Wise Inspired Design System

Overview

Wise — the global money-transfer brand — wears its identity in a single signature pairing: a vivid lime-green {colors.primary} (#9fe870) used as the CTA pill and brand accent, set against a pale sage-tinted canvas {colors.canvas-soft} (#e8ebe6) that runs across the hero band, and a near-black ink {colors.ink} (#0e0f0c) with a hint of warmth from the brand's underlying olive cast. The brand reads more like a calm Scandinavian magazine than a bank — generous whitespace, large rounded cards, and an unusually heavy display sans set at weight 900 carrying every hero headline.

Display typography is the second decisive voice. The proprietary Wise Sans family carries hero displays at weight 900 in scales from 64 px up to 126 px on the largest hero. The brand pairs Wise Sans 900 with Inter at weight 600 for sub-displays — the contrast between the chunky proprietary face and Inter's neutrality creates a particular hierarchy: Wise Sans for the brand moment, Inter for everything else.

Cards are universally pill-rounded — {rounded.xl} 24 px is the brand's signature card radius. Buttons take the same 24 px pill-rectangle shape. The brand never uses sharp corners on UI elements; the visual softness is part of the friendly fintech voice.

Key Characteristics:

• A single lime-green CTA accent {colors.primary} (#9fe870) — the brand's universal primary action color. No second accent.
• Two-face display typography — Wise Sans (proprietary, weight 900, hero scale) + Inter (weight 600, sub-display scale). The contrast is the brand's typographic story.
• {rounded.xl} 24 px is the canonical card and button radius. Generous, friendly.
• Sage-tinted canvas {colors.canvas-soft} (#e8ebe6) is the brand's hero surface; white {colors.canvas} is reserved for cards within the sage band.
• A full semantic palette: positive green family, warning yellow family, negative red family — each documented with content / hover / active variants for in-product use.
• Currency-converter card on the hero — the brand's signature interactive component, hosting from/to amount inputs.

Colors

Brand & Accent

• Wise Green ({colors.primary} — #9fe870): The brand's universal CTA color. Every primary button, every "Send money" pill, the brand's logo accent.
• Wise Green Hover ({colors.primary-active} — #cdffad): The lighter green for active state.
• Wise Green Neutral ({colors.primary-neutral} — #c5edab): A mid-saturation green used as a neutral active fill.
• Wise Green Pale ({colors.primary-pale} — #e2f6d5): The lightest green for soft surface tints / badge backgrounds.

Surface

• Canvas ({colors.canvas} — #ffffff): Pure white for card interiors.
• Canvas Soft ({colors.canvas-soft} — #e8ebe6): The sage-tinted page background. Defining mood of the brand.

Text

• Ink ({colors.ink} — #0e0f0c): Near-black with a hint of olive warmth — the brand's default text and headings color.
• Ink Deep ({colors.ink-deep} — #163300): A deep forest-green ink used on positive-state surfaces.
• Body ({colors.body} — #454745): Secondary body text.
• Mute ({colors.mute} — #868685): Lowest-priority text — captions, placeholder, fine print.

Semantic

• Positive ({colors.positive} — #2ead4b): Success indicator.
• Positive Deep ({colors.positive-deep} — #054d28): Pressed positive state.
• Warning ({colors.warning} — #ffd11a): Caution indicator.
• Warning Deep ({colors.warning-deep} — #b86700): Pressed warning.
• Warning Content ({colors.warning-content} — #4a3b1c): Text on warning surfaces.
• Negative ({colors.negative} — #d03238): Destructive / error red.
• Negative Deep ({colors.negative-deep} — #a72027): Pressed destructive.
• Negative Darkest ({colors.negative-darkest} — #a7000d): Highest-emphasis destructive text.
• Negative Bg ({colors.negative-bg} — #320707): Dark maroon for destructive callout backgrounds.

Brand Accent — Tertiary

• Accent Orange ({colors.accent-orange} — #ffc091): Bright peach used inside illustrative content / pricing cards.
• Accent Cyan ({colors.accent-cyan} — #38c8ff): Bright sky-blue used as a tertiary illustration accent.

