Abstract |  An analytical formulation is offered to allow performance-based seismic design to be achieved following a direct code-compatible procedure. The approach builds upon the use of the yield displacement as a robust system characteristic. A new format for displaying seismic demands known as Yield Frequency Spectra is introduced to quantitatively link performance objectives with the base shear seismic coefficient for a fixed value of yield displacement. Analytical expressions allow estimating the design base shear strength to satisfy any number of performance requirements, foregoing the need for a behaviour factor. The effect of uncertainties is naturally introduced to inject the proper conservatism for, e.g., the natural randomness in the ground motion or lack of knowledge in modelling and analysis. Finally, an 8-story reinforced concrete frame is designed, showing that EN1998 may not achieve the stated performance targets, while the proposed approach can match them with a single iteration.