Universal Principles & Design Techniques — Master Scorecard

On 30 June 2026 two hundred fifty design items were scored on two independent axes, person and machine. Two hundred came from a 2023 principles book and fifty from a visual-craft book. The grades are dated judgment, not findings.

How a row is scored

H is human ownership, 1–5: how much this still needs a person. AI is machine executability, 1–5: how much an agent can run this without looking. The two axes are independent — a thing can be H5 and AI4 at once. B is Build relevance to the tsumugu surfaces, 1–5. L is Learning relevance to the owner’s growth, 1–5. tsumugu is the language-learning reader and dictionary those Build scores refer to. The scoring model is the Human vs AI Capability Lens. The books were split by Design Two-Track Extraction into Agent Track and Human Track.

Zone is the cell on the H × AI plane. The names, verbatim: Own — yours to make, agents can’t. Augment — both high; the agent drafts, you judge and own. Delegate — hand to the agent. Low-leverage — neither pulls hard.

The cut that produces Zone is regular and has no exceptions.

H	AI	Zone	Count
≥4	≥4	Augment	20
≥4	≤3	Own	95
≤3	≥4	Delegate	84
≤3	≤3	Low-leverage	51

The HTML badge on this page is a page profile, not a mean of the 250: Human about 60 percent, AI about 60 percent, Build 100 percent, Learning 80 percent — H3 / AI3 / B5 / L4. The mean of the rows is about H 3.4 and AI 3.1.

Highlight sections below are slices, not the zone. Own lists 25 of 95. Delegate lists 25 of 84. Augment lists all 20. Human-5 lists all 31 items scored H=5, candidates for their own page. Wabi-Sabi has already graduated.

Miller’s Law is glossed here as 7±2, the source wording, and scored Delegate (H2 AI4). The design instruction on this vault is about 3–5 chunks. The gloss is not the instruction.

The principles book is grouped Interaction & UI (48), Aesthetics & Form (26), Cognition & Perception (23), Learning & Communication (9), Strategy & Decision (40), Process & Systems (30), Persuasion & Social (24) — 200. The visual-craft block is 50 executable rules, mostly Interaction & UI, the production half. Items repeat across highlight and category on the live layout; unique names stay 250. The inventory below is the unique 250, once each, by zone. Table rows on the older layout numbered 351 because of those repeats.

Grades were judged against the frontier on 30 June 2026. The AI column drifts up as models improve. Reproducing a number is not asserting it as a law.

Own slice — 25 of 95

High human ownership, agents can’t. Sorted by Human, then Learning: Ackoff’s Law; Box’s Law; Causal Reductionism; Chesterton’s Fence; Confirmation Bias; Creator Blindness; Dunning-Kruger Effect; First Principles; Gall’s Law; Knowing-Doing Gap; Leverage Point; Maslow’s Hammer; Nirvana Fallacy; Ockham’s Razor; Perverse Incentive; Process Eats Goal; Satisficing; Selection Bias; Status Quo Bias; Streetlight Effect; Sunk Cost Effect; Survivorship Bias; Back of the Dresser; Paradox of Great Ideas; User-Centered vs. User-Driven Design.

Augment — complete, 20 of 20

Storytelling; Framing; Mental Model; Desire Line; Error, Design; Error, Human; Five Hat Racks; Iteration; Minimum-Viable Product; Nudge; Prototyping; Rosetta Stone; Anchoring; Cost-Benefit; Feedback Loop; Kano Model; Pareto Principle; Priming; Root Cause; Stickiness.

Delegate slice — 25 of 84

High AI, low human ownership. Sorted by Build relevance: Alignment; Constraint; Feedback; Proximity; Similarity; Spacing & sizing scale; px/rem never em; Type scale; Line length 45-75; Weight floor 400; Contrast minimums; Accessibility; Affordance; Color Theory; Consistency; Forgiveness; Legibility; Mapping; Performance Load; Progressive Disclosure; Readability; Recognition over Recall; Signal-to-Noise Ratio; Visibility; Define value systems.

