TheCuriousDiver — Moodboard v1

Visual learning for divers, from the surface to the silt line.

Khan Academy meets Dive Rite. Math-honest, citation-first, mobile-first. Educational only — never a substitute for certified instruction.

Mobile-first · 380px ↑ WCAG 2.1 AA Color-blind safe Metric default · imperial toggle Dark · Light · Print
01 — Palette

Color: dark by default, light for print.

The dark theme reads "underwater" without sacrificing legibility. The light theme is the canvas for printables (Etsy bundles, classroom handouts) and renders cleanly at 300 dpi.

Surfaces & text — dark

Abyss#050E1A · page bg
Deep#0A1628 · default surface
Surface#0E1F36 · card
Surface-2#14283F · raised

Brand & accent

Brand#48CAE4 · primary
Brand-deep#0096C7 · pressed
Brand-glow#90E0EF · highlight
Accent-warm#FF8A5B · sparing

Semantic — color-blind safe pairs

Each semantic color is paired with an icon or shape — never color alone. Red is desaturated and reserved for hard-stop danger; warning is amber, not yellow.

Info#5DADE2 + ⓘ
Warning#F6C667 + ⚠
Danger#F2725A + ✕
Success#5DD9A6 + ✓

Theme preview — same content, two skins

Dark — primary, in-app

Brand on Deep · 9.36:1 ✓ AAA
Text-hi on Deep · 16.05:1 ✓ AAA
Text-mid on Deep · 8.72:1 ✓ AAA
Text-low on Deep · 5.85:1 ✓ AA

Light — printables, classroom

Brand on White · 4.87:1 ✓ AA
Text-hi on White · 18.13:1 ✓ AAA
Text-mid on White · 7.82:1 ✓ AAA
Text-low on White · 5.06:1 ✓ AA
02 — Typography

Inter for prose, JetBrains Mono for numbers.

Inter has the highest legibility per pixel on phone screens. JetBrains Mono keeps tabular numbers aligned in calculators, depth tables, and gas-mix readouts — non-negotiable for math-honest output.

H1 · 48 · 800

Bühlmann ZH-L16C


H2 · 36 · 700

Decompression theory


H3 · 28 · 700

Gradient factors


Body · 16 · 400

Gradient factors scale Bühlmann's permissible supersaturation. GF-Lo controls the depth of the first stop; GF-Hi controls how close to the M-value you surface. Conservative defaults: 30/70 for cold/cardio-loaded dives, 40/85 for benign profiles.


Mono · 16 · 500

PpO₂ = (FO₂) × (depth/10 + 1)


Caption · 12 · 600

Source · agency · edition

03 — Tokens

Spacing, radius, elevation.

8-point spacing scale. Radii grow with surface size — pills for chips, lg for cards, xl for hero blocks. Elevation is restrained: one ambient shadow + an optional brand glow for primary CTAs and active calculators.

Spacing · 8pt

4 · 8 · 12 · 16 · 24 · 32 · 48 · 64

Radius

sm 6 · md 10 · lg 16 · xl 24 · pill

04 — Components

The recurring patterns.

Every tool composes from these blocks. TL;DR card on top, calculator or visual in the middle, citation chips and disclaimers at the foot. Beginner-friendly options visible by default; advanced options collapsed.

i

TL;DR

At 30 m on air, your no-decompression limit is roughly 20 minutes. Switch to EAN32 and that grows to ~30 minutes — with a hard MOD of 33.6 m at PpO₂ 1.4.

MOD & END

Assumptions: sea-level barometric pressure (1.013 bar). MOD = 10 × (PpO₂/FO₂ − 1). For altitude, switch the calculator's "altitude" expander.

!
Educational use only. Not a substitute for certified instruction, supervised training, or a verified dive computer / desktop deco software. Always plan dives within the limits of your training and certification.
×
Beyond recreational limits. Cave, decompression, and mixed-gas diving carry significant risk and require formal training from a recognized agency. This content does not certify you to perform these activities.

Step indicator — cave line protocol

1

Primary tie-off

Outside the cave, daylight zone.

2

Secondary tie-off

Inside the entrance, redundant.

3

Continuous guideline

Unbroken to the team's exit.

4

Markers

Direction arrows + personal cookies.

05 — Data & Diagrams

Math made visible.

Every calculation has a diagram. Pressure-volume, depth-time, gas-fraction — show the relationship before showing the formula.

Boyle's law — gas volume vs depth

0 m 10 m 20 m 30 m 1 V ½ V ⅓ V ¼ V

Volume halves every 10 m of descent below the surface — a non-linear collapse the diagram makes obvious in a way numbers can't.

Depth profile — multilevel

0 10 20 30 30 m · 10 min 18 m · 15 min 5 m · 3 min stop

Descent and ascent rates render as slope; bottom phases as horizontal segments. Conservatism shows up visually — a steep ascent with no stop reads as wrong before any number is computed.

06 — Iconography

Line icons, 1.5 stroke, dive-native.

No generic icon set. Every icon refers to something a diver actually sees: cylinder, regulator, fin, mask, line reel, dive computer. Stroke 1.5, rounded joins, 24×24 grid.

cylinder
regulator
fin
mask
reel
computer
07 — Imagery

Photo direction.

When real photography is used, it should feel earned — not stock. Three accepted treatments:

Surface-light underwater

Wide ambient blue, sun rays, divers as silhouettes. Feels open-water rec. Use for landing pages and recreational topics.

Light cone in dark

Heavy shadow, single primary light cone — wreck, cave, deep tech. Use for technical and overhead-environment topics.

Studio diagram on white

Vector illustration on a clean field — equipment, anatomy, knot diagrams. Use for printables and reference cards.

Avoid: tropical-postcard cliché (a single fish + clear blue) unless the topic is actually about marine life. It reads as stock and dilutes the technical voice. Avoid red filtering — it triggers wrong assumptions for divers used to natural light loss with depth.

08 — Motion

Slow, ambient, opt-out by default.

Underwater is a slow medium. Animations are 600–1200 ms, ease-out, never bouncy. All non-essential motion respects prefers-reduced-motion. No autoplay, no carousels, no scroll-jacking.

Ambient bubbles

Decorative-only. Disabled when the user prefers reduced motion. Never overlapping content.

Functional motion

  • Calculator results: cross-fade, 200 ms, no slide.
  • Tab switches: opacity only, 150 ms.
  • Diagram reveals: stagger child elements 60 ms each.
  • Modal: fade-in 200 ms; never spring.
09 — Editorial standards

Do / Don't.

Diving misinformation kills. The visual rules below are downstream of that.

DoCite the source on every limit, formula, or protocol — agency + edition + page.
DoShow units on every number. Default to metric, persist the user's choice.
DoExpose calculator assumptions (RMV, GF, ascent rate). Let the user override.
DoEmbed the educational disclaimer on every interactive tool.
DoPair color with shape/icon on every semantic state.
Don'tInvent NDLs, MOD limits, or deco schedules. If a number can't be cited, stop.
Don'tUse red/green as the only signal — ~8% of male divers are red-green color-blind.
Don'tAutoplay audio or video. Tools get used in classrooms and on shaky boat wifi.
Don'tHide the disclaimer behind a "More" toggle. It belongs in the footer of every tool.
Don'tUse bouncy/spring motion. The aesthetic is slow water, not pinball.