Design language comparison
Linear vs xAI
Linear runs a dark-canvas system while xAI chose light, and they pair different display families (Inter Variable vs -apple-system). Beyond surface, motion divides them — Linear is expressive, xAI is subtle.
Palette · side by side
Up to 8 dominant swatches eachSide A · dark
Linear
Full Page
#f7f8f8
background
#62666d
foreground
#d0d6e0
foreground
#8a8f98
foreground
#f79ce0
accent
#55cdff
accent
#ffc47c
accent
#00ff05
accent
Side B · light
xAI
Full Page
#404040
foreground
#595959
foreground
#0051c3
brand
#000000
foreground
#ffffff
background
#ebebeb
background
Typography · side by side
Primary family + weight ladder + sampleSide 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
xAI
Full Page
- Display
- -apple-system
- Body
- Times New Roman
- Weights
- 300 · 400 · 600
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 valuesSide A · dark
Linear
Full Page
- Base unit
- 4 px
- Container max
- 1436 px
Side B · light
xAI
Full Page
- Base unit
- 4 px
- Container max
- 1536 px
Motion vocabulary · side by side
Level + durations + easingsSide A · dark
Linear
Full Page
- Level
- expressive
- Libraries
- —
Durations
Easings
Side B · light
xAI
Full Page
- Level
- subtle
- Libraries
- —
Durations
Easings
Palette & spacing overlap
Their palettes share 5% of swatches at the dominant tier — a quiet signal both teams drew from the same neutral library before applying brand accents. Spacing scales diverge entirely — agents porting components from one to the other should expect to re-derive the ladder, not interpolate.
Shared swatches (1)
Curator verdict
Pick a side. Mixing Linear's dark-first canvas with xAI's subtle motion vocabulary produces visual whiplash. Adopt one system as your primary, study the other for individual technique transfers (e.g. Linear's spacing, xAI's shadow).