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Reduce visual intensity in designs that are too bold, aggressive, or overstimulating, creating a more refined and approachable aesthetic without losing effectiveness.
MANDATORY PREPARATION
Invoke /frontend-design — it contains design principles, anti-patterns, and the Context Gathering Protocol. Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no design context exists yet, you MUST run /teach-impeccable first.
Assess Current State
Analyze what makes the design feel too intense:
-
Identify intensity sources :
- Color saturation : Overly bright or saturated colors
- Contrast extremes : Too much high-contrast juxtaposition
- Visual weight : Too many bold, heavy elements competing
- Animation excess : Too much motion or overly dramatic effects
- Complexity : Too many visual elements, patterns, or decorations
- Scale : Everything is large and loud with no hierarchy
-
Understand the context :
- What's the purpose? (Marketing vs tool vs reading experience)
- Who's the audience? (Some contexts need energy)
- What's working? (Don't throw away good ideas)
- What's the core message? (Preserve what matters)
If any of these are unclear from the codebase, ask the user directly to clarify what you cannot infer.
CRITICAL : "Quieter" doesn't mean boring or generic. It means refined, sophisticated, and easier on the eyes. Think luxury, not laziness.
Plan Refinement
Create a strategy to reduce intensity while maintaining impact:
- Color approach : Desaturate or shift to more sophisticated tones?
- Hierarchy approach : Which elements should stay bold (very few), which should recede?
- Simplification approach : What can be removed entirely?
- Sophistication approach : How can we signal quality through restraint?
IMPORTANT : Great quiet design is harder than great bold design. Subtlety requires precision.
Refine the Design
Systematically reduce intensity across these dimensions:
Color Refinement
- Reduce saturation : Shift from fully saturated to 70-85% saturation
- Soften palette : Replace bright colors with muted, sophisticated tones
- Reduce color variety : Use fewer colors more thoughtfully
- Neutral dominance : Let neutrals do more work, use color as accent (10% rule)
- Gentler contrasts : High contrast only where it matters most
- Tinted grays : Use warm or cool tinted grays instead of pure gray—adds sophistication without loudness
- Never gray on color : If you have gray text on a colored background, use a darker shade of that color or transparency instead
Visual Weight Reduction
- Typography : Reduce font weights (900 → 600, 700 → 500), decrease sizes where appropriate
- Hierarchy through subtlety : Use weight, size, and space instead of color and boldness
- White space : Increase breathing room, reduce density
- Borders & lines: Reduce thickness, decrease opacity, or remove entirely
Simplification
- Remove decorative elements : Gradients, shadows, patterns, textures that don't serve purpose
- Simplify shapes : Reduce border radius extremes, simplify custom shapes
- Reduce layering : Flatten visual hierarchy where possible
- Clean up effects : Reduce or remove blur effects, glows, multiple shadows
Motion Reduction
- Reduce animation intensity : Shorter distances (10-20px instead of 40px), gentler easing
- Remove decorative animations : Keep functional motion, remove flourishes
- Subtle micro-interactions : Replace dramatic effects with gentle feedback
- Refined easing : Use ease-out-quart for smooth, understated motion—never bounce or elastic
- Remove animations entirely if they're not serving a clear purpose
Composition Refinement
- Reduce scale jumps : Smaller contrast between sizes creates calmer feeling
- Align to grid : Bring rogue elements back into systematic alignment
- Even out spacing : Replace extreme spacing variations with consistent rhythm
NEVER :
- Make everything the same size/weight (hierarchy still matters)
- Remove all color (quiet ≠ grayscale)
- Eliminate all personality (maintain character through refinement)
- Sacrifice usability for aesthetics (functional elements still need clear affordances)
- Make everything small and light (some anchors needed)
Verify Quality
Ensure refinement maintains quality:
- Still functional : Can users still accomplish tasks easily?
- Still distinctive : Does it have character, or is it generic now?
- Better reading : Is text easier to read for extended periods?
- Sophistication : Does it feel more refined and premium?
Remember: Quiet design is confident design. It doesn't need to shout. Less is more, but less is also harder. Refine with precision and maintain intentionality.
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