# Dark luxury — style recipe

## The idea
- Quiet expense: a deep dark ground, a refined serif, thin gold lines, slow fades and very little on screen.

## Use it when
- Premium products, hotels, fragrance and fashion
- Evening and night-time brands
- Anything that should feel rare

## Avoid it when
- The product is cheap, fast or everyday
- Pages carry lots of dense information

## Principles
- A near-black background with warm undertones
- A refined, high-contrast serif in light weights
- Thin gold rules and outlines, never gold fills
- Very few words per screen, lots of darkness
- Wide letter-spacing on small uppercase labels
- Slow, deliberate motion

## Colour
- Night (background): #0e0d0b
- Velvet (surface): #1a1815
- Ivory (text): #f3ede1
- Sand (muted): #b5ab98
- Antique gold (accent): #c9a45c
- Bronze line (border): #3a342a
- Text on background contrast: 16.66:1 — passes AA

## Type
- Headings: Cormorant Garamond, weights 500 and 600 — Large and light; italic for emphasis
- Body: Jost, weights 300 and 400 — Thin geometric sans for labels and short text
- Scale: 12px, 15px, 18px, 28px, 48px, 84px
- An elegant serif with a thin sans; uppercase labels with wide tracking.

## Spacing and shape
- Base unit: 8px
- Spacing steps: 8px, 24px, 48px, 96px, 160px
- Huge empty space; content sits in the middle of darkness.
- Corner radii: 0px
- Borders: 1 px antique-gold hairlines
- Shadows: None; light comes from contrast

## Imagery and motion
- Imagery: Dark, low-key product shots or abstract light; never busy.
- Motion: Slow fades and long, eased reveals.

## Do
- Say less, show more darkness
- Use gold only for lines and small details
- Space uppercase labels widely

## Don't
- No bright colours
- No heavy or bold type
- No crowded layouts