Instacart DESIGN.md

Overview

Visual Theme & Atmosphere

Instacart's product UI is defined by a confident, utilitarian clarity: a white canvas (#ffffff) with a soft cool-grey surface (#F6F7F8) for secondary zones, and a single saturated green (#108910) that functions as both brand signal and primary action color. The palette descends from the company's 2022 rebrand — away from carrot orange toward a grocers' green that feels simultaneously digital-native and earthy. Every interactive element (nav CTA, hero button, add-to-cart) shares the same green, creating an unmistakable "do-this" signal trained by repetition across millions of weekly users.

The custom Instacart Sans family runs throughout the entire product surface, from the homepage hero to store storefronts. It is a geometric, clean sans-serif with a rounded aperture that reads friendly at all sizes — weight 400 for most body and button text, weight 600 for filter chips and store-page CTAs where density demands slightly more punch. Headlines step up to weight 700 for section titles. The overall type feel is approachable and confident: the font has personality without being whimsical, appropriate for a service that handles financial transactions around food.

Geometry is rounded-but-restrained. Buttons in the navigation are 20px radius pills; the hero CTA scales up to 28px. Filter chips are full-pill at 999px. Add-to-cart buttons sit at 20px. Cards use a modest 8px. This graduated rounding system — from gentle card rounding through nav pills to full filter chips — creates a visual hierarchy of "how interactive is this element" through shape alone.

Key Characteristics:

• Instacart Sans custom font throughout — geometric, friendly, weight 400 default
• Single green (#108910) for all primary CTAs — add-to-cart, sign-up, log-in
• Dark Kale green (#003D29) for brand immersion surfaces (banners, hero overlays)
• Forest green (#1E6F30) for Instacart+ promotional surfaces
• Cool-grey surface (#F6F7F8) and neutral chips (#E8E9EB) for hierarchy without shadows
• Graduated pill geometry: 20px nav buttons → 28px hero CTA → 999px filter chips
• No drop shadows on most surfaces; inset shadow on search input for depth cue
• Near-black ink (#242529) for text instead of pure black

Primary tasks

• Order groceries for delivery or pickup the same day
• Choose a store by when its delivery can arrive
• Filter the stores by EBT acceptance, speed or offers
• Search a store for one specific item
• Add items to the cart from a store's product grid
• Confirm an order went through and when it arrives

Brand Narrative

Instacart was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta in San Francisco, after a series of failed startup ideas. The founding insight was deceptively simple: the friction between wanting groceries and physically going to a store was a solvable logistics problem. Mehta famously applied to Y Combinator with the idea and was rejected — then re-applied with a working prototype and was accepted, eventually raising seed funding from Sequoia Capital.

The company scaled by partnering with existing grocery retailers (Costco, Kroger, Safeway, Whole Foods) rather than displacing them — a model that made it the infrastructure for grocery e-commerce rather than a competitor. This "empowering retailers" positioning shaped everything: the product is a white-label layer for grocery chains, not a Instacart-branded storefront. The brand's design role is to be trustworthy and invisible enough that shoppers feel they are shopping "at Kroger" or "at Costco" through a convenient interface.

The 2022 rebrand introduced the current green palette and "Instacart Plak" typeface family (predecessor to today's Instacart Sans), reflecting a maturation from a gig-economy delivery startup into an established consumer grocery platform. The brand moved away from carrot orange — the original brand mark — toward a green that evokes fresh produce, sustainability, and digital modernity simultaneously. In 2023, Instacart went public on the NASDAQ under the ticker CART.

What Instacart refuses: pretending to be a grocery retailer itself (the product is always "Shop at [Retailer]"). What it embraces: speed transparency (delivery windows shown immediately), savings messaging (deals, offers, EBT acceptance), and a green-first visual identity that codes trustworthiness.

Principles

1. Speed is the product. Every screen communicates delivery time before the user has to ask. UI implication: delivery ETAs surface in store cards immediately, not buried in checkout.
2. The retailer's identity, amplified. Instacart is infrastructure, not a brand competing with its partners. UI implication: store logos and branding take visual prominence; Instacart's green is an accent, not an override.
3. One color, one meaning. #108910 green means "this action does something." UI implication: never use the green for decorative purposes — it trains behavioral association.
4. Grocery frequency builds habit. Users shop 1–2× per week; patterns must be predictable and fast. UI implication: consistent component placement and familiar pill geometry reduce cognitive load on each visit.
5. Access for all. EBT acceptance and accessibility features are not footnotes — they are featured in the filter chip row at the same level as "Fastest" and "Grocery." UI implication: include EBT filter prominently; don't relegate accessibility features to sub-menus.

