Overview
liberalismo.info should feel like an annotated political archive, not a startup landing page. The visual reference is the Gadsden flag translated into editorial infrastructure: signal yellow, dark ink, olive accents, dense navigation, and the feeling of opening a well-used reference desk.
The homepage should behave like a switchboard into the archive. Readers must quickly branch into works, authors, themes, schools, reading paths, and project documentation without being funneled through a single hero CTA.
Colors
- Ink (
#1F1A10) is the primary reading color and border color. It should dominate headings, metadata rules, and navigation text. - Paper (
#FFF8DB) and Fog (#F7F1D2) replace clean white. The archive should feel printed, not sterile. - Signal (
#F2CB05) is the main accent. Use it for navigation, chips, labels, and search affordances. It should read as deliberate warning energy, not playful lemon. - Olive (
#4C5B22) is the secondary accent for hover states and active emphasis. - Brass (
#8B6E00) and Muted (#6B6042) support metadata, dividers, and shelf labels.
Typography
- IBM Plex Sans Condensed is for headings, nav labels, chips, and archive metadata. It brings compression and discipline, which suits a dense archive.
- Newsreader is for body copy and long editorial text. It carries the reading experience without feeling like generic web serif.
- IBM Plex Mono is reserved for slugs, structured metadata, and extraction/process references.
Hierarchy should feel editorial:
- big, compressed section headings
- readable body text with comfortable measure
- uppercase metadata labels with wider tracking
Components
- Nav: a flat signal-yellow band with dark text. It should feel like a directory bar, not a floating app shell.
- Archive card: thick border, paper background, strong heading, concise explanatory copy, and one compact metadata line.
- Chip: used for themes and schools. These are navigation devices, not badges for decoration.
- Search input: wide, obvious, and archive-oriented. It should feel like querying a catalog.
- Work shell: work pages should privilege bibliographic context, source clarity, and chapter navigation when available.
Page Patterns
- Homepage: dense switchboard. Multiple entry points visible above the fold, plus a shelf of representative works.
- Library index: list of works first, then browse affordances by theme and school.
- Taxonomy index: simple, scan-friendly chip clouds or lists that route into filtered search.
- Work page: bibliographic summary, editorial note, source statement, then the cleaned text.
- Docs pages: lighter treatment, but still inside the same archive language.
Motion
Use motion sparingly. Prefer subtle hover lifts, border/ink transitions, and soft background shifts. The archive should feel alive but stable.
Anti-Patterns
- no purple gradients
- no glassmorphism
- no rounded SaaS cards everywhere
- no oversized generic hero with one central button
- no pure white background unless a component explicitly needs contrast