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Phase 3 · Design system foundations

The design language, working.

Every element on this page is rendered by the production stylesheet and script that will be handed to the Oracle APEX team. Components are shown inside marketing compositions, not in isolation, so the language can be judged as a website.

Start with typography Dashed outlines mark sample content when ?samples is in the URL.

Brand foundations

Approved lockups, the gear-e mark, the gear-petal pattern and the two background worlds. Logos are never redrawn, rotated or recoloured. Clear space equals the width of the “e” in the wordmark.

Lockup on light assets/brand/logo.png
Projects Expert
Lockup on dark assets/brand/logo-lockup-white.png
Projects Expert
Icon mark icon.png · logo-icon.svg
Projects Expert gear-e mark
Oracle Partner co-brand dark surfaces only
Oracle Partner
Pattern marks orange = accent · silver = ambient · silver-on-dark derived
Orange gear-petal markSilver gear-petal markSilver gear-petal mark, dark-surface variant
Pattern in use: corner crops at large scale, never the full mark centred this is the rule the drivetrain motion obeys

Brand in use

Empowering Project Success

Background worlds no pure black anywhere
WhiteDefault page surface
CloudSubtle section alternate
Silver gradientTestimonial / quiet sections
Dark teal gradientHeroes, CTA bands, proof
Panel tealStrips, tiles, icon tiles

Typography system

Figtree stands in for the brand’s commercial Artific face on headings and buttons; Lato carries body copy, eyebrows and labels. The scale is fluid: each step tightens from the design-system desktop size to a mobile floor without breakpoint overrides.

Hero fragment — the drivetrain hero, real copy, real motion pe-hero--drivetrain · scroll to drive the gears

Experts in Oracle PPM · United Kingdom

Empowering Project Success

We design, deliver and optimise your project management for real business impact: specialist SaaS solutions and advisory services for Oracle Project Portfolio Management Cloud.

Years of industry experience
20+
Years of industry experience
Focus
100%
Oracle PPM focused
Location
UK
Based, delivering globally
Scale design-system px at 1440 → mobile floor at 390
DisplayFigtree 600 · 64→40px · 1.06

Empowering Project Success

H1Figtree 600 · 48→34px · 1.06

The first Oracle-native Projects Extension

H2Figtree 600 · 36→28px · 1.1

Advisory from people who build on Oracle every day

H3Figtree 600 · 26→22px · 1.15

PMO / PPM Health Checks

H4Figtree 600 · 20→18px · 1.15

Release & Regression Management

LedeLato 400 · 20→18px · 1.55

We implement what we recommend, and we build software on the same platform we advise on.

BodyLato 400 · 16px · 1.6

Oracle Cloud is the system of record. Our products are the layer that makes it effortless, designed by industry experts and delivered as enterprise SaaS.

SmallLato 400 · 14px

Quarterly update impact analysis, testing and remediation.

EyebrowLato 700 · 13px · caps · 0.18em

02Advisory Services

CaptionLato 400/700 · 12px

Placeholder pending approved client reference

Section heading group index + eyebrow + title with one accent word + lede

01Native Oracle Solutions

Software that takes Oracle PPM further.

Oracle Cloud is the system of record. Our products are the layer that makes it effortless.

The index number is part of the “machinery” story: sections are numbered like drawings in an engineering set. One orange word per headline, never two.

Long-form measure pe-prose · 68ch

Why the measure matters

Long-form pages such as Resource Detail, Legal and Advisory Detail hold copy to a 68-character measure. Wider lines are harder to track back to the next line start, and on this site the containers are wide enough to make that mistake easy.

Inline links look like this teal underline and darken on hover. Lists keep their markers:

  • Configuration, data migration, integrations and cutover
  • Managed end to end

Colour roles

A deep-teal world with a single signal. The seven brand colours are preserved verbatim; three colours are added for text-on-dark, error and success, each with a reason in docs/tokens.md.

Brand palette brand guidelines p.7, verbatim
Ink#162026 · headings
Teal 900#072D33 · dark surface, hover
Teal 600#2A5862 · primary button
Teal 500#3A7C8A · links, eyebrows, focus
Teal 300#49A5B8 · decorative on dark
Orange#FF510A · brand accent: one headline word, decorative only
White#FFFFFF
Extended set from the design system + three Phase 3 additions
Teal 700#005A69 · panel / icon tiles
Orange deep#C93D05 · accessible CTA fill; accent text on tints
Teal 200 · new#8ECAD7 · small text on dark
Mist#DBE8EA
Cloud#EEF3F4
Silver#E4E9EB
Body text#3D4A50
Muted text#5F6E74 · white and cloud (RB-01)
Error · new#B42318
Success · new#1B7F5A
Do one highlighted word

Empowering Project Success

Don’t orange as a field colour

Empowering Project Success

On tinted surfaces accent auto-deepens to orange deep

Specialists, not generalists.

