Airbnb

---
version: alpha
name: "Airbnb Light"
description: "Airbnb's design system is built around a single custom variable font (Airbnb Cereal VF), a near-monochromatic neutral palette punctuated by a signature coral-red (#FF385C), and a card-grid layout system with generous rounded corners. The UI is light-themed with white surfaces, subtle multi-layer elevation shadows, and a structured search bar as the primary interaction hub. Listing cards dominate the content area with photo-first presentation, badge overlays, and compact metadata typography."
colors:
  white: "#ffffff"
  grey-200: "#f2f2f2"
  foggy: "#6a6a6a"
  near-black: "#222222"
  rausch: "#ff385c"
  bobo: "#b0b0b0"
  deco: "#dddddd"
  grey-500: "#c1c1c1"
typography:
  body-default:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "14px"
    fontWeight: "400"
    lineHeight: "20.02px"
  body-small:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "12px"
    fontWeight: "400"
    lineHeight: "16px"
  label-medium:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "16px"
    fontWeight: "500"
    lineHeight: "20px"
  label-bold-small:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "12px"
    fontWeight: "700"
    lineHeight: "16px"
  body-semibold:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "14px"
    fontWeight: "600"
    lineHeight: "20.02px"
  caption-bold:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "11px"
    fontWeight: "600"
    lineHeight: "13px"
  section-heading:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "20px"
    fontWeight: "600"
    lineHeight: "24px"
    letterSpacing: "-0.18px"
  display:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "28px"
    fontWeight: "700"
    lineHeight: "40.04px"
  micro-badge:
    fontFamily: "Airbnb Cereal VF"
    fontSize: "8px"
    fontWeight: "700"
    lineHeight: "10px"
    letterSpacing: "0.32px"
rounded:
  radius-tiny: "4px"
  radius-small: "8px"
  radius-medium: "14px"
  radius-large: "20px"
  radius-xlarge: "32px"
  radius-pill: "50px"
  radius-full: "100px"
spacing:
  spacing-1: "2px"
  spacing-2: "4px"
  spacing-3: "6px"
  spacing-4: "8px"
  spacing-5: "10px"
  spacing-6: "12px"
  spacing-7: "14px"
  spacing-8: "16px"
  spacing-9: "24px"
  spacing-10: "28px"
  spacing-11: "32px"
  spacing-12: "40px"
  spacing-13: "48px"
---

## Overview

Airbnb's design system is built around a single custom variable font (Airbnb Cereal VF), a near-monochromatic neutral palette punctuated by a signature coral-red (#FF385C), and a card-grid layout system with generous rounded corners. The UI is light-themed with white surfaces, subtle multi-layer elevation shadows, and a structured search bar as the primary interaction hub. Listing cards dominate the content area with photo-first presentation, badge overlays, and compact metadata typography.

**Signature traits:**
- Single-family weight hierarchy: Builds hierarchy from Airbnb Cereal VF across 4 weights rather than multiple families.
- Soft, rounded geometry: Generous corner rounding up to 100px.
- Single-accent color discipline: A neutral-led palette reserves #ff385c as the lone accent.

## Colors

The palette uses 8 validated color tokens across 1 theme profile. Semantic roles stay attached to observed usage so generation agents can choose accents without inventing new color meaning.

**Semantic naming:**
- **action-text** maps to `rausch`: Role "text" is grounded by usage context "Brand color used on the search CTA button, logo, active nav underline, and key interactive highlights".
- **content-text** maps to `near-black`: Role "text" is grounded by usage context "Primary text color for headings, body copy, nav labels, and card metadata".
- **surface-primary** maps to `white`: Role "primary" is grounded by usage context "Primary page and card surface background".
- **border-border** maps to `deco`: Role "border" is grounded by usage context "Dividers, search bar separators, card outlines, and input borders".

