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Smiling Wolf. Print magazine in monochrome.

  • Studio
  • Mixed theme
  • 5 colors
  • 2 typefaces

Smiling Wolf uses an editorial Swiss-minimalist language: a warm off-white canvas (#f7f3f0) and near-black surfaces (#131713) alternate to create a strict two-tone rhythm, with no chromatic accent, no gradients, and no shadows anywhere. Typography carries the entire brand voice — a custom display serif/sans hybrid (Bagoss Standard) speaks at large sizes with tight negative tracking and near-unity line-heights, while a wide-tracked monospace (General Grotesque Mono) stamps every label, tag, and metadata line in uppercase 9-10px. All corners are 4px sharp. The result reads like a print magazine spread — high-contrast blocks, generous negative space, hairline dividers, and a refusal of decoration.

Screenshot of Smiling Wolf
Captured from smilingwolf.co.uk on October 11, 2026

Smiling Wolf design system

Smiling Wolf

Neutrals5

  • Hairline borders, dividers, link strokes — the structural outline color; appears 1340× as border, defining every panel edge

  • Primary text on light canvas, dark-section backgrounds, inverse-surface text — near-black with a barely-perceptible green undertone

  • Muted helper text, secondary metadata, label text — sits at AA on dark and fails on light, so it belongs in the dark sections and monospace stamps

  • Secondary borders, inactive dividers — a step lighter than Carbon for de-emphasized edges

  • Page canvas, card surfaces, dark-section text — warm off-white that keeps the page from feeling clinical

Try a pairing

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

Aa

Bone on Carbon

19.03 : 1 contrast

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

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