HashiCorp-design-analysis

Overview

HashiCorp's marketing canvas is a near-black ground that serves a multi-product portfolio without ever feeling generic. The dominant surface is {colors.canvas} (pure black) layered with {colors.surface-1} charcoal cards and 1px translucent gray hairlines. The chrome is monochrome — white pill-rounded buttons ({components.button-primary}), white type, gray secondary type — but the system is held together by a palette of per-product accent colors that signal which HashiCorp tool a given section belongs to: Terraform purple, Vault yellow, Consul red, Waypoint cyan, Vagrant blue, Nomad green, Boundary coral.

Display type is hashicorpSans at weights 600/700 with tight line-heights (1.17–1.21); body type is the same family at 500 weight with deliberately relaxed line-heights (1.50–1.71) — the contrast feels editorial, not enterprise-templated. CTAs use small {rounded.md} 8px corners rather than pills, which keeps the system reading as developer-facing rather than consumer-y.

The signature device is the product-card family — each HashiCorp product gets its own colored card variant on the home and infrastructure pages, lifting Terraform into a violet ground, Vault into yellow, Waypoint into cyan. These aren't decorative gradients — they're identity surfaces. A reader scrolling the page can tell which product a section is about from the corner of their eye.

Key Characteristics:

• Black-canvas marketing system: {colors.canvas} is the surface for hero, body, pricing, comparison tables, and footer alike.
• Per-product color identity: Terraform {colors.product-terraform}, Vault {colors.product-vault}, Waypoint {colors.product-waypoint}, Vagrant {colors.product-vagrant}, Consul {colors.product-consul}, Nomad {colors.product-nomad}, Boundary {colors.product-boundary} — each with its own button + card variant.
• Display headlines run hashicorpSans 600/700 with line-height 1.17–1.21 (tight); body runs the same family at 500 with 1.50–1.71 (relaxed) — the proportional gap is the brand's voice.
• CTA shape is {rounded.md} 8px — not a pill — keeping the system reading as developer-tool rather than consumer-app.
• Charcoal surface lift (canvas → surface-1 → surface-2) instead of shadow-driven elevation.
• 1px translucent gray hairlines (rgba(178,182,189,0.1)) define cards and dividers — the borders are felt more than seen.
• Eyebrow typography (12–13px, 600 weight, 0.6px positive tracking, uppercase) marks every section as a category label.

Colors

Source pages: hashicorp.com/en (home), /en/infrastructure-cloud, /en/products/terraform, /en/pricing, /en/resources?contentType=PDF.

Brand & Accent

• Black ({colors.primary}): The system primary surface. Canvas, footer, comparison tables, hero — all black.
• White ({colors.on-primary}): Inverse text on black; canvas of button-primary.
• Accent Blue ({colors.accent-blue}): Hyperlinks across the marketing surface.
• Visited Purple ({colors.semantic-visited}): Visited-link state.

Surface

• Canvas ({colors.canvas}): Default page background.
• Surface 1 ({colors.surface-1}): Charcoal one step above canvas — feature cards, pricing cards, resource tiles.
• Surface 2 ({colors.surface-2}): Two steps above — featured pricing card, secondary buttons, hovered product chrome.
• Surface 3 ({colors.surface-3}): Three steps above — small chips, badges, sub-nav backgrounds.
• Hairline ({colors.hairline}): 1px borders on cards and dividers.
• Hairline Soft ({colors.hairline-soft}): Subtler dividers — comparison-table rows.
• Inverse Canvas ({colors.inverse-canvas}): Pure white — used as the surface of button-primary only.

Text

• Ink ({colors.ink}): All headline and emphasized body type — pure white.
• Ink Muted ({colors.ink-muted}): Secondary type at #b2b6bd — meta info, footer columns.
• Ink Subtle ({colors.ink-subtle}): Tertiary type at #656a76 — form helper text, timestamps, footnotes.

Per-Product Identity (signature)

HashiCorp's marketing isn't held together by a single accent color — it's held together by a system of product-specific accents, each used to mark which tool a section represents.

