# The New York Times

> `nyt@1.0.0`

The New York Times is the paper of record — a 170-year-old newsroom whose brand voice is authoritative, considered, and visually anchored in serif typography on bright white. The identity on nytimes.com renders as near-black ink on paper-white, with a desaturated reading blue for in-copy links and the masthead's deep red reserved for breaking-news bridges. The proprietary type family — Cheltenham (display serif), Imperial (body serif), and Franklin (sans) — carries the editorial voice.


**Tags:** `nyt`, `new-york-times`, `news`, `journalism`, `brand`, `serif`, `paper`, `light-first`

## Atoms

### Palette

**The New York Times** · `nyt@1.0.0` · Proprietary — All Rights Reserved

> The New York Times palette as deployed on nytimes.com. The brand is paper-toned and ink-led: a near-black "Ink" body color on a bright white canvas, with a small accent set — a desaturated link blue ("Reading Blue"), the masthead's deep red ("Masthead Red"), and a tight gray scale used for rules, captions, and meta. The result reads as authoritative print on screen. 

### Fonts

| Role | Font | License | Classification |
|------|------|---------|----------------|
| `heading` | **Playfair Display** `(playfair-display@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | serif |
| `body` | **PT Serif** `(pt-serif@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | serif |
| `sans` | **Inter** `(inter@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | sans-serif |
| `mono` | **JetBrainsMono Nerd Font** `(jetbrainsmono-nerdfont@1.0.0)` | OFL-1.1 | monospace |

## Swatches

| ID | Name | Value |
|----|------|-------|
| `ink-black` | Ink Black | `#121212` |
| `ink-medium` | Ink Medium | `#363636` |
| `ink-light` | Ink Light | `#5A5A5A` |
| `gray-light` | Gray Light | `#727272` |
| `gray-rule` | Gray Rule | `#979797` |
| `gray-border` | Gray Border | `#C7C7C7` |
| `gray-divider` | Gray Divider | `#DFDFDF` |
| `gray-tint` | Gray Tint | `#EBEBEB` |
| `gray-surface` | Gray Surface | `#F7F7F7` |
| `paper` | Paper | `#F8F8F8` |
| `white` | White | `#FFFFFF` |
| `reading-blue` | Reading Blue | `#346EB7` |
| `reading-blue-hover` | Reading Blue Hover | `#2B8AD8` |
| `masthead-red` | Masthead Red | `#D0021B` |
| `masthead-red-bright` | Masthead Red Bright | `#F4564A` |

## Mode role mappings

### Light mode

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `background` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `surface` | `paper` | `#F8F8F8` |
| `surface-elevated` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `text-primary` | `ink-black` | `#121212` |
| `text-secondary` | `ink-medium` | `#363636` |
| `text-tertiary` | `ink-light` | `#5A5A5A` |
| `primary` | `reading-blue` | `#346EB7` |
| `primary-hover` | `reading-blue-hover` | `#2B8AD8` |
| `accent` | `masthead-red` | `#D0021B` |
| `accent-hover` | `masthead-red-bright` | `#F4564A` |
| `error` | `masthead-red` | `#D0021B` |
| `border` | `gray-divider` | `#DFDFDF` |

### Dark mode

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `background` | `ink-black` | `#121212` |
| `surface` | `ink-medium` | `#363636` |
| `surface-elevated` | `ink-light` | `#5A5A5A` |
| `text-primary` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `text-secondary` | `gray-divider` | `#DFDFDF` |
| `text-tertiary` | `gray-border` | `#C7C7C7` |
| `primary` | `reading-blue-hover` | `#2B8AD8` |
| `primary-hover` | `reading-blue` | `#346EB7` |
| `accent` | `masthead-red-bright` | `#F4564A` |
| `accent-hover` | `masthead-red` | `#D0021B` |
| `error` | `masthead-red-bright` | `#F4564A` |
| `border` | `ink-light` | `#5A5A5A` |

## Brand semantic roles

### Colors

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `identity` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `on-identity` | `ink-black` | `#121212` |
| `primary` | `reading-blue` | `#346EB7` |
| `primary-hover` | `reading-blue-hover` | `#2B8AD8` |
| `accent` | `masthead-red` | `#D0021B` |
| `accent-hover` | `masthead-red-bright` | `#F4564A` |
| `mark` | `ink-black` | `#121212` |
| `error` | `masthead-red` | `#D0021B` |
| `text-primary-light` | `ink-black` | `#121212` |
| `text-primary-dark` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `background-light` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `background-dark` | `ink-black` | `#121212` |
| `surface-light` | `paper` | `#F8F8F8` |
| `surface-dark` | `ink-medium` | `#363636` |
| `text-secondary-light` | `ink-medium` | `#363636` |
| `text-tertiary-light` | `ink-light` | `#5A5A5A` |
| `border-light` | `gray-divider` | `#DFDFDF` |

