# Design System Inspired by SpaceX

> Category: Media & Consumer
> Space technology. Stark black and white, full-bleed imagery, futuristic.

## 1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere

SpaceX's website is a full-screen cinematic experience that treats aerospace engineering like a film — every section is a scene, every photograph is a frame, and the interface disappears entirely behind the imagery. The design is pure black (`#000000`) with photography of rockets, space, and planets occupying 100% of the viewport. Text overlays sit directly on these photographs with no background panels, cards, or containers — just type on image, bold and unapologetic.

The typography system uses D-DIN, an industrial geometric typeface with DIN heritage (the German industrial standard). The defining characteristic is that virtually ALL text is uppercase with positive letter-spacing (0.96px–1.17px), creating a military/aerospace labeling system where every word feels stenciled onto a spacecraft hull. D-DIN-Bold at 48px with uppercase and 0.96px tracking for the hero creates headlines that feel like mission briefing titles. Even body text at 16px maintains the uppercase/tracked treatment at smaller scales.

What makes SpaceX distinctive is its radical minimalism: no shadows, no borders (except one ghost button border at `rgba(240,240,250,0.35)`), no color (only black and a spectral near-white `#f0f0fa`), no cards, no grids. The only visual element is photography + text. The ghost button with `rgba(240,240,250,0.1)` background and 32px radius is the sole interactive element — barely visible, floating over the imagery like a heads-up display. This isn't a design system in the traditional sense — it's a photographic exhibition with a type system and a single button.

**Key Characteristics:**
- Pure black canvas with full-viewport cinematic photography — the interface is invisible
- D-DIN / D-DIN-Bold — industrial DIN-heritage typeface
- Universal uppercase + positive letter-spacing (0.96px–1.17px) — aerospace stencil aesthetic
- Near-white spectral text (`#f0f0fa`) — not pure white, a slight blue-violet tint
- Zero shadows, zero cards, zero containers — text on image only
- Single ghost button: `rgba(240,240,250,0.1)` background with spectral border
- Full-viewport sections — each section is a cinematic "scene"
- No decorative elements — every pixel serves the photography

## 2. Color Palette & Roles

### Primary
- **Space Black** (`#000000`): Page background, the void of space — at 50% opacity for overlay gradient
- **Spectral White** (`#f0f0fa`): Text color — not pure white, a slight blue-violet tint that mimics starlight

### Interactive
- **Ghost Surface** (`rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.1)`): Button background — nearly invisible, 10% opacity
- **Ghost Border** (`rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.35)`): Button border — spectral, 35% opacity
- **Hover White** (`var(--white-100)`): Link hover state — full spectral white

### Gradient
- **Dark Overlay** (`rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)`): Gradient overlay on photographs to ensure text legibility

## 3. Typography Rules

### Font Families
- **Display**: `D-DIN-Bold` — bold industrial geometric
- **Body / UI**: `D-DIN`, fallbacks: `Arial, Verdana`

### Hierarchy

| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | Notes |
|------|------|------|--------|-------------|----------------|-------|
| Display Hero | D-DIN-Bold | 48px (3.00rem) | 700 | 1.00 (tight) | 0.96px | `text-transform: uppercase` |
| Body | D-DIN | 16px (1.00rem) | 400 | 1.50–1.70 | normal | Standard reading text |
| Nav Link Bold | D-DIN | 13px (0.81rem) | 700 | 0.94 (tight) | 1.17px | `text-transform: uppercase` |
| Nav Link | D-DIN | 12px (0.75rem) | 400 | 2.00 (relaxed) | normal | `text-transform: uppercase` |
| Caption Bold | D-DIN | 13px (0.81rem) | 700 | 0.94 (tight) | 1.17px | `text-transform: uppercase` |
| Caption | D-DIN | 12px (0.75rem) | 400 | 1.00 (tight) | normal | `text-transform: uppercase` |
| Micro | D-DIN | 10px (0.63rem) | 400 | 0.94 (tight) | 1px | `text-transform: uppercase` |

### Principles
- **Universal uppercase**: Nearly every text element uses `text-transform: uppercase`. This creates a systematic military/aerospace voice where all communication feels like official documentation.
- **Positive letter-spacing as identity**: 0.96px on display, 1.17px on nav — the wide tracking creates the stenciled, industrial feel that connects to DIN's heritage as a German engineering standard.
- **Two weights, strict hierarchy**: D-DIN-Bold (700) for headlines and nav emphasis, D-DIN (400) for body. No medium or semibold weights exist in the system.
- **Tight line-heights**: 0.94–1.00 across most text — compressed, efficient, mission-critical communication.

## 4. Component Stylings

### Buttons

**Ghost Button**
- Background: `rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.1)` (barely visible)
- Text: Spectral White (`#f0f0fa`)
- Padding: 18px
- Radius: 32px
- Border: `1px solid rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.35)`
- Hover: background brightens, text to `var(--white-100)`
- Use: The only button variant — "LEARN MORE" CTAs on photography

### Cards & Containers
- **None.** SpaceX does not use cards, panels, or containers. All content is text directly on full-viewport photographs. The absence of containers IS the design.

