Skip to main content

Design language comparison

Linear vs Realm

Linear runs a dark-canvas system while Realm chose light, and they pair different display families (Inter Variable vs Inter). Beyond surface, motion divides them — Linear is expressive, Realm is moderate.

Palette · side by side

Up to 8 dominant swatches each

Side A · dark

Linear

Full Page

#f7f8f8

background

#62666d

foreground

#d0d6e0

foreground

#8a8f98

foreground

#f79ce0

accent

#55cdff

accent

#ffc47c

accent

#00ff05

accent

Side B · light

Realm

Full Page

#0a0908

foreground

#1a322e

foreground

#eef6f5

background

#535252

foreground

#ffffff

background

#f4f0ec

background

#004132

accent

Typography · side by side

Primary family + weight ladder + sample

Side A · dark

Linear

Full Page

Display
Inter Variable
Body
Berkeley Mono
Mono
Berkeley Mono
Weights
400 · 510 · 590

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

Realm

Full Page

Display
Roobert
Body
Inter
Weights
400 · 500

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

Linear

Full Page

Base unit
4 px
Container max
1436 px
2px
4px
6px
8px
10px
12px
14px
16px

Side B · light

Realm

Full Page

Base unit
4 px
Container max
1312 px
4px
8px
10px
12px
16px
20px
24px
32px

Motion vocabulary · side by side

Level + durations + easings

Side A · dark

Linear

Full Page

Level
expressive
Libraries

Durations

0.16s0.4s1.6s2.8s3.2s

Easings

cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, …cubic-bezier(0.66, 0, 0, 1)ease-outease

Side B · light

Realm

Full Page

Level
moderate
Libraries
GSAP

Durations

300ms600ms900ms

Easings

cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.3…cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3…

Palette & spacing overlap

Palette overlap is zero — Linear and Realm live in completely different chromatic registers, even when their layout grids feel adjacent. Their spacing scales overlap by 50% (4, 8, 10, 12, 16 px shared) — a rhythm any agent can transfer between the two systems with minimal recalibration.

Curator verdict

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

Full Linear brief →Full Realm brief →Back to gallery

AI2 Design counts anonymous traffic always — no cookies, no identifiers, no fingerprinting. For optional session insights (PostHog, EU region) — page funnel, performance — turn on opt-in analytics below. Cookie policy.