DESIGN.md — Taiho Ventures, LLC

Per-style brand authority for src/styles/institutional-modern-vc/. Produced and maintained by columbus-design-md-builder. Read by columbus-design-author at scaffold time and by columbus-design-iterator on every refinement. Treat sections 1–7 as canonical truth.

1. Aesthetic Anchor

Primary family: Institutional Modernist (invented anchor — Swiss-grid × institutional-finance lineage; disciplined typography, generous gutters, no warmth-injection from a serif) Secondary remix: Editorial Minimalism (Linear / Stripe / Vercel typography rigor — but stripped of any magazine register) Reference brands: Flagship Pioneering (institutional gravitas + restrained portfolio storytelling) × a16z Bio light pages (type-as-system + decisive single accent) × modernized 5AM Ventures (premium biotech-VC chrome). Tertiary: BlackRock and Lazard institutional pages for finance-document gravity. Visual atmosphere: Cool, type-led, institutional. The page reads like a fund deck or a corporate-finance dossier, not a SaaS pitch and not an editorial magazine. Generous gutters, hairline rules, marginalia in the right gutter for footnotes and citations. Color is committed and flat — no gradients, no warmth from cream paper, no decorative SVG. Authority comes from typographic discipline and the single decisive Taiho Red moment per page.

2. Brand Voice

Adjectives: strategic, disciplined, fluent, precise, understated Says: "preclinical through proof of concept" · "syndicate partner" · "build-to-buy" · "patient capital" · "commercialization bridge to Asia" · "first-in-class biology" · "we co-invest alongside ARCH, GV, and MPM" · "we lead where we have conviction" Avoids: "unlock" · "revolutionize" · "game-changing" · "leverage" · "world-class" · "best-in-class" · "synergies" · "next-generation" · "ecosystem" · "empower" · "innovative" (as a marketing adjective) · "Get started" · "Learn more" · "Contact us" Sample sentences:

"We co-invest alongside ARCH, GV, and MPM at Series A through B, leading where we have conviction in the biology. Our $400M fund is backed by Taiho Pharmaceutical's R&D, clinical, and commercialization infrastructure — and a demonstrated route into Asian markets when the asset is ready."

"Cullinan Pearl is our build-to-buy thesis in practice: founded in 2019, capitalized through Series B, re-acquired in 2024 for the EGFR exon-20 program."

3. Color Palette & Roles

Mode: light (committed; institutional-finance reads on paper) Dominant: #0F0F12 (--imv-ink) — body type, headlines, hairline rules Accent: #E31B13 (--imv-flag) — Taiho Red, used as a single decisive editorial moment per page (mandate statement, case-study pull-quote, or section flag) AND as systematic 1px detail (link underlines, footnote ticks, hover states) Surfaces:

#F8F6F1 (--imv-paper) — page background; ivory, not cream (warmer = magazine register)
#FFFFFF (--imv-card) — elevated panels, data tables, modal surfaces
#DCDCD8 (--imv-rule) — 1px hairlines, table borders, footnote rules
#8A532C (--imv-sepia) — Taiho Sepia; used only for footnote text, chart axis labels, and small annotations. Never a dominant color, never a fill.
#6E6E73 (--imv-mute) — secondary text, captions, metadata Notes: No gradients anywhere. Color in flat blocks only. Yellow from the parent palette is benched. Sepia is annotation-only, never a surface or fill.

4. Typography Rules

Headline font: Söhne Schmal (Klim Type Foundry — paid) — https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/soehne-schmal/ — weights 300 (Leicht), 600 (Halbfett) Body font: Söhne Buch (Klim Type Foundry — paid) — https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/soehne/ — weights 400 (Buch), 600 (Halbfett) Data / footnote font: Söhne Mono (Klim Type Foundry — paid) — https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/soehne-mono/ — weights 400, 600 Pairing principle: High contrast through cut variation within one family — Schmal (condensed) for big display moments, Buch (regular) for body, Mono for tickers/data/footnotes/metadata. No serif. The institutional move is to refuse warmth-injection from a serif. Weight extremes: 300 (Leicht, big display only) vs 600 (Halbfett, headlines and emphasis). Body sits at 400. No 500. Size scale: H1 5.5rem (Schmal Leicht), H2 2.5rem (Buch Halbfett), H3 1.25rem (Buch Halbfett), body 1.0625rem (Buch 400), caption 0.8125rem (Mono 400) Max font sizes per page: 3 Banned (do not use): Inter, Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, system stacks, Space Grotesk, Geist, IBM Plex, Manrope, Outfit, DM Sans, Söhne Breit (the wide cut — too playful), any serif (refused on principle for this brand), any handwriting / display script

5. Layout & Density

Grid: 12-column with editorial pulls. Long-form sections occupy 8 cols (left-anchored); the right 4 cols are reserved for marginalia — footnotes, citations, sidebar metadata, co-investor lists. Data tables break the grid and take full content width. Mandate statement is centered single-column. Container max-width: 1240px Section rhythm: Dense-then-airy. Homepage hero is one dense screen (mandate + the single red moment + immediate proof-point line). Subsequent sections breathe wider with substantial vertical space between, then return to dense for portfolio data tables. Case-study pages are long-form single-column with right-gutter footnotes. Min container padding: 24px (mobile), 80px (desktop). Always 80px on desktop — the wide gutter is the institutional tell. Asymmetry / overlap commitments: Mandate centered; everything else left-anchored. Right-gutter marginalia hangs into the margin and is set in Söhne Mono at caption size. Portfolio tables break full-width; team portraits sit in the 4-col gutter as 4:5 crops. No overlap, no rotation, no decorative breaks — the discipline is the design.

