# AGS Math — Colour Palette & Visual Identity

**Status:** v1 draft for review (Pamela to confirm marked decisions)
**Date:** 2026-05-21
**Scope:** AGS Math product (the app at quiz.allgifted.com / flutter_demo). NOT the All Gifted institutional site.

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## Principle

AGS Math is part of the **All Gifted** family but expressed for **young children (age 3–12)**.

- The **All Gifted institutional palette** (Crimson-led, restrained, authoritative) is for the parent/B2B-facing marketing site (allgifted.com).
- The **AGS Math palette** (below) is brighter, more playful, more rewarding — for the child user — while keeping the family anchors (logo, Crimson/Gold) present so the lineage is unmistakable.

Same family, different room: the website is the brand in "serious clothes," the app is the same brand "at play."

**Age-range tension:** the palette must work for a 3-year-old (bright, rewarding) AND a 12-year-old (clean, not babyish). Resolution: lead with energetic-but-clean colour (Lime), reward in Gold, keep surfaces clean/light rather than cartoonish.

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## Core palette

### Family anchors (shared with All Gifted — keep the lineage)
| Token | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| `brand-crimson` | `#960000` | Logo, key brand moments ONLY. Used sparingly in-app — it's the institutional anchor, not a kid-facing primary. |
| `brand-gold` | `#BF9237` | **The reward colour.** Badges, stars, trophies, level-complete, celebration moments. Gold = achievement. |

### AGS Math primary (kid-facing hero)
| Token | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| `ags-lime` | `#88C808` | **Primary hero colour.** Main action buttons ("Start", "Continue", "Go"), active states, the energetic anchor. From the All Gifted brand palette — ties product to family while being kid-energetic. |

### Functional / feedback
| Token | Hex | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| `success` | `#4CAF50` | Right answer, positive feedback | Brighter/warmer than ags-lime so "correct" reads distinctly from "primary action" |
| `error-gentle` | `#E57373` | Wrong answer | **Soft red, NOT harsh.** Wrong answers must encourage ("not yet"), never punish. Avoid alarm-red. |
| `info-blue` | `#3BA9F4` | Secondary accent, info, calm moments | Optional second accent — tests well with kids, balances the warm tones |

### Neutrals / surfaces
| Token | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| `bg-warm` | `#FBF9F4` | Primary background — soft warm off-white so brights pop without glare |
| `surface` | `#FFFFFF` | Cards, panels |
| `ink` | `#2B2B2B` | Body text, and **the stick-man mascot outline** [SEE DECISION 1] |
| `ink-soft` | `#6B6B6B` | Secondary text, captions |

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## Decisions for Pamela to confirm before locking

**[DECISION 1 — Stick-man mascot colour]**
Recommended: **`ink` #2B2B2B (dark charcoal)** — a clean dark stick man reads against ANY background, never clashes with field-colours, stays the recognizable constant companion while colour lives in the UI/badges around him.
Alternative: **`ags-lime`** (ties him to the hero colour, stronger brand-tie, but risks competing with a colourful UI).
→ *Pam: charcoal or lime?*

**[DECISION 2 — Overall brightness direction]**
This spec is **Option A: Lime-led** (energetic, on-brand, age-stretchy).
Alternative was **Option B: brighter, blue as co-primary** (more Duolingo-energy, further from the institutional brand).
→ *Pam: confirm Lime-led, or go brighter?*

**[DECISION 3 — Field colour-coding]**
Subjects/fields (number, geometry, etc.) should be colour-coded at the UI/section level (NOT on the mascot). Need a colour per field once the field list is confirmed. Placeholder set to define later:
- Field 1 → tbd
- Field 2 → tbd
(etc. — map to the actual primary-math fields)

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## Usage rules

1. **Lime = action, Gold = reward, Crimson = brand anchor (sparingly), soft-red = gentle correction.** Don't mix these roles.
2. **Wrong answers never use harsh/alarm red** — `error-gentle` only. The pedagogy is "not yet," not "you failed."
3. **Gold is reserved for achievement** — don't use it for ordinary UI, or it stops feeling like a reward.
4. **Backgrounds stay light/warm** so the brights carry the energy — avoid dark or heavily saturated full-screen backgrounds.
5. **Clean over cutesy** — so the 12-year-olds at the top of the range aren't embarrassed. No baby-ish gradients/bubbles.

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## Mascot (summary — full spec separate)

- **One** stick-man companion (constant, NOT changing per level) — reacts: happy / encouraging / thinking / celebrating.
- Progress is shown through **collectible badges** (gold), NOT by changing the mascot.
- Badge taxonomy maps to the curriculum structure (6 levels × fields × tracks) — each milestone = a collectible.
- Mascot colour: see DECISION 1.

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## Source-of-truth note

This file is the canonical AGS Math palette. The app (flutter_demo theme), quiz.allgifted.com, and any AGS Math marketing draw from THESE hex values. Update here first; propagate from here. Do not redefine colours per-screen.