# Wired

> `wired@1.0.0`

Wired is Condé Nast's tech-and-culture magazine — founded 1993, with a brand voice that runs from skeptical-future to zine-irreverent. The visual identity is aggressively typographic and uses high-contrast cream-and-black newsprint as canvas with the signature Wired red (#EB0000) deployed loudly in mastheads, section markers, and section tags. A bright kicker yellow (#FDC11C) marks editorial categories. The proprietary Wired Display, Wired Display Slab, and Wired Mono types carry the magazine voice.


**Tags:** `wired`, `tech`, `magazine`, `conde-nast`, `brand`, `red`, `cream`, `zine`

## Atoms

### Palette

**Wired** · `wired@1.0.0` · Proprietary — All Rights Reserved

> The Wired palette as deployed on wired.com (Condé Nast). The identity reads as zine-meets-print: absolute black on cream newsprint, a bright signature red (#EB0000) used aggressively in the masthead and section markers, an espresso brown (#2B1000) for warm body emphasis, and a saturated yellow (#FDC11C / #FFC035) for kicker tags. The proprietary Wired Display, Wired Display Slab, and Wired Mono types — paired with Apercu, Proxima Nova, and Lab Grotesque — carry the magazine voice. 

### 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 |
|----|------|-------|
| `black` | Black | `#000000` |
| `espresso` | Espresso | `#2B1000` |
| `cream` | Cream | `#FAF8F1` |
| `cream-light` | Cream Light | `#FEFCF5` |
| `cream-pale` | Cream Pale | `#F9F7EF` |
| `white` | White | `#FFFFFF` |
| `gray-divider` | Gray Divider | `#E5E5E5` |
| `signature-red` | Signature Red | `#EB0000` |
| `signature-red-deep` | Signature Red Deep | `#D00000` |
| `signature-red-bright` | Signature Red Bright | `#FF3030` |
| `red-faint` | Red Faint | `#FFB0B0` |
| `kicker-yellow` | Kicker Yellow | `#FDC11C` |
| `kicker-yellow-warm` | Kicker Yellow Warm | `#FFC035` |
| `amber` | Amber | `#FFA922` |

## Mode role mappings

### Light mode

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `background` | `cream` | `#FAF8F1` |
| `surface` | `cream-light` | `#FEFCF5` |
| `surface-elevated` | `white` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `text-primary` | `black` | `#000000` |
| `text-secondary` | `espresso` | `#2B1000` |
| `text-tertiary` | `gray-divider` | `#E5E5E5` |
| `primary` | `signature-red` | `#EB0000` |
| `primary-hover` | `signature-red-deep` | `#D00000` |
| `accent` | `kicker-yellow` | `#FDC11C` |
| `accent-hover` | `amber` | `#FFA922` |
| `warning` | `amber` | `#FFA922` |
| `error` | `signature-red-deep` | `#D00000` |
| `border` | `gray-divider` | `#E5E5E5` |

### Dark mode

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `background` | `black` | `#000000` |
| `surface` | `espresso` | `#2B1000` |
| `surface-elevated` | `espresso` | `#2B1000` |
| `text-primary` | `cream` | `#FAF8F1` |
| `text-secondary` | `cream-pale` | `#F9F7EF` |
| `text-tertiary` | `gray-divider` | `#E5E5E5` |
| `primary` | `signature-red` | `#EB0000` |
| `primary-hover` | `signature-red-bright` | `#FF3030` |
| `accent` | `kicker-yellow` | `#FDC11C` |
| `accent-hover` | `kicker-yellow-warm` | `#FFC035` |
| `warning` | `amber` | `#FFA922` |
| `error` | `signature-red-bright` | `#FF3030` |
| `border` | `espresso` | `#2B1000` |