Pure human moat — Human 5, complete, 31 of 31

The 25 Own-slice H5 items plus Storytelling; Framing; Rebuild interfaces from scratch; Look for decisions you wouldn’t have made; Choose a personality; Wabi-Sabi. Storytelling and Framing are H5 Augment. Candidates for their own page; Wabi-Sabi already has one.

The inventory

Two hundred fifty unique names. Scores reproduced from the 30 June 2026 grade. Glosses that had been cut mid-word are restored, including Golden Ratio (1.618, not 0).

Own — 95

Principle	H	AI	B	L	Zone	Gloss
Ackoff’s Law	5	1	2	5	Own	It is better to do the right things wrong than the wrong things right
Box’s Law	5	2	2	5	Own	All models are wrong, but some are useful
Causal Reductionism	5	2	2	5	Own	A tendency to fixate on one cause when solving problems, ignoring the reality of multiple causes
Chesterton’s Fence	5	2	3	5	Own	Seek to understand why things exist the way they do before changing or removing them
Confirmation Bias	5	2	2	5	Own	A tendency to favor information that confirms pre-existing views
Creator Blindness	5	2	3	5	Own	The inability of a creator to see fundamental flaws in their creation
Dunning-Kruger Effect	5	2	2	5	Own	A tendency for unskilled people to overestimate their competence and performance
First Principles	5	2	3	5	Own	Things we know for certain to be true and that are not derived from anything else
Gall’s Law	5	2	4	5	Own	All successful complex things begin as simple things and become complex through iteration
Knowing-Doing Gap	5	1	3	5	Own	The divide that exists between knowing how to do something and actually doing it
Leverage Point	5	2	3	5	Own	A place within a system where small changes produce big effects
Maslow’s Hammer	5	2	3	5	Own	The tendency to approach problems based on the tools and expertise at hand
Nirvana Fallacy	5	2	3	5	Own	The tendency to disregard good solutions because they fall short of perfection
Ockham’s Razor	5	2	4	5	Own	Given a choice between functionally equivalent designs, the simplest design should be selected
Perverse Incentive	5	2	2	5	Own	An incentive that unintentionally worsens the problem it seeks to solve
Process Eats Goal	5	2	3	5	Own	A situation in which people follow a process that undermines the greater goal
Satisficing	5	2	4	5	Own	A problem-solving strategy that seeks a satisfactory versus optimal solution
Selection Bias	5	3	2	5	Own	A bias in the way evidence is collected that distorts analysis and conclusions
Status Quo Bias	5	2	2	5	Own	A preference for things as they are, even when a change would improve things
Streetlight Effect	5	2	2	5	Own	A bias to search for things where it is easiest
Sunk Cost Effect	5	2	3	5	Own	The tendency to keep investing in an endeavor because of past investments in that endeavor
Survivorship Bias	5	2	2	5	Own	The tendency to overemphasize things that survive a selection process
Back of the Dresser	5	2	4	4	Own	All parts of a design, visible and nonvisible, should be held to the same standard of quality
Look for decisions you wouldn’t have made	5	1	4	4	Own	Collect the unintuitive moves on designs you like.
Paradox of Great Ideas	5	1	2	4	Own	Great ideas are indistinguishable from crazy ideas when first introduced
Rebuild interfaces from scratch (eye training)	5	1	4	4	Own	Matching the original surfaces the invisible tricks.
User-Centered vs. User-Driven Design	5	2	4	4	Own	A focus on understanding and meeting user needs versus simply implementing user requests
Choose a personality	5	2	4	3	Own	Font, color, radius, tone cohere to one character.
Wabi-Sabi	5	1	3	3	Own	An aesthetic style that emphasizes naturalness, simplicity, and subtle imperfection
Depth of Processing	4	2	2	5	Own	Thinking hard about a thing improves the likelihood that it can be recalled
Flow	4	2	3	5	Own	A state of immersion so intense that awareness of the real world is lost
Gates’ Rule of Automation	4	3	3	5	Own	Automation applied to an operation will magnify both its efficiencies and deficiencies
KISS	4	3	4	5	Own	Simple designs work better and are more reliable than complex designs
Appeal to Nature	4	1	1	4	Own	The tendency to believe natural things are inherently better than human-created things
Archetypes, System	4	2	2	4	Own	Universal structures and resulting patterns of behavior found across system types
Brooks’ Law	4	2	2	4	Own	For certain types of projects, adding people to speed things up inadvertently slows them down
Brown M&M’s	4	3	2	4	Own	The use of covert, embedded tests to verify that quality standards have been met
Cognitive Dissonance	4	2	2	4	Own	A state of mental discomfort due to incompatible attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs
Conway’s Law	4	2	3	4	Own	The structure of an organization is expressed in the design of the things it produces
Design the smallest shippable version	4	2	4	4	Own	Work in cycles; don’t imply unbuilt functionality.
Don’t Eat the Daisies	4	2	3	4	Own	The fallacy that exhaustive requirements and specification documents lead to better design
Expectation Effects	4	2	3	4	Own	Changes in perception or behavior resulting from personal expectations or expectations of others
Feature Creep	4	2	4	4	Own	A continuous expansion or addition of new product features beyond the original scope
Flexibility Tradeoffs	4	2	3	4	Own	As the flexibility of a design increases, the performance of the design decreases
