Typography
Two type scales — Utility and Display — split the typographic load between functional UI text and expressive surfaces.
The two scales
| Scale | Use for | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Utility | UI text — body, labels, captions, table cells, button labels | 4 steps (12/14/16/16-bold) |
| Display | Expressive type — sub-headings, section headings, page titles, hero | 4 steps (20/24/32/42) |
The split is structural, not decorative. Utility text uses optimised letter-spacing for screen-readability at small sizes; Display text uses negative letter-spacing for a tighter, more confident heading rhythm. Mixing scales (Utility-3 used as a heading, Display-1 used for a button label) breaks the system's visual hierarchy.
Font stack
The substrate ships Inter as the canonical sans-serif, with a system-stack fallback chain:
'Inter', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, sans-serif
Inter is a modern, open-source workhorse face (SIL OFL 1.1), optimised for UI rendering at small sizes. The system stack fallback ensures the substrate is fully functional even if the Inter binary is not loaded — degradation is graceful.
A tenant theme can substitute any font family at the primitive layer. Common substitutions:
- IBM Plex Sans (open-source, Carbon's canonical face)
- Source Sans 3 (Adobe, open-source)
- Public Sans (USWDS, public domain)
- A tenant's own brand face
Self-hosting the font binary is the customer's responsibility; the substrate references the family by name.
The scale
Utility
| Token | Size / Line / Weight | Use for |
|---|---|---|
typography.utility-1 | 12 / 16 / 400 | Caption, label, table cell |
typography.utility-2 | 14 / 20 / 400 | Secondary body, helper text |
typography.utility-3 | 16 / 24 / 400 | Primary body floor |
typography.utility-4 | 16 / 24 / 600 | UI heading, button label |
Display
| Token | Size / Line / Weight | Use for |
|---|---|---|
typography.display-1 | 20 / 28 / 500 | Sub-heading |
typography.display-2 | 24 / 32 / 500 | Section heading |
typography.display-3 | 32 / 40 / 400 | Page title |
typography.display-4 | 42 / 50 / 300 | Hero / landing |
Heading hierarchy
| HTML | Token |
|---|---|
<h1> | display-3 |
<h2> | display-2 |
<h3> | display-1 |
<h4> | utility-4 |
Body <p> | utility-3 |
<small>, helper, caption | utility-2 |
A heading-level skip (h1 → h3 with no h2 between) breaks accessibility — screen readers rely on the hierarchy to navigate. The substrate enforces this in subsequent-milestone audit work.
Brand voice
The substrate's voice rules live in the active theme's
voice block. PointSav-brand:
- Confident — no hedging, no apology
- Direct — action verbs first, single-clause sentences where possible
- Professional — Bloomberg article standard, no marketing register
Banned vocabulary applies to all body and heading copy.