Design System Inspiration of Stayfolio

Overview

Visual Theme & Atmosphere

Stayfolio (스테이폴리오) is a Korean stay-curation and booking platform run by 주식회사 스테이폴리오 from Tongin-dong in Jongno, Seoul; its footer lists 장인성 as chief executive, an online-sales registration numbered 제2015-서울종로-0499호 and a general travel agency registration numbered 2018-000049호. Its business site states the idea plainly — “스테이폴리오는 머무름만으로 여행이 되는 공간을 제안합니다”: a place where the stay itself is the trip — and describes ten years of curation and operating know-how, more than 1,500 stays, a million monthly visitors and partners such as Aman, Hoshino Resorts and 설해원. It presents itself as “안목있는 여행자의 선택”, the choice of travellers with an eye, curating “철학이 담긴 공간” and building stays into a travel culture of their own.

The product reflects that editorial stance. Four uppercase sections — FIND STAY, PROMOTION, JOURNAL and PRE-ORDER, where new stays open for early booking at a discount — sit over a white page of stay photographs. The current direction is wider: the header’s 국내 / 해외 switch and the home promotions now carry Kyoto, Tokyo and Shanghai hotels next to Korean private houses, there is a STAYFOLIO for Business programme for companies, and the JOURNAL runs its own series (나의 스테이 답사기, TRAVEL, MAGAZINE, PICK) in typefaces distinct from the rest of the site.

The interface is near-black on white. Body text is #181818, headings #171719, the uppercase navigation #1a1a1a; the only filled action is the black #000000 지도 pill with a white label, and the journal marks its current tab in black #000000. Colour arrives with commerce, not chrome: a bright #0199f8 discount rate beside prices, #017bc6 마감할인 badges, and translucent rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.6) labels over photographs. Cards have no border, fill or shadow — the photograph is the card — and only floating controls lift off the page: the 국내 / 해외 switch with its dark thumb and the 지도 pill.

Key Characteristics:

• Near-black ink ladder on white: #181818 body, #171719 headings, #1a1a1a navigation, #000000 action fill
• Uppercase Latin navigation at 16px / 600 whose 2px #1a1a1a underline appears on hover and marks the current section
• Photograph-first stay cards with 5px translucent badges; no card chrome
• Colour only for commerce signals: #0199f8 discount rates, #017bc6 last-minute badges
• Pill controls: 100px 국내 / 해외 switch, 20px 지도 pill, each with a soft shadow
• Class names expose a type scale — title-28-sb, label-16-sb, label-16-rg, caption-12-rg, caption-13-bd
• A separate editorial voice on the journal: Lato, Droid Serif Italic numerals and Abel links

Primary tasks

• Browse curated domestic and overseas stays
• Switch between 국내 and 해외 while browsing
• Open the map view of the FIND STAY listing
• Read the JOURNAL before choosing a stay
• Pre-order a newly opening stay at an early discount
• Save stays to bookmarks and book through the platform

Brand Narrative

The name reads, editorially, as “stay” plus “folio”: a selected collection rather than an inventory. Stayfolio’s own business pitch is about curation over a decade — “10년 간 쌓아온 큐레이션과 운영 노하우” — spaces with a philosophy behind them, and a culture of treating the stay as the destination. The company’s scale now backs the stance: its business site counts more than 1,500 stays, 300-plus corporate clients and partners from Aman to Hoshino Resorts.

The product shows how that curation is growing. PRE-ORDER lets travellers book stays before they open; the JOURNAL keeps an editorial voice with its own typography; the 국내 / 해외 switch and the home promotions bring Japanese and Chinese hotels into the same monochrome frame as Korean private houses; and STAYFOLIO for Business offers the collection to companies for welfare and marketing programmes.

What the interface refuses, as an editorial reading of the captured pages: card chrome, colourful navigation and loud badges. What it embraces: photographs as cards, near-black type, an underline for state, and colour spent only where a price or a deadline needs it.

Principles

1. Curation over aggregation. UI implication: present each stay as a photograph and a name, not a dense listing row.
2. The photograph is the card. UI implication: no borders, fills or shadows on stay cards; badges sit on the image.
3. State by underline. UI implication: navigation shows hover and the current section with a 2px #1a1a1a underline.
4. One filled action. UI implication: #000000 pill with a white label for the key action; everything else is text or outline.
5. Colour for value, not decoration. UI implication: blue only for discount rates and last-minute badges.

Personas

Personas below are fictional archetypes informed by publicly observable Stayfolio user segments (design-conscious Korean travellers, overseas hotel seekers, corporate programme buyers), not individual people.