Form Follows Function	4	2	4	4	Own	Aesthetic considerations should be secondary to functional considerations
Groupthink	4	2	1	4	Own	A decision-making phenomenon that occurs when group harmony is overprioritized
Habituation	4	2	3	4	Own	Repeated exposure to a stimulus reduces the response to that stimulus
Hanlon’s Razor	4	2	1	4	Own	Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence
IKEA Effect	4	2	2	4	Own	The act of creating a thing increases the perceived value of that thing to the creator
Inattentional Blindness	4	2	3	4	Own	A failure to perceive an unexpected stimulus presented in clear view
Iron Triangle	4	2	3	4	Own	A model that proposes three constraints for all projects: time, cost, and scope
MAYA	4	2	4	4	Own	A strategy for determining the most commercially viable aesthetic for a design
Not Invented Here	4	2	3	4	Own	A tendency to oppose ideas and innovations that originate outside of your social group
Paradox of Unanimity	4	2	1	4	Own	Extreme agreement in a diverse population is more likely the result of error than of consensus
Peak-End Rule	4	2	4	4	Own	People remember and judge an experience based on its most intense moment and its end
Performance vs. Preference	4	2	3	4	Own	Increasing performance does not necessarily increase desirability
Premature Optimization	4	2	4	4	Own	Making elements of a design efficient before they are recognized as important or even needed
Progressive Subtraction	4	2	4	4	Own	Reducing the number of perceptible elements in a design over time
Reciprocity	4	2	2	4	Own	The tendency for people to give back to those who have given to them
Reverse Salient	4	3	3	4	Own	An element that limits the overall performance of the system of which it is part
Scaling Fallacy	4	2	3	4	Own	The assumption that designs that work at one scale will work at smaller or larger scales
Social Trap	4	2	1	4	Own	A tendency to pursue short-term gains that create long-term losses for the greater group
Start with a feature, not a layout	4	2	4	4	Own	Frame the real problem before the shell.
Uncertainty Principle	4	2	2	4	Own	Measuring things can change them, often making the results invalid
Zeigarnik Effect	4	2	3	4	Own	Incomplete or interrupted tasks are more likely to hold attention and be remembered
Aesthetic-Usability Effect	4	2	4	3	Own	Aesthetic things are perceived to be easier to use than ugly things
Archetypes, Psychological	4	2	2	3	Own	Patterns that elicit a reflexive attentional or emotional response in humans
Attractiveness Bias	4	2	1	3	Own	A tendency to view attractive people as intelligent, competent, moral, and sociable
Clarke’s Laws	4	1	1	3	Own	Three maxims that offer insights into the nature of innovation
Control	4	3	4	3	Own	The level of user control should be related to the proficiency and experience of the user
Death Spiral	4	2	1	3	Own	A phenomenon in which a social organization persists in behaviors that lead to self-destruction
Design by Committee	4	1	2	3	Own	A design process based on consensus building, group decision-making, and extensive iteration
Diffusion of Innovations	4	2	2	3	Own	A theory describing how new things gain acceptance in a population over time
Emphasize by de-emphasizing	4	3	5	3	Own	Soften competitors instead of pushing the focal harder.
Empty states as first impressions	4	3	4	3	Own	Illustration + emphasized CTA; hide idle controls.
Exposure Effect	4	3	3	3	Own	The more people are exposed to a thing, the more they like and trust it
Faith Follows Function	4	1	2	3	Own	Ideological and spiritual considerations should be secondary to functional considerations
Font-picking heuristics	4	3	4	3	Own	Neutral sans / system stack; filter to 10+ styles.
Icarus Matrix	4	2	1	3	Own	A 2 × 2 matrix representing the possible success- failure outcomes of a design iteration
Identifiable Victim Effect	4	2	1	3	Own	A single, identifiable victim elicits more helping behaviors than a group of anonymous victims
Levels of Invention	4	2	1	3	Own	A model that classifies inventions based on complexity, nonobviousness, and impact
Propositional Density	4	2	4	3	Own	The number of independent meanings conveyed by a design
Scarcity	4	3	2	3	Own	Things become more desirable when they are in short supply or occur infrequently
Social Proof	4	3	3	3	Own	When people don’t know how to act, think, or feel, they tend to copy others
Supernormal Stimulus	4	2	2	3	Own	An exaggerated feature that elicits a stronger response than the real feature
Veblen Effect	4	2	1	3	Own	A tendency to find a product more desirable because it has a high price
Balance weight against contrast	4	3	4	2	Own	Heavy elements get lower contrast.
Design in grayscale first	4	2	4	2	Own	Force spacing/contrast/size to carry hierarchy.
Greys carry temperature	4	3	3	2	Own	Tint warm or cool, consistently across shades.
Labels are a last resort	4	3	4	2	Own	Drop or fold into the value when format implies it.
Overlap elements to build layers	4	3	3	2	Own	Invisible border to stop image clash.
Shift brightness by rotating hue (=<30 deg)	4	3	4	2	Own	Toward 60/180/300 to lighten.
Start with too much whitespace	4	2	4	2	Own	Default generous, then subtract.
Supercharge the defaults	4	3	4	2	Own	Icon bullets, accent borders, custom controls.
Use fewer borders	4	3	4	2	Own	Prefer shadow, second bg color, or spacing.

