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.
What shall we make today?
Instrument Serif · 400 · roman + italicHero statements, philosophical language, quotes, editorial moments, metric values.
Three files changed.
Inter Variable · 100–900 · opszNavigation, controls, task state, body UI. The closest open grotesk to the Vignelli lineage.
37.7749°N 119.5936°W
JetBrains Mono · 400/500 · ligatures offCoordinates, models, tokens, cost, timestamps, paths, metadata, technical state.
One scale, fluid at the top, fixed at the bottom.
Baseline 4px. Line heights round to the baseline at the base size. Measures: prose 64ch, narrow 44ch, wide 80ch. Values in tokens/typography.json.
| 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 |
Nine approved devices. Used sparingly.
00.4 TASK 0412 RUN 03 / 12
Katsushika Hokusai · Art Institute of Chicago
1px carbon for structure
1px fog for rhythm
Origin of the primary surface
plates aligned
Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream, 1899. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Running locally
is a promise.
Legally available. Self-hosted.
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.