Q01
Linen
Size replaces weight — Cormorant at 300 needs to run large to earn its presence. Italic at display, roman for everything else. The sage is used once and only once.
INK
SAGE
UMBER
SAND
LINEN
Ink #1A1410
Sage #4A6854
Umber #8A7A60
Sand #D4C8A8
Linen #F6F2EA
Cormorant Garamond · 300 italic display · roman body
The mind
can change.
Even yours. Research-backed. No crystals required. Dan Harris as proof of concept.
10% Happier
"
"Most of what you worry about never happens. The rest you can handle."
— Dan Harris
Ink + sage. Cormorant 300. Size does what weight can't — the italic runs at 96px and earns its room. Roman body is the contrast. The big open quote mark as a visual anchor stops the card feeling empty.
Q02
Still Water
No italics at all — Spectral 600 upright has enough gravity on its own. Contrast comes from scale: huge display line versus small body. Cool palette with one warm note.
DEEP SLATE
STEEL BLUE
MIST
PALE BLUE
GREY WHITE
TERRACOTTA
Deep Slate
Steel Blue
Mist
Pale Blue
Grey White
Terracotta
Spectral 600 upright · no italic · scale contrast only
Trainable.
Your brain is not fixed.
The science on this is very clear.
Good
science.
Plain
words.
10% Happier with Dan Harris
Deep slate + terracotta note. Spectral 600 upright. One huge word at 120px — no italic needed. The quote card ditches the quote format entirely and uses a big typographic statement instead.
Q03
Brown Study
Heavy italic — 600, not 300. The contrast is weight, not size. Deep brown with a single dusty red that earns every appearance. Warm, bookish, trust-building.
DEEP BROWN
DUSTY RED
CARAMEL
PARCHMENT
AGED CREAM
Deep Brown
Dusty Red
Caramel
Parchment
Aged Cream
Lora 600 italic · heavy italic display · upright body
Good science.
Plain language.
Dan Harris got less miserable. Here's exactly how he did it — and what the research actually says about why it works.
10% Happier
"Noticing you've wandered is not failure. It is the practice."
— Dan Harris
Ep. 201
Deep brown + dusty red. Lora 600 italic. The heavy italic at display size reads with genuine authority — not delicate, not precious. The upright roman body creates the contrast.
Q04
Pencil
Zero italics. All contrast from size: 600 weight at headline, 300 at body. The copper appears only as a horizontal rule — never as text color. The restraint is absolute.
NEAR BLACK
GRAPHITE
WARM GREY
PALE
NEAR WHITE
COPPER
Near Black
Graphite
Warm Grey
Pale
Near White
Copper
Instrument Sans 600 / 300 · zero italic · size contrast only
Your brain
is trainable.
Probably. The research says yes. Dan Harris says it worked on him, which is saying something.
10% Happier
"The voice in your head is not you. It's a very opinionated roommate."
— Dan Harris
Ep. 214
Graphite + copper rule. Instrument Sans 600/300. The copper is a rule — never text. The 600/300 split does everything. Zero italics anywhere.
Q05
Half Light
Forest as primary — not accent. The gold appears as a wide background band in the type specimen, not as a text color. Italic display, upright body, size contrast between the two.
DEEP FOREST
FOREST
DUSTY GOLD
STRAW
IVORY
Deep Forest
Forest
Dusty Gold
Straw
Ivory
DM Serif Display italic display · upright roman body
Feeling better
Skills are learnable.
Dan Harris learned this the hard way. You don't have to.
10% Happier
"Ten percent is not a small thing. Most people don't even get one percent."
— Dan Harris
"
Deep forest + dusty gold. DM Serif italic. The gold band behind one display line is a deliberate graphic move — not decoration, punctuation. The faded third line at low opacity creates depth without adding color.
Q06
GRAIN
The heavy end of Jakarta Sans — 700, not 300. All-caps at display. Lowercase at body. No italic anywhere. The sienna earns its spot as the only hot color in an otherwise warm-neutral palette.