Augment — 20

Principle	H	AI	B	L	Zone	Gloss
Framing	5	4	3	5	Augment	A method of presenting choices in specific ways to influence decision-making and judgment
Storytelling	5	4	4	5	Augment	Evoking imagery, emotions, and understanding through the presentation of events
Cost-Benefit	4	4	3	5	Augment	Value is a function of the costs of acquisition and use versus the benefits provided
Pareto Principle	4	4	3	5	Augment	A small percentage of variables in any large system is responsible for most of its behavior
Root Cause	4	4	3	5	Augment	The key initiating cause in a sequence of events that leads to an event of interest
Anchoring	4	4	3	4	Augment	The subconscious influence of reference points on decision-making and judgment
Desire Line	4	4	4	4	Augment	Traces of use or wear that indicate preferred methods of interaction
Error, Design	4	4	4	4	Augment	A design-caused action or inaction that yields an unintended or undesirable result
Error, Human	4	4	4	4	Augment	An action, or omission of action, that leads to an unintended result
Feedback Loop	4	4	3	4	Augment	A cycle in which output feeds back into a system as input, changing subsequent output
Five Hat Racks	4	4	4	4	Augment	A metaphor representing the five ways information can be organized
Iteration	4	4	4	4	Augment	Designing things in phases, each phase building on the last, until a desired result is achieved
Mental Model	4	4	5	4	Augment	A mental simulation of how things work
Minimum-Viable Product	4	4	4	4	Augment	A version of a product with just enough features to evaluate customer demand
Nudge	4	4	4	4	Augment	A method of influencing behavior without restricting options or changing incentives
Priming	4	4	3	4	Augment	Activating specific concepts in memory to influence subsequent thoughts and behaviors
Prototyping	4	4	4	4	Augment	Building low-fidelity models to explore ideas and deeply understand problems
Rosetta Stone	4	4	4	4	Augment	A strategy for communicating novel information using elements of common understanding
Stickiness	4	4	3	4	Augment	Properties of information that increase recognition, recall, and voluntary sharing
Kano Model	4	4	3	3	Augment	A model for understanding customer needs and then prioritizing design features accordingly

