DESIGN.md — bychudy.com
1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Bychudy is an ultra-minimal Polish design portfolio that treats the screen like a blank page. The design philosophy is radical reduction: system fonts, black-and-white, uppercase micro-labels, and almost no decorative surface treatment. The atmosphere is “type-led, brutalist in its honesty.” Every design decision here is an act of removal rather than addition. The site communicates confidence through what it refuses to do.
2. Color Palette & Roles
| Role | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Background | rgb(255, 255, 255) |
Pure white — no warmth, no tint |
| Primary text | rgb(0, 0, 0) |
Pure black — no compromise |
| H1 text | rgb(255, 254, 252) |
Near-white — used on dark/image surfaces |
| Links (default) | rgb(0, 0, 238) |
Browser default blue — intentionally unstyled |
| Heading on image | rgb(236, 75, 34) |
Signal orange/red — a single expressive moment |
| Border on heading context | rgb(207, 203, 201) |
Warm light gray |
The choice to keep browser-default link blue (rgb(0, 0, 238)) is a philosophical statement — this site does not style its links. Combined with pure black and white, the effect is reminiscent of early web aesthetics, but intentional rather than neglected.
3. Typography Rules
Typeface: SF Pro Text Bold (Apple system font) for h1, sans-serif generic fallback for body and links.
| Selector | Size | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| h1 | 13px | 400 | System font at label scale — with text-transform: uppercase |
| body | 12px | 400 | Below standard web body size |
| a | 12px | 400 | Matches body exactly |
- Uppercase h1 at 13px is the defining typographic gesture: headings are not large — they are labeled.
- The use of SF Pro Text Bold but
font-weight: 400is unusual — the “Bold” variant is baked into the font name itself. - 12px body text is a deliberate low-information-density choice — each line carries weight.
- Line height of 15.6px on h1 creates very tight label-style spacing.
- What’s absent: no custom web fonts, no large display sizes, no tracking adjustments, no letter-spacing artistry.
4. Component Stylings
- Navigation: transparent, black text — invisible until needed.
- Links: unstyled browser defaults — the site refuses to be branded at the link level.
- Framer surfaces: white (
rgb(255,255,255)) and translucent white (rgba(255,255,255,0.17)) — overlays on image sections. - No border-radius tokens — elements are either sharp or inherit browser defaults.
- No shadows — the entire depth model is purely planar.
5. Layout Principles
- Stripped to bare bones: zero margin, zero padding on structural elements.
- The layout is likely grid-based with large image areas and small label text — a classic editorial/folio pattern.
- The orange heading color (
rgb(236, 75, 34)) appears on a specific image section, suggesting color is used contextually per project, not globally. - The warm-gray border (
rgb(207, 203, 201)) implies divider lines, not component borders.
6. Depth & Elevation
No depth mechanism detected. This site is perfectly flat. The only “elevation” is the presence/absence of image content beneath text. White translucent overlays (rgba(255,255,255,0.17)) suggest text panels placed over photography — transparency creates a sense of float without a shadow.
7. Do’s and Don’ts
Do:
- Use uppercase 13px SF Pro Text for all label-scale headings.
- Keep body at 12px — the density is intentional.
- Leave links unstyled (browser default blue) if pursuing this aesthetic.
- Introduce color (the orange) only once, at maximum emotional impact.
Don’t:
- Add web fonts — SF Pro Text and system sans-serif are the design.
- Add hover shadows or card depth — flatness is the statement.
- Increase font sizes — the micro-scale is part of the tension.
- Use rounded corners — sharp or default only.
8. Responsive Behavior
- 12–13px text is extremely small on high-DPI mobile — likely restricted to desktop-primary.
- Uppercase labels at 13px hold readability better at small sizes than mixed-case.
- The image-heavy layout requires careful cropping strategy at mobile widths.
- No explicit responsive tokens detected — breakpoints likely defined in JS/styled-components.
9. Agent Prompt Guide
Build a brutalist design portfolio in the style of Bychudy: pure white background, pure black text, system font stack (SF Pro Text / sans-serif), all headings at 13px uppercase, body at 12px, no custom link styling (browser default blue), no shadows, no border-radius, no decorative treatment. One signal color (orange
rgb(236,75,34)) used once for maximum contrast.
Generated by Sparkbites — extracted from live CSS analysis