Personas

Personas below are fictional archetypes informed by publicly observable Instacart user segments (busy professionals, parents, elderly or mobility-limited shoppers), not individual people.

Maria Chen, 38, Chicago. Working parent of two who does a grocery order every Thursday evening. Values the delivery-time transparency — she chooses the store based on what can arrive before dinner, not brand loyalty. Rarely uses the search bar for discovery; her weekly cart is mostly repeat items. Notices and appreciates the EBT filter row as a sign that the service is designed for everyone.

James Osei, 54, Phoenix. Recent hip replacement recipient using Instacart as a primary grocery channel during recovery. Relies on large-text legibility and clear add-to-cart buttons. Trusts the service because it mirrors the stores he already knows — Kroger through Instacart feels the same as Kroger in-person to him. Would be disoriented by a redesign that hid the retailer identity.

Priya Nair, 28, New York. Urban professional who uses Instacart for last-minute ingredient runs for weekend cooking. Values speed (30-minute delivery from the local store) over price. Uses the "Fastest" filter chip every session. Is an Instacart+ subscriber specifically for the $0 delivery fee on smaller orders.

Colors

Primary

• Instacart Green (#108910): Primary brand and CTA color — all buttons (Sign up, Log in CTA, Add to cart), active states, and link highlights. The system's single action color, trained into user muscle-memory through grocery frequency.
• Kale Dark Green (#003D29): Deep brand-dark surface for hero overlays, Instacart+ promotional banners, and immersive brand moments. Named "Kale" in Instacart's brand vocabulary.
• Forest Green (#1E6F30): Mid-range green for Instacart+ feature banners and secondary promotional surfaces.

Canvas & Surface

• Canvas White (#ffffff): Page background, card surfaces, button text on green backgrounds.
• Surface Grey (#F6F7F8): Cool-grey surface for secondary sections, list containers, and neutral backgrounds.
• Chip Grey (#E8E9EB): Inactive filter chips, carousel navigation buttons, secondary interactive surfaces.

Text

• Ink Near-Black (#242529): Primary heading and label text — slightly warm, not pure black.
• Ink Secondary (#343538): Body text, nav links, secondary labels.
• Hairline (#C7C8CD): Border for inputs, card outlines, and dividers.

Typography

Font Family

• Primary: Instacart Sans — a custom geometric sans-serif with Instacart Sans Fallback, Arial, sans-serif fallback stack.
• No secondary typeface: Instacart Sans handles all text including display, body, UI, and labels. There is no monospace or secondary family.

Hierarchy

Principles

• Weight 400 as the default: Unlike many design systems that default to 500 or 600 for UI text, Instacart Sans 400 reads cleanly enough at all interactive sizes to carry buttons and nav items.
• 600 for dense UI only: Store-page CTAs and filter chips step up to 600 where the information density requires more visual mass.
• Single family: Using only Instacart Sans creates a monolithic, brand-owned typographic voice — every screen feels like one coherent product.

Layout

Spacing System

• Base unit: 8px
• Scale: 4px, 8px, 12px, 16px, 20px, 24px, 32px, 48px
• Notable: Chip horizontal padding lands consistently at 16px across all filter chips and nav buttons; the hero CTA uses 16px horizontal padding at 56px height

Grid & Container

• Centered single-column hero with a full-width search bar anchoring the user journey
• Store selector section: horizontal scrolling card row with #F6F7F8 cards
• Filter chips: horizontal scrolling pill row beneath the store section
• Store pages: horizontal sub-navigation tabs (Shop, Flyers, Recipes, My Lists)
• Product grid: 4–6 column on desktop, responsive collapse to 2 on mobile

Whitespace Philosophy

• Utilitarian density: Unlike pure-marketing SaaS sites, Instacart's product surface needs to present many stores, categories, and products efficiently. Whitespace is functional — enough breathing room to tap accurately, not decorative.
• Grey surface as separator: #F6F7F8 surfaces group content blocks without borders or shadows; this creates visual rhythm without visual weight.
• Full-width hero: The hero search bar is the product's primary UI — full-width at all viewports, always above the fold.

