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Design language comparison

Modal vs Plasticity

Both Modal and Plasticity commit to a dark-canvas approach, and they pair different display families (Inter Variable vs matter). Beyond surface, motion divides them — Modal is expressive, Plasticity is subtle.

Palette · side by side

Up to 8 dominant swatches each

Side A · dark

Modal

Full Page

#5b6d5c

foreground

#000000

foreground

#ddffdc

background

#def0dd

background

#7fee64

accent

#181818

foreground

#10a550

accent

#485346

neutral

Side B · dark

Plasticity

Full Page

#ffffff

background

#000000

foreground

#68ff21

brand

#3fd2fb

accent

#f365ff

accent

#ffb801

accent

#212121

foreground

Typography · side by side

Primary family + weight ladder + sample

Side A · dark

Modal

Full Page

Display
Goga
Body
Inter Variable
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.

Side B · dark

Plasticity

Full Page

Display
fkGrotesk
Body
matter
Mono
auxMono
Weights
400

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

Modal

Full Page

Base unit
4 px
Container max
1400 px
2px
4px
6px
8px
10px
12px
16px
18px

Side B · dark

Plasticity

Full Page

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

Motion vocabulary · side by side

Level + durations + easings

Side A · dark

Modal

Full Page

Level
expressive
Libraries

Durations

0.15s0.3s0.5s0.6s0.9s

Easings

cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1)cubic-bezier(0.34, 1.56, …ease-out

Side B · dark

Plasticity

Full Page

Level
subtle
Libraries

Durations

150ms220ms

Easings

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

Palette & spacing overlap

Their palettes share 20% 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 83% (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 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 Modal's dark-first canvas with Plasticity's subtle motion vocabulary produces visual whiplash. Adopt one system as your primary, study the other for individual technique transfers (e.g. Modal's spacing, Plasticity's shadow).

Full Modal brief →Full Plasticity brief →Back to gallery

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