Typography

Font Family

Two faces ladder the system:

1. Wise Sans — proprietary geometric sans with an unusually heavy weight 900 used for all hero displays. The face is the brand's typographic signature. Always at weight 900, never lighter on the marketing surface.
2. Inter — used for sub-displays (weight 600), all body, and form labels. Loaded with font-feature-settings: "calt" for contextual alternates.

Hierarchy

Principles

• Weight 900 for hero, weight 600 for everything else. The brand's display ceiling is full-black weight; everything below is semibold.
• Wise Sans for the brand voice, Inter for utility. Strict role separation.

Note on Font Substitutes

Wise Sans is proprietary. Open-source substitutes:

• Display — Inter at weight 900 or Manrope at weight 800 / 900 captures the geometric heaviness. Geist weight 800 is a passable second choice.
• Sub-display + body — Inter is the brand's actual second face.

Layout

Spacing System

• Base unit: 4 px.
• Tokens: {spacing.xxs} 2 px · {spacing.xs} 4 px · {spacing.sm} 8 px · {spacing.md} 12 px · {spacing.lg} 16 px · {spacing.xl} 24 px · {spacing.2xl} 32 px · {spacing.3xl} 48 px.
• Section padding: bands use {spacing.3xl} 48 px top/bottom on desktop.
• Card interior: cards at {spacing.xl} 24 px.

Grid & Container

• Marketing container centres at ~1200 px.
• Hero: split layout (headline left, currency-converter card right) at desktop; stacked at mobile.
• Feature grids: 2-up / 3-up at desktop.

Responsive Strategy

Breakpoints

Touch Targets

Buttons render ~48 px tall (12 vertical padding + 24 line). WCAG AAA at all widths.

Image Behavior

Photography is sparse; the brand prefers illustrative SVGs and product mockups inside cards. Country flag thumbnails appear inside currency rows.

Elevation & Depth

The brand uses surface contrast ({colors.canvas-soft} background vs {colors.canvas} cards) as the primary elevation cue.

Shapes

Border Radius Scale

Components

Buttons

button-primary — the lime-green CTA pill.

• Background {colors.primary}, text {colors.on-primary}, label {typography.button-md}, padding {spacing.md} {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.xl} 24 px.

button-secondary — the sage-tinted secondary.

• Background {colors.canvas-soft}, text {colors.ink}, same typography / padding / shape.

button-tertiary — the white outline tertiary.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, 1 px solid {colors.ink} border, same typography / padding / shape.

button-icon-circular — the circular icon button.

• Background {colors.canvas}, ink icon, shape {rounded.full}.

Cards & Containers

card-content — the default white card.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.xl}. No border, sits on sage canvas.

card-feature-sage — the sage-tinted feature card.

• Background {colors.canvas-soft}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.xl}.

card-feature-green — the soft-green feature card.

• Background {colors.primary-pale}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.xl}.

card-feature-dark — the polarity-flipped dark card with green text.

• Background {colors.ink}, text {colors.primary} (Wise green!), padding {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.xl}. Used for promotional moments.

currency-converter-card — the brand's signature interactive widget.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, 1 px solid {colors.ink} border, padding {spacing.xl}, shape {rounded.xl}. Hosts from/to amount inputs + currency selectors.

Inputs & Forms

text-input — the canonical text input.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, 1 px solid {colors.ink} border, body in {typography.body-md}, padding {spacing.md} {spacing.lg}, shape {rounded.md}.

Navigation

nav-bar — the sticky top nav.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.md} {spacing.xl}.

nav-link — link items inside nav.

• Text {colors.ink}, set in {typography.body-sm-strong}.

footer — the dark footer band.

• Background {colors.ink}, text {colors.canvas-soft}, padding {spacing.3xl} {spacing.xl}. Body in {typography.body-sm}.

Signature Components

hero-band — the sage-canvas hero band.

• Background {colors.canvas-soft}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.3xl} {spacing.xl}. Headline in {typography.display-mega} (Wise Sans weight 900).

hero-band-dark — the polarity-flipped dark hero.

• Background {colors.ink}, text {colors.primary} (Wise green headline on near-black!), same padding / scale.

content-band — the white content band that follows hero.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, padding {spacing.3xl} {spacing.xl}. Section headline in {typography.display-md}.

badge-positive — the positive status pill.

