# NASA design system

> NASA design system measured from nasa.gov: inter font, #D83933 primary on #000000, 9 color hex codes, type scale, spacing and a free DESIGN.md.

Canonical page: https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/nasa.gov/

NASA’s website (nasa.gov) uses the inter font and #D83933 as its main color on a black background. Measured by Sitepeel on November 5, 2026.

## What font does NASA use?

NASA uses inter (weights 400, 600 and 700) and Public Sans Web (weights 400 and 700), with dm-mono for code on nasa.gov. Page titles are 48px at weight 700 and body text is 16px. Measured on November 5, 2026.

- inter (weights 400, 600, 700)
- Public Sans Web (weights 400, 700)
- dm-mono (weights 500)

## NASA colors: palette and hex codes

NASA’s main colors are #000000 (near black) for the background, #FFFFFF (white) for text and #D83933 (red) as the main accent, with #F64137 (vivid red) as another accent. Measured on November 5, 2026.

- #000000: near black
- #FFFFFF: white
- #B9B9BB: silver
- #58585B: slate
- #17171B: charcoal
- #2E2E32: graphite
- #D83933: red
- #F64137: vivid red

## What is NASA built with?

NASA’s website (nasa.gov) is built with WordPress, jQuery, jQuery UI, Slick and Nginx. Measured on November 5, 2026.

- Site builder & CMS: WordPress 7.0.8
- JavaScript framework: jQuery 3.7.1, jQuery UI 1.13.3
- Server: Nginx
- Analytics: Parse.ly, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
- UI & CSS: Slick

## Questions and answers

### What font does NASA use?

NASA’s website uses inter (weights 400, 600 and 700) and Public Sans Web (weights 400 and 700), with dm-mono for code. Page titles are 48px at weight 700 and body text is 16px. Measured on November 5, 2026.

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

On nasa.gov: #000000 (near black) for the background, #FFFFFF (white) for text and #D83933 (red) as the main accent, with #F64137 (vivid red) as another accent. The color palette above lists all 9 colors with their hex codes and where each one is used.

### What is the NASA design system?

The design system on this page is nasa.gov’s, as measured on November 5, 2026: inter type, #D83933 as the main color and pill-shaped corners, written down as a DESIGN.md. It is not NASA’s own documentation.

### What is NASA built with?

NASA’s website (nasa.gov) is built with WordPress, jQuery, jQuery UI, Slick and Nginx. The full tech stack Sitepeel found: WordPress, jQuery, jQuery UI, Nginx, Parse.ly, Slick, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Measured on November 5, 2026.

### What is the NASA DESIGN.md?

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

No. Sitepeel measured it from nasa.gov’s public page on November 5, 2026. It is an independent analysis, not made or approved by NASA.

### Can I use NASA’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 NASA’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/nasa.gov/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 NASA.