• Terraform Purple ({colors.product-terraform}): Terraform sections, terraform CTAs, the violet 3D cube on the home hero.
• Terraform Bright ({colors.product-terraform-bright}): Saturated highlight — link emphasis on Terraform pages.
• Vault Yellow ({colors.product-vault}): Vault sections and CTAs.
• Consul Red ({colors.product-consul}): Consul sections.
• Waypoint Cyan ({colors.product-waypoint}): Waypoint sections, deep variant {colors.product-waypoint-deep} for hover/active.
• Vagrant Blue ({colors.product-vagrant}): Vagrant sections.
• Nomad Green ({colors.product-nomad}): Nomad sections.
• Boundary Coral ({colors.product-boundary}): Boundary sections.

Semantic

• Success ({colors.semantic-success}): Positive states (also reused as Nomad green).
• Warning ({colors.semantic-warning}): Warning states (also Vault yellow).
• Error ({colors.semantic-error}): Error states (also Consul red).
• Amber 100 ({colors.amber-100}): Soft warm highlight — extracted but used sparingly.
• Amber 200 ({colors.amber-200}): Saturated amber for caution badges.
• Blue 7 ({colors.blue-7}): Deep navy used in unified-core gradients.

Typography

Font Family

• hashicorpSans — HashiCorp's proprietary marketing typeface. Geometric, clean, slightly humanist. Fallback stack __hashicorpSans_Fallback_96f0ca (system font), then -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, helvetica, arial.

The same family carries display, body, button, and caption — no separate display + body pairing. Hierarchy is carried by weight (500 body / 600 emphasis / 700 display) and by a deliberate line-height contrast (tight on display, relaxed on body).

Hierarchy

Principles

• Tight on display, relaxed on body. Display sits at line-height 1.17–1.21; body lifts to 1.50–1.71. The size + line-height contrast carries hierarchy.
• Weight hierarchy is small. 500 body / 600 emphasis / 700 display. No light / black extremes — the brand reads as engineered.
• Eyebrow positive-tracked uppercase 12px is the section header. Every meaningful section has one above the headline.
• No mono. Despite being a developer-tools brand, the marketing surface uses no monospace face — code voice is reserved for in-product surfaces.

Note on Font Substitutes

If implementing without hashicorpSans, suitable open-source substitutes include Inter (closest geometric character set), Geist Sans, or IBM Plex Sans. Inter at weights 500 / 600 / 700 closely approximates hashicorpSans's proportions; expect to manually adjust line-heights down by ~0.02 to match.

Layout

Spacing System

• Base unit: 8px (the primary increments are 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 48).
• Tokens (front matter): {spacing.hair} 1px · {spacing.xxs} 4px · {spacing.xs} 8px · {spacing.sm} 12px · {spacing.md} 16px · {spacing.lg} 24px · {spacing.xl} 32px · {spacing.xxl} 48px · {spacing.section} 96px.
• Card interior padding: {spacing.lg} 24px on product cards; {spacing.xl} 32px on pricing cards; {spacing.xxl} 48px on CTA banners.
• Button padding: 10px vertical · 18px horizontal on {components.button-primary}.
• Universal rhythm constant: {spacing.section} (96px) vertical gap between major sections.

Grid & Container

• Max content width sits around 1280px with side gutters scaling from {spacing.xxl} on desktop down to {spacing.lg} on mobile.
• Product card grids are 3-up on desktop, 2-up at tablet, 1-up on mobile.
• Pricing tier grid is 3-up across desktop; comparison table beneath uses fixed-width left column.
• Resource directory (PDF library) uses 4-up dense thumbnail grid.

Whitespace Philosophy

The dark canvas IS the whitespace. Sections separate by surface lift (canvas → surface-1) rather than by gaps in white. Within a section, generous {spacing.xl} 32px gaps separate cards; {spacing.lg} 24px separates rows.

Elevation & Depth

The product chromatic level isn't a "modal lift" — it's an identity device. A Terraform card sits at the same z-plane as a feature-card; the difference is meaning, not depth.

