Technology
CSS
CSS is how a tenth page still looks like the same company. We write tokens, spacing, and type first, then we let Tailwind or custom CSS follow that file.
What it is
CSS is the language that tells a browser how HTML should look: type, colour, space, layout, motion. Flexbox, Grid, custom properties, and container queries are how modern interfaces are actually built. Frameworks like Tailwind compile to CSS. They do not replace it.
When a page feels cheap or broken, it is often CSS: contrast, measure, stacking, the mobile layout that was never tried. Design systems are CSS with names. A brand that only lives in Figma is not a brand on the site.
What it does
Teams use CSS to ship a look that survives a tenth page: type scales, spacing, dark and light, print, and the reduced-motion case. Component libraries are CSS plus structure. Marketing sites and apps both live or die on it.
We write a small system and reuse it. We do not leave a landfill of one-off classes. Performance is also CSS: we do not hide 4MB of animation behind a lander.
Why we use it
Layout as a system, not a pile of exceptions.
Tokens in one place. Responsive layouts that do not need a tenth breakpoint name. Dark or campaign themes that change tokens, not templates. The Figma file and the CSS agree on names so nobody is translating 17px by eye.
If a rebrand needs a rebuild, the system was not a system.
Built on it
Apple
apple.com is a reference for what careful CSS can still do in Safari.
Stripe
The marketing site and dashboard are a widely studied CSS and type system.
GOV.UK
The Design System is CSS as public infrastructure.
The Guardian
A long-running responsive newsfront, rebuilt more than once in CSS.
Figma
The app UI in the browser is a CSS and canvas hybrid at serious scale.
Tell us what needs to ship.
You use a working prototype before the production build goes ahead.