taste-skill / Compare styles / Linear vs Vercel

Linear vs Vercel: design style comparison

Linear is Dark Precision SaaS & Industrial Craftsmanship; Vercel is Geist Architectural Grid & Swiss Precision Monochrome. Both were extracted with the same taste-skill pipeline, so every value below is directly comparable. 17 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)

Vercel style · light

Ship the product, not the pixels.

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

Card on extracted card recipe

Accent link: #0070F3 · border #EBEBEB

Key differences

Linear is a dark design (canvas #08090A) while Vercel is light (canvas #FAFAFA).
Accent: #5E6AD2 (Linear) vs #0070F3 (Vercel).
Headings: Inter Variable vs GeistSans.
Display type: Linear H1 is 64px / -0.022em (w510); Vercel H1 is 64px / -0.06em (w400).
Primary button radius: 9999px vs 6px; height 32px vs 32px.
Depth: Linear uses rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset most; Vercel uses rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgb(235, 235, 235) 0px 0px 0px 1px most.
Motion: cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94) vs cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1).

Token table

Token	Linear	Vercel
Canvas	`#08090A`	`#FAFAFA`
Surface	`#0F1011`	`#FFFFFF`
Text	`#F7F8F8`	`#171717`
Muted text	`#8A8F98`	`#4D4D4D`
Accent	`#5E6AD2`	`#0070F3`
Border	`rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.08)`	`#EBEBEB`
Heading font	`Inter Variable`	`GeistSans`
Body font	`Inter Variable`	`GeistSans`
Mono font	`Berkeley Mono`	`GeistMono`
H1	`64px / -0.022em (w510)`	`64px / -0.06em (w400)`
Button radius	`9999px`	`6px`
Button height same	`32px`	`32px`
Most-used radius	`8px`	`6px`
Most-used shadow	`rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset`	`rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgb(235, 235, 235) 0px 0px 0px 1px`
Easing	`cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.46, 0.45, 0.94)`	`cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)`
Duration	`0.7s`	`0.1s`
Container max-width	`1436px`	`1448px`
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
Sign Up	32px	`0px 6px`	`6px`	`#171717` `#FFFFFF`	`none`	`14px / 500`
Deploy now	40px	`0px 12px`	`9999px`	`#171717` `#FFFFFF`	`none`	`16px / 500`
Log In	32px	`0px 6px`	`6px`	`#FFFFFF` `#171717`	`none`	`14px / 500`

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, saas, linear, hairline-borders, bento-grid, issue-tracker, minimalist, micro-shadows, indigo, carbon-black, dashboard, ai-agents.

Pick Vercel if you want Architectural #FAFAFA / #FFFFFF daylight grid with exposed 1px #EBEBEB structural hairlines, corner crosshair markers, ultra-tight -0.06em GeistSans display type, and #171717 monochrome CTAs — signals: light, monochrome, grid, crosshairs, geist, vercel, developer, cloud, infra, minimal, swiss, high-contrast, 1px-grid.

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).

Vercel never:

NEVER substitute generic uncalibrated gray backgrounds for Vercel’s exact #FAFAFA canvas and #FFFFFF surface pairing.
NEVER replace GeistSans display typography or ignore its signature scale (64px / -0.06em (w400)).
NEVER use thick opaque borders that clash with #EBEBEB (1px solid #EBEBEB).

Go deeper

Linear style guide Vercel style guide Linear token spec Vercel token spec Linear vs Stripe Linear vs Raycast Linear vs Dub Linear vs Loops Vercel vs Railway Vercel vs Framer

Values extracted from https://linear.app and https://vercel.com. Not affiliated with either company.

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