# Pentagram design system

> Pentagram design system measured from pentagram.com: Plain font, 10 color hex codes, type scale, spacing and a free DESIGN.md. Light theme with 4px corners.

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

Pentagram’s website (pentagram.com) uses the Plain font on a #E3E4E5 background. Measured by Sitepeel on November 4, 2026.

## What font does Pentagram use?

Pentagram uses Plain (weights 400 and 500) on pentagram.com. Page titles are 52px at weight 400 and body text is 19px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- Plain (weights 400, 500)

## Pentagram colors: palette and hex codes

Pentagram’s main colors are #E3E4E5 (mist) for the background and #1A1A1A (charcoal) for text. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- #E3E4E5: mist
- #1A1A1A: charcoal
- #767676: slate
- #8C8C8C: gray
- #FFFFFF: white
- #222222: charcoal

## What is Pentagram built with?

Pentagram’s website (pentagram.com) is built with Flickity, Swiper, Tailwind CSS, Amazon CloudFront and GSAP. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- Animation & 3D: GSAP 3.12.7, GSAP ScrollTo 3.12.7, GSAP ScrollTrigger 3.12.7
- Hosting & CDN: Amazon CloudFront
- Server: Nginx
- Analytics: Microsoft Clarity 0.8.75, Google Tag Manager
- Marketing & support: CookieYes
- UI & CSS: Flickity, Swiper, Tailwind CSS 3.x

## Questions and answers

### What font does Pentagram use?

Pentagram’s website uses Plain (weights 400 and 500). Page titles are 52px at weight 400 and body text is 19px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

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

On pentagram.com: #E3E4E5 (mist) for the background and #1A1A1A (charcoal) for text. The color palette above lists all 10 colors with their hex codes and where each one is used.

### What is the Pentagram design system?

The design system on this page is pentagram.com’s, as measured on November 4, 2026: Plain type, 4px corners and a 4px spacing grid, written down as a DESIGN.md. It is not Pentagram’s own documentation.

### What is Pentagram built with?

Pentagram’s website (pentagram.com) is built with Flickity, Swiper, Tailwind CSS, Amazon CloudFront and GSAP. The full tech stack Sitepeel found: GSAP, GSAP ScrollTo, GSAP ScrollTrigger, Amazon CloudFront, Nginx, Microsoft Clarity, CookieYes, Flickity, Swiper and Tailwind CSS. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What is the Pentagram DESIGN.md?

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

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

### Can I use Pentagram’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 Pentagram’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/pentagram.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 Pentagram.

