DESIGN.md — Taiho Ventures · Editorial Flame

Per-style brand authority for src/styles/29-editorial-flame-taiho-toi/. Sourced from a Claude Design handoff bundle (May 2026, "tvl-based-on-toi-branding-only") and the TOI April-2026 brand system. Treat sections 1–7 as canonical truth.

1. Aesthetic Anchor

Primary family: Editorial Modernism on cream paper — the partner-letter register. Source Serif 4 display, Geist for UI/body, JetBrains Mono for chapter labels and figure captions. The page reads like a fund's annual letter — measured, evidence-first, no marketing surface noise. Secondary remix: Quiet contemporary biotech VC × Editorial Magazine pacing — single hairline rules between sections, hairline grid borders on the portfolio mosaic, generous gutters at 40px / 1320px max width. Reference brands: Third Rock Ventures (typographic poise) × 5AM Ventures (premium biotech VC baseline) × MIT Technology Review (editorial structure on biotech subject matter) × the TOI April-2026 corporate redesign (palette discipline reinterpreted as paper, not Clay). Visual atmosphere: Cream-paper magazine. Restraint as the dominant move — large empty margins, single-stroke italic emphasis on key clauses, one flame highlight in the entire page (under the H1 hook phrase). No photography in v1; placeholder plates with subtle vertical/horizontal/diagonal stripe textures stand in for editorial portraits and the Cullinan Pearl spread.

2. Brand Voice

Adjectives: declarative, evidence-first, disciplined, low-ego, biotech-fluent, partner-shaped Voice anchor: Orwell — plain words, short sentences, weight on nouns and verbs. Voice sample:

A bridge from breakthrough science to global commercialization — backed by a century-old pharmaceutical company.

Says:

"Patient capital, backed by corporate balance-sheet strength."
"We co-lead. We rarely lead alone. That is the point."
"We back early-stage therapeutics where science is the asset and the syndicate is the strategy."

Avoids:

"Premier" / "leading" / "world-class" — position is shown, not claimed.
"Ecosystem" used as marketing decoration.
"We empower founders" — Taiho funds them and lets them run.
"Bridge to Asia" without the next clause being a concrete deal.

3. Color Palette & Roles

Mode: light

Role	Token	Hex	Use
Page paper	`--eft-cream`	`#F4EFE5`	Main page background, body of stat cells.
Elevated paper	`--eft-paper`	`#FAF7F1`	Stats band, portfolio band, press band, intake form fill.
Ink (primary)	`--eft-ink`	`#15110B`	Body copy, brand mark ring, header CTA, footer band.
Ink (secondary)	`--eft-ink-2`	`#3B362E`	H2 italic clauses, intake side body, lede italic phrases.
Ink (tertiary)	`--eft-ink-3`	`#6B6457`	Mono labels, figure captions, hero meta.
Rule	`--eft-rule`	`#1a160e1a`	Hairlines between sections, grid lines in portfolio.
Flame (primary)	`--eft-flame`	`#FDB913`	Eyebrow dot, anniversary range, lede highlight, "Syndicate participant" intake pill, footer tag em. Reserved.
Flame (secondary)	`--eft-flame-2`	`#E89C00`	Stats unit suffix italic, pillar number labels, portfolio outcome chips.

Discipline: Flame is the punctuation, not the surface. It must appear ≤6 times on the page.

4. Typography

Display — Source Serif 4 weight 300, italic for emphasis. Used for h1.lede, all section h2s, portfolio company names, person names, intake step labels, footer tagline.
Body / UI — Geist 400, 500 for pill CTAs, 600 sparingly. Used for paragraphs, nav links, descriptions, signoff.
Mono — JetBrains Mono 400/500. 9.5–11px, letter-spacing 0.04–0.16em, uppercase. Used for eyebrow, section labels (§ 01 / § 02 / § 03), pillar numbers, figure captions, intake step numbers, footer headings, legal row.
Lede flame trick: <span class="eft-flame-word">…</span> renders an italic phrase with a flame underline drawn behind via ::after at 0.32em height, opacity 0.35.

5. Layout

Container max 1320px, side gutter 40px.
Hero is 1.5fr / 1fr (lede / signoff column).
Stats: 4 columns, 48px gap, on --eft-paper band.
Mandate: head (280px / 1fr) above 3-col pillars under a 1px --eft-ink top rule, hairline rules between cells.
Portfolio: 6-column hairline-mosaic grid, .feat (Cullinan Pearl) spans 3×2; 3+2+2+2+2 for the rest.
Team: head (280px / 1fr) above 4-col grid; portrait is aspect-ratio 4:5 on --eft-paper.
Press: head row, 1px --eft-ink top rule, 3-col placeholder list at opacity 0.5.
Intake: head, 1fr/1fr grid; left is 1px --eft-ink form card with 4 step rows + dark submit; right is side panel with definition list.
Footer: --eft-ink band, 1.5/1/1/1 columns, --paper legal row.

6. Media

Placeholder plates only in v1. Three textures:

Vertical stripe (90deg, 23/24px) — hero figure 21:9.
Diagonal stripe (135deg, 11/12px) — Cullinan Pearl feature 16:8 (caption "CULLINAN PEARL · BUILD-TO-BUY EXIT" bottom-left).
Horizontal stripe (0deg, 19/20px) — 4 portraits 4:5 (top-left index pill, bottom-left "PORTRAIT · 4:5" pill).

Asset path convention: /29-editorial-flame-taiho-toi/<slug>.jpg.

7. Do / Don't

Do:

Keep the flame restrained — one highlight under the lede hook phrase, one chip on the active intake "Syndicate participant" option, one em on the footer tagline.
Use italics (display serif) for emphasis. Save bold for proper names.
Lead each section with a small mono label (§ 01, § 02, § 03).

Don't:

Decorate with the flame outside its named uses. No flame borders, no flame rules, no flame icons.
Photograph the cream surface with bright UI. Photography is editorial portrait register, restrained natural light only.
Add motion. The page is print-paced.

Landing

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mobile 390×706

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29-editorial-flame-taiho-toi

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