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Locomotive. Monochrome zine between blood-red slides.

  • Studio
  • Light theme
  • 2 colors
  • 2 typefaces

Locomotive operates a strict two-color monochrome system — black ink on white paper, nothing else. The visual language is editorial and gallery-like: massive display type at 110px sets a museum-catalogue tone, while a single weight 400 across all text avoids the visual noise of bold or light variants, letting scale alone carry hierarchy. Full-bleed dramatic photography supplies all color and atmosphere; the interface itself never does. Generous vertical breathing room (150px section padding) and hairline horizontal dividers create a Swiss-style zine rhythm. The result feels like flipping through a high-end art monograph where typography is the architecture and images are the exhibits.

Screenshot of Locomotive
Captured from locomotive.ca on October 11, 2026

Locomotive design system

Locomotive

Neutrals2

  • Body text, headings, footer text, inverted section backgrounds, cards, borders, nav — the universal structural color

  • Page canvas, card surfaces on dark sections, text on inverted black backgrounds

Try a pairing

Pick any two colors from the palette to check whether text stays readable on top.

Aa

Paper on Ink

21.00 : 1 contrast

Background
Text
  • Body textPasses AA 4.5
  • Large textPasses AA 3
  • StrictPasses AAA 7

More DESIGN.md files. Same web, different personalities.