Why the third panel exists. Brand orange measures 2.9:1 on cloud and 2.7:1 on silver, below the 3:1 floor even for large text. The stylesheet switches .pe-accent to orange deep inside subtle and silver sections automatically. If an accent word still reads poorly in a given composition, omit the accent rather than force it.

Container and grid

Twelve columns. 1200px is the default; 1320px is a wide-composition option used where a layout genuinely benefits (Home, mega menu, product heroes, storytelling). Long-form text never spans either: it sits on a 68ch measure.

Default container · 1200 gutters 24 / 48 / 64 by breakpoint · gap 16 / 24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Wide composition container · 1320 pe-container--wide · selective
7 · narrative
5 · media
8 · main
4 · sidebar
Reading measure · 68ch pe-container--narrow / pe-prose

This paragraph is held to sixty-eight characters per line regardless of how wide the page is. Product heroes may use the wide container; a privacy policy never will.

Named grids pe-grid--2 · --3 · --4 · --split · --sidebar (8/4) · --narrative (7/5)
--4
collapses
to 2
then 1

Spacing and rhythm

A ten-step scale from 4px to 128px. Section rhythm is fluid: 48px on a phone rising to 96px on desktop, with a larger 64 to 128px rhythm for Home and storytelling sections.

Scale
space-1 · 4px
space-2 · 8px
space-3 · 12px
space-4 · 16px
space-5 · 24px
space-6 · 32px
space-7 · 48px
space-8 · 64px
space-9 · 96px
space-10 · 128px
Section rhythm --pe-section (48→96) · --pe-section-lg (64→128)
Hero
section · 48 → 96
Products
section · 48 → 96
Services
section-lg · 64 → 128
CTA band

Within a section: heading group to content = 48 (64 on desktop); card padding = 32 (24 on phone); element gaps = 12 / 16 / 24.

Buttons

Primary is deep teal. Accent orange is reserved for the single highest-value action on a page, which sitewide is Book a Demo. Secondary and ghost live on light surfaces; inverse lives on dark. 44px standard, 52px large, 36px small.

In context: light section CTA primary + secondary

02Advisory Services

Advisory from people who build on Oracle every day.

In context: dark surface accent + inverse

A 30-minute consultation with an Oracle PPM specialist.

Variants and sizes

Orange roles (locked). Filled CTA buttons use --pe-orange-deep (#C93D05, 5.06:1 with white text). Brand orange #FF510A stays the accent: one headline word, decorative gear tint, accent icons. Never white text on brand orange.

Form controls

Shown inside the Contact / Demo composition it will live in. One field pattern (label above, hint, error) covers text, email, select, textarea, checkbox and radio. Validation runs on blur and submit; submission itself is APEX-owned. Try submitting the form empty.

Contact / Demo fragment pe-grid--narrative · data-pe-form="demo"

Book a Demo

See Oracle PPM working harder.

Thirty minutes with an Oracle PPM specialist. Your portfolio, your systems, no generic pitch.

  • A specialist, not a sales engineer
  • Your data model, not a canned dataset
  • A written summary within two working days
info@projectsexpert.com
+44 20 4652 4662 · United Kingdom

Product pages pre-select this for you.

Preferred timing
Thank you. A specialist will be in touch within one working day.
Please correct the highlighted fields.
No spam. No newsletters unless you ask.

APEX mapping. Each .pe-field is an Item Template (label above, hint, error slot). The submit handler is a documented stub; PE.forms.validate(form) returns a boolean the APEX process can call first. The honeypot is a convenience only; real spam control is server-side.

Cards and content surfaces

Cards are used sparingly and always in a composition. Product cards carry a corner gear that turns on hover; resource cards carry a category tag; story cards on dark carry a metric pair. The spec-row list is the alternative to cards for services: rigorous, text-forward, no boxes.

Product composition pe-card--interactive · corner gear · check list

01Native Oracle Solutions

Software that takes Oracle PPM further.