• Background {colors.primary-pale}, text {colors.positive-deep}, body in {typography.body-sm-strong}, padding {spacing.xs} {spacing.md}, shape {rounded.pill}.

badge-negative — the negative status pill.

• Background {colors.negative-bg}, text white, body in {typography.body-sm-strong}, padding {spacing.xs} {spacing.md}, shape {rounded.pill}.

Examples (illustrative)

Auto-derived kit-mirror demonstration surfaces (scripts/derive-examples-block.mjs). Each ex-* entry references brand-native primitives so downstream consumers (/preview-design, /generate-kit) re-skin the same 10 surfaces consistently. TO_FILL markers indicate missing primitives — resolve in the LLM judgment pass.

ex-pricing-tier — Default Pricing tier card. Re-uses feature-card chrome with brand canvas-soft surface.

• Properties: backgroundColor, textColor, borderColor, rounded, padding

ex-pricing-tier-featured — Featured/highlighted tier — polarity-flipped surface (dark fill + light text in light mode, light fill + dark text in dark mode).

• Properties: backgroundColor, textColor, rounded, padding

ex-product-selector — What's Included summary card — re-purposed for SaaS / B2B verticals (NOT a literal product gallery).

• Properties: backgroundColor, rounded, padding

ex-cart-drawer — Subscription summary — re-purposed for SaaS / B2B (line items per add-on, not literal cart).

• Properties: backgroundColor, rounded, padding, item-divider

ex-app-shell-row — Sidebar nav row inside the App Shell example. Active state uses brand primary as the indicator.

• Properties: backgroundColor, activeIndicator, rounded, padding

ex-data-table-cell — Default data-table th + td chrome. Header uses mono-caps eyebrow typography; body uses body-sm.

• Properties: headerBackground, headerTypography, bodyTypography, cellPadding, rowBorder

ex-auth-form-card — Sign-in / sign-up card. Re-uses feature-card chrome with text-input primitives inside.

• Properties: backgroundColor, rounded, padding

ex-modal-card — Modal dialog surface — same chrome as feature-card with elevated shadow.

• Properties: backgroundColor, rounded, padding

ex-empty-state-card — Empty-state illustration frame.

• Properties: backgroundColor, rounded, padding, captionTypography

ex-toast — Toast notification surface — feature-card shape + medium shadow.

• Properties: backgroundColor, rounded, padding, typography

Do's and Don'ts

Do

• Reserve {colors.primary} Wise green for every primary CTA. The lime-green pill IS the brand's conversion signature.
• Set hero headlines in {typography.display-mega} / {typography.display-xl} Wise Sans weight 900. Never lighter.
• Use {rounded.xl} 24 px for buttons and cards. The generous radius is the brand's friendliness signature.
• Cycle page surfaces in {colors.canvas-soft} sage canvas → {colors.canvas} white cards. Surface contrast carries elevation.
• Use the full semantic palette (positive / warning / negative) for in-product status — never repurpose Wise green as success indicator since it IS the brand CTA.

Don't

• Don't introduce a second brand accent. Wise green is the sole identity colour.
• Don't render the hero in weight 700 or lighter. The brand's display weight is 900.
• Don't render CTAs as sharp rectangles. The 24 px pill geometry is non-negotiable.
• Don't pair the green CTA with a green background. The brand always sits Wise green on neutral surfaces (sage / white / ink).
• Don't replace Wise Sans with a generic geometric sans for hero typography — the proprietary face IS the brand's voice.

Known Gaps

• Hover state colors: beyond the documented {colors.primary-active} lighter-green active variant, precise pointer-hover micro-states (e.g., subtle elevation lift on cards, button shadow pulse) are not fully captured.
• Loading states / skeleton screens: progress indicators, skeleton placeholders, and inline spinners are not represented in the extracted surfaces.
• Dark mode tokens: the spec captures the light marketing surface; a dedicated dark-mode token set (paired with {colors.ink} as canvas) is not documented here.
• Mobile app component library: the iOS / Android app extends the marketing brand with native list rows, segmented controls, and gesture sheets that aren't captured in this web-focused spec.
• Country flag assets: flag thumbnails appear inside currency converter rows, but the asset set, sizing rules, and rounded-corner treatment are not formally documented here.