C2e’s personality with the volume turned down: the paper is barely cream now, the crayon box is a muted field kit, the ink outline drops from 1.5px at 10:1 to 1px at a computed ~3.4:1, and stickers become chips. Orange #ee942b is still the one brand primary — it just covers far less ground. Straight corners, token-drawn diagrams and the gloved floors all survive. Real Dark kept (toggle top-right).
Clean-cornered cards on whisper-warm paper wearing flat notebook tabs, one safety signal per card, orange the only saturated brand mark. The edge is still drawn ink — 1px at a computed 3.42:1 (light) / 3.38:1 (dark), engineered down from C2e’s 10.3:1 but kept above the 3:1 UI floor. Same signature, a third of the shout.
Selected nav = dusty-blue tint + its strong (5.85:1). Avatars go muted too DM. The character lives in warmth and hue, not edge weight.
Quiet warm off-white field #faf8f3, warm-white cards, desaturated accents with corrected -strong values. The C2e fill law, re-verified at these values: ink on #ee942b = 7.07:1 (both themes) — what changes is coverage, not the law. Every fill carries ink, every strong-on-tint pair computed for both themes. Brand #ee942b unchanged (LAW).
Stickers retired — pills are 8px tint chips now. Same pill law: ink label, hue only in the glyph.
Every mark below uses --chart-1…5 and the status tokens — nothing invented. Marks keep the 1px calm outline (the diagram identity survives); values labeled in ink; hue is never the only signal.
Full shadcn drop-in set — names identical to C2e and the shipping app, values muted. JSON twin: foundation-tokens-vE-c2e-calm.json (embeds the full 43-pair computed table per theme).
| Token | Light | Dark | Role · verified pairing |
|---|---|---|---|
| --background | #faf8f3 | #221f1a | quiet warm field — fg 15.71 / 13.53 |
| --card (+fg) | #fffefb · #1f1e1b | #2b2822 · #ece9e1 | surfaces 16.53 / 12.11 |
| --muted-foreground | #6b665a | #aca698 | secondary — on card 5.67 / 6.06 · on wash 4.98 |
| --primary (+fg) | #ee942b · #1f1e1b | same | brand fill — ink on it 7.07 (both, LAW) |
| --primary-strong / -tint | #c2410c / #f9efe1 | #ffb865 / #362a1c | ember on card 5.13, on tint 4.55 · amber on card 8.60 |
| --success (+strong / -tint) | #a5d8ad · #2b6f3a / #e9f3ea | #57b06a · #8bcc97 / #263129 | strong on tint 5.37 / 7.20 · ink on fill 10.34 |
| --info (+strong / -tint) | #9ec5e8 · #1f608e / #e9f0f7 | #6da7d8 · #9cc3e6 / #242d37 | strong on tint 5.85 / 7.55 · ink on fill 9.21 |
| --warning (+strong / -tint) | #f0d078 · #875200 / #f8eed4 | #e6c25c · #ecc884 / #37301f | strong on tint 5.61 / 8.20 · ink on fill 11.11 |
| --destructive (+fg / -strong / -tint) | #c73e36 · #fff · #a52e28 / #f7e4e0 | #e0756c · #1f1e1b · #ec938c / #392525 | white on fill(L) 5.04 · strong on tint 5.67 / 6.22 |
| --action (+strong / -tint) | #f3b878 · #8d4d08 / #f9ead7 | #eda963 · #f2bd85 / #362a1c | strong on tint 5.56 / 8.24 · ink on fill 9.48 |
| --ai · GearBot (+strong / -tint) | #cfa3e3 · #7b4396 / #f3e9f7 | #b98ed3 · #cfaae2 / #322638 | faded grape — strong on tint 5.77 / 7.14 |
| --link / --active-blue | #c2410c | #ffb865 | ember / amber, underlined · dark on bg 9.61 |
| --avatar-bg (+fg) | #9ec5e8 · #1f1e1b | #6da7d8 · #1f1e1b | dusty blue + ink 9.21 / 6.48 |
| --sidebar-primary (+fg) | #e9f0f7 · #1f608e | #242d37 · #9cc3e6 | selected nav 5.85 / 7.55 |
| --sketch-ink | rgba(31,30,27,.52) | rgba(236,233,225,.42) | calm outline vs card 3.42 / 3.38 (floor 3.0 — engineered down from C2e’s 10.32) |
| --chart-1…5 | orange/petrol/moss/grape/brick (muted family) | diagrams match the canvas | |
| --radius / --tap-min / --tap-field | 0.625rem / 44px / 48px — straight, even corners | gloved floors — LAW | |
The bet: the founder liked C2e’s bones but flinched at its volume — sticker rings, 10:1 outlines, deep cream. vE keeps the personality and answers “was it the quirk intensity, not the quirk?” What it deliberately gives up: the instant hand-built charm that made C2e memorable at first glance. Design target, not screenshots.