 | `#D21B12` |
| accent_soft | `#D7E0FA` |
| on_accent | `#FAF3E2` |
| success | `#1B7A3A` |
| warning | `#C25A00` |
| error | `#D21B12` |
| info | `#1F44E5` |

### Typography

- **Base Size**: 17px
- **Body Font**: IBM Plex Sans
- **Heading Font**: IBM Plex Sans Condensed
- **Mono Font**: IBM Plex Mono
- **Heading Weight**: 700
- **Heading Transform**: uppercase
- **Letter Spacing**: -0.015em
- **Line Height**: 1.5
- **Scale Ratio**: 1.25
- **Google Fonts Url**: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500;600&family=IBM+Plex+Sans+Condensed:wght@600;700&family=IBM+Plex+Sans:wght@400;500;600&display=swap

### Radii

- **None**: 0px
- **Md**: 0px
- **Lg**: 0px
- **Full**: 9999px

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 3px 3px 0 #0B0B0B
- **Md**: 6px 6px 0 rgba(11,11,11,.90)
- **Lg**: 11px 11px 0 rgba(11,11,11,.82)

### Spacing

- **Base**: 8px
- **Scale**: [4,8,12,16,24,32,48,64]

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: bone press-proof paper with faint halftone grain, a quiet 12-column editorial grid, black ink borders, blue annotation overlays, and vermilion proof marks; no glass, glow, or gradient elevation
- **Card Style**: rectangular manga panel — 2px black ink frame, hard offset ink shadow (6px 6px 0), sub-2 degree misregistration on feature cards, corner crop marks, a ghost condensed overprint word, and a terminal-footnote caption
- **Bg Pattern**: quiet editorial column grid, sparse black registration crosses, faint halftone dot grain, and a low-opacity oversized condensed word overprinting a section via mix-blend-multiply

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 2px
- **Accent Width**: 3px
- **Style**: solid black ink frame with occasional dashed annotation leaders
- **Character**: black ink panel edges; blue bracket rules for notes and focus; narrow vermilion slashes for warnings — never a single accent-coloured edge rail

### Motion

- **Duration**: 140ms
- **Easing**: cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1)
- **Philosophy**: motion behaves like a page correction — tiny offset snaps, underline reveals, focus brackets, and plates seating into register; no bouncy cyber motion; respects prefers-reduced-motion

## Rules

### Composition

Build screens as asymmetric manga spreads: one dominant work panel, two to four offset supporting panels, and a narrow terminal footnote rail. Anchor every fractured element to a visible grid, sign, or caption so product clarity survives the deconstruction.

### Hierarchy

Hierarchy comes from scale jumps, black frame weight, condensed display overlays, and blue annotation numbers. Body copy stays a fine 17px on bone; deconstructive display type is background, label, or proof layer — never the only instruction.

### Density

Medium-high density is allowed when each layer has a job — system state, provenance, command log, or editorial annotation — with controls kept spacious enough for production UI.

### Radius Stance

Square everywhere (radius 0): panels, buttons, inputs, chips, tabs, thumbnails. 9999 is reserved only for literal round marks — registration-target rings and status dots. A rounded card would break the language even though 16 is an allowed value.

### Signature Patterns

- Offset manga panels use sub-2 degree rotation plus a hard black offset shadow to create controlled misregistration without breaking alignment; interactive states seat the plate.
- Transparent condensed backwords overprint behind modules with mix-blend-multiply and clipped overflow so typography becomes architecture.
- Terminal footnotes are numbered blue mono chips connected by dashed leaders to the fields, rows, and decisions they explain, making agent reasoning explicit.
- Vermilion proof marks appear as narrow slashes, corner stamps, and validation ticks beside dangerous states only.
- Decorated-shed signs label functional zones with literal words — QUEUE, PATCH, RISK, TRACE — rather than abstract SaaS icons.
- A registration target (concentric rings + crosshair, blue and vermilion sub-rings) reads the plate offset and seats to zero as the run registers.

## Layout

### Grid

12-column editorial grid with irregular panel spans, 16px gutters, visible crop marks, and a persistent right-side annotation/registration rail on desktop.