Decorative Depth

• 3D product visuals — isometric purple cubes (Terraform), translucent yellow safes (Vault), and similar product-tinted illustrations sit in the right column of hero sections.
• 1px translucent gray hairlines are the dominant edge — borders are visible without competing.
• No drop shadows on dark. Cards lift via surface change, never shadow.

Shapes

Border Radius Scale

Photography & Illustration Geometry

• Product 3D illustrations use full-bleed within their container — no rounded inner mask.
• Logo chips in the customer marquee sit on {rounded.sm} 6px tiles with 1px hairline.
• Resource thumbnails use {rounded.lg} 12px corners.

Components

Buttons

button-primary — White rounded-rect CTA. Used as primary CTA on all pages.

• Background {colors.inverse-canvas}, text {colors.inverse-ink}, type {typography.button}, padding 10px 18px, rounded {rounded.md}.
• Pressed state lives in button-primary-pressed.

button-secondary — Charcoal rounded-rect. Secondary CTA, "Read docs" / "Talk to sales".

• Background {colors.surface-2}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.button}, rounded {rounded.md}, padding 10px 18px.

button-tertiary — Bare ghost button on canvas with text-only treatment.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.button}, rounded {rounded.md}, padding 10px 18px.

button-product-terraform — Terraform-tinted CTA on Terraform pages.

• Background {colors.product-terraform}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.button}, rounded {rounded.md}, padding 10px 18px.

button-product-vault — Vault-yellow CTA.

• Background {colors.product-vault}, text {colors.inverse-ink} (yellow needs dark text), type {typography.button}, rounded {rounded.md}, padding 10px 18px.

button-product-waypoint — Waypoint-cyan CTA.

• Background {colors.product-waypoint}, text {colors.inverse-ink}, type {typography.button}, rounded {rounded.md}, padding 10px 18px.

(Vagrant blue, Nomad green, Consul red, Boundary coral follow the same pattern with their respective {colors.product-*} token.)

Cards & Containers

product-card — Default product showcase card — surface-1 charcoal.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body}, rounded {rounded.lg}, padding 24px.

product-card-terraform — Product card with Terraform purple ground (used as identity surface, not modal elevation).

• Background {colors.product-terraform}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body}, rounded {rounded.lg}, padding 24px.

product-card-vault — Vault-yellow ground.

• Background {colors.product-vault}, text {colors.inverse-ink}, otherwise identical structure.

product-card-waypoint — Waypoint-cyan ground.

• Background {colors.product-waypoint}, text {colors.inverse-ink}, otherwise identical structure.

(Other product variants follow the same shape with their respective product token.)

feature-card — Generic feature highlight on surface-1.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body}, rounded {rounded.lg}, padding 24px.

pricing-card — Pricing tier on /en/pricing.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body}, rounded {rounded.lg}, padding 32px.

pricing-card-featured — Recommended tier (visually emphasized via surface lift).

• Background {colors.surface-2}, otherwise identical structure.

resource-card — PDF / whitepaper / guide tile in the resources directory.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body-sm}, rounded {rounded.lg}, padding 16px.

Inputs & Forms

text-input + text-input-focused — Form fields on pricing seat-count and contact forms.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body}, rounded {rounded.md}, padding 10px 14px.
• Focused state retains the same surface; the focus ring is a 1px {colors.accent-blue} outline.

Pills & Chips

product-pill — Small product-name chip used above hero headlines and on resource cards to label which product a piece of content belongs to.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink-muted}, type {typography.caption}, rounded {rounded.pill}, padding 4px 10px.

Comparison Table

comparison-row — Single row inside the pricing comparison table.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink-muted}, type {typography.body-sm}. Row separator is {colors.hairline-soft}.

CTA Banner

cta-banner — Large rounded panel used at the bottom of long-form pages with a closing CTA.

• Background {colors.surface-1}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.subhead}, rounded {rounded.xxl}, padding 48px.

Navigation

top-nav — Sticky black bar with HashiCorp logomark left, primary nav links centered, and a button-primary ("Sign up") + button-secondary ("Sign in") pair right.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink}, type {typography.body-sm}, height 64px.
• Mobile: collapses primary links into a hamburger; the primary CTA remains visible.