### Inputs & Forms
- Not present on the homepage. The site is purely presentational.

### Navigation
- Transparent overlay nav on photography
- D-DIN 13px weight 700, uppercase, 1.17px tracking
- Spectral white text on dark imagery
- Logo: SpaceX wordmark at 147x19px
- Mobile: hamburger collapse

### Image Treatment
- Full-viewport (100vh) photography sections
- Professional aerospace photography: rockets, Mars, space
- Dark gradient overlays (`rgba(0,0,0,0.5)`) for text legibility
- Each section = one full-screen photograph with text overlay
- No border radius, no frames — edge-to-edge imagery

## 5. Layout Principles

### Spacing System
- Base unit: 8px
- Scale: 3px, 5px, 12px, 15px, 18px, 20px, 24px, 30px
- Minimal scale — spacing is not the organizing principle; photography is

### Grid & Container
- No traditional grid — each section is a full-viewport cinematic frame
- Text is positioned absolutely or with generous padding over imagery
- Left-aligned text blocks on photography backgrounds
- No max-width container — content bleeds to viewport edges

### Whitespace Philosophy
- **Photography IS the whitespace**: Empty space in the design is never empty — it's filled with the dark expanse of space, the curve of a planet, or the flame of a rocket engine. Traditional whitespace concepts don't apply.
- **Vertical pacing through viewport**: Each section is exactly one viewport tall, creating a rhythmic scroll where each "page" reveals a new scene.

### Border Radius Scale
- Sharp (4px): Small dividers, utility elements
- Button (32px): Ghost buttons — the only rounded element

## 6. Depth & Elevation

| Level | Treatment | Use |
|-------|-----------|-----|
| Photography (Level 0) | Full-viewport imagery | Background layer — always present |
| Overlay (Level 1) | `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)` gradient | Text legibility layer over photography |
| Text (Level 2) | Spectral white text, no shadow | Content layer — text floats directly on image |
| Ghost (Level 3) | `rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.1)` surface | Barely-visible interactive layer |

**Shadow Philosophy**: SpaceX uses ZERO shadows. In a design built entirely on photography, shadows are meaningless — every surface is already a photograph with natural lighting. Depth comes from the photographic content itself: the receding curvature of Earth, the diminishing trail of a rocket, the atmospheric haze around Mars.

## 7. Do's and Don'ts

### Do
- Use full-viewport photography as the primary design element — every section is a scene
- Apply uppercase + positive letter-spacing to ALL text — the aerospace stencil voice
- Use D-DIN exclusively — no other fonts exist in the system
- Keep the color palette to black + spectral white (`#f0f0fa`) only
- Use ghost buttons (`rgba(240,240,250,0.1)`) as the sole interactive element
- Apply dark gradient overlays for text legibility on photographs
- Let photography carry the emotional weight — the type system is functional, not expressive

### Don't
- Don't add cards, panels, or containers — text sits directly on photography
- Don't use shadows — they have no meaning in a photographic context
- Don't introduce colors — the palette is strictly achromatic with spectral tint
- Don't use sentence case — everything is uppercase
- Don't use negative letter-spacing — all tracking is positive (0.96px–1.17px)
- Don't reduce photography to thumbnails — every image is full-viewport
- Don't add decorative elements (icons, badges, dividers) — the design is photography + type + one button

## 8. Responsive Behavior

### Breakpoints
| Name | Width | Key Changes |
|------|-------|-------------|
| Mobile | <600px | Stacked, reduced padding, smaller type |
| Tablet Small | 600–960px | Adjusted layout |
| Tablet | 960–1280px | Standard scaling |
| Desktop | 1280–1350px | Full layout |
| Large Desktop | 1350–1500px | Expanded |
| Ultra-wide | >1500px | Maximum viewport |

### Touch Targets
- Ghost buttons: 18px padding provides adequate touch area
- Navigation links: uppercase with generous letter-spacing aids readability

### Collapsing Strategy
- Photography: maintains full-viewport at all sizes, content reposition
- Hero text: 48px → scales down proportionally
- Navigation: horizontal → hamburger
- Text blocks: reposition but maintain overlay-on-photography pattern
- Full-viewport sections maintained on mobile

### Image Behavior
- Edge-to-edge photography at all viewport sizes
- Background-size: cover with center focus
- Dark overlay gradients adapt to content position
- No art direction changes — same photographs, responsive positioning

## 9. Agent Prompt Guide

### Quick Color Reference
- Background: Space Black (`#000000`)
- Text: Spectral White (`#f0f0fa`)
- Button background: Ghost (`rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.1)`)
- Button border: Ghost Border (`rgba(240, 240, 250, 0.35)`)
- Overlay: `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)`

### Example Component Prompts
- "Create a full-viewport hero: background-image covering 100vh, dark gradient overlay rgba(0,0,0,0.5). Headline at 48px D-DIN-Bold, uppercase, letter-spacing 0.96px, spectral white (#f0f0fa) text. Ghost CTA button: rgba(240,240,250,0.1) bg, 1px solid rgba(240,240,250,0.35) border, 32px radius, 18px padding."
- "Design a navigation: transparent over photography. D-DIN 13px weight 700, uppercase, letter-spacing 1.17px, spectral white text. SpaceX wordmark left-aligned."
- "Build a content section: full-viewport height, background photography with dark overlay. Left-aligned text block with 48px D-DIN-Bold uppercase heading, 16px D-DIN body text, and ghost button below."
- "Create a micro label: D-DIN 10px, uppercase, letter-spacing 1px, spectral white, line-height 0.94."

### Iteration Guide
1. Start with photography — the image IS the design
2. All text is uppercase with positive letter-spacing — no exceptions
3. Only two colors: black and spectral white (#f0f0fa)
4. Ghost buttons are the only interactive element — transparent, spectral-bordered
5. Zero shadows, zero cards, zero decorative elements
6. Every section is full-viewport (100vh) — cinematic pacing
