Design System Inspiration of Spendesk
1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
"Spend smarter with Spendesk." Spendesk is "one complete spend management solution" — procurement,
cards, invoices, expenses, approvals, budgets, reporting and pre-accounting — built for finance
teams, with the mission "to liberate businesses and people to do their best work". Its guiding
principles include "Visibility is fundamental for business growth" and "Simplicity equals
adoption". The company is a simplified joint stock company registered in Paris, with its registered
office at 51 rue de Londres, 75008 Paris.
The site pairs a carbon ink #191b1b with Spendesk's deep purple #7136ed, an olive-grey
neutral it calls "grolive" #f3f4ef, and soft accents — lavender #9477f3, periwinkle
#b3bffa, mint #91d69f. Headlines are Roobert, text Inter.
What makes it worth reading:
- Three named brand colours.
--brand-carbon, --brand-deep-purple, --brand-grolive — ink,
action and ground.
- A wide supporting palette.
--color-tp-*: purples from ultralight to ultradark, pinks, teal,
salmon and a set of greys.
- Restrained buttons. The measured buttons hold their colour on hover.
Primary tasks
- Book a demo; log in.
- See pricing and customer stories.
2. Color Palette & Roles
Measured with getComputedStyle on spendesk.com/en: 194 root custom properties — --color-* 28,
--sp-* 27, --fs-* 25, --br-* 23, --space-* 20, --lh-* 15, --neutral-* 10 … All first-party.
Brand
- Deep purple (
#7136ed) — --brand-deep-purple; Book a demo.
- Carbon (
#191b1b) — --brand-carbon; text.
- Grolive (
#f3f4ef) — --brand-grolive; secondary buttons and sections.
Purples
Purple #5d21d2 → hover #4b1baf · Ultradark #27175c · Ultralight #f7f4fd ·
Lavender #9477f3 (section fills).
Accents
Periwinkle #b3bffa · Mint #91d69f · Teal #4ac8c6 · Pink #e473ff · Salmon
#ffa38a · Error #f04c74.
Neutrals
- Foreground (
#191b1b) · Text secondary (#636363).
- Canvas (
#ffffff) · Neutral 100 (#f7f7f7) · Neutral 400 (#cccccc).
3. Typography Rules
Font family
Roobert (500, 600) for headlines and Inter (variable) for text; both load (document.fonts).
Scale
H1 64px/500 Roobert; H2 48px/500; eyebrows 14px/600 uppercase Inter; buttons 16px/600.
4. Component Stylings
Measured with a hover counted only when :hover matched; consent denied. Focus showed only the
browser's ring and is not recorded.
- Primary — Book a demo:
#7136ed, white 16px/600, 8px, 44px. Hover and press: no change in
the button's own values.
- Secondary — Login:
#f3f4ef, #191b1b text, a 10% carbon border, 8px, 46px. No hover
change.
Radius
8px on buttons.
5. Layout Principles
- A white header with navigation and the two buttons, a hero with a large Roobert headline, then
product sections on grolive and lavender.
6. Depth & Elevation
Flat; colour blocks separate sections.
7. Do's and Don'ts
Do
- Use deep purple
#7136ed for the main action, carbon for text, grolive for quiet surfaces.
- Keep accents soft — lavender, periwinkle, mint.
- Set headlines in Roobert.
Don't
- Don't use pure black; the ink is carbon
#191b1b.
- Don't use pure grey for neutral surfaces; grolive has an olive tint.
- Don't invent hover colours; the measured buttons hold their colour.
8. Responsive Behavior
Not measured. Desktop 1440×1000 only.
9. Agent Prompt Guide
Quick Color Reference
#7136ed deep purple · #191b1b carbon · #f3f4ef grolive · #9477f3 lavender · #b3bffa
periwinkle · #91d69f mint · #636363 secondary · #f04c74 error
Example Component Prompts
- "A 44px
#7136ed button, white 16px/600 Inter, 8px radius."
- "A 64px Roobert headline in carbon
#191b1b on white, over a grolive #f3f4ef section."
10. Voice & Tone
Not assessed as authored voice.
11. Brand Narrative
A Paris spend-management company promising finance teams visibility and simplicity. Its brand
reduces to three words — carbon, deep purple, grolive — with soft accents for everything else.
12. Principles
- Visibility is fundamental for business growth.
- Simplicity equals adoption.
- Three brand colours.
13. Personas
Not researched. No persona claim is made from a UI capture.
14. States
Hover and press: no change on the measured buttons. Focus: the browser's ring (not recorded).
15. Motion & Easing
Not measured.
Tier 1 sources: https://www.spendesk.com/en/ (live homepage — 194 root custom properties read via getComputedStyle; Roobert and Inter loaded; two components measured at rest, hover and pressed, captured 2026-09-27); https://www.spendesk.com/en/zz-this-does-not-exist (nonsense-path control — HTTP 404 in the browser, read 2026-09-27); https://www.spendesk.com/about/ (About — mission, spend management scope, guiding principles, read 2026-09-27); https://www.spendesk.com/en-eu/legals/privacy/ (privacy policy — Spendesk, Paris Trade and Companies Register 821 893 286, 51 rue de Londres, 75008 Paris, read 2026-09-27)