6. Atmosphere & Media

Hero treatment: Solid --imv-paper (#F8F6F1). Committed flat. The institutional-finance metaphor wants paper, not atmosphere. Atmospheric layers: 1px --imv-rule hairlines between sections, under section labels, and as table borders. No grain, no noise, no halftone, no decorative SVG. The marginalia gutter is the only "atmospheric" treatment — it's a print convention, not an effect. Shadow style: None. Depth comes entirely from typography weight, hairline rules, and the single red accent. Cards sit on --imv-card against --imv-paper; the tonal difference is the only elevation cue. Media stance: mixed-media — primarily type-only, with two committed exceptions:

Team portraits — black-and-white 4:5 crops, contained (never full-bleed), set in the right gutter or in a 3-up grid. Headshots only, no environmental.
Portfolio company marks — small monochrome logo treatment in a uniform grid; if logos clash visually they're rendered as letterform tickers (Söhne Mono, all caps) instead of imagery. Stance reasoning: Institutional finance commits to type-only chrome — but the brief explicitly demands "scientist-backed credibility" on team pages and a portfolio that surfaces co-investors and outcomes, so portraits and logos are first-class within tightly-bounded slots. No stock pharma photography (test tubes, microscopes, smiling diverse scientists), no lab/clean-room imagery, no full-bleed media of any kind.

7. Do's and Don'ts

Do:

Use Söhne across all cuts; rely on cut variation (Schmal / Buch / Mono) and weight contrast (300 vs 600) for type hierarchy
Use Taiho Red as a single decisive editorial moment per page (mandate statement, case-study pull-quote, section flag) — paired with systematic 1px red detail (link underlines, footnote ticks, hover states)
Pull marginalia, footnotes, co-investor lists, and citations into the right 4-col gutter, set in Söhne Mono at caption size
Treat the homepage mandate as a one-screen type-only statement, no imagery
Use Söhne Mono for all structured data: tickers, stage tags, dates, dollar amounts, footnote references, table cells, metadata
Render portfolio companies as a uniform monochrome logo grid OR as letterform tickers (TKR, all caps, Söhne Mono) when logos clash — pick one and commit per page
Write copy that sounds like a fund letter or an analyst note, not marketing

Don't:

Use Inter, Roboto, Space Grotesk, Geist, IBM Plex, system stacks, or any sans outside the Söhne family
Use any serif font (refused on principle — serif injects magazine warmth, which is the wrong register)
Use purple gradients on white, or any gradient anywhere on the page
Use cream / sepia paper backgrounds (#FAF7F2 or warmer) — that's the magazine / Warm Editorial register; this brand commits to cooler ivory #F8F6F1
Use the three-up icon-card feature grid
Use stock pharma photography: test tubes, microscopes with blue glow, smiling diverse scientists in lab coats, gloved hands holding pipettes, abstract DNA helices, glowing molecule renders
Use full-bleed photography or video anywhere — media is contained or absent, never atmospheric
Use the hamburger nav on mobile — use a "Mandate · Portfolio · Team · Submit" inline list instead
Write CTAs like "Get started", "Learn more", "Contact us" — write in-voice ("Submit your thesis", "Read the case study", "See the syndicate")
Write generic VC language: "unlock", "revolutionize", "leverage", "world-class", "next-generation", "ecosystem", "empower"
Use Taiho Yellow anywhere — it's benched for this style
Use Taiho Sepia as a fill, surface, or dominant — it's annotation-only

8. Agent Prompt Guide

For any agent reading this file:

Read this DESIGN.md in full before writing any code, copy, or styling for institutional-modern-vc.
Treat sections 1–7 as canonical truth. Don't override them inline.
Reject any change that violates the Don'ts in section 7. Surface the conflict to the user rather than silently picking one side. The most common failure on this brand is reaching for cream paper, a serif headline, or stock pharma photography — all three are explicit violations.
If the user is asking for something this DESIGN.md doesn't cover, propose an addition to this file rather than introducing the decision in component code.
If the user is asking to change something in this file, route the request to columbus-design-md-builder rather than editing the file inline.
When sections conflict: section 7 (Don'ts) wins over everything; section 1 (Anchor) wins over sections 3–6; section 2 (Voice) is independent of visual decisions.

9. Notes & References

Created: 2026-04-29 Last updated: 2026-04-29 Source URL: https://www.taihoventures.com/ (legacy site, captured in research/legacy-web-copy/) External references:

Site brief: research/TOI2601_TVL Site Brief_v3.docx
Parent-brand guidelines: research/Taiho-ventures-basic-branding-v0.pdf (Taiho Sepia / Red / Yellow + 千 communication mark)
Reference brand: Flagship Pioneering — https://www.flagshippioneering.com/
Reference brand: a16z Bio — https://a16z.com/bio-health/
Reference brand: 5AM Ventures — https://5amventures.com/
Reference brand: BlackRock institutional — https://www.blackrock.com/institutions
Reference brand: Lazard — https://www.lazard.com/
Söhne specimen: https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/soehne/
Söhne Schmal specimen: https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/soehne-schmal/
Söhne Mono specimen: https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/soehne-mono/

Additions log:

2026-04-29: Initial DESIGN.md captured by columbus-design-md-builder. Brand sourced from research/ (site brief + parent-brand guidelines + legacy site copy).

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