Design System / Version 0.1 / April 2026

Start9

The foundational design language for Start9 — derived from StartOS 0.4.0 and extended to every surface we put our name on. Dignity in the information era is not optional. It is the product.

Source of Truth: StartOS 0.4.0
Primary Face: MBF Minimal
Signal Red: #FF4961
Status: Living Document

01 / Foundation

Dignity.

Humans deserve a dignified existence in the information era. — but it will not be given lightly. You must use technology to take it for yourself and the people you love.

Privacy

Your data is yours. Full stop. Every design decision is filtered through one question: does this move the user closer to, or further from, genuine control of their information?

Security

Security is load-bearing architecture, not a marketing checkbox. We show our work. We don't hide complexity behind false confidence or patronizing simplicity.

Sovereignty

Self-hosting is not a hobby. It is the recovery of agency that centralized systems quietly took. Our products return that agency — serious tools for serious people.

Dignity

The thread through everything. The interface, the copy, the packaging, the partnership — all of it treats the user as a capable adult with something worth protecting.

02 / IDENTITY

The Logo System

Three marks, one identity. The Icon alone is the primary ambassador — a rising peak crossed by a single line, enclosed on a horizon. The Wordmark carries the custom "R" from MBF Minimal. Together they form the Full Logo.

Primary Marks

Icon — Poly — Dark BG

Wordmark — Poly — Dark BG

Full Logo — Poly — Dark BG

Icon — Mono — Light BG

Wordmark — Poly — Light BG

Full Logo — Poly — Light BG

Clearspace & Minimum Size

9 9 9 9

The rule of nine.

Reserve minimum clearspace equal to the height of the "9" in the wordmark, on all sides. Never place competing graphics, text, or rules inside this zone. For screen: keep the Icon no smaller than 24px. For print: no smaller than 10mm.

MIN_SIZE_SCREEN = 24px
MIN_SIZE_PRINT = 10mm
CLEARSPACE = height("9")

Misuse — Never Do This

Don't recolor The red on the "9" is fixed. Never substitute other hues for brand colors.

Don't distort Never skew, stretch, rotate, or warp the marks. Scale proportionally only.

Don't use low-contrast BG Ensure a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between the mark and the surface behind it.

Don't add effects No glows, drop shadows, bevels, or outlines applied to the mark itself.

+ Partner

Don't lock up with other marks No co-branded combinations without written approval. Keep Start9 standalone.

Don't place on contrasting plates Use the correct light/dark variant for the surface. Never "box" the mark.

03 / COLOR

Color System

Dark is the default. Surfaces carry weight; signal colors are used sparingly and deliberately. Every hex here is a token — use the CSS variable, not the raw value.

Surfaces — the stage

Void

--s9-void

#07080C

Base

--s9-base

#0B0C10

Elevated 1

--s9-elev-1

#14151C

Elevated 2

--s9-elev-2

#1C1D26

Elevated 3

--s9-elev-3

#262833

Border

--s9-border

#2A2C38

Text — ink on the stage

Primary

--s9-text

#F0F0F0

Secondary

--s9-text-2

#A1A3AD

Muted / Label

--s9-text-3

#6B6D78

Ink (on-light)

--s9-text-ink

#0B0C10

Signal — use with intent

Signal Red — the "9"

--s9-red

#FF4961

Action Blue

--s9-blue

#3880FF

Running Green

--s9-green

#2DD55B

Warning Yellow

--s9-yellow

#FFC409

Magenta Glow

--s9-magenta

#C4247A

Usage Ratios

Think of color in budgets, not choices. A typical Start9 surface allocates color in these proportions:

65% SURFACE

20% ELEVATED

10% TEXT

Signal colors (blue, red, green) should never dominate. If a screen looks colorful, you have probably used signal colors as decoration. Pull back.

04 / TYPOGRAPHY

Type System

Three voices. Display carries brand. UI carries utility. Mono carries precision — tokens, code, labels, anything that wants to feel like a system speaking, not a person.

