Blue Professional — Frame (video / frame layer)

Overview

Blue Professional at frame scale is a consulting-grade system: restraint with one strong commitment. A warm cream canvas and a single saturated cobalt that carries every accent — eyebrow, metric, CTA, chart fill, progress bar. No secondary brand color, no pastels, just cream, cobalt, and a tight ladder of grays. The register is investment-research / McKinsey briefing: measured, data-dense without crowding, executive-readable at distance.

The voice is two faces in fixed roles: Space Grotesk (display, every numeral, all chrome — eyebrows uppercase 0.08em) and Inter (body, muted gray, line 1.6). Headlines are near-black; cobalt is reserved for accent moments. Depth is soft and tinted — 4% cobalt card fills with 20% cobalt borders and 10–14px radii — never shadowed. The lack of harsh shadows is the premium signal.

Key characteristics at frame scale:

• Warm cream ground on every frame; single cobalt as the only accent.
• Space Grotesk (display/numerals/chrome) + Inter (body) — near-black headlines, cobalt numerals.
• Tinted cards — cobalt 4% fill, cobalt 20% 1.5px border, 10–14px radius, no shadow.
• Pill chrome (100px) — tag pills + the one solid cobalt CTA; cobalt progress bar.
• Soft rounded corners everywhere (no square corners save the progress bar).
• Atmosphere (diagonal panel, dot grid, concentric rings) on cover/closing only.

The Frame

Frame Craft Bar

Three eyeball tests gate every frame before any structural check:

• Squint — one near-black headline or cobalt numeral dominates at 3–6× its neighbor.
• Silence — content frames read balanced, not crowded; the dashboard is the one dense exception.
• Restraint — a single cobalt accent carries everything; headlines stay near-black (never cobalt); no shadows (tinted cards do the lift); positive/negative inline-text only.
• Reference — aim at an investment-research / McKinsey quarterly briefing; failure looks like a heavy-outlined, multi-color dashboard.

• Primary: 1920×1080 (16:9). Display authored in **cqw** (px ÷ 1920 × 100 = cqw).
• Vertical: 1080×1920 (9:16). Square: 1080×1080 (1:1).
• Safe area: pad-x 5cqw; bottom reserves room for the counter + progress bar.

The container law (load-bearing). Every frame ground sets container-type: size; ALL frame-relative units are cqw/cqh against it — never vw. Card radii stay px (10–14px); the pill radius stays 100px; borders stay 1–1.5px.

Colors

Tokens identical to the source. {colors.bg} cream is the universal ground; {colors.primary} cobalt is the only accent — every eyebrow, numeral, CTA, chart fill, progress bar, and the 4px highlight left-rule. Headlines are {colors.text} near-black (never cobalt); body is {colors.text-muted}; tertiary is {colors.text-light}. Cards fill {colors.card-bg} (4%) with {colors.border} (20%) borders. {colors.positive}/{colors.negative} appear only inline on directional change chips — never as fills. No second accent color.

Typography

Two ramps. The reading ramp (Inter body 0.85cqw muted; Space Grotesk eyebrow uppercase 0.08em cobalt) carries copy + chrome; the display/numerical ramp (Space Grotesk h3 1.25cqw → h1 4.2cqw near-black; numerals stat-num/metric-value in cobalt) carries headings and figures.

• Legibility floor: any load-bearing line ≥ 1.4cqw; px chrome (tag/counter) is colophon only.
• Fit-to-measure: size the headline to its length. Cap the block at ≤ 78cqw; ≤3 words → h1; 4–6 → h2; 7+ → h3. Cobalt numerals scale metric-value→stat-num by card size.
• Headlines near-black, −0.02em; eyebrows cobalt, uppercase, 0.08em; numerals cobalt 600–700; body Inter 400 muted, line 1.6. No italic, no uppercase body, no cobalt headline.

Depth & Surface

Soft and tinted — never offset. Depth from:

• Tinted cards — 4% cobalt fill + 20% cobalt 1.5px border + 10–14px radius reads as lifted without offset.
• Border-left accent — the 4px cobalt rule on split-highlight blocks pulls a callout forward.
• Rounded corners — the 10–14px radius is part of the softness; square corners break it.

Ceiling: zero box-shadow on content (the only shadow is a soft cobalt CTA hover); no opaque cobalt borders; no harsh outlines.

Shapes

• 100px — tag pills, CTA, nav buttons (pill chrome).
• 14/12/10px — cards by size (large metric / standard stat / detail + mini).
• 6px — bar tracks + fills. 50% — step circles, nav circles, dots, closing rings.
• 0 — only the progress bar. No square-cornered content.

Components

• card-tinted / metric-card — the universal soft-tint content cards (no shadow).
• tag-pill / cta-button / accent-line — the cobalt pill chrome + the one solid CTA + the 60×4 rule.
• bar-track / step-circle / split-highlight — cobalt data + sequence + callout patterns.
• slide-header (eyebrow + tag pill) — the structural rhythm; atmosphere (diagonal/dots/rings) on cover/closing only; progress-bar on every frame.

Frame Treatments

Recipe: ground · container · composes · focal · chrome · accent · silence · Fixed/Free · density. Atmosphere only on cover/closing; content frames carry the slide-header rhythm.

