Design Manual Section on gradients and drop shadows

[amycesal]

I know that we don't use them. And I know there are good reasons for this decision, but it would be nice to have that documented in a place where we can point other people. Just saying "we don't do that" isn't as useful as combining it with a link to a page where we say WHY in a consistent way.

This would be useful for

• internal project (especially when word defaults to using drop shadows)
• projects with contractors so they can adhere more closely to our brand standards

[stephanieosan]

Maybe rather than adding a whole new section, we could just build these guidelines into existing places?

Could we add a line or two about how we don't use gradients and why into the colors section?

Maybe we can add information about not using drop shadows to both the typography and illustration sections?

[nataliafitzgerald]

If we talk about drop shadows we should distinguish the flat/solid shadows that we use in illustrations. In the colors section we can talk about why we don't use gradients and we should also talk about not using transparency effects, such as multiply, to blend colors (i.e. reinforce the flat idea). @designlanguage - Do you want to take a stab at writing some of this language?

[caheberer]

@designlanguage will draft content around how shadows are made, and a little content explaining that we don’t use gradients.