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linear.app vs notion.so

Two design systems side by side, measured from the live sites — colour, type, shape, depth, components, states and responsive behaviour.

linear.app
linear.app· read 2026-08-09
notion.so
notion.so· read 2026-08-09

Worth knowing

  • Neither side has named colour roles, so both predate role-based extraction. Re-generating either one fills in the palette comparison.
  • Interaction states are missing on at least one side — that site's stylesheets were cross-origin and could not be read.

Ground and ink

Each side painted in its own measured canvas, ink, muted and primary roles.

linear.app

No colour roles measured on this side, so there is no ground to paint. The palette below is still real; re-extracting the site fills this in.

notion.so

No colour roles measured on this side, so there is no ground to paint. The palette below is still real; re-extracting the site fills this in.

Palette

Named roles first, then every colour measured without one.

linear.app

No named roles measured.

16 more, no measured role

notion.so

No named roles measured.

18 more, no measured role

Type scale

Set at the measured size, weight, tracking and leading. Brand typefaces are not loaded, so the metrics are real and the letterforms are not.

linear.app

h2

72px · 510 · shown smaller

h1

64px · 510 · shown smaller

h2

48px · 510 · shown smaller

h1

48px · 590 · shown smaller

h1

40px · 510 · shown smaller

h3

24px · 590

h3

20px · 590

notion.so

h1

96px · 600 · shown smaller

h1

64px · 700 · shown smaller

h2

54px · 700 · shown smaller

h2

42px · 700 · shown smaller

h2

32px · 700

h3

22px · 700

h5

18px · 700

Corners

Drawn at the measured radii.

linear.app

4px

pill

6px

12px

8px

pill

notion.so

8px

4px

8px

5px

pill

100px

Spacing

One shared scale across both sides, so the bars are directly comparable.

linear.app

4
8
12
16
20
24
32
40

notion.so

4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32

Depth

Shadows cast on each side's own ground.

linear.app

sm

md

notion.so

sm

md

lg

xl

Buttons

Rendered from the measured computed styles.

linear.app

default

notion.so

default

The measured values behind the panels above.

linear.appnotion.so

At a glance

CornersPillPill
Display size — these differ72px96px
Spacing base4px4px
Accent colours — these differ210
Type families — these differ21
Components55

Full palette

Every colour each extraction kept, including the ones with no measured role.

All colours — these differ#62666D#08090A#0F1011#0003#0009#0000#F91880#00BA7C#F7F8F8#8A8F98#FFFFFF#D0D6E0#3E3E44#000000#E5E5E6#18191A#0075DE#097FE8#62AEF0#27918D#9849E8#1313BA#FF6D00#005BAB#000000#FFFFFF#31302E#A39E98#F6F5F4#615D59#F9F9F8#F2F9FF#F64932#FFB110
Semantic — these differ—Error/Danger #F64932Warning #FFB110

Typography

Families — these differInter VariableBerkeley MonoNotionInter
h1 — these differ64px · 510 · 64px · Inter Variable64px · 700 · 64px · NotionInter
h2 — these differ48px · 510 · 48px · Inter Variable54px · 700 · 56px · NotionInter
h3 — these differ24px · 590 · 31.92px · Inter Variable22px · 700 · 28px · NotionInter
h5—18px · 700 · 28px · NotionInter
span — these differ16px · 400 · 24px · Inter Variable14px · 500 · 20px · NotionInter
h416px · 590 · 24px · Inter Variable—
body — these differ15px · 400 · 24px · Inter Variable14px · 400 · 20px · NotionInter
link — these differ14px · 510 · 21px · Inter Variable16px · 400 · 24px · NotionInter
label14px · 400 · 21px · Inter Variable—
code14px · 400 · 21px · Berkeley Mono—
input13.3333px · 400 · normal · Inter Variable—
button13px · 400 · 19.5px · Inter Variable—
list-item—12px · 500 · 16px · NotionInter

Shape and rhythm

Radius — these differ4px6px8px12px9999px4px5px8px8px 8px 0px 0px100%9999px
Spacing — these differ4px8px12px16px20px24px32px40px48px56px76px96px4px8px12px16px20px24px28px32px36px64px80px124px
Border widths — these differ1px1px2px

Depth

Strategy——
Shadows — these differrgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4) 0px 1px 0px 0pxrgba(255, 255, 255, 0.03) 0px 0px 0px 1px inset, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.04) 0px 1px 0px 0px inset, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 0px 0px 0px 1px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 4px 4px 0pxrgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0.175px 1.041px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.02) 0px 0.8px 2.925px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.027) 0px 2.025px 7.847px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04) 0px 4px 18px 0pxrgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 1px 0px 0pxrgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 7px 0pxrgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04) 0px 4px 18px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.027) 0px 2.025px 7.84688px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.02) 0px 0.8px 2.925px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0.175px 1.04062px 0px, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.6) 0px 0px 1px 0px
Gradients——
Opacity — these differ0.300.600.400.700.800.900.200.420.800.100.500.05
Z-index — these differbase 1base 2base 3dropdown 50sticky 100sticky 995sticky 996sticky 997base 1base 2base 3base 4dropdown 10sticky 100sticky 500modal 1000

Components

Sharedbuttoninputcardnavigationlinkbuttoninputcardnavigationlink
Only here——
Signature——

How this was measured

Differences here are ours, not the brands'.

Pages read66
Extracted2026-08-092026-08-09
Stylesheets——
Roles unassigned——

Measured by DesignMD from the live sites. Compare two others. Generate a DESIGN.md for your own site.