packages/shared-skills/skills/frontend/references/design/tesla.md
Tesla's website is an exercise in radical subtraction — a digital showroom where the product is everything and the interface is almost nothing. The page opens with a full-viewport hero that fills the entire screen with cinematic car photography: three vehicles arranged on polished concrete against a hazy cityscape sky, with a single model name floating above in translucent white type. There are no decorative borders, no gradients, no patterns, no shadows. The UI exists only to provide just enough navigational structure to get out of the way. Every pixel that isn't product imagery is white space, and that restraint is the design system's most powerful statement.
The color philosophy is almost ascetic: a single blue (#3E6AE1) for primary calls to action, three shades of dark gray for text hierarchy, and white for everything else. The entire emotional weight is carried by photography — sprawling landscape shots, studio-lit vehicle profiles, and atmospheric environmental compositions that stretch edge-to-edge across each viewport-height section. The UI chrome dissolves into the imagery. The navigation bar floats above the hero with no visible background, border, or shadow — the TESLA wordmark and five navigation labels simply exist in the space, trusting the content beneath them to provide sufficient contrast.
Typography recently transitioned from Gotham to Universal Sans — a custom family split into "Display" for headlines and "Text" for body/UI elements — unifying the website, mobile app, and in-car software into a single typographic voice. The Display variant renders hero titles at 40px weight 500, while the Text variant handles everything from navigation (14px/500) to body copy (14px/400). The font carries a geometric precision with slightly humanist terminals that feels engineered rather than designed — exactly matching Tesla's brand identity of technology that doesn't need to announce itself. There are no text shadows, no text gradients, no decorative type treatments. Every letterform earns its place through clarity alone.
Key Characteristics:
#3E6AE1) — used exclusively for primary CTA buttons#3E6AE1): Primary CTA button background — a confident, mid-saturation blue (rgb 62, 106, 225) that stands alone as the only chromatic color in the entire interface. Used exclusively for "Order Now" and other primary action buttons#FFFFFF): Dominant background color for all surfaces, panels, navigation, and secondary button fills — the canvas that lets photography breathe#3E6AE1): Blue also serves for promotional text ("0% APR Available") displayed over hero imagery in the same hue as the CTA — creating a visual link between incentive messaging and action#FFFFFF): Page background, navigation panel, dropdown menus, and all surface containers#F4F4F4): Subtle alternate surface for section differentiation — barely perceptible shift from pure white (rgb 244, 244, 244)#171A20): Dark surface color for hero text overlays and potential dark-mode contexts (rgb 23, 26, 32) — a warm near-black with a blue undertonergba(255, 255, 255, 0.75)): Semi-transparent white for navigation backdrop-filter effects on scroll#171A20): Primary heading and navigation text — the darkest text value (rgb 23, 26, 32), used for model names, nav labels, and hero titles on light backgrounds#393C41): Body text and secondary content (rgb 57, 60, 65) — the default paragraph color, slightly warmer than pure gray#5C5E62): Tertiary text for sub-links, secondary navigation links like "Learn" and "Order" (rgb 92, 94, 98)#8E8E8E): Placeholder text in input fields and disabled states (rgb 142, 142, 142)#EEEEEE): Light borders and divider lines (rgb 238, 238, 238)#D0D1D2): Subtle UI borders and delineation (rgb 208, 209, 210)#3E6AE1) serves as the sole interactive color signalUniversal Sans Display, -apple-system, Arial, sans-serif — used for hero titles and large model names. A geometric sans-serif with precisely engineered proportions, recently replacing Gotham to unify Tesla's digital ecosystem (website, mobile app, vehicle interface)Universal Sans Text, -apple-system, Arial, sans-serif — used for navigation, body copy, buttons, and all UI text. Optimized for legibility at smaller sizes with slightly wider proportions than the Display variant| Role | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hero Title | 40px (2.50rem) | 500 | 48px (1.20) | normal | Universal Sans Display, white on dark hero imagery |
| Product Name | 17px (1.06rem) | 500 | 20px (1.18) | normal | Universal Sans Text, model names in nav panel and cards |
| Nav Item | 14px (0.88rem) | 500 | 16.8px (1.20) | normal | Universal Sans Text, primary navigation labels |
| Body Text | 14px (0.88rem) | 400 | 20px (1.43) | normal | Universal Sans Text, paragraph and descriptive content |
| Button Label | 14px (0.88rem) | 500 | 16.8px (1.20) | normal | Universal Sans Text, CTA button text |
| Sub-link | 14px (0.88rem) | 400 | 20px (1.43) | normal | Tertiary links (Learn, Order, Experience) |
| Promo Text | 22px (1.38rem) | 400 | 20px (0.91) | normal | White promotional text on hero ("0% APR Available") |
| Category Label | 16px (est.) | 500 | — | normal | White text labels on category cards ("Sport Sedan") |
All buttons use barely-rounded rectangles (4px border-radius) — creating a sharp, technical aesthetic that mirrors the precision of the vehicles.
