Introduction
RisingSwamp’s design system — Tactile Cyber-Naturalism — is not a stylesheet. It is the visual implementation of a clinical argument about how ADHD brains interact with software.
Core Principles
Section titled “Core Principles”The aesthetic is a clinical argument. Every visual decision has a neurological cost or benefit. The dark palette, organic textures, and bioluminescent accents are calibrated against the Moderate Brain Arousal model and biophilic design research.
Two planes. All UI lives in Plane 1 — flat, static, predictable, trustworthy. The swamp environment (Plane 2) is atmospheric and alive but never carries functional information.
Elevation without shadows. Depth is expressed through background tone (--bg → --surface → --surface2). Drop shadows imply a light source. There is no light source in the swamp.
Scarcity-dependent effects. Glow and delight phenomenon colours derive their neurological impact from rarity. Using them in everyday UI elements permanently destroys the effect.
Architecture
Section titled “Architecture”The system follows the five-layer model from Laying the Foundations:
| Layer | What lives here |
|---|---|
| Foundations | Colour tokens, spacing scale, type scale, motion tokens |
| Components | Button, Input, Tag, Card, Tooltip |
| Patterns | Loading philosophy, empty states, error handling, form layout |
| Features | Capture overlay, Search interface, Saltie companion layer |
| Screens | Dashboard, Vault browser, Search results |
Technology
Section titled “Technology”- SolidJS 1.9.x — fine-grained reactivity, no virtual DOM
- Panda CSS 0.52.x — token-driven, codegen-based styling. No runtime, atomic CSS, semantic tokens defined in
panda.config.ts - Park UI 0.42.x (preset for Panda) — pre-themed component recipes
- Ark UI Solid 4.x — headless accessible primitives that Park UI wraps. Use directly only when the DS has no matching component
- Tauri 2 — desktop shell (Rust backend, WebView frontend)
Governing Document
Section titled “Governing Document”The complete rationale, constraints, and token definitions live in notes/DESIGN-SYSTEM.md. That document governs all visual decisions. Read it before changing anything.