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Containers & surfaces

In review

The planes content lives on. Every surface either lifts off the ground or recedes into it. One consistent light source decides which.

  • Cards lift: a clear luminance step above a darker ground + drop shadow + top catch-light.
  • Panels / wells recede: darker + inner shadow (the same move that defines a field).
  • Ground is the darkest layer. Lift comes from the luminance gap, not from making a card light-gray (see Elevation & depth).

Depth is ordered, not arbitrary. Pick a tier, don’t tune a shadow by hand:

  • L1: resting card / panel on the canvas.
  • L2: raised card, hover, popover.
  • L3: sheet, drawer, dialog.
  • L4: transient overlay (tooltip, menu) above everything.
  • Depth = neutral (or tinted-black) shadow + top catch-light, never a glow or colored shadow (see Design laws).
  • Card radius 16, control radius 12. Surfaces read softer than the controls inside them.
Component Status
Card ⚠ in review
Panel / well ▢ queued
Bottom sheet ▢ queued
Dialog / modal ▢ queued
Popover ▢ queued
Tooltip ▢ queued
Accordion / expander ▢ queued
Drawer / side panel ▢ queued
Divider ▢ queued
App shell / scaffold ▢ queued