Footer

footer — Dense link grid on {colors.canvas} with the wordmark at left and 5–6 columns of caption-sized links.

• Background {colors.canvas}, text {colors.ink-muted}, type {typography.caption}, padding 64px 32px.

Do's and Don'ts

Do

• Reserve {colors.canvas} (black) and {colors.surface-1} (charcoal) as the system's two anchor surfaces. Every band of the page is one or the other.
• When introducing a section about a specific HashiCorp product, use that product's {colors.product-*} token consistently — for the section pill, the CTA button, and (where appropriate) the showcase card background.
• Use {rounded.md} 8px on CTA buttons; HashiCorp's brand reads as engineered, not consumer.
• Pair tight display line-heights (1.17–1.21) with relaxed body line-heights (1.50–1.71). The contrast IS the brand voice.
• Use the eyebrow typography ({typography.eyebrow}, uppercase, 0.6px tracking) above every meaningful section.
• Use surface lift (canvas → surface-1 → surface-2) to express hierarchy on dark.
• Reserve product-chromatic cards for product identity; keep generic feature cards on {colors.surface-1}.

Don't

• Don't ship a light-mode marketing page. HashiCorp's marketing brand IS dark.
• Don't introduce mid-tone gray text outside the documented ink / ink-muted / ink-subtle set.
• Don't square off CTA corners — use {rounded.md} 8px, not 0px.
• Don't use a product accent color for a CTA on a page that isn't about that product. Terraform purple on the Vault page is a brand violation.
• Don't combine multiple product accents in the same viewport — the system says "this section is about THIS tool", and mixing accents breaks that signal.
• Don't add drop shadows on dark; surface lift carries elevation.
• Don't replace hashicorpSans with a display-only sans for headlines and a different family for body. The brand is held together by one family across the full hierarchy.

Responsive Behavior

Breakpoints

Touch Targets

• CTA buttons (button-primary, button-secondary) maintain ≥40px tap height across viewports.
• Product pills are 24px tall on desktop and grow to 28px on touch viewports.
• Form inputs hold ≥44px tap target on touch viewports.

Collapsing Strategy

• Nav: horizontal nav with right-anchored CTAs collapses to a hamburger overlay below 768px. The primary CTA stays visible on the bar.
• Product card grid: 3-up → 2-up at 1024px → 1-up below 768px.
• Pricing comparison table: collapses into per-tier accordions below 768px to avoid horizontal scroll.
• Display type: {typography.display-xl} 80px scales toward {typography.display-md} 40px on mobile while preserving the negative-tracking percentage.

Image Behavior

• 3D product illustrations (cubes, safes, etc.) maintain aspect ratio and never crop; below 768px they shrink rather than reflow.
• Customer logo marquee scales horizontally and may wrap to a second row at narrow widths.

Iteration Guide

1. Focus on ONE component at a time and reference it by its components: token name.
2. When introducing a new section, decide first whether it's a generic feature (surface-1) or a product-identity section (product-* color).
3. Default body to {typography.body} at 500 weight; reach for {typography.subhead} only inside CTA banners and feature cards.
4. Run npx @google/design.md lint DESIGN.md after edits.
5. Add new product variants as separate component entries (product-card-nomad, button-product-consul, etc.).
6. Treat the per-product palette as identity tokens, not decoration. If you reach for a product color outside its product context, the brand is drifting.
7. Eyebrow type is mandatory above every section — skipping it makes sections read as floating.

Known Gaps

• The exact product-color hex values come from the --mds-color-* CSS variable set extracted directly; they are HashiCorp's canonical brand spec.
• Shadow tokens are not extensively documented because the dark surface system uses surface lift instead of shadow elevation.
• Form-field error and validation styling is not visible on the inspected pages.
• Dark mode is the only marketing mode — light-mode adaptation is not documented.
• Product-card variants for Consul, Nomad, Vagrant, and Boundary follow the documented Terraform / Vault / Waypoint pattern but are referenced in prose only; if they need formal entries they can be added as product-card-consul, product-card-nomad, etc.