Houston

Houston started as an afterthought. Engineer Nate Moore dropped a plain blob into the npm create astro command-line tool just so an otherwise sterile getting-started screen felt like something. Astro's design team saw what was there and built it out properly: a dark rounded square, a minimal face, and a signature blue to purple to teal gradient outline. It then took over the entire site, winking in the CLI, growing heart eyes on the newsletter thank-you page, peering over the signup form, and clutching a fistful of balloons on the 404 under the line Houston, we have a problem. Astro's brand guidelines now protect Houston the way you would protect a logo, stating flatly that it is not for anyone else's marketing. Not bad for a placeholder. This site is built with Astro, for what it is worth.