The language Unicorn
is built in.

The unicorn is built from terminal block glyphs, not an illustration. The exact same pixel sprite -- horn, mane, and tail in lilac, body in peach -- is the single logo across every surface: the terminal hook that prints at the start of each Claude Code session, the desktop app icon, the preloader, and the Taste panel's Logo row. It is rendered as text or solid pixels, never as a smooth vector, so it always reads as made of pixels.

Two signature colors carry everything: peach and lilac. Cream is the text; near-black is the void. Tomato is a rare accent for destructive or urgent moments only.

Peach to lilac is the one gesture that signals Unicorn, and it shows up as a 1px gradient stroke in two forms, matched to scale. Both are drawn with the same mask-composite technique so the gradient sits on the edge, not the fill -- light does the work, fills are avoided.

Where each form lands. The signature shows up two ways depending on the surface -- and the banners break from both: they are filled, not stroked.

Two families. Ubuntu Sans for body and reading; Ubuntu Sans Mono for display, labels, and anything that should feel like the terminal. Three sizes only: meta, body, display. Restraint over a type ramp.

Three levels of cream, by opacity. Loud enough to read, quiet enough to layer over the desktop.

Panels are liquid glass: a translucent dark fill (rgba(22,22,22,0.78)) with a generous 26px backdrop blur and a soft drop shadow for depth (0 6px 16px rgba(0,0,0,0.35)). The edge is the signature peach→lilac gradient stroke that fades at the top-right and bottom-left corners -- the same edge as the icon and the window. A soft hairline still sits under each header. Radii: 18px for panels, 6px for chips and inputs.

Neutral buttons stay calm: a background tint shifts on hover, with no border-color swap. The primary action -- the compose CTA is the showpiece: it rests as a void fill with a peach→lilac gradient stroke, and on hover the whole pill fills with the gradient while the label goes void-dark (#100F11). Reserved for the two compose buttons -- composing a brief / telling the case story is making an artifact, so the click earns more than a tap (it even gets its own ascending arpeggio -- see Sound).

An experiment moves through a small set of states. Color, not labels, carries the signal: lilac is just starting, peach is in motion, a muted dot is paused (sleeping, doesn't count toward active work), and a closed loop goes quiet -- whisper label, no dot.

Unicorn composes a creative brief, not a recap. Structured as Direction (where the quest is heading), Signal (the tools, themes, and links your work revealed), and Work (the kept moments, experiments, and commits). It opens with a one-line read of what you're becoming and closes on a gradient line: Make something this week. Self-contained HTML, shareable.

Sound is designed, not decorated. A single warm steel-pan voice (Tone.js AMSynth, a sine through chorus + reverb) speaks for the whole app, so every cue feels like one instrument in one room. Each gesture earns its own phrase -- never a generic system beep.

Every cue gates behind reduced-motion-friendly intent and only starts after a user gesture (browsers block autoplay), so the room stays quiet until you act.

In the Electron app the window is transparent: panels float on your real desktop, beside the terminal. HUD mode keeps Unicorn on top and lets clicks pass through the gaps to the terminal underneath, so Claude Code and Unicorn are usable at once. The preloader, panels, and greeting all soften so the desktop stays visible.

The rally cry is "git-ty up" -- a mash of git + giddy up -- the one phrase that carries Unicorn's personality. It prints beside the mark in the terminal hook (✺ Unicorn · git-ty up) and surfaces when you close a loop (✺ git-ty up — closed ...). Used sparingly, as a signature delight, never a slogan plastered everywhere. Voice notes that ride alongside it: Ships at midnight Pacific.