정다은, 32, 서울. A designer planning a quiet weekend away. Chooses from the curated list because the photographs and names tell her more than an amenity grid.

김도현, 38, 경기. Reads the JOURNAL and watches PRE-ORDER for new stays opening at a discount before booking a family trip.

박서윤, 41, 서울. An HR manager comparing STAYFOLIO for Business for an employee welfare programme.

Colors

Every token below was read on 2026-09-30 from the home page, the FIND STAY listing and the journal’s magazine page.

Primary

• Primary (#000000): the fill of the 지도 (map view) pill on the FIND STAY listing — the only filled action on the captured pages — with a white label. The same black marks the selected journal tab (MAGAZINE, in Lato-Bold). The rule for this reference is that the primary is the colour the product renders in a primary role; the captured pages are monochrome, so it is the measured primary action fill. The navigation’s #1a1a1a underline (selected and hover) and the #171719 thumb of the 국내 / 해외 switch are near-black selected states of the same register.
• On Primary (#ffffff): the 지도 label and the badge labels.

Ink

• Ink (#181818): body text.
• Heading (#171719): section headings, stay names, prices and the unselected 국내 / 해외 label.
• Nav (#1a1a1a): the uppercase navigation and its underline.
• Secondary (#767676): section subtitles on home and footer links; the edge of the footer buttons.
• Meta (#6b6b6e): region and capacity line on stay cards.
• Base Price (#979799): struck base price; also the dates in the listing’s search bar.
• Footer Chip (#595959): labels of the footer outline buttons.

Commerce signals

• Discount (#0199f8): the discount rate beside a price (e.g. 20%).
• Last Minute (#017bc6): fill of the 마감할인 badge.

Journal

• Journal Text (#333333): magazine card titles and copy.
• Journal Muted (#898989): unselected journal tabs.
• Journal Number (#c0c0c0): Droid Serif Italic issue numbers.

Surface & Lines

• Canvas (#ffffff): page background.
• Hairline (#dfe0e2): the 1px edge of the 국내 / 해외 switch.
• Skeleton (#f2f2f2): loading placeholders on the listing.

Not tokens

• A coral-to-red gradient fills the header’s “해외 스테이 지금 보러 가기” promo pill; it was read by the same-day headless check, not by the collector, so it stays out of the tokens (values in the verification record).
• #007aff on the home banner’s arrows is the carousel library’s default theme colour, not a Stayfolio colour.
• #444444 is the inherited colour of the listing’s card containers; no visible label in it was identified, so it is not a token.

Typography

Font Family

• Live surface use: Pretendard, from the jsdelivr pretendard@v1.3.9 dynamic-subset stylesheet the site links. Every element’s stack reads "Pretendard JP Variable", "Pretendard JP", Pretendard, -apple-system…; the first two names have no @font-face on the pages and never load, so text falls through to Pretendard, whose subsets were loaded on all three pages in a same-day headless check (49 on home, 40 on the listing, 24 on the journal).
• Live surface use, journal only: Lato-Light and Lato-Bold (tab labels), DroidSerif-Italic (issue numbers) and Abel (more links), each self-hosted under /_next/static/media/ and loaded on the magazine page.
• Declared only: Lato-Regular (self-hosted, no observed use).
• Third-party, excluded: PretendardVariable-v1 and InterRegular-ascii come from upload.codenbutter.com, an embedded widget, not Stayfolio’s own type.
• Unresolved: Pretendard JP Variable and Pretendard JP — named first on 764 elements but backed by no font file; they are not claimed.

Hierarchy

Principles

• 600 for structure, 400 for reading: headings, names, prices and navigation are 600; body, subtitles and meta 400.
• Tight on large, open on small: -0.56px at 28px and -0.54px on prices; +0.21px, +0.24px and +0.12px on the small toggle, badge and caption labels.
• A named scale: class names such as title-28-sb, label-16-sb and caption-12-rg pair a size with a weight.
• The journal speaks differently: Latin tabs in Lato, italic serif numerals, spaced Abel links.

Layout

Spacing System

• Badges: 4px 8px; the 지도 pill 8px 16px; footer buttons 4px 8px
• 국내 / 해외 segments: 6px vertical, 12px inside and 16px outside
• Journal cards: a 15px white frame around each card

Grid & Container

• Home stay rows run three 411px cards per row under a section heading and subtitle.
• The FIND STAY listing places 389px cards three to a row under a three-part search bar (place, dates, guests), with the 지도 pill floating over the list.
• The journal lays magazine cards two to a row at 664px.

