# aesop — Aesop Skincare

- **School**: Editorial / Minimalist
- **Vibe**: Apothecary refinement, sage and ink, serif copy as conversation
- **Best for**: Premium consumer goods (skincare, candles, eyewear), restaurants with literary aspirations, hospitality
- **Touchstone**: aesop.com, Aesop store windows, the brown amber bottle

**Palette**
- Ground: `#E8E4D9` (warm chamois) — sometimes `#F2EFE5`
- Ink: `#1B1B1B` (true near-black for copy)
- Sage muted: `#7A8470`
- Amber bottle accent: `#7A4623` (used very sparingly, e.g., a single rule or seal mark)
- Cream surface: `#F0EDE4`

**Typography**
- Display & body: a single transitional serif at every size — Suisse Works, Lyon Text, or GT Sectra (weight 400, italic available). Aesop pairs serif for body copy with a single sans for UI labels (Söhne or Helvetica Now).
- Body size: 16–18px; line-height ~1.65
- Labels in small caps (10–11px, letter-spaced 0.12em)

**Spacing**: 8 / 16 / 24 / 40 / 72 / 120

**Radius**: 0 throughout, including form fields. Aesop is square-edged.

**Shadow**: none.

**Motion**: subtle fades, slow drawer slide-ins (~450ms ease-out). Never spring-bounce.

**Signature moves**
- Body copy reads like product writing in a literary magazine — long, well-cadenced sentences, justified text, no marketing punchiness
- Product is photographed on a warm chamois surface with a single sage prop (leaf, marble dish, linen) and a long shadow
- Small-caps section labels (`INGREDIENTS` / `RITUAL`) above each block
- All-text navigation in the masthead, letter-spaced
- Asymmetric layouts: image left, generous right-margin block of copy; never centered-everything

**Avoid**
- Bold weights anywhere — Aesop is all regular and italic
- Color other than sage / amber / ink — no blues, no purples, no UI-blue accents
- Pop-up modals (Aesop's UI politely waits)
- Lifestyle stock photography of smiling models — props and product only

**AI prompt seed**
> Amber-glass apothecary bottle on warm chamois #E8E4D9 textured paper, single linen napkin and dried sage sprig, raking afternoon window light, deep soft shadow at lower right, 4:5, editorial product photography, color grading warm with slight green cast.

**Don't use when**
- The product is software or digital-first — Aesop's tactile object photography defines half the recipe; you can't fake it with CSS
- The audience expects price-comparison utility — Aesop never shows pricing prominently
- The voice needs to be funny or casual — Aesop is sincere and slow

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> **Same school — Editorial / Minimalist**: [`apple-hig`](./apple-hig.md) · [`muji-kenya-hara`](./muji-kenya-hara.md) · [`dieter-rams-braun`](./dieter-rams-braun.md) · [`monocle-magazine`](./monocle-magazine.md)  
> **Browse all 25 recipes**: [INDEX.md](./INDEX.md)