### Breakpoints

mobile 390 (stacked panels, rotations removed), tablet 768-1024 (8-column, its own considered layout with the rail below the lead panel), desktop 1440, wide 1920+ (contained content centred, only the hero full-bleed).

### Whitespace

Whitespace is gutter-like: bone margins and black seams separate panels while annotations occupy controlled side channels rather than filling every gap.

## Guidance

### Do

- Spend black, bone, and blue with discipline and vermilion with severe restraint — proof marks only.
- Make the scene a real technical product: queues, patches, traces, forms, tables, and agent states.
- Let deconstruction reveal structure — footnotes, provenance, seams, signs, and proof marks clarify the workflow.
- Keep controls accessible: strong contrast, visible blue focus brackets, and a readable 17px body.

### Don't

- No neon or vaporwave gradients, chrome HUDs, cyberpunk code rain, glass, or glow.
- No rounded corners anywhere (this language is square); no single accent-coloured edge rail on a card.
- Don't rotate small body text or form controls into illegibility; keep rotation to major containers and drop it on mobile.
- Don't flood vermilion as a fill or gradient; never ship a generic component catalogue instead of a plausible product screen.

## Imagery Direction

### Illustration Style

Hand-pulled mis-registered colour separations on bone paper — two chromatic inks shifted a hair out of true so edges ghost and double, coarse halftone grain, registration crosshairs and crop marks in the margins; matte litho ink, never glossy.

### Hero Image Direction

One full-bleed proof sheet printed in bone/ultramarine/vermilion separations with a reserved quiet region (a bone block or open margin) for the dark display type; keep the palette to black, blue, and vermilion on bone.

### Icon Style

Decorated-shed signs and mono terminal labels rather than filled UI icons; registration targets, crop marks, and proof slashes stand in for status glyphs.

### Image Gen Prompts

- A hand-pulled two-colour screenprint proof sheet, abstract offset colour blocks in ultramarine, black, and vermilion on bone paper, slightly mis-registered separations, coarse halftone grain, registration crosshairs and crop marks in the corners
- A mis-registered screenprint portrait, ink separations shifted out of true so the edges ghost and double, coarse halftone, printed in black and ultramarine and vermilion on bone paper, generous quiet margin

### Pairs With

mackle

---
version: "alpha"
name: "Kilter"
description: "Agent-curated design language exported from Katagami as DESIGN.md."
colors:
  bg: "#F1E7D2"
  surface: "#FAF3E2"
  surface_solid: "#FFFCF3"
  text: "#141210"
  muted: "#6B6455"
  border: "#0B0B0B"
  accent: "#1F44E5"
  accent_2: "#D21B12"
  accent_soft: "#D7E0FA"
  on_accent: "#FAF3E2"
  success: "#1B7A3A"
  warning: "#C25A00"
  error: "#D21B12"
  info: "#1F44E5"
typography:
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Sans Condensed"
    fontSize: "2.075rem"
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: "-0.015em"
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Sans Condensed"
    fontSize: "1.66rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.15
    letterSpacing: "-0.015em"
  body-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Sans"
    fontSize: "17px"
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: "-0.015em"
  label-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Mono"
    fontSize: "0.75rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: "0.08em"
rounded:
  none: "0px"
  md: "0px"
  lg: "0px"
  full: "9999px"
spacing:
  base: "8px"
  xs: "4px"
  sm: "8px"
  md: "12px"
  lg: "16px"
  xl: "24px"
  2xl: "32px"
  3xl: "48px"
  4xl: "64px"
components:
  color-reference-bg:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.bg}"
  color-reference-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
  color-reference-surface_solid:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface_solid}"
  color-reference-text:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.text}"
  color-reference-muted:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.muted}"
  color-reference-border:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.border}"
  color-reference-accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent}"
  color-reference-accent_2:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent_2}"
  color-reference-accent_soft:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent_soft}"
  color-reference-on_accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.on_accent}"
  color-reference-success:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.success}"
  color-reference-warning:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.warning}"
  color-reference-error:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.error}"
  color-reference-info:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.info}"
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent}"
    textColor: "#ffffff"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  card-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  input-default:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    height: "44px"
---

# Kilter

## Overview

A usable postmodern interface language that treats agentic software as an annotated press proof: Cranbrook-style typographic fracture, offset manga panels, terminal footnotes, and decorated-shed signals disciplined into a black-and-bone product system where mis-registration resolves into register.