Whitespace Philosophy

• The photograph is the card: no card borders, fills or shadows; space and imagery do the grouping.
• Chrome recedes: navigation is text with an underline; controls are small pills.

Border Radius Scale

• 4px: footer buttons
• 5px: photo badges
• 8px: loading skeletons
• 10px: listing photos
• 20px: the 지도 pill
• 100px: the 국내 / 해외 switch and its thumb

Responsive Behavior

Breakpoints

Only the 1440px desktop layout was captured; no breakpoint values are claimed.

Touch Targets

• The 국내 / 해외 switch is 44px tall; the 지도 pill 40px; footer buttons 26px.

Collapsing Strategy

Not captured. The home page’s markup includes a mobile tab bar (홈, 탐색, 프로모션, 북마크, 메시지) that the desktop capture did not measure.

Image Behavior

• Stay photographs fill their cards; listing photos are clipped at a 10px radius.

Elevation & Depth

Shadow Philosophy: content stays flat; only controls that float over content — the region switch and the map pill — carry soft shadows.

Values kept in prose

Measured values the DESIGN.md token grammar cannot carry, kept verbatim:

• shadow.toggle: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08) 0px 4px 8px 0px
• shadow.thumb: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12) 0px 4px 12px 0px
• shadow.button: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.1) 0px 2px 6px 0px

Motion & Easing

The collector reads computed style, not animation. A same-day headless read of declared transition values found: the 지도 pill transitions colour, background, shadow and transform over 0.32s; the 국내 / 해외 thumb transitions its transform over 0.16s; the navigation declares transition: all with no duration, which matches the settled hover frames. No easing curve is claimed. Honour prefers-reduced-motion in any build.

<!– Sources — 2026-09-30 promotion to Verified v2

• Tokens and §4: artifacts/reference-evidence/stayfolio.json (capturedAt 2026-09-30), deterministic collector, 1440x900, logged out: www.stayfolio.com, /findstay (the site redirects it to its own default dates, check_in=2026-12-09&check_out=2026-12-10&adult_cnt=2; no booking step was taken), /journal/magazines.
• §1, §10, §11: home footer and promotions, business.stayfolio.com, and the terms page on stayfolio.notion.site, read 2026-09-30.
• The June body’s “PRE-ORDER (physical publications)” was wrong: PRE-ORDER lists stays opening for early booking. Its “single saturated accent” and “sharp 0px photo cards” readings were also not supported by this capture.
• brunch.co.kr/@stayfolio could not be opened logged out and is not cited.
• Personas are fictional archetypes. Interpretive readings are editorial. –>

Components

Navigation

Top navigation

• Background: transparent
• Text: #1a1a1a
• Border: 2px solid transparent, bottom only
• Height: 26px
• Font: 16px / 600 / 24px Pretendard, uppercase labels
• Hover: bottom border 2px solid #1a1a1a
• Pressed: bottom border 2px solid #1a1a1a
• Selected: bottom border 2px solid #1a1a1a on the current section
• States: eleven unselected items on three pages agree in both frames; focus is not declared
• Use: FIND STAY, PROMOTION, JOURNAL, PRE-ORDER

Journal tab

• Background: transparent
• Text: #898989
• Height: 33px
• Font: 18px / 400 / 33px Lato-Light
• Selected: text #000000 in Lato-Bold
• Use: 나의 스테이 답사기, TRAVEL, MAGAZINE, PICK

Tabs & Toggles

국내 / 해외 switch

• Background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.24)
• Text: #171719
• Border: 1px solid #dfe0e2
• Radius: 100px
• Height: 44px (120px wide)
• Padding: 6px 12px 6px 16px per segment
• Shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08) 0px 4px 8px 0px
• Selected: a #171719 thumb (62 × 42, 100px radius, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12) 0px 4px 12px 0px) under a white 15px / 700 label
• Use: switching the home page between domestic and overseas stays

Buttons

지도 (map view) pill

• Background: #000000
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 20px
• Padding: 8px 16px
• Height: 40px
• Font: 16px / 500 / 24px Pretendard
• Shadow: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.1) 0px 2px 6px 0px
• Use: floating over the FIND STAY listing

Footer outline button

• Background: transparent
• Text: #595959
• Border: 1px solid #767676
• Radius: 4px
• Padding: 4px 8px
• Height: 26px
• Font: 12px / 400 / 16px Pretendard, 0.12px tracking
• Use: small buttons beside the customer-centre hours

Badges

Photo badge

• Background: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.6)
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 5px
• Padding: 4px 8px
• Height: 24px
• Font: 12px / 500 / 16px Pretendard, 0.24px tracking
• Use: 페스타, 프로모션, 단독소개 over stay photographs

