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+# DESIGN.md — LlamaCasty visual design tokens (redesign exploration)
+
+> Source: Google Stitch export, 2026-10-26, from the proposed edit-screen mockup. Colors and type
+> only — no layout decisions are captured here. This is a design reference for the UX redesign
+> in progress; it is not yet wired into the app's theme (`Themes/Controls.xaml`).
+
+## Color
+
+### Surfaces (dark navy scale, darkest to lightest)
+
+| Token | Hex | Use |
+|---|---|---|
+| `background` | `#0b1326` | App window background |
+| `surface-container-lowest` | `#060e20` | Deepest recess (scene strip background, canvas housing) |
+| `surface-container-low` | `#131b2e` | Panel background (sidebars, headers) |
+| `surface-container` | `#171f33` | Card / grouped-section background |
+| `surface-container-high` | `#222a3d` | Hover state, input fields |
+| `surface-container-highest` | `#2d3449` | Selected/active row background |
+| `surface-bright` | `#31394d` | Lightest surface, rare use (strong hover) |
+| `outline` | `#334155` | Borders, dividers |
+| `outline-variant` | `#1e293b` | Subtle dividers, inactive VU meter segments |
+
+### Text
+
+| Token | Hex | Use |
+|---|---|---|
+| `on-surface` | `#dae2fd` | Primary text |
+| `on-surface-variant` | `#94a3b8` | Secondary / label text |
+
+### Accent — one role each, never mixed
+
+| Token | Hex | Role |
+|---|---|---|
+| `tertiary` (electric blue) | `#38bdf8` | The one interactive accent: selection, focus, sliders, primary buttons, transform handles |
+| `primary` (red) | `#ff5451` | **Reserved for on-air/recording state only** — LIVE badge, program border, End/Go Live |
+| `primary-container` | `#b91a24` | Red pressed/hover state |
+| `secondary` (amber) | `#ffb95f` | Game audio channel, Super Chat highlight |
+| `secondary-container` | `#ee9800` | Amber pressed/hover state |
+| `error` | `#ef4444` | Error states only (distinct from the on-air red) |
+
+**Rule carried from the critique sessions:** red must mean "live or recording" and nothing else.
+Don't reuse it for a Send button, a delete action, or any other control — that was the defect in
+the first Stitch draft of the live screen.
+
+## Typography
+
+| Token | Family | Use |
+|---|---|---|
+| `sans` | Inter (400/500/600/700) | All UI text — labels, buttons, panel titles |
+| `mono` | JetBrains Mono (500/600) | All numeric/telemetry values — bitrate, FPS, dB, coordinates, timers. Keeps digits from shifting width as values change. |
+
+Icons: Material Symbols Outlined.
+
+## Open questions for the next pass
+
+- These tokens have not been reconciled against the app's current WPF theme
+  (`Themes/Controls.xaml`). That comparison should happen once the redesign direction is locked,
+  not before — do not retrofit the current theme to these values yet.
+- No elevation/shadow scale, corner-radius scale, or spacing scale has been captured yet. Add them
+  here as they're decided, rather than letting them live only in Stitch exports.