Atlas looks like a well-set financial newspaper crossed with a terminal. Editorial serif for anything human, monospace for anything measured, and nothing rounded anywhere. This page is the reference for extending it — including the mascot.
Hairlines are rgba(242,240,234,0.12). Lifted surfaces are
rgba(242,240,234,0.08). There are no drop shadows and no gradients,
except a subtle angular one inside progress rings.
Never SF Pro. Numerals are always tabular so columns align. Labels are always uppercase and tracked. Body copy barely exists — if something needs a paragraph it usually needs redesigning.
Hard edges. Mitred joins. Straight lines wherever one will do. Flat fills. 1px hairlines instead of borders or shadows.
Rounded corners, pills, capsules, soft shadows, gradients, glassmorphism, or anything that looks like a default iOS control.
Treat data as texture — grids of squares, bar columns, dot matrices, thin full-bleed rails.
Use illustration, mascbots, emoji, or decorative iconography where a shape or a number would carry the meaning.
The chess pieces are the clearest expression of this: drawn as geometry, not glyphs.
The identity is geometric and anti-decorative. A soft, rounded, friendly creature would fight everything above — it would look bolted on. What fits is something that reads as constructed.
Reference points that fit the language: the knight above, a stacked cairn, an angular constellation, a surveyor's mark, a folded paper form. Something with the character of an instrument rather than a pet.
Test: if it can't be described as assembled rather than drawn, it's probably wrong for Atlas.