Delegate — 84

Principle	H	AI	B	L	Zone	Gloss
Garbage In – Garbage Out	3	4	3	4	Delegate	The quality of output depends on the quality of input
Inverted Pyramid	3	4	4	4	Delegate	The presentation of information from most important to least important
Modularity	3	4	4	4	Delegate	Managing system complexity by dividing large systems into smaller, self-contained systems
Normal Distribution	3	4	2	4	Delegate	A bell-shaped curve formed by plotting the frequency of a variable within a population
Readability	3	4	5	4	Delegate	The ease with which text can be understood, based on the complexity of words and sentences
Recognition over Recall	3	4	5	4	Delegate	Memory for recognizing things is better than memory for recalling things
Serial Position Effects	3	4	4	4	Delegate	Things at the beginnings and ends of sequences are more memorable than things in the middle
Signal-to-Noise Ratio	3	4	5	4	Delegate	The ratio of relevant to irrelevant information
Accessibility	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Things should be designed to be usable, without modification, by as many people as possible
Affordance	3	4	5	3	Delegate	The physical characteristics of a thing that influence its function and use
Comparison	3	4	4	3	Delegate	A method of highlighting relationships by depicting information in controlled ways
Consistency	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Usability and learnability improve when similar things have similar meanings and functions
Constraint	3	5	5	3	Delegate	Limiting the actions that can be performed to simplify use and prevent error
Define value systems; choose by elimination	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Pick from fixed sets; guess then compare neighbours.
Feedback	3	5	5	3	Delegate	Information about status or performance used for confirmation, decision-making, and improvement
Forgiveness	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Designs should help people avoid errors and protect them from harm when they do occur
Horror Vacui	3	4	4	3	Delegate	A tendency to fill blank spaces with things rather than leaving spaces empty
Mapping	3	4	5	3	Delegate	A correspondence in layout and movement between controls and the things they control
Never encode meaning in color alone	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Pair with icon/text; distinguish by contrast.
Performance Load	3	4	5	3	Delegate	The greater the effort required to complete a task, the less likely the task will be completed
Poka-Yoke	3	4	4	3	Delegate	A thing designed to prevent defects and errors
Progressive Disclosure	3	4	5	3	Delegate	A method of managing complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed
Visibility	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Locate important controls, information, and items to be clearly visible
von Restorff Effect	3	4	4	3	Delegate	The most distinctive or isolated item in a set is the most remembered
~100ms feedback; guard double-fire	3	4	5	3	Delegate	Optimistic UI; debounce; disable-on-submit.
Avoid ambiguous spacing	3	4	5	2	Delegate	More space around a group than within it.
Button hierarchy; destructive treatment	3	4	5	2	Delegate	Primary solid, secondary outline, tertiary link.
Closure	3	4	4	2	Delegate	The brain automatically completes recognizable forms when they are interrupted or incomple
Color Theory	3	4	5	2	Delegate	A body of practical knowledge regarding the application and mixing of colors
Define shades up front (100-900)	3	4	5	2	Delegate	Fill from the edges; no runtime lighten/darken.
Don’t fill the screen; use max-width	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Give elements only the space they need.
Elevation shadow system (~5 steps)	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Tight=raised, large/blurred=closer.
Everything has an intended size (images)	3	4	3	2	Delegate	Don’t scale icons up or screenshots down.
Figure-Ground	3	4	4	2	Delegate	The brain automatically makes elements objects of focus or background
