# Rolls-Royce Motor Cars — DESIGN.md

## Overview
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is the British ultra-luxury house at the apex of automotive prestige, where bespoke commissions average several million pounds and 'car' is the wrong word for the object on display. Canvas is bone-cream (`#f5f1e9`) or velvet-black (`#0a0a0a`) depending on whether the section showcases craft (cream) or product (black). Type runs a refined serif (Riviera Nights / custom Trajan-adjacent display serif) at editorial scale, paired with a precise grotesk body. The signature is the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament — the silver Eleanor Thornton sculpture rendered in delicate line art on every page. Photography is gallery-grade: hand-stitched leather close-ups, starlight-headliner-roof shots, marquetry inlay macro photography. The voice is 'effortless mastery' — never claims, never promotes, always implies.

## Color
- **Primary / Ink:** `#1a1a1a` — Deep ink for type and rare CTAs
- **Canvas:** `#f5f1e9` — Bone-cream (craft sections)
- **Canvas velvet:** `#0a0a0a` — Velvet-black (product sections)
- **Ink:** `#1a1a1a`
- **Accent (restrained gold):** `#7a6035` — Subtle gold for hairlines and emphasis
- **Body:** `#3a3a3a`
- **Muted:** `#7a7a7a`
- **Hairlines:** `rgba(26,26,26,0.10)`

## Typography
- **Display:** Riviera Nights / Trajan-adjacent serif, weight 400, 60–120px property/model-name hero
- **Sub-display:** weight 400, 24–32px section heads (often small-caps)
- **Body:** serif, weight 400, 17px atmospheric prose, 1.7 line-height
- **Caption:** italic serif, 13–14px credits and metadata
- **Mono:** none

## Spacing & rhythm
8-base (8/16/24/32/48/64/96/128/160). Section padding 128–192px — time IS the luxury. The page holds individual photographs for several seconds. Body content runs ~640px max-width essay column.

## Motion signature
Almost-zero motion. Hero photography cross-fades over 3 seconds — the slowest in the automotive category. The Spirit of Ecstasy ornament has a subtle hover-shimmer that takes 1.2s to complete — barely perceptible. The brand voice is 'time is the ultimate luxury' — motion would imply hurry.

## Components observed
- `spirit-of-ecstasy-line-art` — silver line-drawing of the iconic ornament
- `macro-craft-photography` — leather, marquetry, starlight headliner close-ups
- `bespoke-commission-card` — custom commission inquiry card
- `starlight-headliner-hero` — full-bleed shot of LED-fiber headliner
- `monogram-customization-tool` — owner-monogram personalization tool
- `phantom-extended-wheelbase-spec` — model-spec card in serif
- `button-text-link-thin` — thin underlined text-link only
- `footer-goodwood-corporate` — Goodwood, England corporate footer

## Trademark signals
- Bone-cream canvas with serif typography at editorial scale — refusing the modernist-grotesk convention every other automotive brand has adopted
- Spirit of Ecstasy ornament rendered in delicate silver line art — appears on every page as a quiet sub-mark, never large, never animated
- Roman-inscriptional display serif at 60–120px — the typeface IS the brand voice; sans-serif would read as Mercedes off-brand
- Macro-photography of craft details — hand-stitched leather seams, marquetry inlay, starlight-headliner LEDs, monogrammed treadplates
- 'Effortless' as a recurring word in the voice — quiet observations about silence, weight, hand-finishing — never feature lists, never spec sheets

## What they DON'T do
- No modern grotesk substitution — Roman-inscriptional serif IS the brand voice
- No saturated accent colors — bone-cream + ink + restrained gold only
- No interior shots populated by people — the unoccupied luxury IS the promise
- No feature-bullet marketing copy — atmospheric prose only
- No dropping the Spirit of Ecstasy — even minimalist layouts include the silver line-art ornament
- No emoji, no urgency, no promotional pricing, no kinetic animation

## Exemplar pages
- https://rolls-roycemotorcars.com/
- https://rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/showroom/phantom.html
- https://rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/bespoke.html
- https://rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/inspiration

## When to reference
Reach for Rolls-Royce when the user wants the most restrained ultra-luxury voice in the automotive or commissioned-product category — bespoke product marketing, ultra-high-net-worth concierge services, fine-watchmaking, private aviation, megayacht charter. The "bone-cream canvas + Roman-inscriptional serif + Spirit of Ecstasy line-art + macro craft photography + 3-second cross-fade" combination is the most-copyable Rolls-Royce move. Pairs well with brands whose product is bespoke artifact rather than catalog commodity.