### Values

- critical layering over neutral universality
- manga page rhythm as product structure
- explicit system state and provenance on the page
- high-taste restraint with pointed vermilion interruptions
- usable anti-interface grammar — deconstruction that clarifies workflow

### Anti-Values

- generic neon cyberpunk dashboards and code rain
- flat Memphis confetti without material logic
- illegible deconstruction that hides product state
- AI collage excess and decorative noise
- glass, glow, and soft gradient elevation

### Visual Character

- Bone paper body with 2px black ink panel frames, hard offset ink shadows (6px 6px 0), and sub-2 degree rotations applied only to major containers (dropped on mobile).
- Oversized transparent condensed words overprint behind content at ~5% opacity with mix-blend-multiply, clipped and pointer-events none, so typography becomes architecture.
- Blue annotation rails and monospaced terminal footnotes attach to panels with numbered chips, dashed leaders, and registration crosses.
- Vermilion is reserved for proof marks — narrow slashes, corner stamps, validation ticks — beside dangerous states only, never a fill or gradient.
- Interface structure is exposed through visible gutters, registration targets, crop marks, decorated-shed signs, and mono command-line captions.

### Lineage

> Descends from Cranbrook Academy deconstructive typography and manga/gekiga panel grammar, printed through offset-lithography and screenprint proofing conventions.

## Colors

Use the YAML color tokens as the normative palette. The prose below names the roles agents should preserve when generating UI.

| Token | Value |
|-------|-------|
| bg | `#F1E7D2` |
| surface | `#FAF3E2` |
| surface_solid | `#FFFCF3` |
| text | `#141210` |
| muted | `#6B6455` |
| border | `#0B0B0B` |
| accent | `#1F44E5` |
| accent_2 | `#D21B12` |
| accent_soft | `#D7E0FA` |
| on_accent | `#FAF3E2` |
| success | `#1B7A3A` |
| warning | `#C25A00` |
| error | `#D21B12` |
| info | `#1F44E5` |

## Typography

- **Headline-Lg**: IBM Plex Sans Condensed, 2.075rem, weight 700, line-height 1.1.
- **Headline-Md**: IBM Plex Sans Condensed, 1.66rem, weight 600, line-height 1.15.
- **Body-Md**: IBM Plex Sans, 17px, weight 400, line-height 1.5.
- **Label-Md**: IBM Plex Mono, 0.75rem, weight 600, line-height 1.

## Layout

### Spacing Tokens

- **Base**: `8px`
- **Xs**: `4px`
- **Sm**: `8px`
- **Md**: `12px`
- **Lg**: `16px`
- **Xl**: `24px`
- **2xl**: `32px`
- **3xl**: `48px`
- **4xl**: `64px`

### Grid

12-column editorial grid with irregular panel spans, 16px gutters, visible crop marks, and a persistent right-side annotation/registration rail on desktop.

### Breakpoints

mobile 390 (stacked panels, rotations removed), tablet 768-1024 (8-column, its own considered layout with the rail below the lead panel), desktop 1440, wide 1920+ (contained content centred, only the hero full-bleed).

### Whitespace

Whitespace is gutter-like: bone margins and black seams separate panels while annotations occupy controlled side channels rather than filling every gap.

## Elevation & Depth

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 3px 3px 0 #0B0B0B
- **Md**: 6px 6px 0 rgba(11,11,11,.90)
- **Lg**: 11px 11px 0 rgba(11,11,11,.82)

## Shapes

### Rounded

- **None**: `0px`
- **Md**: `0px`
- **Lg**: `0px`
- **Full**: `9999px`

### Surfaces

- **Treatment**: bone press-proof paper with faint halftone grain, a quiet 12-column editorial grid, black ink borders, blue annotation overlays, and vermilion proof marks; no glass, glow, or gradient elevation
- **Card Style**: rectangular manga panel — 2px black ink frame, hard offset ink shadow (6px 6px 0), sub-2 degree misregistration on feature cards, corner crop marks, a ghost condensed overprint word, and a terminal-footnote caption
- **Bg Pattern**: quiet editorial column grid, sparse black registration crosses, faint halftone dot grain, and a low-opacity oversized condensed word overprinting a section via mix-blend-multiply

### Borders

- **Default Width**: 2px
- **Accent Width**: 3px
- **Style**: solid black ink frame with occasional dashed annotation leaders
- **Character**: black ink panel edges; blue bracket rules for notes and focus; narrow vermilion slashes for warnings — never a single accent-coloured edge rail

## Components

### Composition

Build screens as asymmetric manga spreads: one dominant work panel, two to four offset supporting panels, and a narrow terminal footnote rail. Anchor every fractured element to a visible grid, sign, or caption so product clarity survives the deconstruction.