Primary CTA — The main action button:
#3E6AE1 (Electric Blue), text #FFFFFF, fontSize 14px, fontWeight 500, padding 4px with inner content centering, borderRadius 4px, minHeight 40px, width 200pxrgba(0,0,0,0) 0px 0px 0px 2px inset (invisible at rest, animates to visible on focus)border-color 0.33s, background-color 0.33s, color 0.33s, box-shadow 0.25sSecondary CTA — The alternative action button:
#FFFFFF, text #393C41 (Graphite), same dimensions and border pattern as primaryNav Button — Top navigation items:
#171A20 (Carbon Dark), fontSize 14px, fontWeight 500, borderRadius 4px, padding 4px 16px, minHeight 32pxcolor 0.33s, background-color 0.33sText Link — In-content actions:
#5C5E62 (Pewter), fontSize 14px, fontWeight 400, no background, no borderbox-shadow 0.33s cubic-bezier(0.5, 0, 0, 0.75), color 0.33sVehicle Card (Navigation panel):
Category Card (Homepage lower section):
#171A20 (Carbon Dark)#8E8E8E (Silver Fog)tds-site-header--white-background)sticky-without-slide class — stays at top without slide-in animationTesla uses whitespace as a luxury signal. The generous vertical spacing between sections (each section is a full viewport height) means you can only see one "message" at a time — one car, one model name, one CTA pair. This creates a gallery-like browsing experience where each scroll is a deliberate transition, not a continuous feed. White space is not empty — it's the frame that elevates each vehicle to the status of art piece.
| Value | Context |
|---|---|
| 0px | Most elements — sharp edges are the default |
| 4px | Buttons (primary, secondary, nav items) — barely perceptible rounding |
| ~12px | Category cards — noticeable but restrained rounding on larger surfaces |
| 50% | Carousel dot indicators — perfect circles |
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Level 0 (Flat) | No shadow, no border | Default state for all elements — cards, panels, buttons at rest |
| Level 1 (Frost) | rgba(255,255,255,0.75) backdrop | Navigation bar on scroll — frosted glass transparency |
| Level 2 (Overlay) | rgba(128,128,128,0.65) | Modal overlays and region/cookie popups |
| Level 3 (Subtle) | rgba(0,0,0,0.05) | Minimal shadow hints on rare hover states |
Tesla's approach to elevation is essentially "none." The site avoids box-shadows entirely in its primary interface. Depth is communicated through three alternative strategies:
#3E6AE1) exclusively for primary CTAs — never for decorative purposes| Name | Width | Key Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile | <768px | Single-column layout, hamburger nav replaces horizontal labels, hero text scales to ~28px, CTA buttons stack vertically, category cards become full-width |
| Tablet | 768-1024px | 2-column nav panel, hero maintains full-viewport height, CTAs remain side-by-side, reduced horizontal padding |
| Desktop | 1024-1440px | Full horizontal nav, 3-column vehicle grid in dropdown, hero at 40px, side-by-side CTAs at 200px/160px width |
| Large Desktop | >1440px | Content remains centered, hero photography scales to fill wider viewports, max-width container for nav panel content |
object-fit: cover to maintain cinematic composition across widthsoverflow: hidden with border-radiusWhen refining existing screens generated with this design system: