When we started designing Meridian, the obvious references were other analytics platforms — dense dashboards, rainbow color palettes, notification bells everywhere. We went a different direction entirely.
The Bauhaus argument
The Bauhaus school (1919–1933) unified art and industrial design under a single principle: form follows function. Every element must earn its place. Ornament is not decoration — it's noise that competes with the signal you're trying to communicate.
For a process analytics platform, this translates directly. Every pixel either conveys information or gets in the way of information. We chose to remove anything that wasn't data.
Practical implications
- No drop shadows — borders communicate structure without adding depth illusion
- No rounded corners — sharp edges feel precise, like a measurement instrument should
- Monospace font for all numeric data — JetBrains Mono aligns numbers and makes scanning faster
- One accent color (orange) — used exclusively for interactive or active states
- Zero gradients in UI chrome — gradients only appear in data visualizations where they encode meaning
- Uppercase tracking-widest for labels — creates hierarchy without relying on weight alone
The result
Users consistently describe Meridian as "easier to read" than competing tools despite handling more data. That's the Bauhaus principle at work — remove friction, let the data speak.