### Primary Brand
- **White** (#ffffff): Primary page and card surface background. Role: primary. {authored: rgb(255, 255, 255), space: rgb, alpha: 0.5}

### Text Scale
- **Foggy** (#6a6a6a): Secondary text color for supporting labels, pricing subtext, and placeholder text. Role: text. {authored: rgb(106, 106, 106), space: rgb}
- **Near Black** (#222222): Primary text color for headings, body copy, nav labels, and card metadata. Role: text. {authored: rgb(34, 34, 34), space: rgb}
- **Rausch** (#ff385c): Brand color used on the search CTA button, logo, active nav underline, and key interactive highlights. Role: text. {authored: rgb(255, 56, 92), space: rgb}

### Interactive
- **Bobo** (#b0b0b0): Secondary border color for subtle separators and tertiary UI elements. Role: border. {authored: rgb(176, 176, 176), space: rgb}
- **Deco** (#dddddd): Dividers, search bar separators, card outlines, and input borders. Role: border. {authored: rgb(221, 221, 221), space: rgb}
- **Grey 500** (#c1c1c1): Disabled state borders, placeholder icons, and muted UI chrome. Role: border. {authored: rgb(193, 193, 193), space: rgb}

### Surface & Shadows
- **Grey 200** (#f2f2f2): Subtle surface fills for hover states, skeleton loaders, and secondary backgrounds. Role: background. {authored: rgb(242, 242, 242), space: rgb}

## Typography

Typography uses Airbnb Cereal VF across extracted hierarchy roles. Keep hierarchy mapped to these token rows before adding decorative type styles.

Uses Airbnb Cereal VF throughout for a uniform feel. Weight range spans regular, medium, bold, semi-bold. Sizes range from 8px to 28px.

### Type Scale Evidence
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line Height | Letter Spacing | Stack / Features | Notes |
|------|------|------|--------|-------------|----------------|------------------|-------|
| Primary body text, card descriptions, nav labels, and general UI copy | Airbnb Cereal VF | 14px | 400 | 20.02px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Supporting metadata, pricing subtext, and secondary card information | Airbnb Cereal VF | 12px | 400 | 16px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Section headings, search bar field labels, and medium-emphasis UI labels | Airbnb Cereal VF | 16px | 500 | 20px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Badge text (e.g. 'Guest favorite'), strong emphasis labels, and tag chips | Airbnb Cereal VF | 12px | 700 | 16px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Emphasized body text, card titles, and interactive link labels | Airbnb Cereal VF | 14px | 600 | 20.02px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Compact badge labels, status chips, and tight caption text | Airbnb Cereal VF | 11px | 600 | 13px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Section titles such as 'Popular homes in Paris' and 'Great hotels for your next trip' | Airbnb Cereal VF | 20px | 600 | 24px | -0.18px | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| Hero display text and large promotional headings | Airbnb Cereal VF | 28px | 700 | 40.04px | normal | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |
| 'NEW' badge labels on nav items | Airbnb Cereal VF | 8px | 700 | 10px | 0.32px | Airbnb Cereal VF, Circular, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif | Extracted token |

## Layout

Responsive system uses 4 breakpoint tier(s): mobile, tablet, desktop, wide.

This system uses a 4px base grid with scale values 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 24, 28, 32, 40, 48.

### Responsive Strategy
- **mobile (300-1127.99px)**: Constrain layout for small viewports and prioritize vertical stacking.
- **tablet (667-1128px)**: Increase spacing and column structure for medium-width viewports.
- **desktop (1024-1600px)**: Expand layout density and horizontal composition for wide viewports.
- **wide (>= 1440px)**: Stretch composition with generous gutters and wider layout spans.

### Spacing System
| Token | Value | Px | Notes |
|------|-------|----|-------|
| spacing-1 | 2px | 2 | Extracted spacing token |
| spacing-2 | 4px | 4 | Mapped to --corner-radius-tiny4px-border-radius |
| spacing-3 | 6px | 6 | Extracted spacing token |
| spacing-4 | 8px | 8 | Mapped to --corner-radius-small8px-border-radius |
| spacing-5 | 10px | 10 | Extracted spacing token |
| spacing-6 | 12px | 12 | Mapped to --corner-radius-medium12px-border-radius |
| spacing-7 | 14px | 14 | Extracted spacing token |
| spacing-8 | 16px | 16 | Mapped to --corner-radius-large16px-border-radius |
| spacing-9 | 24px | 24 | Mapped to --corner-radius-xxlarge24px-border-radius |
| spacing-10 | 28px | 28 | Mapped to --corner-radius-xxlarge28px-border-radius |
| spacing-11 | 32px | 32 | Mapped to --corner-radius-xxxlarge32px-border-radius |
| spacing-12 | 40px | 40 | Extracted spacing token |
| spacing-13 | 48px | 48 | Extracted spacing token |

## Elevation & Depth

Keep depth flat unless validated shadow or interaction evidence appears in the extraction payload. Do not invent shadows beyond this evidence boundary.

