Defaults Are Not Choices
NEVER: Use generic fonts (Inter, Roboto, Arial, system-ui), purple gradients, perfectly centered layouts, excessive border-radius, or sparkle emojis. These are hallmarks of AI-generated slop. Choose distinctive typography, intentional colors, and layouts with asymmetry.
The reflexive AI looks are legitimate only when the brief asks for them — never spend a free axis on one
Bad
Good
Why it matters
The diagnostic is not "is this look bad" — cream, near-black-and-acid, and broadsheet are all fine designs for the right subject. The diagnostic is "did the subject produce this, or did the model?" If the same palette and layout would have arrived for a fintech dashboard, a wellness app, and a dev tool alike, it came from the training distribution. Our corpus pins the individual looks: `aesthetics-impeccable-cream-palette` (1), `aesthetics-dark-acid-default` (2).
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