Typography before decoration
The highest-leverage design decision is almost always type: a well-chosen pairing at the right sizes beats any amount of colour work. Notes cover system stacks, measure, leading and the 16px floor that keeps mobile readable.
Rules of thumb included: one family with weight contrast beats two families fighting; line length of 45–75 characters for body text; and never set body copy below 16px on screens.
Spacing as structure
Consistent spacing scales (4px or 8px bases) do more structural work than borders or shadows. The notes show how to build hierarchy with space alone before reaching for boxes.
Common fixes: generous padding inside containers, clear separation between sections, and whitespace treated as a content element rather than leftover room.
Colour that survives real content
Palettes are only as good as their worst state: empty, error, long-text, dark-mode. Notes cover building colour systems that degrade gracefully — including the contrast ratios that actually matter (4.5:1 for body text).
The accent-colour rule: one accent, used sparingly, beats five colours used everywhere. If everything is highlighted, nothing is.
Questions
Is this a design agency?
No — it is a publication of design notes. No services are sold here.
What tools does it cover?
Tool-agnostic principles — CSS, Figma, print; the reasoning transfers.
Where do the examples come from?
From real shipped interfaces and documented experiments, not stock mockups.
How often is it updated?
In batches as notes are finished — quality over schedule.