The MBF Rule

The MBF Minimal face is not for reading. Reserve it for product names ("Start9", "StartOS", "Server One") and short declarative taglines of roughly six words or fewer ("Take it back.", "Sovereignty.", "The future is self‑hosted."). Everything else — hero paragraphs, manifesto copy, long headlines, section titles, body — uses Montserrat.

The Stack

Start9

MBF Minimal (Custom)

Restricted use. Product names and short taglines only — ideally under six words. Examples: "StartOS", "Server One", "Take it back." Never use for sentences, paragraphs, body copy, or anything a reader has to scan.

fallback: Montserrat 800 → sans-serif

Aa Bb Cc

Montserrat / Proxima Nova

All UI, body copy, marketing paragraphs, headings under hero scale. Prefer Proxima Nova when licensed; Montserrat is the open-source default.

fallback: system-ui → sans-serif

0x2A2C

JetBrains Mono

Design tokens, code, terminal output, technical labels, version strings, hash/address display, eyebrow labels.

fallback: ui-monospace → monospace

The Scale

DisplayMBF Minimal · 400 · 96–160px · -2% tracking · names & taglines only

Sovereignty.

H1 / HeroMontserrat · 800 · 56px · -2% tracking

Serious tools for sovereign individuals.

H2 / SectionMontserrat · 700 · 40px · -1% tracking

Installed services

H3 / SubsectionMontserrat · 600 · 22px

Health Checks

BodyMontserrat · 400 · 16px · 1.65 leading

Your data is yours. Self-hosting is not a hobby — it is the recovery of agency that centralized systems quietly took. Start9 builds the tools that return it.

SmallMontserrat · 400 · 13px

Services from this registry are packaged and maintained by the Start9 team.

LabelJetBrains Mono · 500 · 11–12px · 10% tracking · UPPER

Certificate Authority

Code / TokenJetBrains Mono · 400 · 13–14px

--s9-red: #ff4961;

05 / FOUNDATIONS

Spacing · Radii · Elevation

The quiet structural decisions that make everything feel like Start9 even before you notice the brand color. These are set. Don't invent new values.

Spacing Scale

--s9-sp-1

4px

--s9-sp-2

8px

--s9-sp-3

12px

--s9-sp-4

16px

--s9-sp-5

24px

--s9-sp-6

32px

--s9-sp-7

48px

--s9-sp-8

64px

--s9-sp-9

96px

Radii

r-sm4

r-md8

r-lg12

r-xl16

r-2xl24

r-pillfull

r-md for inputs and buttons. r-lg for cards. r-xl for panels and modals. r-pill for status pills and toggles.

Elevation

shadow-0 flatno shadow

shadow-1 inline1px

shadow-2 card4px blur

shadow-3 modal12px blur

shadow-glow accentmagenta 40

06 / COMPONENTS

Components

Derived directly from StartOS 0.4.0 (built on Taiga UI). These patterns should be preserved across new products — not reinvented unless something is demonstrably broken.

Buttons

.btn · -primary / -danger / -success / -ghost / -text

One primary action per view. Danger red is reserved for destructive actions (stop, delete, wipe). Ghost is the default secondary. Text is for tertiary links inside dense UI.

Status & Pills

.status · .pill

Running Stopped Degraded Error

api p2p ui IPv4 mDNS

Form Controls

.input · .input-group · .toggle

Max Mempool Size 1000 MiB

Mempool Expiration 336 Hr

Persist Mempool

Permit Bare Multisig

Enable Full RBF

Cards

.card · .card-header · .card-body

Status

Running

Uptime

DAYS

HOURS

MIN

SEC

Health

RPC✓ Ready

Blockchain Sync✓ Synced

Tor✓ Connected

Clearnet✓ Connected

Tables

.s9-table

Name	Status	Version	Uptime
Bitcoin Knots	Running	#knots:29.3:3	2D 0H 9M 42S
BTCPay Server	Stopped	2.3.6:0	—
Core Lightning	Running	25.12.1:7	2D 0H 9M 41S
Nextcloud	Running	32.0.7:1	4D 5H 48M 40S

07 / SURFACES

Surface Patterns

The design system extends to every surface Start9 puts its name on. Below are concept applications for the four that matter most: marketing, documentation, hardware packaging, and decks.

