evil-rabbit-design

name	evil-rabbit-design
description	Applies Evil Rabbit's (Vercel's founding brand designer) and the Geist design system's approach when designing, building, or reviewing interfaces, brand, and typography. Use when designing UI, building a marketing or product surface, choosing color/type/spacing, reviewing visual craft, designing a logo or brand mark, deciding whether a flourish earns its place, or matching the Vercel/Geist aesthetic. Triggers on "Vercel style," "Geist," "make it look like Vercel," "monochrome design," "minimal developer-tool aesthetic," "Swiss/grotesque type," "hairline borders," "design system tokens," "is this decorative or functional," "brand mark," "high-contrast minimal UI."
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0"}

Evil Rabbit Design Principles

Apply how Evil Rabbit (Nicolás Garro Zambrano, founding/principal brand designer at Vercel) and the Geist design system he directs think about interfaces, brand, and type. The throughline: design is a system, not decoration — constraints are the tool, function outranks flourish, and craft is the manual attention paid to rhythm, structure, and the pixel because it matters, not because someone is checking.

[!info] Terminology trap "Vercel style" in most search results means a surface aesthetic — black background, a gradient, a grotesque font, a triangle — that people copy as a look. That is the output, not the method. Copying the look without the system produces a flat imitation. This skill is about the discipline underneath: a tokenized system, monochrome by default, color only when it carries meaning, structure from borders not shadows, and obsessive consistency of rhythm. Apply the method; the look follows.

[!warning] Sourcing honesty Evil Rabbit gives almost no interviews. His genuinely first-person principles come from one essay he authored (the Geist Pixel post) plus short posts. The rest is the Geist system (his direction, documented at vercel.com/design) and third-party characterization. Principles 1–4 below are closest to his own words; 5–10 are the system he shapes. Don't put words in his mouth — see references/sources.md.

When to apply this

Reach for these principles when the task is one of:

• Designing or reviewing an interface → use the principles below, then references/geist-system.md for exact tokens.
• Choosing color, type, spacing, radius, motion → references/geist-system.md has the concrete values; don't invent your own scale.
• Brand, logo, or marketing surface → references/visual-language.md (monochrome foundation, geometry, brand-vs-product split).
• Judging whether an element earns its place → "function over gimmick" + "system over novelty" below.
• Citing or sourcing a claim → references/sources.md, and respect what is/isn't actually attributable to him.

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The core principles

1. Constraints are the design tool, not a limitation.

Don't treat the system's rules (one type family, a fixed scale, near-monochrome) as walls to work around. They are the instrument that generates the work. "Constraints weren't a limitation, they were the design tool." When the palette is tiny and the grid is fixed, every remaining decision — weight, spacing, alignment — has to carry real meaning. Pick the constraints first, then design inside them hard.

2. System over novelty. Nothing ships that breaks the rhythm.

A new artifact is judged by whether it can "adopt without breaking layout or rhythm." Design is not a sequence of one-off pretty screens; it is one coherent system with predictable metrics and strong cross-layout alignment. Before adding anything, ask: does this share the existing structure, or does it destabilize it? A novelty that breaks the grid is a regression, however striking in isolation.

3. Function over gimmick. Design for real production usage.

Make things "as a functional tool within a broader system, not as a visual gimmick." Decoration that doesn't clarify structure, state, or brand intent is noise. Test against real, full, dense, and empty states — not a hero shot. If a flourish only survives in the portfolio screenshot and dies in the product, it failed.

4. Craft is manual attention, paid because it matters.

Even on a literal pixel grid, "each glyph was manually refined to avoid visual noise, uneven weight distribution, and awkward diagonals" — it "wasn't generated mechanically." Rigor is a habit, not a final pass: consistent metrics, even rhythm, deliberate spacing, hand-tuned alignment. The difference between competent and exceptional is a hundred small decisions nobody asked you to make.

5. Monochrome by default. Color must earn its appearance.

The foundation is grayscale, generous whitespace, and hairline borders — and almost nothing else. The "never pure" rule is precise: text/foreground is always slightly muted (#171717 near-black in light, #ededed near-white in dark) — never pure #000/#fff for text — while backgrounds can be pure (#ffffff light, #000000 dark; #fafafa is the light off-white canvas). No color for decoration. Color appears only when it carries meaning: links, focus, status, errors, a single brand accent (Vercel Blue — #006bff light / #006efe dark; legacy #0070f3). A grayscale screen with one purposeful accent reads as more confident than a colorful one. Exact scales for both themes in references/geist-system.md and references/geist-spec-dark.md.

