# Emirates — DESIGN.md

## Overview
Emirates is the Dubai-headquartered flag carrier whose brand identity is the cinematic A380 first-class experience translated into web language. Canvas is warm cream (`#fdf9f3`) or deep desert-night-black. The signature palette is the Emirates red (`#d71920`) and gold trim. Type runs a custom Arabic-Latin co-typesetting system — the brand often shows Arabic naskh and Latin grotesk side-by-side at matched scale, a quiet declaration of the UAE origin. Photography is cinematic luxury aviation: A380 cabin interiors with onboard showers, first-class suites with sliding doors, business-class bars at 40,000 feet. The voice is 'fly better than business class' — gold trim, marble lavatories, chef-prepared meals — never apologetic about the luxury.

## Color
- **Primary:** `#d71920` — Emirates red (wordmark + primary CTA)
- **Canvas:** `#fdf9f3` — Warm cream
- **Canvas dark:** `#1a1a1a` — Desert-night-black for evening-mode pages
- **Ink:** `#1a1a1a`
- **Accent (gold):** `#c9a55c` — First-class and business-class trim, wordmark sub-line
- **Body:** `#3a3a3a`
- **Muted:** `#7a7a7a`
- **Hairlines:** `rgba(26,26,26,0.12)`

## Typography
- **Display (Latin):** Emirates Sans / proprietary grotesk, weight 700, 40–64px hero
- **Display (Arabic):** Emirates Arabic / naskh-grotesk hybrid, weight 700, matched-scale to Latin
- **Sub-display:** weight 600, 24–32px section heads
- **Body:** Emirates Sans, weight 400, 16–17px, 1.6 line-height
- **Caption:** weight 500, 13–14px, gold-tinted for first-class metadata
- **Mono:** none

## Spacing & rhythm
8-base (8/16/24/32/48/64/96). Section padding 64–96px. Hero cabin photography frequently consumes the full viewport (no horizontal padding) — the cabin is the marketing. Destination cards stack 3-up at desktop with image + bilingual destination name + flight-time metadata.

## Motion signature
Cinematic A380 cabin footage as hero — slow tracking shots through first-class suites, champagne pours, lounge bars at altitude. Cross-fades at 1.5s — slower than budget carriers, faster than ultra-luxury hotels. Hover lifts product tiles 4px with a soft shadow. The globe-with-routes hero animates flight arcs radiating from Dubai at slow 8s loops.

## Components observed
- `a380-cabin-cinematic-hero` — full-viewport tracking shot of cabin
- `destination-card-bilingual` — image + Arabic + Latin destination name
- `globe-routes-network-viz` — 3D globe with red arcs from Dubai
- `fare-class-tier-tabs` — Economy / Business / First / Premium tabs
- `onboard-experience-gallery` — gallery of cabin amenities
- `booking-search-bar-warm` — date + city + class search on cream
- `button-primary-emirates-red` — red-fill CTA with gold trim
- `footer-dubai-headquarters` — bilingual footer with Dubai address

## Trademark signals
- Emirates red (`#d71920`) on the wordmark and primary CTA — the iconic logotype with the 'wing' calligraphic flourish
- Gold accent (`#c9a55c`) on first-class and business-class imagery — trim lines on seat-frame photography, on tier-tab dividers
- Arabic-Latin co-typesetting — destination names in both naskh and Latin grotesk at matched scale, refusing English-only globalization
- A380 cabin photography as primary visual — onboard showers, first-class suites with sliding doors, the lounge bar at altitude
- Globe-with-routes hero — Emirates network shown as a world-globe with red flight arcs radiating from Dubai (DXB)

## What they DON'T do
- No dropping Arabic typography on global pages — bilingual presence is the UAE-origin declaration
- No substituting Emirates red with a brighter or pinker variant — locked at `#d71920`
- No economy-class as primary imagery — voltage is first/business luxury
- No stripping the gold trim — gold-on-red is the recognized lockup
- No flat 2D route maps — the 3D globe radiating from Dubai is the brand's hub-message
- No emoji, no urgency 'X seats left' overlays, no promotional discount banners on the hero

## Exemplar pages
- https://emirates.com/
- https://emirates.com/english
- https://emirates.com/experience
- https://emirates.com/business

## When to reference
Reach for Emirates when the user wants luxury aviation or bilingual luxury hospitality with cinematic full-bleed video — premium airlines, ultra-luxury hotel chains with MENA presence, travel brands that lead with cabin/suite experience photography. The "cream-or-night-canvas + Arabic-Latin co-type + gold trim on red CTA + 3D Dubai-hub globe" combination is the most-copyable Emirates move. Pairs well with any brand that wants to project Gulf-origin premium without resorting to gold-overload kitsch.
