taste-skill / Compare styles / Linear vs Loops

Linear vs Loops: design style comparison

Linear is Dark Precision SaaS & Industrial Craftsmanship; Loops is Warm Editorial SaaS & Newsreader Serif Craft. Both were extracted with the same taste-skill pipeline, so every value below is directly comparable. 18 of 18 tracked tokens differ.

Side-by-side preview

Linear style · dark

Ship the product, not the pixels.

Preview text rendered with the extracted Linear canvas, text, muted and accent tokens.

Card on extracted card recipe

Accent link: #5E6AD2 · border rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.08)

Loops style · light

Ship the product, not the pixels.

Preview text rendered with the extracted Loops canvas, text, muted and accent tokens.

Start for free Start for free

Card on extracted card recipe

Accent link: #7D1B0C · border #E9E8E6

Key differences

Linear is a dark design (canvas #08090A) while Loops is light (canvas #FDFDFC).
Accent: #5E6AD2 (Linear) vs #7D1B0C (Loops).
Headings: Inter Variable vs Newsreader.
Display type: Linear H1 is 64px / -0.022em (w510); Loops H1 is 44px / -0.02em (w500) — Linear sets 20px larger headlines.
Primary button radius: 9999px vs 40px; height 32px vs 44px.
Depth: Linear uses rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset most; Loops uses rgba(33, 32, 28, 0.04) 0px 1px 2px 0px most.
Motion: cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94) vs cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1), cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1).

Token table

Token	Linear	Loops
Canvas	`#08090A`	`#FDFDFC`
Surface	`#0F1011`	`#F9F9F8`
Text	`#F7F8F8`	`#21201C`
Muted text	`#8A8F98`	`#63625E`
Accent	`#5E6AD2`	`#7D1B0C`
Border	`rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.08)`	`#E9E8E6`
Heading font	`Inter Variable`	`Newsreader`
Body font	`Inter Variable`	`Inter`
Mono font	`Berkeley Mono`	`SF Mono`
H1	`64px / -0.022em (w510)`	`44px / -0.02em (w500)`
Button radius	`9999px`	`40px`
Button height	`32px`	`44px`
Most-used radius	`8px`	`6px`
Most-used shadow	`rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset`	`rgba(33, 32, 28, 0.04) 0px 1px 2px 0px`
Easing	`cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94)`	`cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1), cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1)`
Duration	`0.7s`	`0.42s, 0.42s`
Container max-width	`1436px`	`1296px`
Mode	`dark`	`light`

Primary buttons

Rendered	Height	Padding	Radius	Background / Text	Border	Font
Sign up	32px	`0px 12px`	`9999px`	`#E5E5E6` `#08090A`	`1px solid #E5E5E6`	`13px / 510`
Get started	44px	`0px 20px`	`9999px`	`#E5E5E6` `#08090A`	`1px solid #E5E5E6`	`16px / 510`
Contact sales	44px	`0px 20px`	`9999px`	`rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05)` `#F7F8F8`	`none`	`16px / 510`

Rendered	Height	Padding	Radius	Background / Text	Border	Font
Start for free	44px	`10px 20px`	`40px`	`#21201C` `#0000EE`	`none`	`12px / 400`
Start for free	52px	`14px 18px`	`999px`	`#FFF4EC` `#FDFDFC`	`none`	`12px / 400`
Start for free	40px	`8px 14px`	`999px`	`transparent` `#FDFDFC`	`none`	`12px / 400`

Which style should you pick?

Pick Linear if you want Ultra-dark #08090A carbon canvas + 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.08) translucent hairlines + Inter Variable 510 weight (-0.022em) + Berkeley Mono telemetry — signals: dark, precision, linear, hairline-borders, bento-grid, issue-tracker, micro-shadows, indigo, carbon-black, dashboard, ai-agents.

Pick Loops if you want Warm ivory #FDFDFC / #F9F9F8 canvas with #E9E8E6 stone borders, #21201C espresso ink, refined 44px Newsreader serif display headlines (-0.02em), and #7D1B0C oxblood / #21201C pill CTAs — signals: light, warm, editorial, serif, newsreader, email, loops, ivory.

Shared traits: saas, minimalist.

Rules that differ

Linear never:

NEVER use pure #000000 for large card surfaces or pure #FFFFFF for body text—always use #08090A canvas, #0F1011/#141516 cards, and #F7F8F8 primary text.
NEVER use thick opaque gray borders (border-gray-700, border-zinc-600)—always use 1px translucent white hairlines (border-white/[0.08] or border-white/[0.05]).
NEVER use standard font-bold (700 or 800) on large headlines—Linear uses custom variable medium weight (font-[510]) with tight negative tracking (tracking-[-0.022em]) and leading-none (1.0).

Loops never:

NEVER substitute generic uncalibrated gray backgrounds for Loops’s exact #FDFDFC canvas and #F9F9F8 surface pairing.
NEVER replace Newsreader display typography or ignore its signature scale (44px / -0.02em (w500)).
NEVER use thick opaque borders that clash with #E9E8E6 (1px solid #E9E8E6).

Go deeper

Linear style guide Loops style guide Linear token spec Loops token spec Linear vs Vercel Linear vs Stripe Linear vs Raycast Linear vs Dub Resend vs Loops Mintlify vs Loops

Values extracted from https://linear.app and https://loops.so. Not affiliated with either company.

Get all 30 full SKILL.md specs (Cursor / Claude Code / Codex ready) plus the Pro growth skills.

See taste-skill Pro →