Tripadvisor — Tripadvisor.com

# Build brief — an original marketing website in the taste of Tripadvisor

> Reference: https://www.tripadvisor.com · UIDiscovery: https://uidiscovery.com/sites/tripadvisor · captured 2026-09-22 at a 1440px desktop viewport (+ 390px iPhone shots) · [full page](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/tripadvisor/full.webp) · [scroll video](https://uidiscovery.com/media/captures/tripadvisor/preview.mp4)

## 1. Goal
Build an original marketing website for **[the user's brand]** that feels as considered as Tripadvisor — 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 Tripadvisor: structure, rhythm, hierarchy, palette mood and type pairing.
- Never reuse Tripadvisor'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
- Tripadvisor (tripadvisor.com): Travel marketing website, light, minimal.
- 0 sections: .
- Spacing: short, dense bands (median section ≈0px).
- Type: one family (system sans-serif). Imagery: mostly typography with little or no imagery.

## 4. Page structure (top to bottom)

## 5. Design system
### Colour
| Role | Hex | Use | Contrast on background |
|---|---|---|---|
| background | `#ffffff` | page background | — |
| foreground | `#111111` | body text, headings | 18.9:1 |
| accent | `#111111` | 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 18.9:1 |
| muted | `#111111` | secondary text, borders | 18.9:1 |

Captured palette: —. 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: #ffffff;
  --foreground: #111111;
  --accent: #111111;
  --surface: #ffffff;
  --muted: #111111;
  --font-heading: "Inter", 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: **Inter** (Google Fonts) — reference uses system sans-serif. The reference uses the system stack; Inter (or plain system-ui) keeps that neutral feel.
- Body: same family — a single-family system; create contrast with size and weight, not a second face.
- 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
Use an 8px grid; calibrate section padding from the screenshots.

### 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 **typography with little or no imagery** (light, neutral, desaturated, Travel). Inferred from element counts, colours and industry — not from the pixels — so open the linked screenshots and match the real style before sourcing anything.

- **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).

---
More: tokens https://uidiscovery.com/api/v1/sites/tripadvisor/tokens · kit https://uidiscovery.com/api/v1/sites/tripadvisor/kit · MCP `get_design_brief({ slug: "tripadvisor" })`, `get_image_plan({ slug: "tripadvisor" })`. Cite the reference as https://uidiscovery.com/sites/tripadvisor.