Marketing / Homepage Hero

start9.com

Sovereign Computing / Since 2018

Take it back.

Start9 builds the hardware and software you need to reclaim your data, your communications, and your digital life — from the people who were never supposed to have them in the first place.

Documentation / docs.start9.com

docs.start9.com/start-os

First Boot & Setup

After flashing StartOS to your device, the setup wizard walks you through encryption, networking, and the initial user creation. This process takes roughly eight minutes. Do not interrupt it.

$ start-cli server init --password

Once the first user is created, you can reach your server at the local .local address or through a configured Tor hidden service.

Hardware Packaging / Boxfront Concept

Start9

Server One

A purpose-built server for the sovereign individual. Ships with StartOS and everything you need to host your digital life.

CPU: Intel N100
RAM: 16 GB DDR5
Storage: 1 TB NVMe
OS: StartOS 0.4

Deck Slide / 16:9 Title

Start9

The future is self-hosted.

For the first time in a generation, the tools exist to take your data out of the cloud without sacrificing the experience. This is how we built them.

01 / 24

08 / VOICE

Voice & Tone

Start9 writes the way a competent mentor speaks. Direct, technically credible, occasionally fierce. Never cynical, never conspiratorial, never precious. The reader is capable — write to that capability.

The Dials

formal← 70% direct

AcademicPlain

serious← 80% serious

EarnestPlayful

technical← 60% technical

EngineerGeneralist

defiant← 25% pushback

MeasuredConfrontational

Do / Don't

Do — Serious & specific

"Your Bitcoin node is running. Three peers are connected over Tor. No further action is needed."

Calm, factual, respects the user's intelligence. States what's true.

Don't — Chatty & diminutive

"🎉 Woohoo! Your node is alive and kicking! Things are looking great in Bitcoin land."

Emoji, exclamations, personification of infrastructure. Not us.

Do — Name the stakes

"Without a backup, a drive failure will destroy your keys. Create one now."

Honest about consequences. Doesn't manipulate; doesn't soften the truth.

Don't — FUD or conspiracy

"They can see everything you do. Escape the matrix with StartOS today."

Condescending. Start9 sounds confident, not scared. We inspire, we don't scold.

Do — Teach, then act

"StartTunnel uses a reverse proxy over our network to give your service a public address. Enable it below."

One sentence of context, then the action. The user leaves smarter.

Don't — Jargon for jargon's sake

"Leverage our zero-trust egress architecture to facilitate unidirectional ingress."

Technical language must clarify, not obscure. If a simpler word works, use it.

09 / PARTNERS

Partner & Retailer Guide

For anyone marketing, reselling, or referring Start9 products. Follow these rules and you don't need to check with us. Break them and we'll ask you to stop.

The Nine Rules

Use the supplied marks only

Download the official logo package. Never redraw, trace, or recreate the mark yourself.

Respect clearspace

Maintain a clear margin of one "9" height around every side of the wordmark or icon.

Keep the red sacred

The red in the "9" is #FF4961. Don't change it. Don't apply it to other letters.

Use the correct variant

Dark backgrounds: light/poly logo. Light backgrounds: dark/poly logo. Print single-color: mono.

Write product names as given

"Start9", "StartOS", "Server One", "StartTunnel". One word where joined; no spaces or hyphens.

Match the voice

Serious, direct, confident. Don't caricature Start9 as anti-government or conspiracy-adjacent.

No co-branded lockups without approval

If you want to combine your logo with ours in a single mark, email brand@start9.com first.

No fabricated testimonials or specs

Use only officially published specifications and quotes. When in doubt, link to our site.

Show the hardware honestly

Product photography must represent the actual unit shipping. No renders misrepresented as photographs.

Need assets, approvals, or clarification?

We'd rather answer a question than see a brand misstep. Reach us at the address below and we'll get back within two business days.

brand@start9.com Download asset pack (.zip)