Preview the prompt +
# Build brief — an original marketing website in the taste of Douglas Elliman
> Reference: https://www.elliman.com · UIDiscovery: https://uidiscovery.com/sites/douglas-elliman · captured 2026-09-23 at a 1440px desktop viewport (+ 390px iPhone shots) · [full page](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/douglas-elliman/full.webp) · [scroll video](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/douglas-elliman/preview.mp4)
## 1. Goal
Build an original marketing website for **[the user's brand]** that feels as considered as Douglas Elliman — same structure, rhythm and polish, entirely new identity and content.
## 2. Originality rules
- Build an ORIGINAL design for the user's own brand in the same *taste* as Douglas Elliman: structure, rhythm, hierarchy, palette mood and type pairing.
- Never reuse Douglas Elliman's logo, name, product imagery, illustrations, icons, screenshots or copy. Write new copy for the user's product.
- If the user hasn't said what their product is, ask first (or use clearly marked placeholders like [Brand], [Product], [Audience]).
- Reference screenshots are for looking at, not for embedding or tracing.
## 3. The taste, in short
- Douglas Elliman (elliman.com): Real Estate marketing website, light, minimal.
- 2 sections: Content → Footer.
- Spacing: long, content-rich sections (median ≈1658px tall at 1440).
- Type: Euclid Circular A headings over Times body. Imagery: mostly abstract 3D / gradient art.
## 4. Page structure (top to bottom)
### 1. Content — supporting content that deepens one idea.
- Layout: text + media block. About one full screen (900px at 1440), page background; 1 image/graphic; one primary button.
- Slots: Heading; Body copy; Supporting visual (see image plan); One primary action.
- [Screenshot](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/douglas-elliman/s-02.webp) · imagery: slot 1
### 2. Footer — navigation, legal and contact — the page's index.
- Layout: multi-column link groups, brand line, legal row. Tall, ≈1.8 screens (1658px at 1440), own dark band #100b28; 1 image/graphic; primary + secondary button, 63 links (link lists / navigation).
- Slots: Brand mark + one-line description; 3–5 link columns; Newsletter or contact (optional); Legal row + social icons.
- Topic (tone/length only — never reuse): “OUR MARKETS”
- [Screenshot](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/douglas-elliman/s-03.webp)
Inner pages also captured (Product, About, Sign up, Blog, Docs, Careers, Security): https://uidiscovery.com/sites/douglas-elliman?view=pages
## 5. Design system
### Colour
| Role | Hex | Use | Contrast on background |
|---|---|---|---|
| background | `#f4f4f2` | page background | — |
| foreground | `#000000` | body text, headings | 19.1:1 |
| accent | `#000000` | none captured — monochrome. Primary buttons invert (foreground fill, background text); add your brand colour only for small highlights | — |
| surface | `#ffffff` | cards, inputs, alternate bands | text on it 21.0:1 |
| muted | `#a0a6b2` | secondary text, borders | 2.2:1 — borders / large text only |
Captured palette: `#f4f4f2` `#ffffff` `#cfd2d8` `#000000` `#a0a6b2`. Section bands top→bottom: `#f4f4f2` → `#100b28`. Roles are assigned automatically — sanity-check them against the screenshot. Keep the palette's *mood* (light, neutral, desaturated) and proportions; swap the accent for the user's brand colour.
### Tokens
```css
:root {
--background: #f4f4f2;
--foreground: #000000;
--accent: #000000;
--surface: #ffffff;
--muted: #a0a6b2;
--font-heading: "DM Sans", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif;
--font-body: "Inter", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif;
--radius: 12px; /* calibrate from the screenshot */
}
/* Tailwind v4 — in globals.css after @import "tailwindcss"; */
@theme {
--color-background: var(--background);
--color-foreground: var(--foreground);
--color-accent: var(--accent);
--color-surface: var(--surface);
--color-muted: var(--muted);
--font-heading: var(--font-heading);
--font-sans: var(--font-body);
}
```
### Typography
- Headings: **DM Sans** (Google Fonts) — reference uses Euclid Circular A. “Euclid Circular A” is a licensed face — use DM Sans (or Plus Jakarta Sans) as the free stand-in, or license the original.
- Body: **Inter** (Google Fonts) — reference uses Times. Capture reported the browser default (Times), which usually means the web font did not load during capture. Identify the real face from the screenshot; Inter is a safe neutral start.
- Scale (starting point, sizes weren't measured — calibrate against the 1440px screenshot): display clamp(2.5rem, 5vw, 4.25rem), h2 clamp(1.75rem, 3vw, 2.5rem), h3 1.25rem, body 1rem–1.125rem / 1.6, small 0.875rem. Headings: tight tracking (-0.02em), line-height 1.05–1.15.
### Spacing & rhythm
Sections run ≈1658px tall at 1440 (median; range 900–1658px, captures cap at 1700px) — long, content-rich chapters. Start with 96–128px vertical padding per section on desktop and about two-thirds of that on mobile. The background changes 1 time down the page — use band changes to mark chapters. 8px spacing grid, 1200–1280px max content width, 24px (mobile) / 32–48px (desktop) gutters.