### Typography

| Role | Font role key |
|------|---------------|
| `display` | `heading` |
| `prose` | `body` |
| `ui` | `sans` |
| `code` | `mono` |

## Rules

### 🛑 error (5)

#### `contrastRatio` → `text-primary`

- **against:** `background`
- **minRatio:** `7`
- **standard:** `WCAG-AAA`

> Ink Black (#121212) on White (#FFFFFF) gives ~18:1 — well past AAA. The NYT's long-form reading posture and the density of body type on a typical article page justify the AAA enhanced contrast target rather than the AA floor. 

#### `colorChoice` → `roles.colors.accent`

- **allowed:** masthead-red, masthead-red-bright
- **forbidden:** reading-blue, reading-blue-hover

> The masthead red (#D0021B) is reserved for breaking-news bridges, live-update kickers, and the legacy masthead bridge. Substituting reading-blue (the in-copy link color) for the accent role would conflate the link-affordance meaning with the breaking-news meaning. 

#### `contextRestriction` → `roles.colors.accent`

- **forbiddenContexts:** default-link, body-emphasis, cta
- **allowedContexts:** breaking-news, live-update, editorial-kicker, masthead

> Masthead Red carries semantic weight in NYT's editorial grammar — it signals urgency and live coverage. Using it as a default CTA or in-copy link color would dilute that meaning and conflict with the editorial taxonomy. 

#### `fontPairing` → `typography.display`

- **requires:** `prose`
- **minSizeRatio:** `1.5`

> NYT pairs the Cheltenham display serif with Imperial for body prose at a clear size step. The display-to-prose hierarchy is part of how the page reads as a newspaper — a 1.5× minimum ratio preserves that hierarchy when open-source substitutes (Playfair Display / PT Serif) stand in for the proprietary primaries. 

#### `forbiddenTreatment` → `logo`

- **treatments:** stretched, rotated, recolored, drop-shadow, gradient-fill, on-busy-photo, cropped

> The NYT Old English masthead is a near-sacred mark. Any recoloring, rotation, gradient, or skew would conflict with the brand's authority and is forbidden by the NYT brand standards reflected in every published rendering. 

### ⚠️ warning (2)

#### `accessibilityRequirement` → `*`

- **standard:** `WCAG-AAA`
- **criterion:** `1.4.6`

> WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.6 (Contrast Enhanced) — Level AAA. NYT's body type is dense; readers spend long sessions on article pages. The AAA contrast target serves that reading posture better than the AA floor. 

#### `enumMembership` → `typography.prose.fontStyle`

- **allowed:** normal, italic
- **forbidden:** oblique

> Imperial (and the PT Serif substitute) ships true italics cut as a separate face. Synthetic oblique skews are forbidden — they degrade legibility of the body face and conflict with the typographic discipline that defines the NYT reading experience. 

### 💡 recommendation (1)

#### `compositionConstraint` → `roles.colors.primary`

- **pairsWith:** white, paper, ink-black
- **doesNotPairWith:** masthead-red, masthead-red-bright

> Reading Blue (#346EB7) reads cleanest on the paper canvas or against ink. Placing it adjacent to the masthead red introduces an editorial-color collision — the page loses its hierarchy because two competing accent signals fight for attention. 

## Provenance

- **Source:** <https://www.nytimes.com/>
- **License:** `Proprietary — All Rights Reserved`
- **Attribution:** The New York Times Company — visual identity captured from the deployed HTML and inline CSS on nytimes.com. The New York Times, its masthead, and the Cheltenham / Imperial / Franklin typefaces are property of The New York Times Company. 
- **Imported:** `2026-05-19`
- **Notes:** Derived from live site CSS at https://www.nytimes.com/ on 2026-05-19; no public brand guide located. The proprietary NYT type family (nyt-cheltenham, nyt-imperial, nyt-franklin) is declared in @font-face on the live site but is not publicly distributed. Open-source substitutes are referenced here — playfair-display@1 for the display serif, pt-serif@1 for body prose, and inter@1 for the sans role. 

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*Generated by the brand-atoms converter. Source: `nyt@1.0.0` from the encyclopedia.*