Design system

The 5Four design system.

One page for everything the site, the proposals, and the templates share: the marks, the two typefaces, four colors, the named terms, and the rules that keep them consistent. Sharp edges. No rounded boxes. Structure creates freedom.

TypeColorNamed terms
02 Color

Black, white, gray, and one green.

Green is the only color. It marks the named terms, the primary button, and the No-Hostage band. Everything else is black, white, and two grays.

Ink
#000000
--ink, --panel
Surface
#FFFFFF
--surface, --on-panel
Surface gray
#EFEFEF
--surface-gray
Bands, tiles, tables
Ink muted
#5E5E5E
--ink-muted
Captions on white only
5Four Green
#4A7A2E
--green, --accent
Text on white at 24px and up
Green, on black
#7DB356
--accent-on-panel
Text and links on black
Rules

Green text on white is headline size only, 24px and up. Body-size green text goes black. On black backgrounds use the lighter green, never the logo green. Rules and borders are 1px black on white, 1px white on black, 6px for section-opening bars.

Never

No gradients. No dark blue. No tints of green other than the two above. No shadows. No rounded corners anywhere: radius is 0.

03 Type

Strichpunkt Sans for headlines. Faculty Glyphic for everything else.

Display XL
116 / 0.9 / 900 / caps
Your team runs it
Display L
88 / 0.9 / 900 / caps
The Approval Loop
Display M
44 / 0.95 / 800 / caps
Brand Design
Heading
26 / 1.05 / 800 / caps
The Change Log
Statement
36 / 44 / Faculty Glyphic / sentence

A site you're afraid to touch.

Lead
22 / 34 / Faculty Glyphic

Most agencies hand over files. We hand over the ability to use them.

Body
17 / 28 / Faculty Glyphic

Your team asks for a change in plain English, a preview link comes back with the change in place, the person you named approves it, and it goes live with a line in your Change Log.

Meta
12 / 16 / 700 / caps / .12em
Trusted by teams at

Faculty Glyphic ships in one weight and carries everything set in sentence case, including the large statements. Strichpunkt Sans is for caps only: headlines, labels, buttons, card titles. For emphasis in body copy use a Meta label or a green named term, never bold or italic. Headlines are set in sentence case in the source and rendered in caps by the style, with a small 0.1em space before a closing period.

04 Named terms

Six names. Same words every time.

These carry the offer. Capitalize them the same way everywhere: site, proposals, onboarding deck, newsletter, LinkedIn, sales calls. Set them in green the first time they appear in a section, at headline size on white or any size on black.

The Ticket Tax

The problem: a fee, a wait, and a developer for every change.

The Approval Loop

The mechanism: ask, preview, approve, live. Always those four verbs, in that order.

5Four® Systems

The offer: Brand System, Site System, Growth System. The ® stays on 5Four® Systems and 5Four® Run.

The Handover

What every system ships with: five parts. "The five-part Handover" when you need the number.

The Guardrails

The rules built into the system that let a team build freely without breaking anything. Always paired with "Structure creates freedom."

The No-Hostage Rule

Ownership: your accounts, your name, our admin access. Hyphenated, both words capitalized.

Product nouns

Brand Assistant, Change Log, 5Four® Run. Capitalized, never abbreviated.

Voice

Second person. Short sentences. American spelling. No em dashes: use a colon, a comma, or a period. Say the thing directly instead of naming what it is not.

05 Components

Buttons, rows, chips, and bands.

Buttons on white
PrimarySecondary

Primary is green with white text. Secondary is an outline. Labels are Meta style, caps. One primary per section.

Buttons on black
PrimarySecondary

Secondary turns white. Hover fills white with black text.

Accordion row

Used for the systems list and every FAQ. Plus and minus signs, 1px rules, no icons.

Filter chips

Gray by default, black when pressed. Square.

Section opener
Eyebrow
Headline here.

Every section opens with a 6px bar, a Meta eyebrow, and a display headline. 96px padding top and bottom, 56px sides.

Green band
The No-Hostage Rule.

One per page at most. Reserved for the ownership promise. White text, white 6px rule, white buttons.

Icons
Assets
Templates
AI Layer
Change Log
Training
Positioning
Identity
Voice
Guidelines
Layouts
Campaigns
AEO
Analytics
Calendar
Build
Content schema
Search
Preview
Assets
Templates
AI Layer
Change Log
Training
Positioning

Inline line icons on a 44px grid, 2px stroke, square ends. Green #4A7A2E on white, #7DB356 on black. The first five are the Handover set and always appear in that order. Draw new icons to the same grid and stroke. Never emoji.

06 Layout and imagery

Twelve columns. Sixteen-pixel gutters. Hairline rules.

Grid

1440 desktop frame, 56px side margins, 12 columns, 16px gutters. Copy columns span 5 to 7. Work cards span 2, 3, 4, or 6.

Spacing

4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 96. Section padding 96 top and bottom. Alternate white, black, and gray bands so two dark bands never touch.

Imagery

Real project work and real people, chosen with care. Photos are square-cornered and full bleed inside their cell. The hero collage sits under a 62 percent black wash so white type reads. Client logos are black on white, one height per row.

Icons

Inline stroke icons, 2px, 44px box, green. No filled icons, no emoji.

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Structure creates freedom.

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