### Hierarchy

Hierarchy comes from scale jumps, black frame weight, condensed display overlays, and blue annotation numbers. Body copy stays a fine 17px on bone; deconstructive display type is background, label, or proof layer — never the only instruction.

### Density

Medium-high density is allowed when each layer has a job — system state, provenance, command log, or editorial annotation — with controls kept spacious enough for production UI.

### Radius Stance

Square everywhere (radius 0): panels, buttons, inputs, chips, tabs, thumbnails. 9999 is reserved only for literal round marks — registration-target rings and status dots. A rounded card would break the language even though 16 is an allowed value.

### Signature Patterns

- Offset manga panels use sub-2 degree rotation plus a hard black offset shadow to create controlled misregistration without breaking alignment; interactive states seat the plate.
- Transparent condensed backwords overprint behind modules with mix-blend-multiply and clipped overflow so typography becomes architecture.
- Terminal footnotes are numbered blue mono chips connected by dashed leaders to the fields, rows, and decisions they explain, making agent reasoning explicit.
- Vermilion proof marks appear as narrow slashes, corner stamps, and validation ticks beside dangerous states only.
- Decorated-shed signs label functional zones with literal words — QUEUE, PATCH, RISK, TRACE — rather than abstract SaaS icons.
- A registration target (concentric rings + crosshair, blue and vermilion sub-rings) reads the plate offset and seats to zero as the run registers.

## shadcn/ui Usage

When the target app uses shadcn/ui, copy DESIGN.md with shadcn instead of the plain DESIGN.md. It contains the same Katagami design-language source plus the shadcn/ui primitives, imports, theme variables, component recipes, and preview-shot guidance.

DESIGN.md with shadcn: `/language/en-019fe2a4-4572-7741-9189-eb0d0dbad7ae/DESIGN.with-shadcn.md`.

The shadcn page also exposes optional machine-readable files for automation, but the human-facing handoff is DESIGN.md with shadcn.

Install recommended primitives with `npx shadcn@latest add button card input textarea select dialog sheet tabs badge separator checkbox switch slider tooltip dropdown-menu table`.

Use these primitives in shadcn apps:
- button
- card
- input
- textarea
- select
- dialog
- sheet
- tabs
- badge
- separator
- checkbox
- switch
- slider
- tooltip
- dropdown-menu
- table

Implementation rule for agents: import shadcn primitives from `@/components/ui/*`, apply the generated CSS variables first, then compose the language-specific recipes from the companion MD. Katagami remains the source of truth; shadcn names are the implementation surface.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do Spend black, bone, and blue with discipline and vermilion with severe restraint — proof marks only.
- Do Make the scene a real technical product: queues, patches, traces, forms, tables, and agent states.
- Do Let deconstruction reveal structure — footnotes, provenance, seams, signs, and proof marks clarify the workflow.
- Do Keep controls accessible: strong contrast, visible blue focus brackets, and a readable 17px body.
- Don't No neon or vaporwave gradients, chrome HUDs, cyberpunk code rain, glass, or glow.
- Don't No rounded corners anywhere (this language is square); no single accent-coloured edge rail on a card.
- Don't Don't rotate small body text or form controls into illegibility; keep rotation to major containers and drop it on mobile.
- Don't Don't flood vermilion as a fill or gradient; never ship a generic component catalogue instead of a plausible product screen.

## Imagery Direction

### Illustration Style

Hand-pulled mis-registered colour separations on bone paper — two chromatic inks shifted a hair out of true so edges ghost and double, coarse halftone grain, registration crosshairs and crop marks in the margins; matte litho ink, never glossy.