All products

Native Oracle Solution

Mass Data Exchange

Mass updates made simple.

Built for business users, trusted by Oracle specialists. Bulk data migration, validation, system-to-system transfer and data quality on Oracle PPM Cloud.

  • Bulk Data Migration
  • Data Validation
  • System-to-System Transfer

Native Oracle Solution

Contract Connect

Every obligation, visible.

Contract visibility, obligation tracking, change control and commercial reporting, connected to the projects they govern.

  • Contract Visibility
  • Obligation Tracking
  • Change Control

Flagship platform

Projects Expert

Project governance, portfolio, financial, resource and risk management, reporting and analytics, AI and automation, natively on Oracle PPM Cloud.

Resource composition pe-card--resource on cloud · tag + meta · whole card clickable

07Insights & Resources

Thinking that keeps portfolios moving.

Customer proof on dark pe-card--inverse · metric pair · quote

05Customer Stories

Proof, measured in delivery.

International Development

Global development institution

Consolidated a multi-region project portfolio onto Oracle PPM Cloud with Mass Data Exchange handling the historic data estate.

Professional Services

Big Four consultancy

Extended Oracle PPM with governance workflows and portfolio dashboards across thousands of concurrent engagements.

They understand Oracle PPM at a depth we simply had not seen from larger firms, and their software closed gaps we assumed we would have to live with.

PMO Director

Global development institution

Approval pending: all client names, metrics and quotes above are illustrative placeholders from the draft and are listed in docs/approval-register.md.

Spec rows: the services list pattern pe-spec · icon tile · name · one-line tagline · arrow · hover recolours the dividers only
Surface variants default · subtle · shadow · inverse · panel

Default

Hairline border, white.

Subtle

Cloud fill, no border.

Shadow

Quiet cool shadow, for one featured item.

Panel

Panel teal, white text.

Whole-card click rule (locked). A card is one link only when it has one destination. Cards holding secondary links, buttons, downloads or form controls use explicit links instead: one logical focus target, a proper accessible name, a visible focus state, no nested links.

Icons

The shipped brand set: 56 thin-outline glyphs from the client deck. On the site they appear either inside a panel-teal tile (white glyph) or raw on light surfaces at 24px. No icon font, no emoji, no third-party icon libraries. Arrows and chevrons are inline SVG so they inherit colour.

Icon tiles pe-icon-tile · 48px · --lg 64px · --light · --inverse
Library sample assets/icons/ · semantic filenames
advisory-consult
bar-chart
certificate
chart-cycle
checklist-pen
cloud-data
collaboration-idea
dashboard-monitor
data-distribution
database-server
doc-gear-star
engineer-gears
finance-doc
gears-check-cycle
gears-pair
idea-gear
money-flow
presenter-gear
target-gear
team
training-laptop
check-circle-orange
chevron-circle-teal
lifebuoy-brand

Tags, categories and filters

Category tags label content; solution tags list capabilities on product pages; status tags mark events. Filter chips are links (server filtering) with aria-current for the active state, and collapse to a select on phones.

Category, status, solution
ArticleGuideWhite PaperNews & UpdatesThought LeadershipCustomer Story
Live · 24 SepOn demand
Bulk Data MigrationData ValidationSystem-to-System TransferData Quality
On dark
ConstructionEnergy & UtilitiesInfrastructure
Filter bar in the Resources Hub chips ≥768 · select below · counts optional

CTA patterns

Three conversion patterns. The global CTA band closes most pages and lives on APEX Page 0. The inline strip sits mid-page after a proof section. The CTA tile completes a card grid so the last cell is an ask, not an empty slot.

Global CTA band pe-cta-band · framed by two counter-rotating brand gears

Augment. Specialise. Connect.

A 30-minute consultation with an Oracle PPM specialist: your portfolio, your systems, no generic pitch.

Inline strip pe-cta-inline · mid-page

Cloud Solutions

Secure, scalable cloud architecture underpinning every product, and available as a foundation for your own Oracle Cloud estate.

Read More
CTA tile completing an industry grid pe-cta-tile

Focus, hover, active and disabled

Hover darkens one step; press darkens two; nothing scales down. Hairline rows (spec, list, story, job, index and route rows) are the exception: on hover only their two divider lines turn teal, with no fill, shift or title change. Focus is a solid 2px teal ring offset 3px on light, white on dark, and it never depends on colour alone. The simulated states below are static; tab through the live examples in earlier sections to see the real thing.

