88 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
# Monobiome
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`monobiome` is a minimal, balanced color palette for use in terminals and text editors. It
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was designed in OKLCH space to achieve perceptual uniformity across all hues at various
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levels of luminance, and does so for _four_ monotone bases and _five_ accent colors. Each
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of the monotone base colors (named according to a natural biome whose colors they loosely
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resemble) are designed to achieve identical contrast with the accents, and thus any one of
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the four can be selected to change the feeling of the palette without sacrificing
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readability.
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_(Default light theme variants)_
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_(Default dark theme variants)_
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See screenshots for the full set of theme variants in [THEMES](THEMES.md) (also discussed
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below).
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The name "monobiome" connects the palette to its two key sources of inspiration:
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- `mono-`: `monobiome` is inspired by the [`monoindustrial` theme][1], and attempts to extend
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and balance its accents while retaining similar color identities.
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- `-biome`: the desire for several distinct monotone options entailed finding a way to ground the
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subtle color variations that were needed, and I liked the idea of tying the choices to
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naturally occurring environmental variation like Earth's biomes (even if it is a very
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loose affiliation, e.g., green-ish = grass, basically).
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## Palette
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The `monobiome` palette consists of four monotone bases and five accent colors, each of
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which is anchored by hue and spread uniformly across lightness levels 15 to 95 (in OKLCH
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space).
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The chroma curve for each accent is carefully designed to vary smoothly across the
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lightness spectrum, with the goal of retaining strong color identity in all settings.
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Additionally, as alluded to above, the (WCAG 2) contrast ratio between any choice of
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monotone background at a given lightness level and the accent colors is virtually
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identical ($\pm 0.1$). Put another way, the relative contrast between accents depends only
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on the _lightness_ of the background monotone, not its hue.
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## Concrete themes
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Themes are derived from the `monobiome` palette by varying both the monotone hue (the
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"biome") and the extent of the background/foreground lightness (the "harshness"). This is
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done for both light and dark schemes, and in each case accent colors are selected at a
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lightness level that ensures each meet a minimum contrast relative to the primary
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background. The following diagram shows each of the 24 resulting combinations:
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The "soft" harshness level uses monotone shades closer to the mid-shade (lightness level
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55), whereas "hard" harshness uses shades further from it. Once the biome and harshness
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level are chosen, we're left with a bounded monotone range over which common theme
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elements can be defined. For example, the following demonstrates how background and
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foreground elements are chosen for the `monobiome` Vim themes:
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Note how theme elements are mapped onto the general identifiers `bg0-bg3` for backgrounds,
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`fg0-fg3` for foregrounds, and `gray` for a central gray tone. The relative properties
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(lightness differences, contrast ratios) between colors assigned to these identifiers are
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preserved regardless of biome or harshness (e.g., `bg3` and `grey` are _always_ separated
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by 20 lightness points in any theme). As a result, applying `monobiome` themes to specific
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applications can effectively boil down to defining a single "relative template" that uses
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these identifiers, after which any of the 24 theme options can applied immediately.
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Read more about how themes are created in [DESIGN](DESIGN.md).
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# Usage
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This repo provides the 24 theme files for `kitty`, `vim`/`neovim`, [`vim-airline`][2], and
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`fzf`. We also provide the raw palette colors if you want to use them to define themes for
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other applications.
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## `kitty`
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## `vim`/`neovim`
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## `vim-airline`
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## `fzf`
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[1]: https://github.com/isa/TextMate-Themes/blob/master/monoindustrial.tmTheme
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[2]: https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline
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