### Hero Image Direction

One full-bleed proof sheet printed in bone/ultramarine/vermilion separations with a reserved quiet region (a bone block or open margin) for the dark display type; keep the palette to black, blue, and vermilion on bone.

### Icon Style

Decorated-shed signs and mono terminal labels rather than filled UI icons; registration targets, crop marks, and proof slashes stand in for status glyphs.

### Image Gen Prompts

- A hand-pulled two-colour screenprint proof sheet, abstract offset colour blocks in ultramarine, black, and vermilion on bone paper, slightly mis-registered separations, coarse halftone grain, registration crosshairs and crop marks in the corners
- A mis-registered screenprint portrait, ink separations shifted out of true so the edges ghost and double, coarse halftone, printed in black and ultramarine and vermilion on bone paper, generous quiet margin

### Pairs With

mackle

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema/registry-item.json",
  "name": "kilter",
  "type": "registry:theme",
  "title": "Kilter shadcn Theme",
  "cssVars": {
    "theme": {},
    "light": {
      "background": "#F1E7D2",
      "foreground": "#141210",
      "card": "#FAF3E2",
      "card-foreground": "#141210",
      "popover": "#FAF3E2",
      "popover-foreground": "#141210",
      "primary": "#141210",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#f4f4f5",
      "secondary-foreground": "#111111",
      "muted": "#6B6455",
      "muted-foreground": "#141210",
      "accent": "#1F44E5",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#D21B12",
      "border": "#0B0B0B",
      "input": "#0B0B0B",
      "ring": "#1F44E5",
      "chart-1": "#141210",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#1F44E5",
      "chart-4": "#1B7A3A",
      "chart-5": "#C25A00",
      "sidebar": "#FAF3E2",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#141210",
      "sidebar-primary": "#141210",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#1F44E5",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#0B0B0B",
      "sidebar-ring": "#1F44E5",
      "radius": "0px"
    },
    "dark": {
      "background": "#0f1115",
      "foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "card": "#181b22",
      "card-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "popover": "#181b22",
      "popover-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "primary": "#141210",
      "primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "secondary": "#252a33",
      "secondary-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "muted": "#252a33",
      "muted-foreground": "#a1a1aa",
      "accent": "#1F44E5",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#D21B12",
      "border": "#303642",
      "input": "#303642",
      "ring": "#1F44E5",
      "chart-1": "#141210",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#1F44E5",
      "chart-4": "#1B7A3A",
      "chart-5": "#C25A00",
      "sidebar": "#181b22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "sidebar-primary": "#141210",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-accent": "#1F44E5",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#303642",
      "sidebar-ring": "#1F44E5",
      "radius": "0px"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "katagami",
    "languageId": "en-019fe2a4-4572-7741-9189-eb0d0dbad7ae",
    "slug": "kilter",
    "componentManifest": [
      "button",
      "card",
      "input",
      "textarea",
      "select",
      "dialog",
      "sheet",
      "tabs",
      "badge",
      "separator",
      "checkbox",
      "switch",
      "slider",
      "tooltip",
      "dropdown-menu",
      "table"
    ],
    "installCommand": "npx shadcn@latest add button card input textarea select dialog sheet tabs badge separator checkbox switch slider tooltip dropdown-menu table",
    "nativeTokenNames": {
      "colors": [
        "accent",
        "accent_2",
        "accent_soft",
        "bg",
        "border",
        "error",
        "info",
        "muted",
        "on_accent",
        "success",
        "surface",
        "surface_solid",
        "text",
        "warning"
      ],
      "typography": [
        "base_size",
        "body_font",
        "google_fonts_url",
        "heading_font",
        "heading_transform",
        "heading_weight",
        "letter_spacing",
        "line_height",
        "mono_font",
        "scale_ratio"
      ],
      "radii": [
        "full",
        "lg",
        "md",
        "none"
      ],
      "shadows": [
        "lg",
        "md",
        "sm"
      ],
      "spacing": [
        "base",
        "scale"
      ],
      "surfaces": [
        "bg_pattern",
        "card_style",
        "treatment"
      ],
      "borders": [
        "accent_width",
        "character",
        "default_width",
        "style"
      ],
      "motion": [
        "duration",
        "easing",
        "philosophy"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```