Border Radius Scale

• Small (4px): Tight elements
• Medium (8px): Cards, content containers — the workhorse
• Large (20px): Nav buttons, add-to-cart buttons, Delivery/Pickup tabs
• Hero CTA (28px): The largest pill for the hero CTA
• Chip (999px): Full pill for filter chips and badges

Responsive Behavior

Breakpoints

Touch Targets

• Nav buttons: 40px height with 16px horizontal padding
• Hero CTA: 56px height — large, tappable
• Add to cart: 36px height on product cards
• Filter chips: 32px height — minimum comfortable tap target
• Search input: 56px height — generous touch target for the primary action

Collapsing Strategy

• Hero: Full-width search persists at all viewports; headline text size scales down
• Store carousel: horizontal scroll on mobile, grid on desktop
• Filter chips: horizontal scroll row on mobile
• Store navigation tabs: compress to icon-only or compact labels on small screens

Elevation & Depth

Shadow Philosophy: Instacart's UI is largely shadow-free on product surfaces. The only pronounced shadow is an inset shadow on the search input, reinforcing the "trough" affordance of a text field. Cards and tiles rely on #F6F7F8 background shifts for grouping rather than elevation. This keeps the product feeling clean, fast, and mobile-native — appropriate for a high-frequency consumer grocery product.

Values kept in prose

Measured values the DESIGN.md token grammar cannot carry, kept verbatim:

• shadow.card: rgba(52, 53, 56, 0.24) 0px 2px 4px 0px inset
• shadow.input: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05) 0px 2px 4px 0px inset

Motion & Easing

Durations:

Easings:

Motion rules: Instacart motion should be functional and transparent — a consumer grocery app where users are often on a time budget. The Add to cart button responds with a micro-scale and a count increment at motion-fast; product carousels scroll smoothly at motion-standard. No spring, no bounce — grocery shopping is a task, not a delight experience. Under prefers-reduced-motion: reduce, all transitions collapse to instant; the product remains fully functional.

Components

Buttons

Hero Primary CTA

• Background: #108910
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 28px
• Padding: 0px 16px
• Height: 56px
• Font: 16px Instacart Sans weight 400
• Use: Homepage hero CTA ("Sign up to get $0 delivery fee")

Nav Sign Up

• Background: #108910
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 20px
• Padding: 0px 16px
• Height: 40px
• Font: 16px Instacart Sans weight 400
• Use: Navigation bar primary CTA

Nav Log In (Secondary)

• Background: #ffffff
• Text: #242529
• Border: 1px solid #C7C8CD
• Radius: 20px
• Padding: 0px 16px
• Height: 40px
• Font: 16px Instacart Sans weight 400
• Use: Navigation bar secondary CTA

Add to Cart

• Background: #108910
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 20px
• Height: 36px
• Font: 16px Instacart Sans weight 400
• Use: Product card add-to-cart action on store pages

Store Log In / Large CTA

• Background: #108910
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 24px
• Padding: 8px 16px
• Height: 48px
• Font: 14px Instacart Sans weight 600
• Use: Storefront Log In button, larger secondary store CTAs

Inputs

Search

• Background: #ffffff
• Border: 1px solid #C7C8CD
• Radius: 28px
• Padding: 0px 48px 0px 0px
• Height: 56px
• Text: #343538
• Font: 15px Instacart Sans weight 400
• Shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05) 0px 2px 4px 0px inset
• Use: Main homepage and store search input

Search (Store Storefront)

• Border: none
• Radius: 28px (homepage) / 8px (storefront context)
• Padding: 12px 48px 12px 24px
• Height: 52–54px
• Text: #343538
• Font: 14px Instacart Sans weight 600
• Use: Grocery storefront search

Cards & Containers

Surface Card

• Background: #F6F7F8
• Radius: 8px
• Use: Store listing cards, content containers, product grid blocks

Badges

Filter Chip Active

• Background: #242529
• Text: #ffffff
• Radius: 999px
• Padding: 0px 16px
• Height: 32px
• Font: 14px Instacart Sans weight 600
• Use: Selected filter pill ("All")

Filter Chip Inactive

• Background: #E8E9EB
• Text: #242529
• Radius: 999px
• Padding: 0px 16px
• Height: 32px
• Font: 14px Instacart Sans weight 600
• Use: Unselected filter pills ("EBT", "Fastest", "Offers", "Grocery")

