# AWS design system

> AWS design system measured from aws.amazon.com: Amazon Ember Display font, 14 color hex codes, type scale, spacing and a free DESIGN.md. Free.

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

AWS’s website (aws.amazon.com) uses the Amazon Ember Display font on a #DEDEE3 background. Measured by Sitepeel on November 4, 2026.

## What font does AWS use?

AWS uses Amazon Ember Display (weights 400 and 500) and Arial (weight 400) on aws.amazon.com. Page titles are 40px at weight 500 (28px on phones) and body text is 16px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- Amazon Ember Display (weights 400, 500)
- Arial (weights 400)

## AWS colors: palette and hex codes

AWS’s main colors are #DEDEE3 (mist) for the background and #161D26 (cool charcoal) for text, with #0972D3 (vivid blue) as another accent. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- #DEDEE3: mist
- #161D26: cool charcoal
- #232B37: deep blue
- #A4A4AD: cool gray
- #CCCCD1: silver
- #F3F3F7: snow
- #FFFFFF: white
- #D1D6DB: cool silver

## What is AWS built with?

AWS’s website (aws.amazon.com) is built with jQuery, React, Amazon CloudFront, Rive and Three.js. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- JavaScript framework: jQuery 3.7.1, React 17.0.2
- Animation & 3D: Rive, Three.js r175
- Analytics: Adobe Analytics 2.22.0
- Hosting & CDN: Amazon CloudFront
- Fonts & icons: Font Awesome

## Questions and answers

### What font does AWS use?

AWS’s website uses Amazon Ember Display (weights 400 and 500) and Arial (weight 400). Page titles are 40px at weight 500 (28px on phones) and body text is 16px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What are the AWS colors and hex codes?

On aws.amazon.com: #DEDEE3 (mist) for the background and #161D26 (cool charcoal) for text, with #0972D3 (vivid blue) as another accent. The color palette above lists all 14 colors with their hex codes and where each one is used.

### What is the AWS design system?

The design system on this page is aws.amazon.com’s, as measured on November 4, 2026: Amazon Ember Display type and 40px corners, written down as a DESIGN.md. It is not AWS’s own documentation.

### What is AWS built with?

AWS’s website (aws.amazon.com) is built with jQuery, React, Amazon CloudFront, Rive and Three.js. The full tech stack Sitepeel found: jQuery, React, Rive, Three.js, Adobe Analytics, Amazon CloudFront and Font Awesome. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What is the AWS DESIGN.md?

A plain-text file with AWS’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 AWS’s official design system?

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

### Can I use AWS’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 AWS’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/aws.amazon.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 AWS.