## Brand semantic roles

### Colors

| Role | Swatch | Hex |
|------|--------|-----|
| `identity` | `cream` | `#FAF8F1` |
| `on-identity` | `black` | `#000000` |
| `primary` | `signature-red` | `#EB0000` |
| `primary-hover` | `signature-red-deep` | `#D00000` |
| `accent` | `kicker-yellow` | `#FDC11C` |
| `accent-hover` | `amber` | `#FFA922` |
| `mark` | `signature-red` | `#EB0000` |
| `warning` | `amber` | `#FFA922` |
| `error` | `signature-red-deep` | `#D00000` |
| `text-primary-light` | `black` | `#000000` |
| `text-primary-dark` | `cream` | `#FAF8F1` |
| `background-light` | `cream` | `#FAF8F1` |
| `background-dark` | `black` | `#000000` |
| `surface-light` | `cream-light` | `#FEFCF5` |
| `surface-dark` | `espresso` | `#2B1000` |
| `text-secondary-light` | `espresso` | `#2B1000` |
| `text-tertiary-light` | `gray-divider` | `#E5E5E5` |
| `border-light` | `gray-divider` | `#E5E5E5` |

### 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`

> Black (#000000) on cream (#FAF8F1) gives ~19:1 — past AAA. The Wired magazine voice depends on dense, type-heavy pages; the enhanced contrast target supports the long feature format and the type-led identity system. 

#### `colorChoice` → `roles.colors.mark`

- **allowed:** signature-red, signature-red-deep, black
- **forbidden:** kicker-yellow, amber, signature-red-bright

> The Wired wordmark is rendered in signature red or black. The kicker yellow is reserved for section markers (the brand's signature yellow tags) — substituting it for the mark would conflict with the published masthead identity. 

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

- **forbiddenContexts:** default-link, error-state, body-emphasis
- **allowedContexts:** kicker, section-tag, editorial-category, feature-highlight

> The Wired kicker yellow signals editorial categories — it is a tag color, not a link or emphasis color. Using it for body emphasis or default links would dilute the magazine's section-marking grammar. 

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

- **requires:** `prose`
- **minSizeRatio:** `1.75`

> Wired feature openers pair the Wired Display face with body type at an aggressive size step — display headlines are dramatically larger than body to support the magazine-feature voice. A 1.75× minimum ratio preserves that hierarchy when the Playfair Display substitute stands in. 

#### `forbiddenTreatment` → `logo`

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

> The Wired wordmark is a heavily standardized identity mark across thirty years of issue covers. Recoloring, stretching, rotating, or applying gradients conflicts with the magazine's identity discipline. 

### ⚠️ warning (2)

#### `accessibilityRequirement` → `*`

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

> WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.6 (Contrast Enhanced) — Level AAA. Wired's long-form features and reading-app surfaces benefit from the enhanced contrast target, especially given the warm cream canvas vs. cooler white. 

#### `enumMembership` → `typography.heading.fontWeight`

- **allowed:** 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900

> Wired Display is published across Regular through Black on the live site. The display weight range is integral to the magazine's typographic voice; weights outside this band should be avoided in the Playfair Display substitute. 

### 💡 recommendation (1)

#### `compositionConstraint` → `roles.colors.accent`

- **pairsWith:** black, cream, cream-light
- **doesNotPairWith:** signature-red, signature-red-bright

> Kicker yellow reads cleanest on black, the cream canvas, or its cream-light variant. Placing it adjacent to the signature red collapses the chromatic hierarchy that separates section-tag (yellow) from identity (red). 

## Provenance

- **Source:** <https://www.wired.com/>
- **License:** `Proprietary — All Rights Reserved`
- **Attribution:** Condé Nast — visual identity captured from the deployed HTML and inline styles at wired.com. WIRED, Condé Nast, the Wired Display / Wired Display Slab / Wired Mono / Apercu / Proxima Nova / Breve Text / Lab Grotesque typefaces are property of Condé Nast. 
- **Imported:** `2026-05-19`
- **Notes:** Derived from live site CSS at https://www.wired.com/ on 2026-05-19; no public brand guide located. The proprietary Wired Display, Wired Display Slab, and Wired Mono typefaces are declared on the live site (font-family declarations extracted from the HTML head) but are not publicly distributed. Open-source substitutes — playfair-display@1 for the display serif/slab role, pt-serif@1 for body prose, inter@1 for sans — are referenced from the brand atom. 

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