Buttons
Disabled
Hairline rows pe-spec__row · pe-list__row · pe-story-row · pe-job · pe-tindex__link · pe-routes
Links, chips, fields, cards
DefaultSweep linkChip
HoverSweep linkChip
FocusSweep linkChip
Selected / invalidVisited-styleChip

This entry is not valid.

Disabled / validSweep linkChip

Motion foundation

One idea, applied with restraint: the page is a drivetrain. Every brand gear on the page is geared to the same scroll position and differs only by ratio, direction and lag. Everything else moves once, on entry, then stays still. Use the Motion switch in the top bar to compare full, reduced and off.

Drivetrain: three gears, three ratios data-pe-gear-speed · -direction · -lag · scroll at different speeds

How it reads

Speed 1.0 · clockwise · lag 1.2s
Speed 2.4 · counter · lag 0.9s
Speed 1.4 · clockwise · lag 1.6s

Higher lag trails the scroll, so a fast flick visibly spins the gear up and settles. Meshed pairs always counter-rotate.

Reveal on enter data-pe-reveal · staggered by data-pe-reveal-delay

01

Fade and rise 28px, 900ms, expo-out.

02

Second item, 120ms later.

03

Third, 240ms.

04

Once revealed, never re-hides.

Counters and connector data-pe-counter · pe-drive-joint

65%

faster period close

4,200

projects under control

£2bn+

portfolio value

Counters keep prefix and suffix, count over 1.4s with a quartic ease, and snap to the exact text at the end. Under reduced motion they render the final value immediately.

Timing tokens
Fast · 140ms--pe-dur-fast colour, border, opacity on hover
Base · 220ms--pe-dur-base arrows, card lift, accordion icon
Slow · 400ms--pe-dur-slow underline sweep, reduced-motion reveal
Reveal · 900ms--pe-dur-reveal expo-out, 28px rise
Gear lag · 0.8–1.8sdata-pe-gear-lag ScrollTrigger scrub
Idle spin · 160s--pe-gear-idle hero wheel only

Principles. Nothing bounces. Nothing loops except the hero idle spin, the eyebrow ping and the scroll cue. Motion is opacity and transform only, so it never causes layout shift. Reduced motion removes all decorative motion and keeps reveals as a 400ms fade; “off” removes everything. Lenis smooth scroll is off by default and only enabled with data-pe-smooth="on".

Responsive examples

The same composition rendered live at 390 and 768 wide, and at 1440 scaled to fit. Reference widths are 390, 768, 1024, 1280 and 1440. Navigation switches at the single token --pe-bp-nav (1200px), built in Phase 4.

Mobile · 3901 column · select filter · stacked form
Tablet · 7682 columns · chips · paired fields
Desktop · 1440 (scaled)3 columns · full spec rows · 7/5 narrative grid
Behaviour by breakpoint
Component≥12001024–1199768–1023<768
HeaderFull nav, search, CTACompact: logo, search, CTA, burgerCompactLogo, CTA, burger
Card grids3–4 columns3 columns2 columns1 column
Spec rows4-column row4-column row4-column rowStacked, no arrow
Filter barChipsChipsChips, scrollSelect
Anchor navSticky railSticky top barSticky top barSticky top bar, scroll
FormsPaired fieldsPairedPairedSingle column
Stat row3–4 across3 across3 across2 × 2
CTA bandTwo gearsTwo gearsOne gearNo gears
BreadcrumbFullFullFullFirst › … › last two
Section rhythm96 / 128~84~7248 / 64

Accessibility states

WCAG 2.2 AA is the target. The contrast table below is computed, not estimated. Three brand pairings needed rules rather than colour changes; the CTA fill uses the deeper orange token.