1 · Cover (identity · move: diagonal accent · left)

Ground cream + the clipped diagonal cobalt-tint panel (right ~36%) + a 3×3 cobalt dot grid. Composes accent-line, meta, h1, body sub. Focal a 2-line Space Grotesk h1 near-black, left, under a cobalt accent-line + meta. Chrome counter + progress bar. Accent the cobalt line + diagonal panel. Silence the diagonal panel holds the right third. Fixed near-black h1, cobalt accents, atmosphere here only. Free title, meta. Density low.

2 · Dashboard (data · move: 3-up metric grid · the dense frame)

Ground cream, pad-x. Composes slide-header (eyebrow + tag-pill), h2, 3× metric/tinted card. Focal a row of tinted cards — cobalt metric-value + Inter label + muted desc + optional green/red change chip. Chrome eyebrow left, tag-pill right; progress bar. Accent the cobalt numerals. Silence tight — the density exception. Fixed 4% tint cards, 20% borders, no shadow, cobalt numerals. Free figures (from script), labels. Density dense-exception.

3 · Bar Ranking (data · move: cobalt bars · left)

Ground cream, pad-x. Composes eyebrow, h2, bar-track rows. Focal 3–5 labeled cobalt-fill bars on cobalt-8% tracks with cobalt percentages. Chrome eyebrow; progress bar. Accent the cobalt fills + figures. Silence moderate. Fixed 6px tracks, cobalt fills. Free rows, values (from script). Density standard.

4 · Pull Quote (quote · move: concentric rings · centered)

Ground cream, centered, with faint concentric closing-rings behind. Composes quote-mark, blockquote, cite. Focal a Space Grotesk blockquote near-black under a 15%-opacity cobalt quote-mark; an uppercase cobalt-muted cite beneath. Accent the faint rings + quote-mark. Silence ~55%. Fixed near-black quote, soft rings. Free quote, cite. Density low.

5 · Split + Highlight (content · move: asymmetric split · left)

Ground cream, two columns. Composes eyebrow, h2, body, split-highlight block. Focal an Inter body column beside a cobalt-8% highlight block (4px cobalt left rule) carrying an inline pull quote. Accent the highlight's left rule. Silence generous gutter. Fixed tinted highlight, 4px cobalt rule. Free body, callout. Density standard.

6 · Closing / CTA (closer · move: centered rings + CTA)

Ground cream + concentric closing-rings. Composes accent-line, h1, body, cta-button. Focal a Space Grotesk h1 near-black, centered, with the one solid cobalt cta-button pill below. Accent the CTA + rings. Silence ~60%. Fixed one CTA, near-black h1, soft rings. Free sign-off, CTA label. Density low.

Composition Rules

Do

• Start every frame on warm cream; let cobalt carry every accent (eyebrow, numeral, CTA, bar, progress).
• Set headlines near-black, −0.02em; eyebrows cobalt uppercase 0.08em; numerals cobalt 600–700.
• Use tinted cards (4% fill, 20% border, 10–14px radius, no shadow); body Inter 400 muted, line 1.6.
• Keep all chrome pill-shaped (100px); one solid cobalt CTA per closing frame.
• Reserve atmosphere (diagonal panel, dots, rings) for cover/closing; content frames keep the slide-header rhythm.
• Lean left on cover/dashboard/split, centered on quote/closer.

Don't

• No second accent color; no cobalt headlines.
• No drop shadows on content (only the soft cobalt CTA hover); no opaque cobalt borders.
• No square corners (save the progress bar); no font substitutes; no uppercase body.
• Don't use the green/red change chips as general accents — directional comparisons only.
• Don't fill space with heavier borders — add substance; don't blow a headline edge-to-edge.

Aspect-Ratio Behavior

pad-x holds on the short edge; re-step display above the 1.4cqw floor. The diagonal cover panel becomes a top/bottom band on 9:16. Numerals stay Latin Arabic digits in CJK builds.

Approved Entities

No real customers, logos, or vendors are defined in the source — render any such mark as a placeholder. Figures, metrics, and quotes are content; the system supplies cream + cobalt + grays.

Numerals & Claims (hard rule)

Never invent figures, financials, percentages, or dates at frame scale. Render slots as — figure —, {metric}, +NN%, ↑ —. Metric cards, bar values, and stat cells especially carry placeholders until the script supplies them. Directional chips require a real comparison from the script.

Pre-Render Self-Audit

• Squint — one near-black headline or cobalt numeral dominates per frame.
• Silence — content frames balanced, not crowded; only the dashboard runs dense.
• Single accent — cobalt only; headlines near-black; positive/negative inline only.
• Type — Space Grotesk headings −0.02em near-black, cobalt eyebrows 0.08em + numerals; Inter body muted line 1.6; ≥1.4cqw floor.
• Depth — tinted cards (no shadow), soft rounded corners, 20% cobalt borders; no square content corners.
• Anchor — left on cover/dashboard/split, centered on quote/closer; atmosphere on cover/closing only.
• Fabrication — every numeral traces to the script, else placeholder.

Known Gaps

• Motion intentionally out of scope. frame.md specifies composition only; the source's 500ms translateX transitions + bar-fill animations are deck mechanics.
• Space Grotesk + Inter via Google Fonts. CJK pairing (Noto Sans SC 700 display / Noto Serif SC 400 body) carries over; the eyebrow's uppercase+tracking signal weakens in CJK — pair it with the accent-line.
• 9:16 / 1:1 are guidance; verify the floor and that the diagonal panel reflows to a band.
• Diagonal panel (clip-path), dot grid, concentric rings, and bars are CSS-only; no external imagery is required.