typography.md

description	Foundations in type

Typography

Modular Scale

Pollen provides a robust modular typography scale to encourage consistent typography sizing across an interface. Sizes are set in rem units to support proper font scaling, and assume a 16px root font-size.

Property group	Applies to
--scale-*	font-size

.heading {
  font-size: var(--scale-4);
}

Property	Value	Equivalent to
--scale-000	0.75rem	12px
--scale-00	0.875rem	14px
--scale-0	1rem	16px
--scale-1	1.125rem	18px
--scale-2	1.25rem	20px
--scale-3	1.5rem	24px
--scale-4	1.875rem	30px
--scale-5	2.25rem	36px
--scale-6	3rem	48px
--scale-7	3.75rem	60px
--scale-8	4.5rem	72px
--scale-9	6rem	96px
--scale-10	8rem	128px

Fluid Modular Scale

In addition to the standard modular typographic scale above, Pollen also comes with a fluid scale that tweens between steps on the scale as screen width changes. Its built with Pollen's own fluid.md utility, which generates complex CSS clamp() functions based on screen width bounds.

Each fluid font size resizes between a min and max size, starting at mobile screen sizes (480px) and ending at normal desktop screen sizes (1280px).

Property group	Applies to
--scale-fluid-*	font-size

.heading {
  font-size: var(--scale-fluid-5);
}

Property	Value	Range
--scale-fluid-000	clamp(0.625rem, 0.55rem + 0.25vw, 0.75rem)	0.625rem -> 0.75rem
--scale-fluid-00	clamp(0.75rem, 0.675rem + 0.25vw, 0.875rem)	0.75rem -> 0.875rem
--scale-fluid-0	clamp(0.875rem, 0.8rem + 0.25vw, 1rem)	0.875rem -> 1rem
--scale-fluid-1	clamp(1rem, 0.925rem + 0.25vw, 1.125rem)	1rem -> 1.125rem
--scale-fluid-2	clamp(1.125rem, 1.05rem + 0.25vw, 1.25rem)	1.125rem -> 1.25rem
--scale-fluid-3	clamp(1.8125rem, 2rem + -0.625vw, 1.5rem)	1.8125rem -> 1.5rem
--scale-fluid-4	clamp(1.5rem, 1.275rem + 0.75vw, 1.875rem)	1.5rem -> 1.875rem
--scale-fluid-5	clamp(1.875rem, 1.65rem + 0.75vw, 2.25rem)	1.875rem -> 2.25rem
--scale-fluid-6	clamp(2.25rem, 1.8rem + 1.5vw, 3rem)	2.25rem -> 3rem
--scale-fluid-7	clamp(3rem, 2.55rem + 1.5vw, 3.75rem)	3rem -> 3.75rem
--scale-fluid-8	clamp(3.75rem, 3.3rem + 1.5vw, 4.5rem)	3.75rem -> 4.5rem
--scale-fluid-9	clamp(4.5rem, 3.6rem + 3vw, 6rem)	4.5rem -> 6rem
--scale-fluid-10	clamp(6rem, 4.8rem + 4vw, 8rem)	6rem -> 8rem

Font Families

Base font stacks as better alternatives to browser defaults, designed for rapid prototyping and to be overridden as your project grows.

Property group	Applies to
--font-*	font-family

body {
  font-family: var(--font-sans);
}

Property	Value
--font-sans	ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"
--font-serif	ui-serif, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif
--font-mono	ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", "Courier New", monospace

Font Weights

Consistent font weights across an interface

.heading {
  font-weight: var(--weight-bold)
}

Property group	Applies to
--weight-*	font-weight

Property	Value
--weight-light	300
--weight-regular	400
--weight-medium	500
--weight-semibold	600
--weight-bold	700
--weight-extrabold	800
--weight-black	900

Line Height

Encourage consistent line heights across an interface, applied as unitless values to scale with font size.

Property group	Applies to
--line-*	line-height

body {
  line-height: var(--line-md);
}

Property	Value
--line-none	1
--line-xs	1.25
--line-sm	1.275
--line-md	1.5
--line-lg	1.625
--line-xl	2

Letter Spacing

Encourage consistent letter spacing across an interface, applied as em units relative to the text's size

Property group	Applies to
--letter-*	letter-spacing

.uppercase {
  letter-spacing: var(--letter-xs);
}

Property	Value
--letter-xs	-0.05em
--letter-sm	-0.025em
--letter-none	0
--letter-lg	0.025em
--letter-xl	0.05em

Prose Width

Max-widths optimised for legibility of large blocks of text, based on the font and font-size of content.

Property group	Applies to
--prose-*	max-width

article {
  max-width: var(--prose-normal);
  margin: 0 auto;
}

Property	Value	Measure
--prose-xs	45ch	45 letters
--prose-sm	55ch	55 letters
--prose-md	65ch	65 letters
--prose-lg	75ch	75 letters
--prose-xl	85ch	85 letters