[design-qa][P1] Retired dark palette and off-palette colour: the violet cover gradient, 360-hue avatars, lime text on white, `ink` as a surface

[cestercian]

Part of the Sep-2026 designer's-eye QA of the 138 "Artistant iOS Light" screens (theme T14, category token; epic #161). Full report with evidence and per-screen coverage: docs/DESIGN_QA_2026-09.md; the per-section appendices under docs/design-qa/ carry the code excerpts.

Why it matters. ArtistGradient.kt still holds six raw-hex palettes of the retired dark design (violet #7C5CFF → #0F1014) used as every cover's fallback and as the wizard's and press kit's swatches; Avatar mints 360 saturated hues; seven press-kit tap targets are accent text on white (≈1.3:1); three components fill with ink where dark is the token.

Fix direction. Replace the palettes with placeholder/surface2 tints (or a two-stop lime-to-ink gradient), give Avatar one palette, accentInk for any accent used as text, dark for dark surfaces.

Findings (8: P1 ×2, P2 ×4, P3 ×2)

• F-DS-01 (P1) — Retired dark-palette gradient is the cover floor on every DS surface
  • Screens: 02, 03, 32 (and 14 suggestion thumbs)
  • Where: feature/discover/DiscoverScreen.kt:408-423; feature/search/SearchScreen.kt:862-877; feature/profile/ArtistListScreen.kt:388-409; palette designsystem/theme/ArtistGradient.kt:25-30; dead placeholder paint under it at SearchScreen.kt
  • Fix: One shared cover composable (or MediaSlot) that lets the placeholder fill show until the photo lands and keeps the gradient, if at all, as the media scrim under text only; delete the three private ArtistCover/ArtistThumb copies.
• F-WZ-07 (P2) — Gradient swatches drift from the press kit's row and paint the retired palette
  • Screens: 41
  • Where: WizardMediaSteps.kt:344-380; peer feature/epk/EpkPanes.kt:443-462
  • Fix: extract the press kit's swatch row into designsystem/component/ and call it from both; when F-DS-01 relights ArtistGradient, both surfaces follow.
• F-PK-02 (P1) — Lime-on-white text: seven tap targets in the panes are unreadable
  • Screens: 23 (panes)
  • Where: feature/epk/EpkComponents.kt:85,146,183; feature/epk/EpkPanes.kt:403,875; correct peers EpkPanes.kt:920,1079
  • Fix: colors.accentInk for every accent-as-text site; colors.ink for the cursor and colors.ink at hairline weight for the active underline.
• F-DSYS-08 (P2) — Avatar mints 360 saturated hues on a one-accent palette
  • Screens: —
  • Where: designsystem/component/Avatar.kt:101-113
  • Fix: replace the hue hash with the palette — surface2 fill and ink2 initials (or a placeholder fill), which is what the light design draws for an absent image everywhere else (Tile.kt:103, MediaSlot).
• F-DSYS-03 (P2) — ink is used as a surface fill in three components; dark is the palette's token for that
  • Screens: —
  • Where: designsystem/component/Toast.kt:135 (+ text at :163); designsystem/component/Banner.kt:218 (+ text at :205); designsystem/component/MonthCalendar.kt:470 (+ text at :474)
  • Fix: repoint all three fills to colors.dark; if the calendar's selected day should carry the accent instead, that is a separate call for the design owner.
• F-MS-08 (P2) — The Safety centre's dark card is painted ink, not dark
  • Screens: 131
  • Where: feature/messages/SafetyCentreScreen.kt:79
  • Fix: colors.dark, and pick one of dark/darkest for the brand disc on both screens.
• F-BN-15 (P3) — Three different alpha values mean "stepped back"
  • Screens: 10, 83, 97, 122
  • Where: feature/bookings/BookingsScreen.kt:490 (ENDED_ALPHA = 0.55f, applied :433, :630); feature/booking/BookingDetailScreen.kt:300 (DIMMED = 0.6f, applied :549, :723); :821 (Modifier.alpha(0.85f), literal)
  • Fix: one token (e.g. AppColors.dimmed or a single DIMMED in the design system) used by all three.
• F-DSYS-22 (P3) — Two tokens used outside their role: a space as a radius, a dot as a bar height
  • Screens: —
  • Where: designsystem/component/MonthCalendar.kt:579; designsystem/component/Meter.kt:85
  • Fix: radii.xs for the swatch; add component.meter (6) for the track (see F-DSYS-13).

Acceptance

• Every finding above is closed on the cited lines (or refuted in a comment with the reason).
• ./gradlew :app:assembleDebug, :app:testDebugUnitTest and :app:lintDevDebug green.
• The screens listed above walked on the artistant AVD with the debug harness (RELEASE.md §10) and the fix confirmed visually — this audit was code-grounded, not device-walked.