6. Structure comes from borders and tonal surfaces, not shadows.

Separate elements with a 1px hairline (#ebebeb) and gentle changes in surface tone. Shadows are deliberately faint and rarely structural. If you reach for a heavy drop shadow to create hierarchy, reach for a border or a tonal step instead. Hierarchy is built from contrast and weight, not from elevation theatrics.

7. Typography is the interface. Use Geist (or a Swiss grotesque) with rigor.

Type does most of the design work. Geist is a geometric Swiss grotesque with a high x-height, short descenders, and angular terminals — built for crisp rendering at small sizes. Use Geist Mono for technical surfaces (code, terminals, diagrams, data, metadata). Set type on the documented scale (heading-*, label-*, copy-*); tighten tracking on large display sizes; let weight and size carry hierarchy before color does. One type family, used precisely, beats a pairing chosen for variety.

8. Simplicity, minimalism, speed — strip until only structure remains.

Geist's three stated values. Minimalism here is an engineering stance, not a mood: remove every token that isn't carrying weight. A faster, lighter, quieter interface is the goal, and visual restraint is part of how you get there. If an element doesn't clarify structure, state, or brand, delete it.

9. Motion for clarification only — and instant is often best.

Animate to explain a change — never to entertain. Most interactions should feel instant: 0ms is frequently the snappiest, best choice. When motion genuinely helps (revealing or moving an element), keep it short and physical — easing cubic-bezier(0.175, 0.885, 0.32, 1.1), ~150ms for state changes, ~200ms for popovers, ~300ms for overlays/modals. No decorative looping; honor prefers-reduced-motion. Stillness is the default; movement is a signal.

10. Geometry, grid, and accessibility are non-negotiable.

The grid is a core part of the aesthetic; the brand mark (the upward equilateral triangle / "V") is pure geometry. Align to the grid, pick one radius family per view (don't mix rounded and sharp), and respect the spacing rhythm. Keep contrast at WCAG AA (4.5:1 body text) and show a visible focus ring on every interactive element at :focus-visible — the two-layer ring 0 0 0 2px <surface>, 0 0 0 4px <blue> (#006bff light / #47a8ff dark). Never remove a focus outline without replacing it, and never signal state with color alone — pair it with an icon or text. High contrast and visible focus are part of the look, not a tax on it.

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A working checklist

Copy this when designing or reviewing a surface:

Evil Rabbit / Geist review:
- [ ] Did I pick constraints first (type family, scale, palette) and design inside them?
- [ ] Does every element share the system's rhythm, or does something break the grid?
- [ ] Is each flourish functional? Would it survive in the real, dense, production state?
- [ ] Is it grayscale by default? Does any color carry actual meaning, or is it decoration?
- [ ] Is body text muted (#171717 / #ededed, not pure #000/#fff)? Structure from 1px borders, not shadows?
- [ ] Is type doing the hierarchy work? Geist/grotesque, correct scale, ≤2 weights, mono for technical surfaces?
- [ ] On-scale spacing (4px scale), and did I strip every token that isn't carrying weight?
- [ ] Is motion only clarifying a change (often 0ms / ≤300ms) — never decorative?
- [ ] One radius family per view? Aligned to the grid?
- [ ] WCAG AA contrast, visible :focus-visible ring, and state never signaled by color alone?
- [ ] Is the copy precise — verb+noun actions, toasts without "successfully", empty states that point to the next action?
- [ ] Tested against full/empty/long-text states, light and dark?

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Reference files

• references/geist-system.md — The distilled, theme-aware token guide: the precise 100–1000 step model, light + dark color anchors, the type scale, the 4px spacing scale, layout column/breakpoints, radius, focus rings, shadows, motion, component defaults, and voice rules. Use this for real values instead of inventing a scale.
• references/geist-spec-dark.md — The canonical machine-readable Geist spec (Dark theme), reproduced verbatim from vercel.com/design: every color token (sRGB + P3 oklch), the exact typography table, spacing/radius/components, and the full Voice & Content and Do's/Don'ts rules. The source of truth when anything conflicts.
• references/visual-language.md — The brand and aesthetic layer: monochrome foundation, the triangle's geometry, brand-vs-product color split, his body of work (Vercel rebrand, Geist, Hyper, Now Desktop), and the recurring visual signatures.
• references/sources.md — Primary sources, what is/isn't attributable to Evil Rabbit personally, and sourcing caveats.