Typography

The Cheetah type system has three voices, each doing exactly one thing.

• Monda — display headings (humanist geometric sans, two weights)
• JetBrains Mono — body + code (everything you read sits on the same grid)
• Departure Mono — HUD chrome (instrument-readout voice, bitmap-pixel character)

Sans for display + mono for content is a deliberate split. The display sans carries editorial confidence at hero scale; the mono body keeps the reading experience tied to the code samples it's full of. Departure Mono lives only in the chrome.

The three voices

Monda — display

Used for all display headings: hero, H1, H2, H3. Two weights available — Regular (400) and Bold (700).

Why Monda. Humanist geometric sans by Vernon Adams. Open apertures, geometric construction, mild stroke modulation. Not as architectural as Söhne or Science Gothic — slightly warmer — but the warmth keeps headings from feeling clinical against the all-mono body. The two-weight limit forces restraint: there's no headline weight to abuse, no light weight to drift into.

Display headings get slight negative tracking (-0.015em to -0.02em) at Bold. Bold at large sizes carries enough weight without needing an extrabold.

JetBrains Mono — body and code

Used for body text, navigation, button labels, code blocks, and inline code. Variable weight axis 100–800.

Why everything-mono for content. Cheetah is a precision-instrument platform. Reading the docs should feel like reading system output — every character on a grid, no proportional flourish. The visual cohesion between prose and code samples (both JetBrains Mono) erases the boundary between narrative and example. When a paragraph mentions an SDK function and that function appears in the next code block, they read as one continuous thing.

Why JetBrains Mono specifically. Most architectural free mono available — designed for code reading without visual noise. No humanist terminals on l, t, r, or m. Straight stems, geometric construction, clean shoulders. Also already the convention in cheetah-ui's design tokens, so the docs and product share a mono voice.

This sans-display + mono-body split is the strong choice. It tilts the docs toward "developer console" rather than "magazine editorial." If a page leans marketing-adjacent and the mono body feels wrong, fix the page voice — not the typography.

Departure Mono — HUD chrome

The "old-school space age" voice. Bitmap-pixel monospace that reads as instrument-panel telemetry. Used only for HUD chrome: applies-to banners, status strips, build stamps, numbered indicators, the alpha banner. Never for body text, never for code.

When JetBrains Mono and Departure Mono share a surface, Departure Mono should always feel like the chrome wrapping the JetBrains Mono content — like CRT phosphor readouts on the edges of a mainframe terminal. The contrast is the point.

Scale

The display scale uses clamp() for fluid sizing — type grows from a comfortable mobile size to a confident desktop hero without breakpoint jumps. Monospace at fixed-width: tracking sits at zero or slightly negative — never aggressive — because manual tracking fights the natural rhythm of the grid.

Examples

H1 — page title

Body + inline code

Note how inline code distinguishes from body via color and surface, not via family — both are JetBrains Mono. This is correct.

HUD strip

Rules

1. Two voices, no others. JetBrains Mono for everything you read, Departure Mono for instrument readouts. There is no third family. If a design feels like it needs one, the answer is almost always color, weight, or background — not a new typeface.
2. Never use Departure Mono for body text or code. When it shows up, it means "the system is talking about itself" — a banner, a stamp, a status. Using it for prose breaks the metaphor.
3. Inline code differentiates by color + background, not family. Both body and code are JetBrains Mono. The teal color and code-surface background do the distinguishing.
4. Tracking sits at zero. Monospace already establishes its rhythm with fixed character widths. Manual tracking fights it. Display can go very slightly negative if needed but never more than -0.005em.
5. HUD type is always uppercase, always letter-spaced. Departure Mono in lowercase looks wrong. The hud utility class enforces this (text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.08em).
6. Don't enable too many OpenType features. JetBrains Mono ships with sensible defaults. Subtle alternates like ss03 are fine; stacking many stylistic sets dilutes the consistency.