01 Foundations

The foundations of this design system are my photographs, a style I've long referred to as Unintentionally Moody.

function initDesignSystem() {
    console.log("Clean & Moody initialized");
}

02 Navigation & Global UI

Navigation is designed to be persistent yet unobtrusive. Breadcrumbs for deep linking and a hamburger menu for quick section jumps are used.

The hamburger menu in the top-right corner of this page demonstrates section navigation. Click it to see the overlay menu with smooth scroll-to-section behavior.

[demo]

Interactive narration controls for article playback. Includes a primary trigger button (top) and fixed viewport controls (bottom) that appear automatically as the user scrolls through the content.

03 Media & Layout

Media is handled with care, ensuring that images and videos are responsive and lazy-loaded. Captions are used to provide context without cluttering the visual field.

Full-width, responsive containers designed to host diverse content—from Three.js canvases and video to SVG animations and third-party embeds—while maintaining visual consistency and optimized loading performance.

Fig 1.0 — A sample image caption with muted typography.

04 Interactive Components

Interactive components are designed to be intuitive and accessible. Animations and feedback are used to ensure a smooth user experience.

npm install gsap three

Visualization containers support both SVG and Three.js canvas elements, providing a consistent framework for interactive data displays across the project.

05 Localization

Localization is implemented using Gemini Flash 3 to provide dynamic translation of site content. Translations are cached server-side via Vercel KV, enabling instant language switching on subsequent visits without additional API calls. A persistent flag toggle in the primary navigation provides access to a searchable menu of over 100 languages.

The language selector is injected into the navigation bar. Upon interaction, a searchable dropdown is presented, allowing for the selection of target languages. Languages with audio narration support display a speaker icon (🔊) to indicate availability. Transitions between languages are handled with a fade effect to maintain visual continuity. For non-Latin scripts, both primary typefaces are automatically substituted: Axis Std Light is replaced with IBM Plex Sans, and Andale Mono is replaced with IBM Plex Mono. This ensures proper character rendering across all writing systems while preserving the design language.

06 Callouts & Notifications

Specialized containers for highlighting information or providing contextual input.

Non-blocking feedback messages that appear at the bottom-right of the viewport. Use toastManager.show(message, options) to trigger them programmatically.

07 Mathematical Equations

For complex, multi-line, or centered mathematical expressions, the .equation-block container is used. This class ensures proper spacing, centering, and overflow handling for KaTeX-rendered content.

08 Accessibility

Accessibility is a first-class citizen of this design system. A combination of semantic HTML, ARIA landmarks, and dynamic announcers is used to ensure a robust experience for all users.

Interactive audio narration is provided for all content pages, enabling users to listen to articles. The narration system uses ElevenLabs' voice synthesis and includes keyboard shortcuts (Option + P) for quick access. Narration is available in six languages serving over half of the world's population: English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, and French. This feature benefits users with visual impairments, reading difficulties, cognitive disabilities, or those who prefer auditory learning.

A hidden-by-default link at the top of every page allows keyboard users to bypass global navigation and jump directly to the primary content.

Semantic landmarks are used to provide a clear map of the page structure for screen readers.

Off-screen live regions provide real-time feedback for dynamic actions like carousel transitions or audio narration progress.

<div id="live-announcer" class="sr-only" aria-live="polite" role="status"></div>

Users who prefer reduced motion (due to vestibular disorders, motion sensitivity, or personal preference) are automatically accommodated. When prefers-reduced-motion: reduce is detected, all CSS animations and transitions are disabled or replaced with instant state changes. This includes page transitions, modal animations, hover effects, and narration highlighting.

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
    *, *::before, *::after {
        animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
        transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
    }
}

All text colors meet WCAG AA contrast requirements against the black background (#000000). Primary text (#F2F2F2) achieves a 17.4:1 ratio, body text (#BEBEBE) achieves 11.5:1, and secondary text (#888888) achieves 5.93:1. The muted text token (#767676) maintains the minimum 4.5:1 ratio for normal text.

All interactive elements are fully keyboard accessible. Focus indicators use a consistent double-ring pattern (2px black inner, 2px white outer) that provides excellent visibility against both dark and light elements. Tab order follows logical reading order, and skip links allow users to bypass repetitive navigation.

Modal dialogs implement proper focus trapping to prevent keyboard users from accidentally navigating outside the modal while it's open. When a modal opens, focus moves to the first interactive element. When closed, focus returns to the element that triggered the modal. This pattern follows the WAI-ARIA dialog design pattern.

// Focus trap implementation
function handleTabKey(e) {
    if (e.key !== 'Tab') return;
    const focusable = modal.querySelectorAll('button, input, textarea');
    if (e.shiftKey && document.activeElement === first) {
        e.preventDefault();
        last.focus();
    } else if (!e.shiftKey && document.activeElement === last) {
        e.preventDefault();
        first.focus();
    }
}

Primary interactive elements such as navigation buttons (menu toggle, flag toggle) and audio controls meet or exceed the recommended 44x44 pixel minimum touch target size. The design balances accessibility with visual aesthetics, ensuring adequate tap areas while maintaining the intended visual hierarchy.

Full right-to-left (RTL) support is implemented for Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu, and other RTL languages. When an RTL language is selected, the dir="rtl" attribute is automatically applied to the document, and CSS handles layout mirroring including navigation positioning, text alignment, border directions, and icon flipping.

/* RTL layout adjustments */
[dir="rtl"] .breadcrumb-header h1 {
    flex-direction: row-reverse;
}

[dir="rtl"] .section-nav {
    right: auto;
    left: 2rem;
}

[dir="rtl"] blockquote {
    border-left: none;
    border-right: 3px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
}

Each page maintains a single <h1> element for the page title, with subsequent headings following a logical hierarchy (h2, h3, h4). This structure enables screen reader users to navigate efficiently using heading shortcuts and understand the document outline.

09 Brand Identity

The logo in the header above demonstrates the glitch animation. Below is the actual site footer, which demonstrates the branding in its terminal state.