03Typography

Serif for the statement. Sans for the work. Mono for the truth.

The structure is locked: an editorial display serif, a modernist interface sans and a technical monospace. The serif is essential; hero typography is never a generic sans.

DISPLAY Instrument SerifINTERFACE InterMONO JetBrains MonoALL SIL OFL 1.1

Families03.1

An editorial serif, a modernist sans and a technical mono; the serif is not optional.

Display serif

What shall we make today?

Instrument Serif · 400 · roman + italic

Hero statements, philosophical language, quotes, editorial moments, metric values.

Interface sans

Three files changed.

Inter Variable · 100–900 · opsz

Navigation, controls, task state, body UI. The closest open grotesk to the Vignelli lineage.

Technical mono

37.7749°N 119.5936°W

JetBrains Mono · 400/500 · ligatures off

Coordinates, models, tokens, cost, timestamps, paths, metadata, technical state.

Scale03.2

One scale, fluid at the top, fixed at the bottom.

Display sizes clamp with the viewport; interface and mono sizes sit on the 4px baseline.

display-xlIntent, completed.

display-lA more human future.

display-mArt. Nature. Intelligence.

Eight more steps: title to mono-micro

titleRecut the Daily Bread animation to 24 fps

headingToday · Tuesday 22 September

bodyMilo found two conflicts in the render queue. Review them, or let it resolve both by keeping the newer frames.

body-sRuns on m4-pro when it is awake; otherwise waits. Nothing depends on a machine being on.

labelPause · Resume · Review

microThe Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public domain

monoclaude-opus-5 · 12,406 tok · $0.00 · 2m 14s

mono-micro~/Documents/app-projects/external/offline/offline2.0/brand

Baseline 4px. Line heights round to the baseline at the base size. Measures: prose 64ch, narrow 44ch, wide 80ch. Values in tokens/typography.json.

Roles03.3

Each family has a role and a place it never appears.

Role	Family	Where	Never
Display	Instrument Serif	hero statements, philosophy, quotes, editorial, metric values, permission asks	navigation, buttons, table cells
Interface	Inter	navigation, controls, task state, body UI, captions	hero statements
Mono	JetBrains Mono	coordinates, models, tokens, cost, timestamps, paths, ids, technical state, index numbers	prose, headings

Devices03.4

Nine approved devices. Used sparingly.

Index numbers, tracked uppercase, coordinates, hairlines, crosshairs, registration marks, captions, metadata, one quotation intervention.

Index numbers

00.4 TASK 0412 RUN 03 / 12

Tiny tracked uppercase

Katsushika Hokusai · Art Institute of Chicago

Coordinates

37.7459°N 119.5332°WELEV 2,695 M2013-06 · LC-DIG-highsm-25622

Hairline rules

1px carbon for structure

1px fog for rhythm

Crosshairs

Origin of the primary surface

Registration marks

plates aligned

Captions

Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream, 1899. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Object metadata

Object: 06.1234
Rights: Public Domain (CC0)
Accessed: 2026-09-22

Quotation intervention

Running locally is a promise.

Licensing03.5

Legally available. Self-hosted.

All three families are SIL OFL and ship with the package; commercial equivalents are aspirational only.

All three families are SIL Open Font License 1.1 and ship in site/fonts/ with their licences. No proprietary font is redistributed.

Aspirational commercial equivalents, documented for a future licensing decision, not used here: display GT Sectra, Tiempos Headline, Editorial New; interface Neue Haas Grotesk, Söhne, Helvetica Now; mono Berkeley Mono, Söhne Mono.