## The DESIGN.md file

```markdown
---
version: alpha
name: NASA
description: "Dark interface measured from nasa.gov: inter type with Public Sans Web, red accents, tonal surfaces and pill-shaped controls."
colors:
  background: "#000000"
  surface: "#000000"
  on-surface: "#FFFFFF"
  on-background: "#FFFFFF"
  on-surface-variant: "#B9B9BB"
  on-surface-muted: "#58585B"
  surface-container-low: "#17171B"
  surface-container: "#2E2E32"
  primary: "#D83933"
  on-primary: "#FFFFFF"
  secondary: "#F64137"
typography:
  headline-display:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 48px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 0.95
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 40px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 29px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.05
  headline-sm:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 22.5px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1
  body-md:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.15
  body-lg:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 17.5px
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.2
  body-sm:
    fontFamily: Public Sans Web
    fontSize: 14.5px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.2
  label-md:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1
  label-sm:
    fontFamily: Public Sans Web
    fontSize: 14px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.25
  code:
    fontFamily: dm-mono
    fontSize: 11px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: 0.313em
  headline-lg-mobile:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 24px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1
  headline-md-mobile:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 22px
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.05
rounded:
  md: 4px
  full: 9999px
spacing:
  xs: 4px
  sm: 8px
  md: 16px
  lg: 24px
  xl: 40px
  section: 56px
  margin: 16px
components:
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}"
    textColor: "{colors.on-primary}"
    typography: "{typography.headline-sm}"
    rounded: "{rounded.md}"
    padding: 12px 20px
    height: 46px
  button-secondary:
    backgroundColor: "#4E4E4E"
    textColor: "{colors.background}"
    typography: "{typography.body-md}"
    padding: 0px
    height: 50px
  button-ghost:
    textColor: "#565C65"
    typography: "{typography.body-sm}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 16px
  input-field:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.background}"
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 0px 8px
  card:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface-container-low}"
    textColor: "#1B1B1B"
    typography: "{typography.body-md}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 72px 0px
  link:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface}"
---

# NASA Design System

## Overview

NASA describes itself as: “NASA.gov brings you the latest news, images and videos from America's space agency, pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.” The interface is dark, built on **Near Black (#000000)** with **White (#FFFFFF)** text, and **Red (#D83933)** as the main accent.

Type is set in **inter** and **Public Sans Web**, with **dm-mono** for code. Headlines run large; body text is 16px. The surface language is flat. Controls are pill-shaped.

Measured from [nasa.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/) on November 5, 2026 at 1440×900 and 390×844 from 390 rendered elements. Values are computed styles from the live page, not the original source files.

## Colors

The palette has 9 roles.

- **Near Black (#000000):** Page background, seen 4 times. Token `background`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Primary text and headings, seen 68 times. Token `on-surface`.
- **Silver (#B9B9BB):** Secondary text, seen 12 times. Token `on-surface-variant`.
- **Slate (#58585B):** Muted text and metadata, seen 4 times. Token `on-surface-muted`.
- **Charcoal (#17171B):** Raised areas one step from the page, seen 1 time. Token `surface-container-low`.
- **Graphite (#2E2E32):** Cards and panels, seen 4 times. Token `surface-container`.
- **Red (#D83933):** Primary buttons and calls to action, seen 1 time. Token `primary`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Text and icons on primary. Token `on-primary`.
- **Vivid Red (#F64137):** Accent in text, fills and borders, seen 22 times. Token `secondary`.

## Typography

**inter**, **Public Sans Web** and **dm-mono** (monospace) share the interface. Fallback stack: `inter, sans-serif`. Other loaded fonts: Inter.

- **headline-display:** inter 48px at weight 700, line height 0.95. Page title (h1).
- **headline-lg:** inter 40px at weight 700, line height 1 (24px on mobile). Section headings (h2).
- **headline-md:** inter 29px at weight 700, line height 1.05 (22px on mobile). Sub-section headings.
- **headline-sm:** inter 22.5px at weight 700, line height 1. Card and feature titles.
- **body-md:** inter 16px at weight 400, line height 1.15. Body text.
- **body-lg:** inter 17.5px at weight 600, line height 1.2. Lead paragraphs.
- **body-sm:** Public Sans Web 14.5px at weight 400, line height 1.2. Secondary and small text.
- **label-md:** inter 16px at weight 600, line height 1. Buttons, navigation and labels.
- **label-sm:** Public Sans Web 14px at weight 700, line height 1.25. Small labels and badges.
- **code:** dm-mono 11px at weight 500, line height 1, tracking 0.313em. Code and technical values.

## Layout

Spacing is mostly on a 4px grid (73% of measured values), with some off-grid steps. Match the measured scale rather than rounding everything.

- **Scale:** xs 4px, sm 8px, md 16px, lg 24px, xl 40px.
- **Sections:** 56px vertical padding between major sections.
- **Page margin:** 16px on each side of full-width sections.
- **Breakpoints:** 576px, 600px, 767px, 800px.

## Elevation & Depth

The design is flat: no shadows were measured. Hierarchy comes from tonal surface steps (#17171B → #2E2E32).

## Shapes

Interactive controls are pill-shaped. Measured radii, most used first:

- **full (9999px):** 24 elements.
- **md (4px):** 4 elements.

## Components

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

- **button-primary (“NASA Missions”):** #D83933 fill, #FFFFFF text, 22.08px/700, 4px radius, padding 12px 20px.
- **button-secondary (“Pause slideshow”):** #4E4E4E fill, #000000 text, 16px/400, 50% radius, padding 0px.
- **button-ghost (“Explore”):** transparent fill, #565C65 text, 14.08px/400, padding 16px.
- **input-field (“Search”):** #000000 fill, #FFFFFF text, 15.04px/400, padding 0px 8px, border 1px solid #565C65.
- **card:** #17171B fill, #1B1B1B text, 16px/400, padding 72px 0px.
- **link:** transparent fill, #FFFFFF text, padding 0px.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do use #000000 for the page and lift surfaces in small steps: #17171B, #2E2E32.
- Do keep text in 3 levels: #FFFFFF, #B9B9BB, #58585B.
- Do reserve #D83933 for primary actions and key highlights.
- Do reuse the measured spacing steps (8px, 16px, 24px).
- Do make buttons and chips fully rounded (9999px); most other elements use 4px corners.
- Don't use #58585B for body text; it reaches 2.96:1 on #000000. Keep it for large text or metadata.
- Don't add drop shadows for depth; use tonal surfaces.
- Don't introduce new font families beyond inter, Public Sans Web and dm-mono.
- Don't use #D83933 for large backgrounds or body text.
- Don't make interface transitions slower than 0.2s.

## Motion

Interface transitions are quick: 0.2s. Longer ambient animations run 14s.

- **Easing:** `ease`, `linear`.

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

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