## The DESIGN.md file

```markdown
---
version: alpha
name: AWS
description: "Light monochrome interface measured from aws.amazon.com: Amazon Ember Display type with Arial, tonal surfaces and 40px corners."
colors:
  background: "#DEDEE3"
  surface: "#DEDEE3"
  on-surface: "#161D26"
  on-background: "#161D26"
  on-surface-variant: "#232B37"
  on-surface-muted: "#A4A4AD"
  surface-container-low: "#CCCCD1"
  surface-container: "#F3F3F7"
  surface-container-high: "#FFFFFF"
  overlay: "#FFFFFFBF"
  overlay-strong: "#0F141ABF"
  outline: "#D1D6DB"
  outline-variant: "#FFFFFF"
  primary: "#161D26"
  on-primary: "#FFFFFF"
  secondary: "#0972D3"
typography:
  headline-display:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 40px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.1
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 32px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.25
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 28px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.29
  body-md:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
  body-lg:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 18px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.33
  body-sm:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 14px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.43
  label-md:
    fontFamily: Arial
    fontSize: 14px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.6
  headline-display-mobile:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 28px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.29
  headline-lg-mobile:
    fontFamily: Amazon Ember Display
    fontSize: 24px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.33
rounded:
  xs: 4px
  sm: 8px
  md: 16px
  lg: 24px
  xl: 40px
spacing:
  xs: 2px
  sm: 8px
  md: 10px
  lg: 26px
  xl: 64px
  gutter: 8px
components:
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}"
    textColor: "{colors.on-primary}"
    typography: "{typography.body-sm}"
    rounded: "{rounded.xl}"
    padding: 10px 26px
    height: 44px
  button-secondary:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface-variant}"
    typography: "{typography.body-sm}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 0px
    height: 36px
  button-secondary-hover:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface-container}"
  button-ghost:
    textColor: "{colors.on-primary}"
    typography: "{typography.body-sm}"
    rounded: "{rounded.sm}"
    padding: 0px
  input-field:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface-variant}"
    typography: "{typography.body-md}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 0px 16px
  link:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface-muted}"
---

# AWS Design System

## Overview

AWS describes itself as: “Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.” The interface is light, built on **Mist (#DEDEE3)** with **Cool Charcoal (#161D26)** text and almost no color: actions are carried by contrast, not hue.

Type is set in **Amazon Ember Display** and **Arial**. Headlines run large; body text is 16px. The surface language is flat. Corners are mostly 40px.

Measured from [aws.amazon.com](https://aws.amazon.com/) on November 4, 2026 at 1440×900 and 390×844 from 397 rendered elements. Values are computed styles from the live page, not the original source files.

## Colors

The palette has 14 roles, plus gradient stops #006CE0, #007E94, #008559, #00BD6B.

- **Mist (#DEDEE3):** Page background. Token `background`.
- **Cool Charcoal (#161D26):** Primary text and headings, seen 38 times. Token `on-surface`.
- **Deep Blue (#232B37):** Secondary text, seen 21 times. Token `on-surface-variant`.
- **Cool Gray (#A4A4AD):** Muted text and metadata, seen 11 times. Token `on-surface-muted`.
- **Silver (#CCCCD1):** Raised areas one step from the page, seen 1 time. Token `surface-container-low`.
- **Snow (#F3F3F7):** Cards and panels, seen 23 times. Token `surface-container`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Hover and pressed fills, seen 24 times. Token `surface-container-high`.
- **White 75% (#FFFFFFBF):** Translucent fill for cards and controls, seen 5 times. Token `overlay`.
- **Cool Charcoal 75% (#0F141ABF):** Stronger translucent fill, seen 5 times. Token `overlay-strong`.
- **Cool Silver (#D1D6DB):** Borders and dividers, seen 2 times. Token `outline`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Secondary dividers, seen 1 time. Token `outline-variant`.
- **Cool Charcoal (#161D26):** Primary buttons and calls to action, seen 69 times. Token `primary`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Text and icons on primary. Token `on-primary`.
- **Vivid Blue (#0972D3):** Accent in text, fills and borders, seen 2 times. Token `secondary`.

## Typography

**Amazon Ember Display** and **Arial** share the interface. Fallback stack: `Amazon Ember Display, Amazon Ember, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica`. Other loaded fonts: Amazon Ember Mono, FontAwesome.

- **headline-display:** Amazon Ember Display 40px at weight 500, line height 1.1 (28px on mobile). Page title (h1).
- **headline-lg:** Amazon Ember Display 32px at weight 500, line height 1.25 (24px on mobile). Section headings (h2).
- **headline-md:** Amazon Ember Display 28px at weight 500, line height 1.29. Sub-section headings.
- **body-md:** Amazon Ember Display 16px at weight 400, line height 1.5. Body text.
- **body-lg:** Amazon Ember Display 18px at weight 500, line height 1.33. Lead paragraphs.
- **body-sm:** Amazon Ember Display 14px at weight 400, line height 1.43. Secondary and small text.
- **label-md:** Arial 14px at weight 400, line height 1.6. Buttons, navigation and labels.

## Layout

Spacing does not follow a strict grid: 48% of measured values are multiples of 4px, so match the measured steps rather than rounding to a grid.

- **Scale:** xs 2px, sm 8px, md 10px, lg 26px, xl 64px.
- **Gaps:** 8px is the most common gap in flex and grid layouts.
- **Breakpoints:** 479px, 480px, 481px, 699px, 700px, 767px, 768px, 769px, 810px, 1020px, 1023px, 1024px, 1025px, 1279px, 1280px, 1599px, 1600px.

## Elevation & Depth

The design is flat: no shadows were measured. Hierarchy comes from tonal surface steps (#CCCCD1 → #F3F3F7 → #FFFFFF) and #D1D6DB borders.

## Shapes

Most elements use 40px corners. Measured radii, most used first:

- **xl (40px):** 152 elements.
- **sm (8px):** 80 elements.
- **md (16px):** 60 elements.
- **xs (4px):** 44 elements.
- **lg (24px):** 20 elements.

## Components

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

- **button-primary (“Create account”):** #161D26 fill, #FFFFFF text, 14px/400, 40px radius, padding 10px 26px.
- **button-secondary (“re:Invent”):** transparent fill, #232B37 text, 14px/400, padding 0px.
- **button-secondary-hover:** background #F3F3F7, text #232B37 on hover.
- **button-ghost (“English”):** transparent fill, #FFFFFF text, 14px/400, 8px radius, padding 0px.
- **input-field (“Search”):** transparent fill, #232B37 text, 16px/400, padding 0px 16px.
- **link:** transparent fill, #A4A4AD text, padding 0px.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do use #DEDEE3 for the page and lift surfaces in small steps: #CCCCD1, #F3F3F7, #FFFFFF.
- Do keep text in 3 levels: #161D26, #232B37, #A4A4AD.
- Do let contrast carry emphasis; primary actions use #161D26 on #DEDEE3.
- Do reuse the measured spacing steps (8px, 10px, 26px).
- Do use 40px corners on most elements; larger surfaces also use 8px, 16px and 4px.
- Don't use #A4A4AD for body text; it reaches 1.84:1 on #DEDEE3. Keep it for large text or metadata.
- Don't add drop shadows for depth; use tonal surfaces.
- Don't introduce new font families beyond Amazon Ember Display and Arial.
- Don't add saturated accent colors; the measured palette is almost entirely neutral.
- Don't make interface transitions slower than 0.4s.

## Motion

Interface transitions are quick: 0.3s, 0.4s.

- **Easing:** `ease`, `cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1)`.

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

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