Last-minute badge

• Background: #017bc6
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 5px
• Padding: 4px 8px
• Height: 24px
• Use: 마감할인 over stay photographs

Cards & Containers

Stay card (home)

• Text: #171719
• Size: 411 × 378
• Use: photograph with overlay badges; name 16px / 600; region and capacity 13px / 400 #6b6b6e; price 18px / 600 with the rate in #0199f8 and the struck base price in #979799; no border, fill or shadow

Listing photo

• Radius: 10px
• Size: 389 × 260
• Use: the photo slider on each FIND STAY listing card

Loading skeleton

• Background: #f2f2f2
• Radius: 8px
• Use: photo, title and region placeholders on the FIND STAY listing

Magazine card

• Border: 15px solid #ffffff
• Size: 664 × 683
• Use: journal card with a #c0c0c0 italic serif number, a 21px #333333 title and an Abel more link in #000000

States

Only these states were observed on the three captured pages.

Focus rings, disabled, empty, error and success treatments were not captured and are not described.

Live state probe, 2026-10-16 (), map-button: pressed — no visible change (measured 2026-10-16); focus — no visible change (measured 2026-10-16).

Do’s and Don’ts

Do

• Keep text on the near-black ladder: #181818 body, #171719 headings, #1a1a1a navigation
• Use #000000 with a white label for the one filled action
• Underline navigation with 2px #1a1a1a on hover and for the current section
• Let photographs be the cards; label them with 5px translucent badges
• Reserve #0199f8 for discount rates and #017bc6 for last-minute badges
• Use pills for floating controls and give them soft shadows

Don’t

• Add borders, fills or shadows to stay cards
• Use colour for navigation or structure
• Set body text in pure black; #000000 is for the action and the selected journal tab
• Mix the journal’s Lato, serif and Abel faces into the booking interface

Voice & Tone

Stayfolio writes like a travel editor: short, sensory lines about places, with the offer stated after the mood. Section labels stay in plain uppercase English; promotional lines are specific about the benefit without shouting.

Voice samples (read on 2026-09-30):

• “스테이폴리오는 머무름만으로 여행이 되는 공간을 제안합니다” — business site.
• “안목있는 여행자의 선택” — business site.
• “잠시 숨고르기, 스테이 테라피” — home promotion.
• “해외 스테이 지금 보러 가기” — header promo pill.
• “어디로 떠날까요?” — home search.

Forbidden register: discount-shouting, countdown urgency, exclamation-heavy hype, generic OTA phrasing.

Agent Prompt Guide

Quick Color Reference

• Primary action: #000000 with #ffffff label
• Body: #181818; headings: #171719; navigation: #1a1a1a
• Secondary: #767676; meta: #6b6b6e; struck price: #979799
• Discount rate: #0199f8; last-minute badge: #017bc6
• Switch edge: #dfe0e2; skeleton: #f2f2f2; canvas: #ffffff

Example Component Prompts

• “Create a top navigation: uppercase Pretendard 16px / 600 labels in #1a1a1a with a 2px transparent bottom border that turns solid #1a1a1a on hover and on the current section.”
• “Create a stay card: a photograph with a 24px badge (rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.6), 5px radius, 4px 8px padding, 12px / 500 white label), then the name in 16px / 600 #171719, the region in 13px / 400 #6b6b6e and the price in 18px / 600 with the discount rate in 18px / 700 #0199f8. No border or shadow.”
• “Create a floating map pill: #000000, white 16px / 500 label, 20px radius, 8px 16px padding, 40px tall, shadow rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.1) 0px 2px 6px 0px.”
• “Create a 국내 / 해외 switch: 120 x 44 pill, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.24) fill, 1px solid #dfe0e2, shadow rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08) 0px 4px 8px 0px, with a #171719 thumb under the selected white 15px / 700 label.”

Iteration Guide

1. Near-black text only; one black filled action
2. Underline for navigation state, never colour
3. Photograph-first cards without chrome
4. Colour only for discount and last-minute signals
5. Radii: 4 / 5 / 8 / 10 / 20 / 100px
6. Soft shadows only on floating controls

Governance

Known Gaps

• Contrast, nav-menu-button. Text #1a1a1a on #00000000 measures 1.21:1, below the WCAG AA 4.5:1 minimum for normal-size text. Recorded as measured, not adjusted.
• Contrast, footer-chip. Text #595959 on #00000000 measures 3.00:1, below the WCAG AA 4.5:1 minimum for normal-size text. Recorded as measured, not adjusted.