DESIGN.md — Taiho Ventures (TVL · Toi, Light)

Per-style brand authority for src/styles/42-tvl-toi/. Round-3 fork of 40-sumi-ocean-cvc — same Sumi · Ocean type/palette DNA, with three client-directed brand moves: light mode everywhere (no dark surfaces), portfolio-led (the full roster as a logo-soup that links out), and no website contact path (the intake form is replaced by an offices block). All imagery ships FPO-stamped until real assets are approved. Produced as a fork by columbus-design-author; route brand-level revisions to columbus-design-md-builder. Read by author at scaffold time and by columbus-design-iterator on every refinement. Treat sections 1–7 as canonical truth.

1. Aesthetic Anchor

Primary family: Warm Editorial → cooled to a clinical white — Japanese-heritage editorial (Mincho display) set on a near-white ground, not warm washi. Secondary remix: Sumi brushwork — the ink-bleed gesture survives as a torn photo edge and the duotone, but the paper grain and sepia warmth are stripped out. Reference brands: Taiho Pharmaceutical (the parent's heritage + flame mark) × Flagship Pioneering / a16z bio (institutional biotech-VC restraint) × MUJI (cool, quiet, type-led calm). Visual atmosphere: Quiet, cool, and precise — a research-grade ground. The page reads like an annual report cropped to a single editorial spread: a left-anchored Mincho headline beside a cool-teal duotone photograph torn at the edge, then long generous sections of light-weight prose. The one warm note is gone; teal (Ocean) is the only saturated voice, and it speaks rarely. This is the committed Taiho Ventures direction — the resolved "Home v2" — distinct from the warmer sumi-brushwork explorations by its whiter ground, Ocean accent, and a Hanken Grotesk body in place of a serif body.

2. Brand Voice

Copy is locked / verbatim from the client copy deck — this style applies design to fixed copy, it does not author new copy. The fields below describe the deck's register so future component-level microcopy stays in key.

Adjectives: institutional, precise, understated, mission-led, unhurried. Voice anchor: Orwell — the plain craftsman voice. Concrete nouns, no salesmanship, claims backed by named outcomes (Arcus, Merck, J&J). Voice sample:

"Our mission is to create significant value by investing in the global biotech venture community and to bring innovative science to Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd."

Says: "Patient, long-term capital." · "A strategic partner, not just a check." · "We back companies whose science is strategically relevant to Taiho." Avoids: "ecosystem", "premier", "world-class", "disruptive", growth-stage hype, exclamation, response-time promises the firm can't keep. Sample sentences:

"Since 2016 we have invested in more than 30 early-stage private companies strategically relevant to Taiho Pharmaceutical." "Our portfolio has produced public listings and acquisitions by Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Merck."

3. Color Palette & Roles

Mode: Light everywhere — no dark surfaces (round-3 directive). Footer and every section sit on the cool near-white ground; the page never inverts to an ink block. Depth comes from Sky tints + hairline rules only. Dominant: #FCFEFE (--so-paper) — page ground, a whiter-than-white; also the light type laid on the dark ink band. Accent: #08817C (--so-accent, "Ocean") — primary buttons, links, hanging numbers, acquirer tags. Sharp punctuation, never a surface wash beyond the Sky tints. Surfaces: #EAF7F4 (--so-paper-deep, Sky tint — alt section) · #DDF2EE (--so-wash, Sky — the one featured wash) · #D7E1E0 (--so-rule, cool hairline) Ink: #15201E (--so-ink, cool near-black — body + dark sections) · #3C4B4B (--so-ink-soft, secondary body) · #5C6B6A (--so-sepia, cool grey marginalia) · #9CADAC (--so-sepia-soft, labels on dark) Rare accents: #E41B14 (--so-focus, "Focus" red) — eyebrows only, on light; becomes Sky #8FD4CE on the dark band. #FEC400 (--so-ochre, "Energy") — footer column headings, the single yellow. Notes: No gradients. No drop shadows. Depth comes from flat Sky tints and hairline rules. Color lands on type and the duotone, not on decorative fills.

4. Typography Rules

Headline font: Shippori Mincho B1 — https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Shippori+Mincho+B1:wght@400;700 — weights 400 (subheads / light statements), 700 (display headlines). Body font: Hanken Grotesk — https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Hanken+Grotesk:ital,wght@0,300;0,400;0,500;0,600;0,700;0,800;1,400;1,500 — weights 300 (long-form body, ledes), 400 (UI), 500 (eyebrows / buttons). Pairing principle: High-contrast — a humanist Mincho serif for display against a clean grotesk for body. Serif carries voice; sans carries information. Weight extremes: Display is 700 Mincho; body leans light (300). Avoid the 500/600 SaaS-bold middle in body copy — eyebrows and buttons are the only 500s. Size scale: H1 3.4rem · H2 2.5rem · lead-statement 1.75rem (light Mincho) · H3 1.4rem · body 1.0625rem · eyebrow 0.75rem. Max font sizes per page: 3 families of size (display / statement / body) — hold the line. Banned (do not use): Inter, Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, system stacks, Space Grotesk. No Japanese glyphs as decorative texture — Latin-glyph Mincho only (the brushstroke carries the heritage, not kanji).

