Design systemMaximized TalentChehalis, WA
Signal Stage.
A dark stage, one colour that means act, one colour that means look here, and a display face with enough personality to stand next to a robot. Every site, proposal and graphic I make starts from the rules on this page, and this site is built from them.
Colour · tap a swatch to copy
Pick the theme, never the colour.
If it glows ice, look at it. If it’s signal, click it. Red belongs to Max.
Stage is the dark theme this site runs on. Paper is the light theme for proposals, print and graphics on white. Every token has a value in both, and the contrast ratios below are measured live from this page.
Type
Three faces, each with a job.
Display. Headings, the statement, numerals. 600 on Stage, 500 on Paper.
Body. Does the reading and disappears under Chillax.
The HUD. Uppercase, tracked 0.06–0.16em, never below 0.62rem.
Components · all live
The pieces, working.
Button
One primary per view, a ghost beside it, 1rem apart. The top pair is magnetic: it leans toward your cursor by at most 5 × 3px, and stays still under reduced motion.
Glass
Hover or focus me: glass steps up to glass-hi and line-hi, and never changes size.
A signal-tint wash and a signal-line border. One per page, or none.
Badge · tag · chip
Badges describe, chips select. A selected chip fills signal.
Field
Focus turns the border ice. A bad address shows err-text under the field. This demo sends nothing.
Step
Tap a step: the active one fills its numeral ice.
Speech
Light bubbles on the dark stage. Only Max’s name is red.
Frame
Browser chrome around portfolio work. A concept is labelled as one in the bar.
HUD
Atmosphere only: corner brackets, a pulsing red dot, a section counter. Nothing to click lives here.
Space, shape & motion
Pills you press. Soft rectangles that hold.
Spacing
Radius
0.875rem
1rem
1.125rem
1.375rem
full
Easing
How it’s used
Encoded, checked, then edited by a person.
A system only counts if it shows up in the work. Signal Stage is written down as tokens, built into a stylesheet, and checked by a script before I do the final pass myself.
01 · Tokens
One list of values, two themes
Every colour, size, radius and curve on this page is a named token with a Stage and a Paper value. The stylesheet is generated from that list, so nothing is typed in by hand twice.
02 · Sections
Pages start from ready sections
Hero, services, case study, process, call to action, contact, plus a proposal page and a social post. Each one is built from the tokens only, with its slots and rules written at the top.
03 · Check
A script flags what breaks the rules
Off-system colours, more than one primary button on a view, text that fails contrast, unlabelled fields, images without alt text, and phrases like “AI-powered”. It runs before anyone sees a page.
04 · Review
Then I edit it like a person
On a real phone, thumb only, every link and the form submitted for real. Every number needs a source. Every choice that isn’t from the system needs a reason, or it becomes a token.
For client work the brand is theirs: their colours, type and voice replace mine, and the crew never appear on a client’s site. What stays is the discipline underneath: one action colour, visible focus, measured contrast, and claims that trace back to something real.
Voice & claims
Plain, warm, first person.
Write like this
Small business. Big presence.
You work directly with me, backed by Max and my AI crew.
- Numbers only with a source:
15.8K reached on a $400 budget
(N-Line Hauling, Meta Ads Manager). - “Chehalis, WA” in labels and the HUD; “Chehalis, Washington” inside a sentence.
Never
- Invented testimonials, awards or results.
- Promising results because of AI, or calling a client’s site “AI-powered” when it isn’t.
- The crew delivering work without Bret’s sign-off.
- Exclamation marks in headings, or a fixed robot count.
The crew are AI agents. They help me plan, research and check the details. Clients talk to me, and I review and sign off on every result.
Your next move
Want this kind of care behind your brand?
Tell me what you have, what you’d like to change, and when. I’ll reply myself within a business day.