Contrast ratios AA: 4.5:1 text · 3:1 large text (≥24px, or ≥18.66px bold) and UI
PairingRatioResultRule in the stylesheet
Ink on white16.55PassHeadings
Body on white9.16PassBody copy
Muted on white5.30PassCaptions and meta (token adjusted from #6B7A80, review RB-01)
Muted on cloud4.73PassAlso valid on cloud; body colour on silver and mist
Teal 500 on white4.74PassLinks, eyebrows, focus ring
Teal 300 on white2.85FailNever text on light; decorative only
Teal 200 on dark gradient4.76–8.09PassEyebrows and labels on dark (new token)
Teal 300 on dark gradient3.02–5.14Large onlyReplaced by teal 200 for small text
White on teal 600 / 700 / 9007.86 / 7.88 / 14.66PassPrimary button, tiles, dark surfaces
Orange on white3.26Large onlyAccent word in headlines ≥24px
Orange on dark end / flat teal 9004.21 / 4.49Large onlyAccent word on dark; headlines sit on the dark end
Orange on cloud / silver2.92 / 2.67FailAuto-switch to orange deep (4.4 on cloud)
White on brand orange3.26Not usedBrand orange is never a fill behind text
White on orange deep (CTA fill)5.06PassAll filled accent buttons
Error on white6.57PassField errors
Success on white4.96PassForm success
Keyboard tab through these

Accordion trigger is a real button inside a heading, so screen readers get both the structure and the state.

Rules applied everywhere
  • Skip link is the first focusable element (press Tab from the address bar).
  • One h1 per page, in the hero; sections are h2, cards h3.
  • Touch targets are at least 44px; chips are 40px tall with 8px gaps, buttons 44 and 52.
  • Card-wide click areas use one link with a stretched pseudo-element, so there is one tab stop per card.
  • Errors are announced through role="alert" and tied to fields with aria-describedby; focus moves to the first invalid field.
  • Decorative gears and glows are aria-hidden and pointer-inert.
  • Reduced motion is honoured by CSS and by the script; the page is complete with zero motion.
  • Hover never reveals anything that focus and tap cannot also reach.

Image treatments

Five treatments, chosen per storytelling need, so the site feels coherent without being uniformly filtered. Teal duotone is used selectively where it strengthens the brand. Placeholders stand in for approved imagery; the treatment classes are production.

A · Natural pe-media
Documentary photography, people at work, no filter
B · Brand-treated pe-media--brand
Gentle teal cast, skin tones preserved
C · Teal duotone pe-media--duotone
Graphic backdrop for heroes and story headers
D · Product / interface pe-media--product
D · Product on dark pe-media--product-dark
E · Technical illustration pe-media--illustration

Use. A for people and places; B when a photo sits next to brand surfaces and needs to belong; C for full-bleed section backdrops and customer-story headers; D for every product UI shot, never filtered; E for process and mechanism explainers.

Inner-page components

Introduced with the Solutions templates and reused by every long-form page: the rail layout with anchored blocks, solution areas, the feature grid, process steps and the category node. All are hairline-led; none are cards.

Rail layout with anchored blocks pe-layout-rail · pe-anchor-nav · pe-block · pe-areas · pe-steps

Overview

Numbered block with a hairline top, a lede at 36rem and a 7/5 narrative grid.

Long-form copy sits on the left at the reading measure. The aside carries a small-caps heading and a hairline list, which is the pattern for "built for", "includes" and "outputs".

Solution areas

01

Project Governance

Stage gates, approvals and audit trails on every project record.

  • Stage gates
  • Approvals

02

Portfolio Management

Prioritise, balance and fund the portfolio against strategy.

  • Prioritisation
  • Funding

Process steps and feature grid

1

Assess

Five steps: three across at 1024, five from 1280.

2

Design

Hairline with a dot marker per step.

3

Implement

Numbers in Figtree 300.

4

Enable

Two across at 768.

5

Run

Stacked below.

Bulk Data Migration

Icon tile, title, one paragraph. Hairline top, no box.

Data Validation

Two columns from 640; the column count is a custom property.

Category node pe-node--function · h2 id equals the future slug · fits lists use pe-node__fits-title

Handover rules

Shared-system rules added in the final QA pass. They apply to every template and are encoded in pe.css; the full list is in docs/tokens.md and the audits in docs/handover/.

  • Contrast. Block index numerals teal-500; links and small accent type on tinted sections teal-600; small type on dark tiles white at 88%.
  • Hidden wins. [hidden] is display:none !important; empty states and state-driven blocks rely on it.
  • Narrow screens. Buttons wrap below 480px; the header compacts below 400px; chips wrap from 768px and become a select below.
  • Semantics. Supplementary blocks are divs, not asides; table wrappers are focusable labelled regions; rail links carry aria-current when active; every image has intrinsic dimensions.
  • Markup discipline. Only custom-property hooks may be inline; gear positions and all other variation are classes. Content status markers (data-pe-status, data-pe-sample, data-pe-approval) must survive into APEX until resolved.