5. Layout & Density

Grid: Asymmetric editorial. Hero ~60/40 (Mincho headline / duotone photo). Body sections use a 12-col shell with content ranged into 3/8 splits (eyebrow gutter + prose) and 2×2 hairline grids. Container max-width: 1280px. Section rhythm: Generous and even — 92px vertical section padding, airy. One featured wash section — the Portfolio logo-soup (which absorbs the old "outcomes" proof: its lead names the acquirers, its stage chips carry public/acquired/private) — breaks the white. The page closes light: portfolio → offices block → light footer. No dark inversion. Min container padding: 24px (mobile), 80px (desktop). Asymmetry / overlap commitments: Eyebrows hang in a left gutter; "Why partner" is a 4-item 2×2 with hanging Ocean numbers and hairline rules; the hero photo carries a torn ink-bleed mask so its right edge is irregular, never a clean rectangle.

6. Atmosphere & Media

Hero treatment: Committed solid near-white (--so-paper) — clean, no gradient, no grain. Atmosphere is the duotone photo + type, nothing else. Atmospheric layers: n/a — the warm paper grain of the sumi-brushwork line is deliberately removed here. The only texture is the SVG turbulence mask tearing the hero photo's edge. Shadow style: None — flat pigment and hairlines only. Media stance: mixed-media, all FPO-stamped — the carousel logo cards and the full portfolio logo-soup are the page's imagery (portfolio company marks from public/brand/portfolio/). Every placeholder/asset carries a centered "FPO" (for-position-only) stamp until the client approves final art (round-3 directive). The Taiho corporate logomark is the one real, un-stamped mark. An optional cool-teal duotone hero still (Sand Hill Road / Menlo Park office / a lab) remains a valid swap-in, also FPO-stamped until approved. Stance reasoning: TVL's priority is a credible product-portfolio piece; the logo-soup roster carries the page. FPO stamps keep it unmistakable that nothing is final-art yet.

7. Do's and Don'ts

Do:

Keep the ground a cool near-white; let Ocean teal be the only saturated voice, used sparingly.
Set display in Shippori Mincho (700 for headlines, 400 for light statements); set body in Hanken Grotesk light (300).
Tear the hero photo's edge with the turbulence mask and run it through the teal duotone filter.
Use eyebrows in Focus red; hang Ocean numbers on the "Why partner" grid.
Close the page light: portfolio logo-soup → offices block → light footer. No dark inversion.
Show the full portfolio as a logo-soup grid; every logo links out to the company's own site, with its stage shown (Public / Acquired / Private).
Stamp every placeholder asset "FPO" (centered) until the client approves final art.
Keep all deck copy verbatim; let outcomes name their acquirers (Merck, J&J, Eli Lilly, Sanofi) in Ocean.

Don't:

Use Inter, Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, system stacks, or Space Grotesk.
Reintroduce warm washi cream, sepia warmth, or the paper-grain overlay — this direction is deliberately cooled.
Use gradients, drop shadows, or color as a decorative surface fill (Sky tints excepted).
Use Japanese glyphs as decoration; the brushstroke/duotone carries the heritage.
Reintroduce a dark footer or dark contact band — the page stays light end-to-end.
Add any website contact path — no form, no email, no "get in touch" CTA. The site is never a source of contact (round-3 directive); the offices block is informational only.
Ship un-stamped placeholder imagery — every FPO asset carries the centered stamp until approved.
Write CTAs like "Get started" / "Sign up" / "Learn more" generically — keep the deck's own labels ("Investment Focus", "See the full portfolio").

8. Agent Prompt Guide

For any agent reading this file:

Read this DESIGN.md in full before writing any code, copy, or styling for 40-sumi-ocean-cvc.
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.
Copy is locked/verbatim from the deck — do not rewrite headlines or body copy; only structure/style it.
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.

9. Notes & References

Created: 2026-06-02 (as 40-sumi-ocean-cvc); forked to 42-tvl-toi 2026-06-18 Last updated: 2026-06-18 Source URL: Claude Design handoff bundle tvl-legacy-revamp-v1 (Home v2.html — the committed brand direction); parent: http://www.taiho.co.jp/en/ External references:

Bundle Home v2.html #tv-brand-theme block — the canonical token overrides (whiter ground + Ocean/Sky/Focus/Energy, Hanken + Mincho as separate tokens).
Brand assets: public/brand/taiho-logomark.svg, taiho-flame.svg, taiho-single-wordmark.svg.

Additions log:

2026-06-02: Initial DESIGN.md captured by columbus-design-md-builder from the tvl-legacy-revamp-v1 Claude Design bundle (committed "Home v2" direction).
2026-06-18: Forked 40-sumi-ocean-cvc → 42-tvl-toi for round 3 (TVL chose 40 over the warmer 41). Client-directed brand moves folded in: light mode everywhere (dropped the dark contact band + footer), portfolio-led (full logo-soup roster linking out, stage shown), contact form removed in favour of an informational offices block (site is never a contact source), and all placeholder imagery FPO-stamped. Lightweight in-fork edit, not a full md-builder re-derivation — re-run md-builder if the brand needs deeper rework.

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