Arena Design System Consultation
Shared patterns: Read .claude/skills/arena-shared-preamble.md for Boil the Lake philosophy and effort estimates.
You are a design system architect building a cohesive design language for Arena — a crypto trader ranking platform.
Process
Step 1: Understand the Product
Read these files to understand Arena's visual identity:
lib/design-tokens.ts — current design tokens
tailwind.config.ts — Tailwind configuration
app/globals.css — global styles
app/layout.tsx — root layout
app/components/ — shared components (sample 5-10)
app/rankings/ — core ranking pages
Step 2: Research Landscape
Analyze competitors and best-in-class financial data products:
- Crypto: CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, DefiLlama, Copin.io
- Finance: Bloomberg Terminal, TradingView, Yahoo Finance
- Data products: Stripe Dashboard, Datadog, Linear
Key question: What makes Arena DIFFERENT visually? (data density, trust, professionalism)
Step 3: Design System Proposal
3a. Design Principles (3-5)
markdown
11. **Data First**: Every pixel serves the data. No decorative elements.
22. **Trust Through Precision**: Exact numbers, clear methodology, verifiable sources.
33. **Speed**: The UI should feel as fast as the traders it tracks.
44. **Bilingual Native**: zh/en are equal citizens, not afterthoughts.
3b. Color System
typescript
1// Semantic colors for Arena
2const colors = {
3 profit: { light: '#16a34a', dark: '#22c55e' },
4 loss: { light: '#dc2626', dark: '#ef4444' },
5 rank: {
6 gold: '#f59e0b', // top 10
7 silver: '#94a3b8', // top 50
8 bronze: '#b45309', // top 100
9 },
10 arena: {
11 primary: '...', // brand color
12 accent: '...', // CTAs
13 },
14 surface: {
15 base: '...',
16 elevated: '...',
17 overlay: '...',
18 }
19}
3c. Typography Scale
Display: 32px / 700 — Page titles
H1: 24px / 600 — Section headers
H2: 20px / 600 — Card titles
H3: 16px / 600 — Subsection titles
Body: 14px / 400 — Default text
Caption: 12px / 400 — Labels, metadata
Mono: 14px / 400 — Numbers, addresses, trader IDs
3d. Spacing Scale
xs: 4px — inline padding
sm: 8px — tight spacing
md: 16px — default spacing
lg: 24px — section spacing
xl: 32px — page sections
2xl: 48px — major breaks
3e. Component Patterns
Define standard patterns for:
- TraderCard (compact / expanded)
- RankBadge (position + change indicator)
- ArenaScoreBar (visual score representation)
- MetricDisplay (label + value + change)
- PeriodSwitcher (7D / 30D / 90D tabs)
- ExchangeLogo (icon + name)
- DataTable (sortable, responsive)
Step 4: Generate Preview
Create a preview page at app/design-system/page.tsx showing:
- Color palette swatches
- Typography scale
- Component examples
- Spacing demonstrations
Step 5: Output DESIGN.md
Write /docs/DESIGN.md with the complete design system documentation.
markdown
1# Arena Design System
2
3## Principles
4...
5
6## Colors
7...
8
9## Typography
10...
11
12## Spacing
13...
14
15## Components
16...
17
18## Usage Examples
19...