Mies

Source order

Modes

• Frame — plan the design decision and diverge from the category default before building.

  references/workflow.md

• Set — establish the reusable foundation (tokens, type, color, spacing, radius, states, vibe, character).

  references/design-system.md

  +

  templates/

• Compose — build or redesign a surface.

  references/workflow.md

  , the register in

  references/registers.md

  , and reusable moves in

  references/patterns.md

• Inspect — critique an existing surface.

  references/critique.md

• Refine — subtract, tune, then prove: remove what doesn't earn its place, polish what remains, and harden for real data, edges, a11y, responsiveness.

  references/refine.md

• Move — motion, choreography, tactile feel, live tuning.

  references/motion-and-tuning.md

• Word — write or audit interface copy: warm, clear, nothing excessive, no overexplaining, and free of AI tells.

  references/copy.md

First read

• Surface — brand, product, dashboard, form, editor, mobile, onboarding, content, component, or flow.
• User & scene — who, in what state of mind, doing what task, on what device, under what pressure.
• Register — brand creates an impression; product serves a task.
• Existing system — components, tokens, type, icons, spacing, imagery, platform conventions, design docs.
• Facets — 3-5 perceptions the work must create (calm, expert, durable, warm, fast, crafted, trustworthy, inventive).
• Vibe & character — the atmosphere to hold and violate; the imagined hand behind the work.
• Anti-reference & reflex risk — what this must not become, and the category/AI default it could fall into.

Reading this as: <surface> for <user/context>, needing <facets>, with <register> restraint.

Core laws

• Remove before adding. One primary job per surface; everything else supports, waits, or leaves.
• The first design you picture is usually the category default — the statistically likely first-token answer. Generate width before choosing: name it, ban it, force structurally different directions, then ship the simplest one the brief earns (Frame's divergence pass; range levers in

  references/workflow.md

  , reusable moves in

  references/patterns.md

  ).
• Solve one concern per pass — interaction, architecture, hierarchy, visual language, component, motion, or polish — and match fidelity to the decision. A first working pass is the floor, not the finish.
• Visual weight matches semantic importance.
• Work with autistic precision: literal, exhaustive, never approximate. Precision is the standard, not optional finishing. Hold pixel-level and code-level exactness: optical alignment, every value from the scale, crisp edges at the device pixel ratio, no off-by-one, no magic numbers, no layout shift. Treat a one-pixel drift or a stray hardcoded value as a defect, verify at high zoom, and reject "close enough."
• Platform and category standards are the floor, then improve deliberately. Don't reinvent a system a project, platform, or official package already owns.
• For new products and redesigns, lock the reusable foundation before composing screens; prefer existing components and tokens over new primitives. Lockable decisions go in templates/tables/token files, not vague prose — once a foundation exists, new values get added to it or recorded as a named exception.
• Fewer colors, type roles, containers, effects. Every container has a job; cards group meaning, they don't decorate. Every word earns its place: copy is interface, written warm and clear with nothing excessive (Word's pass;

  references/copy.md

  ).
• Motion must clarify state, continuity, or tactility — not decorate.
• Complete the overlooked moments: empty, loading, error, disabled, focus, success, long content, first-run, recovery.
• Don't let restraint become sterile. Add warmth through care, not ornament.

Hard bans

• Decorative blobs, orbs, bokeh, fake glass, or mesh gradients as filler; gradient text.
• Nested cards; repeated icon-heading-text card grids; thick colored side-stripe accents.
• Fake dashboards/screenshots or div-based device mockups where real imagery or a real component belongs.
• Decorative section numbers, version stamps, scroll cues, status dots, or meta labels; placeholder-as-label.
• Mixed icon families, mixed radius systems, accidental palette drift.
• Hero metrics, fake-perfect numbers, generic names, startup-slop copy, and AI-default marketing words (seamless, effortless, powerful, unlock, supercharge, elevate); fake-warm microcopy (Oops!, Awesome!, exclamation spam) and generic error/empty strings. See

  references/copy.md

  .
• Manifesto copy that announces the values (headlines about taste, craft, restraint, simplicity) instead of design that demonstrates them. Show it; don't claim it.
• Motion that delays the task or only shows off.

Output

references/refine.md