### Shadow Evidence
| Shadow Token | Layers | Details |
|--------------|--------|---------|
| n/a | 0 | No validated shadow payload |

### Interaction Signals
| Theme | Signal | Evidence |
|-------|--------|----------|
| Light | backdrop-filter | blur(32px) |
| Light | outline-color | rgb(34, 34, 34) ; rgb(106, 106, 106) ; rgb(193, 193, 193) |
| Light | outline-width | 3px |
| Light | outline-offset | 0px |
| Light | transform | matrix(2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0) ; matrix(1, 0, 0, -1, 0, 6.6) ; matrix(1, 0, 0, 1, -425, 0) |

## Shapes

Shape language maps directly to rounded tokens. Keep component corners consistent with the role mapping below before introducing bespoke geometry.

### Radius Roles
| Token | Value | Px | Role Mapping |
|------|-------|----|--------------|
| radius-tiny | 4px | 4 | Subtle corner |
| radius-small | 8px | 8 | Control corner |
| radius-medium | 14px | 14 | Card corner |
| radius-large | 20px | 20 | Card corner |
| radius-xlarge | 32px | 32 | Large surface corner |
| radius-pill | 50px | 50 | Large surface corner |
| radius-full | 100px | 100 | Large surface corner |

### Geometry Evidence
| Radius Token | Shape | Units |
|--------------|-------|-------|
| radius-tiny | 4px | px |
| radius-small | 8px | px |
| radius-medium | 14px | px |
| radius-large | 20px | px |
| radius-xlarge | 32px | px |
| radius-pill | 50px | px |
| radius-full | 100px | px |

## Components

(none detected)

## Do's and Don'ts

Guardrails protect Single-family weight hierarchy, Soft, rounded geometry, Single-accent color discipline without adding unsupported visual claims.

| Do | Don't |
|----|---------|
| Do maintain consistent spacing using the base grid | Don't make unsupported claims about absent visual features |
| Do maintain WCAG AA contrast ratios (4.5:1 for normal text) | Don't mix rounded and sharp corners in the same view |
| Do use the primary color only for the single most important action per screen |  |
| Do verify evidence before writing new design-system guidance |  |

## Responsive Evidence

### Breakpoints
| Name | Width | Key Changes |
|------|-------|-------------|
| Mobile | <= 300px | (max-width: 300px) |
| Mobile | <= 320px | (max-width: 320px) |
| Mobile | <= 330px | (max-width: 330px) |
| Mobile | <= 375px | (max-width: 375px) |
| Mobile | <= 395px | screen and (max-width: 395px) |
| Mobile | <= 499px | (max-width: 499px) |
| Mobile | <= 743px | (max-width: 743px) |
| Mobile | <= 744px | (max-width: 744px) |
| Breakpoint 9 | <= 768px | (max-width: 768px) |
| Breakpoint 10 | <= 880px | only screen and (max-width: 880px) |
| Breakpoint 11 | <= 895px | (max-width: 895px) |
| Breakpoint 12 | <= 949px | (max-width: 949px) |
| Breakpoint 13 | <= 1127px | (max-width: 1127px) |
| Breakpoint 14 | <= 1127.99px | (max-width: 1127.99px) and (max-height: 479.99px) |
| Mobile | >= 300px | (min-width: 300px) |
| Mobile | >= 375px | (min-width: 375px) |
| Mobile | >= 376px | (min-width: 376px) |
| Mobile | >= 403px | (min-width: 403px) |
| Mobile | >= 412px | (min-width: 412px) |
| Mobile | >= 420px | (min-width: 420px) |

## Agent Prompt Guide

### Example Component Prompts
- Create button component using validated primary color role and spacing tokens.
- Create card component with mapped radius role and evidence-backed elevation.
- Create form input component using inferred typography hierarchy and border roles.

### Iteration Guide
1. Start with extracted palette and typography roles only.
2. Map spacing and radius directly from token tables before visual polish.
3. Apply component patterns one section at a time and compare against source intent.
4. Keep elevation claims tied to explicit evidence in output.
5. Iterate with smallest diffs and re-check section hierarchy after each change.