### Shape, depth & theme
Flat surfaces, hairline 1px borders in the muted colour, small radii (4–8px), almost no shadow. Read exact corner radius, border and shadow treatment from the screenshots. Light-first; for a dark mode use a near-black (not #000) background, ~90% white text, lift surfaces with lightness not shadow, re-check the accent.
## 6. Imagery plan
Best guess: mostly **abstract 3D / gradient art** (light, neutral, desaturated, Real Estate). Inferred from element counts, colours and industry — not from the pixels — so open the linked screenshots and match the real style before sourcing anything.
### Slot 1 · 1. Content → abstract 3D / gradient
- Abstract art — gradient, 3D or atmospheric graphics, seen in the capture. (measured from the screenshot) Count: 1. Aspect: 4:5. Look first: [ref 1](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/douglas-elliman/s-02.webp)
- **Stock** — “abstract gradient 3d”: [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/abstract-gradient-3d?orientation=portrait) · [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/search/abstract%20gradient%203d/?orientation=portrait) · [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/images/search/abstract%20gradient%203d/?orientation=vertical)
- **Generate** — `Abstract 3D render: soft, matte clay shapes and a smooth gradient in #a0a6b2 and #ffffff on a #f4f4f2 background. Lighting: soft natural daylight, airy and high-key; neutral, desaturated tone. Minimal and calm, generous negative space on one side for text. Aspect ratio 4:5. No text, no letters, no logos, no watermarks, no brand marks or trademarked products, no recognisable real people.`
- **Icons** — 2. Footer: Use one open-source icon set at one stroke weight — Lucide, Phosphor or Heroicons (MIT) — tinted with the text or accent token. Social icons: Simple Icons.
### If the screenshots show a different style
Open the refs first and name what you actually see (photo / product UI / illustration / abstract gradient or 3D / type only). If it differs from the guess, switch routes — UI is built in code, type-only needs no image, otherwise:
- **photography** — generate `Photograph: modern living room natural light. Composition: wide shot, subject off-centre to one side, generous clean negative space for the headline. Lighting: soft natural daylight, airy and high-key. Neutral, desaturated colour grade that sits on #f4f4f2, #000000, #ffffff. Photorealistic, natural textures, shallow depth of field, 35mm lens. Aspect ratio 16:9. No text, no letters, no logos, no watermarks, no brand marks or trademarked products, no recognisable real people.` · stock: [“modern living room natural light” on Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/modern-living-room-natural-light?orientation=landscape) (same query works on Pexels/Pixabay)
- **illustration** — generate `Flat vector illustration: modern living room, friendly simplified shapes, limited palette of #f4f4f2, #000000, #ffffff plus one soft neutral, plenty of empty background, consistent line weight, neutral, desaturated mood. Aspect ratio 16:9. No text, no letters, no logos, no watermarks, no brand marks or trademarked products, no recognisable real people.` · stock: [“home interior flat illustration” on Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/home-interior-flat-illustration?orientation=landscape) (same query works on Pexels/Pixabay)
- **Licences:** Unsplash and Pexels images are free for commercial use under their own licences; Pixabay under the Pixabay Content License. Check each image's page before use, credit the photographer when asked (good practice anyway), and skip images showing logos, trademarks, branded products or identifiable people without a release.
- **AI generation:** the prompts work with any image model (GPT Image, Imagen, Flux, Midjourney, Firefly, SDXL…) — check its commercial-use terms. Never put the reference brand's name or “in the style of <brand>” in a prompt.
- **Never** download, trace or re-host the reference's own images, illustrations, product shots or logos.
## 7. Build steps
1. Confirm brand, product, audience and the primary action with the user.
2. Set up the tokens (CSS variables / Tailwind @theme) and load the fonts.
3. Build the sections in order, mobile-first, with each reference screenshot open.
4. Write original copy for every slot — match length and tone, never the words.
5. Source every image via the imagery plan (stock or generated); compress it and record credits.
6. Run the checklist at 390 / 768 / 1440px and fix what fails.
## 8. Acceptance checklist
- [ ] Responsive at 390px, 768px and 1440px — no horizontal scroll, tap targets ≥ 44px on mobile.
- [ ] Colour contrast WCAG AA: 4.5:1 body text, 3:1 large text and UI; visible focus states; full keyboard navigation.
- [ ] Semantic HTML: one <h1>, ordered headings, landmarks (header/nav/main/footer), labelled form fields, alt text on meaningful images.
- [ ] Performance: modern image formats with width/height set, lazy-load below the fold, ≤ 2 font families with font-display: swap, LCP < 2.5s.
- [ ] prefers-reduced-motion respected; animations under ~300ms and never blocking content.
- [ ] Originality: no copied logos, images, illustrations or copy from the reference; every image licensed or generated; credits recorded.
## 9. If you use Next.js + Tailwind
Paste the @theme block into globals.css, load fonts with next/font/google, make each section a server component in components/sections/, use next/image with explicit sizes, and keep client components for interactive bits only (menus, toggles, accordions).
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More: tokens https://uidiscovery.com/api/v1/sites/douglas-elliman/tokens · kit https://uidiscovery.com/api/v1/sites/douglas-elliman/kit · MCP `get_design_brief({ slug: "douglas-elliman" })`, `get_image_plan({ slug: "douglas-elliman" })`. Cite the reference as https://uidiscovery.com/sites/douglas-elliman.
