# American Express design system

> American Express design system measured from americanexpress.com: BentonSans font, 11 color hex codes, type scale and spacing. Light theme with 8px corners.

Canonical page: https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/americanexpress.com/

American Express’s website (americanexpress.com) uses the BentonSans font and #006FCF as its main color on a white background. Measured by Sitepeel on November 4, 2026.

## What font does American Express use?

American Express uses BentonSans (weights 400 and 600) and Helvetica Neue (weights 400 and 500) on americanexpress.com. Page titles are 24px at weight 400 and body text is 16px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- BentonSans (weights 400, 600)
- system-ui (weights 400, 500)
- Helvetica Neue (weights 400, 500)

## American Express colors: palette and hex codes

American Express’s main colors are #FFFFFF (white) for the background, #3D3D3D (graphite) for text and #006FCF (blue) as the main accent, with #0066BE (dark blue) and #00175A (deep blue) as other accents. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- #FFFFFF: white
- #3D3D3D: graphite
- #262626: graphite
- #595959: slate
- #B5D7F4: light blue
- #E0E0E0: silver
- #006FCF: blue
- #737373: slate

## What is American Express built with?

American Express’s website (americanexpress.com) is built with React, CSS Modules and Akamai. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- JavaScript framework: React 17.0.2
- Analytics: Adobe Analytics 2.23.0, Google Ads, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Meta Pixel
- Hosting & CDN: Akamai
- UI & CSS: CSS Modules
- Server: Java

## Questions and answers

### What font does American Express use?

American Express’s website uses BentonSans (weights 400 and 600) and Helvetica Neue (weights 400 and 500). Page titles are 24px at weight 400 and body text is 16px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What are the American Express colors and hex codes?

On americanexpress.com: #FFFFFF (white) for the background, #3D3D3D (graphite) for text and #006FCF (blue) as the main accent, with #0066BE (dark blue) and #00175A (deep blue) as other accents. The color palette above lists all 11 colors with their hex codes and where each one is used.

### What is the American Express design system?

The design system on this page is americanexpress.com’s, as measured on November 4, 2026: BentonSans type, #006FCF as the main color and 8px corners, written down as a DESIGN.md. It is not American Express’s own documentation.

### What is American Express built with?

American Express’s website (americanexpress.com) is built with React, CSS Modules and Akamai. The full tech stack Sitepeel found: React, Adobe Analytics, Akamai, Google Ads, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Meta Pixel, Pinterest Tag, Reddit Pixel, CSS Modules and Statsig. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What is the American Express DESIGN.md?

A plain-text file with American Express’s measured colors, type, spacing, corners and components as tokens, plus short rules, in the DESIGN.md format Google published with Stitch. Your AI coding agent reads it and builds in this style. More about DESIGN.md.

### How do I use it with Claude Code or Cursor?

Download the file and put it in your project’s root folder, then ask your agent to follow DESIGN.md. Step-by-step guides: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot.

### Is this American Express’s official design system?

No. Sitepeel measured it from americanexpress.com’s public page on November 4, 2026. It is an independent analysis, not made or approved by American Express.

### Can I use American Express’s style in my own product?

Use it to learn, prototype and compare. For a real product, make the style your own, and never copy American Express’s logo, name, pictures or text.

### How accurate are the values?

Each value was measured on the rendered page after it fully loaded, on desktop and mobile: colors where they appear, type with tracking, spacing, corners, shadows and hover states. Sites change, so check the date at the top.

## Files

- [DESIGN.md](https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/americanexpress.com/DESIGN.md): the plain file to put in your project.
- [All brand DESIGN.md files](https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/examples/index.md)

Independent analysis by Sitepeel (sitepeel.dev), not affiliated with American Express.

