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Design language comparison

Hex vs Obsidian OS

Hex runs a dark-canvas system while Obsidian OS chose light, and they pair different display families (IBM Plex Sans vs sans-serif). Beyond surface, motion divides them — Hex is subtle, Obsidian OS is moderate.

Palette · side by side

Up to 8 dominant swatches each

Side A · dark

Hex

Full Page

#01011b

brand

#31263b

foreground

#717a94

foreground

#000000

foreground

#22863a

accent

#472d7b

accent

#ecedf2

background

#5ec962

accent

Side B · light

Obsidian OS

Full Page

#000000

foreground

#ffffff

background

#0000ee

brand

#1d1d1d

foreground

#ff5700

accent

#0d0d10

foreground

#67d243

accent

#383838

background

Typography · side by side

Primary family + weight ladder + sample

Side A · dark

Hex

Full Page

Display
IBM Plex Sans
Body
Cinetype
Mono
IBM Plex Mono
Weights
400 · 500 · 600 · 700

Sample

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

1234567890 — Body sample renders in the captured family if your browser has it; otherwise system fallback signals the weight ladder.

Side B · light

Obsidian OS

Full Page

Display
Ivory LL TT Light
Body
sans-serif
Weights
300

Sample

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

1234567890 — Body sample renders in the captured family if your browser has it; otherwise system fallback signals the weight ladder.

Spacing scale · side by side

Base unit + first 8 scale values

Side A · dark

Hex

Full Page

Base unit
4 px
Container max
1000 px
1px
4px
6px
8px
10px
12px
14px
16px

Side B · light

Obsidian OS

Full Page

Base unit
4 px
Container max
1512 px
2px
6px
8px
10px
12px
16px
20px
24px

Motion vocabulary · side by side

Level + durations + easings

Side A · dark

Hex

Full Page

Level
subtle
Libraries
Framer Motion

Durations

100ms150ms250ms

Easings

cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.1, 0…easelinear

Side B · light

Obsidian OS

Full Page

Level
moderate
Libraries
Framer Motion

Durations

0.1s

Easings

cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)ease-outease

Palette & spacing overlap

Their palettes share 10% of swatches at the dominant tier — a quiet signal both teams drew from the same neutral library before applying brand accents. Their spacing scales overlap by 58% (6, 8, 10, 12, 16 px shared) — a rhythm any agent can transfer between the two systems with minimal recalibration.

Shared swatches (2)

#000000#ffffff

Curator verdict

Pick a side. Mixing Hex's dark-first canvas with Obsidian OS's moderate motion vocabulary produces visual whiplash. Adopt one system as your primary, study the other for individual technique transfers (e.g. Hex's spacing, Obsidian OS's shadow).

Full Hex brief →Full Obsidian OS brief →Back to gallery

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