deepen-design

Deepen Design

Create a more ownable design, not merely a more decorated one.

Read references/recursive-tree.md before work. If the user is reacting to an unsatisfying prior result, also read references/failure-patterns.md.

Core distinction

Granularity has levels:

1. product truth and desired belief;
2. brand theorem and narrative metaphor;
3. page architecture and tempo;
4. section composition and interaction;
5. component language;
6. typography, color, spacing, borders, shadows, and motion polish.

Always descend in this order. A larger token set, more shadows, or more micro-interactions is not deeper design when levels 1-4 remain unchanged.

Start from rendered evidence

For an existing interface:

1. Preserve the current implementation and user changes.
2. Capture the current desktop and mobile first viewport.
3. Inspect at least two later sections and one meaningful interaction.
4. State what is objectively working.
5. State why the page is forgettable in five seconds.
6. Separate functional gates from taste judgments.

Treat “still mediocre” as a failed design test. Do not defend an earlier score or continue the same direction by default.

Build a bounded binary tree

At each direction-changing node, create exactly two materially different branches. A valid branch changes the visual argument, information structure, or signature interaction. A palette swap is not a branch.

Use beam search:

• expand two branches;
• make both visible at the cheapest useful fidelity;
• compare them pairwise;
• keep the strongest branch and one credible challenger;
• descend one level;
• backtrack when both children inherit the same weakness.

Do not construct every possible leaf. Spend depth on consequential decisions, not combinatorial volume.

Required depth gates

Depth 0: product invariant

Write:

• the visitor;
• the moment of tension;
• what they should understand, feel, and do;
• the product truth that competitors cannot honestly claim in the same way.