## The DESIGN.md file

```markdown
---
version: alpha
name: American Express
description: "Light interface measured from americanexpress.com: BentonSans type with system-ui, blue accents, flat surfaces and 8px corners."
colors:
  background: "#FFFFFF"
  surface: "#FFFFFF"
  on-surface: "#3D3D3D"
  on-background: "#3D3D3D"
  on-surface-strong: "#262626"
  on-surface-variant: "#595959"
  outline: "#B5D7F4"
  outline-variant: "#E0E0E0"
  primary: "#006FCF"
  on-primary: "#FFFFFF"
  inverse-surface: "#737373"
  secondary: "#0066BE"
  tertiary: "#00175A"
typography:
  display-hero:
    fontFamily: BentonSans
    fontSize: 32px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.25
  headline-display:
    fontFamily: BentonSans
    fontSize: 24px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.33
  body-md:
    fontFamily: system-ui
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
  body-sm:
    fontFamily: Helvetica Neue
    fontSize: 15px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.46
  caption:
    fontFamily: system-ui
    fontSize: 14px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.57
  label-lg:
    fontFamily: system-ui
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.5
  label-md:
    fontFamily: Helvetica Neue
    fontSize: 15px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.46
  label-sm:
    fontFamily: BentonSans
    fontSize: 13px
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.38
rounded:
  sm: 4px
  md: 8px
  lg: 16px
  xl: 100px
spacing:
  xs: 3px
  sm: 8px
  md: 16px
  lg: 23px
  gutter: 8px
components:
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}"
    textColor: "{colors.on-primary}"
    typography: "{typography.label-lg}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: 11px 23px
    height: 48px
  button-outline:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.background}"
    textColor: "{colors.tertiary}"
    typography: "{typography.label-lg}"
    rounded: "{rounded.sm}"
    padding: 8px 16px 4px 16px
    height: 47px
  button-outline-hover:
    backgroundColor: "#F7F8F9"
  button-ghost:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.background}"
    textColor: "{colors.secondary}"
    typography: "{typography.label-lg}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: 0px 15px
    height: 32px
  link:
    textColor: "{colors.secondary}"
---

# American Express Design System

## Overview

American Express describes itself as: “American Express offers world-class Charge and Credit Cards, Gift Cards, Rewards, Travel, Personal Savings, Business Services, Insurance and more.” The interface is light, built on **White (#FFFFFF)** with **Graphite (#3D3D3D)** text, and **Blue (#006FCF)** as the main accent.

Type is set in **BentonSans** and **system-ui**. Headlines run large; body text is 16px. Depth comes from soft drop shadows. Corners are mostly 8px.

Measured from [americanexpress.com](https://www.americanexpress.com/) on November 4, 2026 at 1440×900 and 390×844 from 283 rendered elements. Values are computed styles from the live page, not the original source files.

## Colors

The palette has 11 roles.

- **White (#FFFFFF):** Page background, seen 17 times. Token `background`, CSS `--ds-1218`.
- **Graphite (#3D3D3D):** Primary text and headings, seen 22 times. Token `on-surface`, CSS `--ds-391`.
- **Graphite (#262626):** Headings and emphasis, seen 3 times. Token `on-surface-strong`, CSS `--ds-754`.
- **Slate (#595959):** Secondary text, seen 4 times. Token `on-surface-variant`, CSS `--ds-456`.
- **Light Blue (#B5D7F4):** Borders and dividers, seen 7 times. Token `outline`, CSS `--ds-549`.
- **Silver (#E0E0E0):** Secondary dividers, seen 6 times. Token `outline-variant`, CSS `--ds-739`.
- **Blue (#006FCF):** Primary buttons and calls to action, seen 16 times. Token `primary`, CSS `--ds-582`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Text and icons on primary. Token `on-primary`.
- **Slate (#737373):** High-contrast fills, seen 2 times. Token `inverse-surface`, CSS `--ds-745`.
- **Dark Blue (#0066BE):** Links and interactive text, seen 57 times. Token `secondary`, CSS `--ds-669`.
- **Deep Blue (#00175A):** Accent, seen 3 times. Token `tertiary`, CSS `--ds-1072`.

## Typography

**BentonSans**, **system-ui** and **Helvetica Neue** share the interface. Fallback stack: `BentonSans`.

- **display-hero:** BentonSans 32px at weight 400, line height 1.25. Oversized hero statements.
- **headline-display:** BentonSans 24px at weight 400, line height 1.33. Page title (h1).
- **body-md:** system-ui 16px at weight 400, line height 1.5. Body text.
- **body-sm:** Helvetica Neue 15px at weight 400, line height 1.46. Secondary and small text.
- **caption:** system-ui 14px at weight 400, line height 1.57. Captions and fine print.
- **label-lg:** system-ui 16px at weight 500, line height 1.5. Large buttons and tabs.
- **label-md:** Helvetica Neue 15px at weight 500, line height 1.46. Buttons, navigation and labels.
- **label-sm:** BentonSans 13px at weight 600, line height 1.38, uppercase. Small labels and badges.

## Layout

Spacing does not follow a strict grid: 57% of measured values are multiples of 4px, so match the measured steps rather than rounding to a grid.

- **Scale:** xs 3px, sm 8px, md 16px, lg 23px.
- **Gaps:** 8px is the most common gap in flex and grid layouts.
- **Breakpoints:** 319px, 320px, 375px, 567px, 568px, 767px, 799px, 800px, 1023px, 1024px, 1279px, 1280px, 1439px, 1440px.

## Elevation & Depth

Raised elements use soft drop shadows. The most used recipes:

- `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.06) 0px 2px 4px -1px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.06) 0px 2px 5px 2px`
- `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.16) 0px 2px 4px -1px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04) 0px 2px 8px 3px`

## Shapes

Most elements use 8px corners. Measured radii, most used first:

- **md (8px):** 60 elements.
- **sm (4px):** 38 elements.
- **lg (16px):** 28 elements.
- **xl (100px):** 24 elements.

## Components

Measured from the rendered page. Token values reference the tokens above.

- **button-primary (“Log In”):** #006FCF fill, #FFFFFF text, 16px/500, 8px radius, padding 11px 23px, border 1px solid #006FCF.
- **button-outline (“Personal”):** #FFFFFF fill, #00175A text, 16px/500, 4px 4px 0px 0px radius, padding 8px 16px 4px 16px, border 3px solid #00175A, shadow `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.16) 0px 2px 4px -1px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04) 0px 2px 8px 3px`.
- **button-outline-hover:** background #F7F8F9, text #00175A on hover.
- **button-ghost (“Explore Cards”):** #FFFFFF fill, #0066BE text, 16px/500, 8px radius, padding 0px 15px, border 1px solid #B5D7F4.
- **link:** transparent fill, #0066BE text, padding 0px.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do use #FFFFFF for the page.
- Do keep text in 3 levels: #3D3D3D, #262626, #595959.
- Do reserve #006FCF for primary actions and key highlights.
- Do reuse the measured spacing steps (8px, 16px, 23px).
- Do use 8px corners on most elements; larger surfaces also use 4px, 16px and 100px.
- Don't introduce new font families beyond BentonSans, system-ui and Helvetica Neue.
- Don't use #006FCF for large backgrounds or body text.
- Don't make interface transitions slower than 0.25s.

## Motion

Interface transitions are quick: 0.25s, 0.15s. Longer ambient animations run 1s.

- **Easing:** `ease`, `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)`, `ease-out`.
- **Reduced motion:** the page responds to `prefers-reduced-motion`.

Generated by [Sitepeel](https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/americanexpress.com/), the free DESIGN.md generator (engine 2026.10.29+b828a475ee10).

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