Tabs

Delivery / Pickup

• Background (active): #ffffff
• Text (active): #343538
• Border (active): 2px solid #343538
• Radius: 20px
• Height: 40px
• Font: 16px Instacart Sans weight 400
• Text (inactive): #C7C8CD
• Use: Delivery/Pickup mode selector on store storefront pages

Verified: 2026-06-22 Tier 1 sources: https://www.instacart.com/ · https://www.instacart.com/store/kroger/storefront Tier 2 sources: getdesign.md/instacart — not found (no entry); styles.refero.design?q=instacart — no results for Instacart Conflicts unresolved: none

States

Do's and Don'ts

Do

• Use #108910 green for every primary action — add-to-cart, sign-up, log-in, key CTAs
• Use Instacart Sans at weight 400 for most text; reserve 600 for dense UI contexts
• Use #F6F7F8 surface grey to group content sections without adding shadows
• Apply graduated pill geometry: 8px for cards → 20px for buttons → 999px for chips
• Use #242529 near-black for headings and labels — never pure #000000
• Use #003D29 (Kale) only for brand-dark immersive moments or Instacart+ banners
• Keep the search bar prominent and always accessible — it is the product's primary CTA

Don't

• Use drop shadows on product cards — the system relies on background tint, not elevation
• Spread the green across decorative elements — it signals "actionable" exclusively
• Mix in a second accent color for interactive elements — the green system is the brand
• Use sharp corners on interactive elements — everything interactive uses at minimum 8px radius
• Use heavy weights (700+) on body text — weight 700 is reserved for section headings only
• Use a font other than Instacart Sans — it is the complete typographic system

Voice & Tone

Instacart's voice is practical, friendly, and time-conscious — a service that respects how busy its users are. Copy is brief, benefit-forward, and uses informal contractions where they read naturally. The hero headline "Order groceries for delivery or pickup today" is prototypically Instacart: one verb, the core value proposition, no superlatives. CTAs are action-direct ("Sign up to get $0 delivery fee", "Add") without exclamation points or emoji. The tone is that of a helpful neighbor, not a corporate entity.

Voice samples (verbatim from live homepage, 2026-06-22):

• "Order groceries for delivery or pickup today" — hero H1. (verified live 2026-06-22)
• "Sign up to get $0 delivery fee*" — hero CTA. (verified live 2026-06-22)
• "Stores to help you save" — section H2. (verified live 2026-06-22)

Forbidden register: Hype-driven superlatives ("the best grocery app ever"), scare tactics around food scarcity, financial urgency dark patterns, corporate jargon.

Agent Prompt Guide

Quick Color Reference

• Primary action: Instacart Green (#108910)
• Brand dark: Kale Dark Green (#003D29)
• Background: Canvas White (#ffffff)
• Secondary surface: Surface Grey (#F6F7F8)
• Chip/neutral: Chip Grey (#E8E9EB)
• Primary text: Ink Near-Black (#242529)
• Secondary text: Ink Secondary (#343538)
• Border/hairline: #C7C8CD

Example Component Prompts

• "Create a hero section: white background. Search bar full-width at 56px height, 28px radius, 1px solid #C7C8CD border, Instacart Sans 15px. Below the search: one green CTA button (#108910, white text, 28px radius, 56px height, 16px / 400 Instacart Sans, 16px horizontal padding)."
• "Design a store filter row: horizontal scrolling pills. Active pill: #242529 bg, white text, 999px radius, 32px height, 0 16px padding, 14px / 600. Inactive: #E8E9EB bg, #242529 text, same geometry."
• "Build a nav header: white background, Instacart Sans throughout. Log In button: white bg, #C7C8CD 1px border, 20px radius, 40px height, 16px / 400. Sign Up: #108910 bg, white text, same geometry."
• "Product card: #F6F7F8 background, 8px radius, no shadow. Add button: #108910 bg, white text, 20px radius, 36px height, 16px Instacart Sans."

Iteration Guide

1. Instacart Sans weight 400 is the default — step up to 600 only for filter chips and store-page dense UI
2. Primary action = #108910 green — every button that does something uses this color
3. Surfaces separate with #F6F7F8 background — no shadows needed
4. Pill geometry scale: 8px cards → 20px buttons → 28px hero CTA → 999px chips
5. Near-black #242529 for text, not pure black
6. Reserve #003D29 Kale only for brand-dark immersive sections