53 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
53 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
# aesop — Aesop Skincare
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- **School**: Editorial / Minimalist
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- **Vibe**: Apothecary refinement, sage and ink, serif copy as conversation
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- **Best for**: Premium consumer goods (skincare, candles, eyewear), restaurants with literary aspirations, hospitality
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- **Touchstone**: aesop.com, Aesop store windows, the brown amber bottle
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**Palette**
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- Ground: `#E8E4D9` (warm chamois) — sometimes `#F2EFE5`
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- Ink: `#1B1B1B` (true near-black for copy)
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- Sage muted: `#7A8470`
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- Amber bottle accent: `#7A4623` (used very sparingly, e.g., a single rule or seal mark)
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- Cream surface: `#F0EDE4`
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**Typography**
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- Display & body: a single transitional serif at every size — Suisse Works, Lyon Text, or GT Sectra (weight 400, italic available). Aesop pairs serif for body copy with a single sans for UI labels (Söhne or Helvetica Now).
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- Body size: 16–18px; line-height ~1.65
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- Labels in small caps (10–11px, letter-spaced 0.12em)
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**Spacing**: 8 / 16 / 24 / 40 / 72 / 120
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**Radius**: 0 throughout, including form fields. Aesop is square-edged.
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**Shadow**: none.
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**Motion**: subtle fades, slow drawer slide-ins (~450ms ease-out). Never spring-bounce.
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**Signature moves**
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- Body copy reads like product writing in a literary magazine — long, well-cadenced sentences, justified text, no marketing punchiness
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- Product is photographed on a warm chamois surface with a single sage prop (leaf, marble dish, linen) and a long shadow
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- Small-caps section labels (`INGREDIENTS` / `RITUAL`) above each block
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- All-text navigation in the masthead, letter-spaced
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- Asymmetric layouts: image left, generous right-margin block of copy; never centered-everything
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**Avoid**
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- Bold weights anywhere — Aesop is all regular and italic
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- Color other than sage / amber / ink — no blues, no purples, no UI-blue accents
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- Pop-up modals (Aesop's UI politely waits)
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- Lifestyle stock photography of smiling models — props and product only
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**AI prompt seed**
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> Amber-glass apothecary bottle on warm chamois #E8E4D9 textured paper, single linen napkin and dried sage sprig, raking afternoon window light, deep soft shadow at lower right, 4:5, editorial product photography, color grading warm with slight green cast.
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**Don't use when**
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- The product is software or digital-first — Aesop's tactile object photography defines half the recipe; you can't fake it with CSS
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- The audience expects price-comparison utility — Aesop never shows pricing prominently
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- The voice needs to be funny or casual — Aesop is sincere and slow
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---
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> **Same school — Editorial / Minimalist**: [`apple-hig`](./apple-hig.md) · [`muji-kenya-hara`](./muji-kenya-hara.md) · [`dieter-rams-braun`](./dieter-rams-braun.md) · [`monocle-magazine`](./monocle-magazine.md)
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> **Browse all 25 recipes**: [INDEX.md](./INDEX.md)
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