## The DESIGN.md file

```markdown
---
version: alpha
name: Pentagram
description: "Light monochrome interface measured from pentagram.com: Plain type, tonal surfaces and pill-shaped controls."
colors:
  background: "#E3E4E5"
  surface: "#E3E4E5"
  on-surface: "#1A1A1A"
  on-background: "#1A1A1A"
  on-surface-variant: "#767676"
  on-surface-muted: "#8C8C8C"
  surface-container-low: "#FFFFFF"
  overlay: "#00000012"
  overlay-strong: "#FFFFFF1F"
  primary: "#1A1A1A"
  on-primary: "#FFFFFF"
  inverse-surface: "#222222"
typography:
  headline-display:
    fontFamily: Plain
    fontSize: 52px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.05
    letterSpacing: -0.02em
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: Plain
    fontSize: 32px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.2
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: Plain
    fontSize: 19px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.32
  body-md:
    fontFamily: Plain
    fontSize: 19px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.32
  label-md:
    fontFamily: Plain
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.25
  headline-md-mobile:
    fontFamily: Plain
    fontSize: 17px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.47
rounded:
  md: 4px
  full: 9999px
spacing:
  base: 4px
  xs: 4px
  sm: 8px
  md: 12px
  lg: 24px
  gutter: 12px
components:
  button-ghost:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface}"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 0px
  input-field:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.inverse-surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.on-primary}"
    typography: "{typography.headline-lg}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 0px
  card:
    textColor: "{colors.on-primary}"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: 0px
    padding: 24px 0px 0px 0px
  link:
    textColor: "{colors.primary}"
---

# Pentagram Design System

## Overview

Pentagram describes itself as: “Pentagram is the world’s largest independent design consultancy. The firm is owned and run by 24 partners, each of whom are leaders in their individual fields.” The interface is light, built on **Mist (#E3E4E5)** with **Charcoal (#1A1A1A)** text and almost no color: actions are carried by contrast, not hue.

Type is set in **Plain**. Headlines run large with tight negative tracking; body text is 19px. The surface language is flat. Controls are pill-shaped.

Measured from [pentagram.com](https://www.pentagram.com/) on November 4, 2026 at 1440×900 and 390×844 from 425 rendered elements. Values are computed styles from the live page, not the original source files.

## Colors

The palette has 10 roles.

- **Mist (#E3E4E5):** Page background. Token `background`.
- **Charcoal (#1A1A1A):** Primary text and headings, seen 105 times. Token `on-surface`.
- **Slate (#767676):** Secondary text, seen 18 times. Token `on-surface-variant`, CSS `--gray-550`.
- **Gray (#8C8C8C):** Muted text and metadata, seen 4 times. Token `on-surface-muted`, CSS `--gray-450`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Raised areas one step from the page, seen 32 times. Token `surface-container-low`, CSS `--tw-ring-offset-color`.
- **Near Black 7% (#00000012):** Translucent fill for cards and controls, seen 30 times. Token `overlay`.
- **White 12% (#FFFFFF1F):** Stronger translucent fill, seen 1 time. Token `overlay-strong`.
- **Charcoal (#1A1A1A):** Primary actions (the main text color; the palette is monochrome), seen 105 times. Token `primary`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Text and icons on primary. Token `on-primary`.
- **Charcoal (#222222):** High-contrast fills, seen 1 time. Token `inverse-surface`.

## Typography

**Plain** carries the whole interface. Fallback stack: `Plain, Arial, sans-serif`.

- **headline-display:** Plain 52px at weight 400, line height 1.05, tracking -0.02em. Page title (h1).
- **headline-lg:** Plain 32px at weight 400, line height 1.2, tracking -0.01em. Section headings (h2).
- **headline-md:** Plain 19px at weight 500, line height 1.32 (17px on mobile). Sub-section headings.
- **body-md:** Plain 19px at weight 400, line height 1.32. Body text.
- **label-md:** Plain 16px at weight 400, line height 1.25. Buttons, navigation and labels.

## Layout

Spacing follows a 4px grid: 95% of measured gaps and paddings are multiples of 4px.

- **Scale:** xs 4px, sm 8px, md 12px, lg 24px.
- **Gaps:** 12px is the most common gap in flex and grid layouts.
- **Breakpoints:** 374px, 599px, 600px, 666px, 799px, 800px, 1039px, 1040px, 1599px, 1800px, 1920px.

## Elevation & Depth

The design is flat: no shadows were measured. Hierarchy comes from tonal surface steps (#FFFFFF).

## Shapes

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

- **md (4px):** 124 elements.
- **full (9999px):** 48 elements.

## Components

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

- **button-ghost (“Everything Books Brand Identity ”):** transparent fill, #1A1A1A text, 16px/400, padding 0px.
- **input-field (“Add your email address”):** #222222 fill, #FFFFFF text, 32px/400, padding 0px.
- **card:** transparent fill, #FFFFFF text, 16px/400, padding 24px 0px 0px 0px, border 1px solid #333333.
- **link:** transparent fill, #1A1A1A text, padding 0px.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do use #E3E4E5 for the page and lift surfaces in small steps: #FFFFFF.
- Do keep text in 3 levels: #1A1A1A, #767676, #8C8C8C.
- Do let contrast carry emphasis; primary actions use #1A1A1A on #E3E4E5.
- Do set headlines in Plain with tight tracking (-0.02em).
- Do keep spacing on the 4px grid.
- Do make buttons and chips fully rounded (9999px); most other elements use 4px corners.
- Don't use #767676 for body text; it reaches 3.57:1 on #E3E4E5. Keep it for large text or metadata.
- Don't use #8C8C8C for body text; it reaches 2.64:1 on #E3E4E5. Keep it for large text or metadata.
- Don't add drop shadows for depth; use tonal surfaces.
- Don't introduce new font families beyond Plain.
- Don't add saturated accent colors; the measured palette is almost entirely neutral.
- Don't make interface transitions slower than 0.5s.

## Motion

Interface transitions are quick: 0.3s, 0.2s, 0.5s.

- **Easing:** `ease-in-out`, `cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94)`, `cubic-bezier(0.59, 0.01, 0.28, 1)`.
- **Reduced motion:** the page responds to `prefers-reduced-motion`.

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

```