CHARCOAL
SIENNA
KHAKI
OAT
GRAIN
Charcoal
Sienna
Khaki
Oat
Grain
Plus Jakarta Sans 700 · all-caps display · lowercase body
YOU DON'T
HAVE TO
MEDITATE
FOR AN HOUR.
Five minutes is enough. The research is surprisingly clear on this, and Dan Harris is proof.
10% Happier
"SELF-IMPROVEMENT DOESN'T HAVE TO FEEL LIKE A PUNISHMENT."
— Dan Harris
Ep. 203
Oat + sienna. Plus Jakarta Sans 700. This direction flipped from the original 300 to 700 — the all-caps display at heavy weight has real presence. Quote in all-caps too, which is an unusual and specific choice.
Q07
Good Paper
Italic convention inverted — upright at display, italic at body. The body text in italic gives it warmth without the display looking delicate. Indigo + cream is formal without cold.
DEEP INDIGO
INDIGO
RED BROWN
STRAW
CREAM
Deep Indigo
Indigo
Red Brown
Straw
Cream
Crimson Pro 600 upright display · italic body — convention inverted
The examined
life is worth
living.
Evidence-based wisdom for people who are skeptical of wisdom. Dan Harris as the test case.
10% Happier
"Meditation is not about being calm. It's about seeing clearly."
— Dan Harris
"
Indigo + cream. Crimson Pro — upright display, italic body. Inverting the convention (italic body, not italic display) is a specific and memorable choice that gives the brand a quiet distinctiveness.
Q08
Morning
Jost 300 for body — but 600 italic for display. The quote card replaced with a big-number statement card, which is more distinctive. Faded terracotta throughout.
WARM DARK
FADED TERRACOTTA
WARM GREY
BLUSH
MORNING
Warm Dark
Faded Terracotta
Warm Grey
Blush
Morning
Jost 600 italic display · 300 upright body
Slightly less
anxious than
yesterday.
That's the goal. Not perfection. Not enlightenment. Just slightly better than before.
10% Happier
10%
A little less
terrible every day.
That's the whole program.
Faded terracotta + warm dark. Jost 600 italic. The first card is now a big typographic statement — "10%" as a ghosted background number. Much more character than a quote card.
Q09
Tuesday
The blue now appears as a full background band in the specimen, not just as text color. Inter 500 (not 300) — slightly more presence. The statement card uses an editorial two-line format.
NEAR BLACK
QUIET BLUE
MID GREY
LIGHT GREY
WARM WHITE
Near Black
Quiet Blue
Mid Grey
Light Grey
Warm White
Inter 500 · blue as background band not text · editorial
Feeling
better
doesn't
require
a new
you.
Small changes. Real science. Dan Harris as proof of concept.
Evidence-backed approaches to being slightly less miserable. Validated by research. Tested on a news anchor.
10% Happier
"You don't need to love meditation. You just need to do it. Often those are different things."
— Dan Harris
Ep. 198
Near-black + quiet blue. Inter 500. Two-column editorial layout in the specimen is more distinctive than a single column. The blue info box is the only moment of color in an otherwise neutral system.
Q10
Open Road
Familjen 700 — heavier than before. Teal fills the full specimen background. The statement card uses a horizontal rule system to create rhythm. Faded amber used as a block, not a text color.
TEAL BLACK
TEAL
FADED AMBER
SAGE GREY
OPEN
Teal Black
Teal
Faded Amber
Sage Grey
Open
Familjen Grotesk 700 · teal bg · amber as block
Less suffering
is possible.
The science is good. The instructions are simple. The hard part is starting — and Dan Harris already did that part for you.
10% Happier
"Anxiety is just energy that hasn't found a direction yet."
— Dan Harris, Ep. 201
Teal + faded amber block. Familjen 700. The amber appears as a highlight band — behind a line of text, not as text itself. The horizontal rule system in the quote card gives the direction a distinct typographic signature.