Fixed vs fluid widths	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Fixed when it shouldn’t scale; flex the rest.
Flat depth via color or solid shadow	3	4	3	2	Delegate	Lighter=raised, darker=inset.
Hierarchy via weight + color, not size alone	3	4	5	2	Delegate	2-3 text colors, 2 weights.
Iconic Representation	3	4	4	2	Delegate	The use of pictorial images to improve recognition and recall
Keep saturation up at the extremes	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Raise saturation as lightness leaves 50%.
Legibility	3	4	5	2	Delegate	The visual clarity of text, generally based on size, typeface, contrast, line length, and spacing
Letter-spacing: tighten headlines, widen caps	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Otherwise leave the designer’s default.
Light comes from above (raised/inset)	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Lighter top edge + dark bottom shadow.
Line-height is proportional	3	4	5	2	Delegate	Taller for small/narrow text, ~1 for headlines.
No grey text on colored backgrounds	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Hand-pick a same-hue color; never white+opacity.
Not every link needs a color	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Weight/darker color in link-dense UI.
Rule of Thirds	3	5	4	2	Delegate	A technique of composition in which a medium is divided into thirds
Self-Similarity	3	4	3	2	Delegate	A property in which a thing is composed of similar patterns at multiple levels of scale
Separate visual from document hierarchy	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Pick the tag for meaning; style independently.
Shadow as interaction cue	3	4	4	2	Delegate	Press shrinks, drag adds shadow.
Symmetry	3	4	4	2	Delegate	A property of similar or exact correspondence between the configuration of elements
Text-on-image contrast	3	4	3	2	Delegate	Overlay, lower contrast, colorize, or text-shadow glow.
Two-part shadows	3	4	3	1	Delegate	Large soft (direct) + tight dark (ambient).
Contrast minimums (WCAG 4.5:1 / 3:1)	2	5	5	3	Delegate	Flip contrast when white-on-color goes too dark.
Miller’s Law	2	4	4	3	Delegate	The number of objects an average person can hold in working memory is 7± 2
Alignment	2	5	5	2	Delegate	The arrangement of elements along a common axis based on their edges, centers, or areas
Author color in HSL	2	5	4	2	Delegate	Browsers take HSL, not HSB.
Confirmation	2	5	4	2	Delegate	A technique for preventing errors by requiring verification before actions are performed
Fibonacci Sequence	2	5	3	2	Delegate	A sequence of numbers that forms patterns commonly found in nature
Fitts’ Law	2	4	4	2	Delegate	The time required to touch a target is a function of the target size and the distance to the target
Golden Ratio	2	5	3	2	Delegate	A ratio within the elements of a form, such as height to width, approximating 1.618
Hick’s Law	2	4	4	2	Delegate	Time to make a decision increases as the number of decision options increases
Highlighting	2	5	4	2	Delegate	A technique for focusing attention on an area of text or image
Left-Digit Effect	2	4	2	2	Delegate	People give more weight to the left-most digits of prices in buying decisions
Line length 45-75 characters	2	5	5	2	Delegate	~20-35em for readable measure.
Palette size (~10 colors x 5-10 shades)	2	4	4	2	Delegate	Greys 8-10; primaries & accents 5-10 each.
Proximity	2	5	5	2	Delegate	The brain automatically assumes elements that are close together are related
Similarity	2	5	5	2	Delegate	The brain automatically assumes elements that look alike are related
Spacing & sizing scale (base 16, =>25% jumps)	2	5	5	2	Delegate	Non-linear scale; no two values closer than ~25%.
Tame user-uploaded images	2	5	3	2	Delegate	Fixed container, cover; inner shadow for bleed.
Testing Pyramid	2	4	4	2	Delegate	A multilayered framework to systematize testing and reduce defects
Text alignment for readability	2	5	4	2	Delegate	Left for LTR; right-align numerals; hyphenate justified.
Type scale, hand-picked & non-linear	2	5	5	2	Delegate	Constrained set; round any modular fractions.
Weight floor 400; two weights	2	5	5	2	Delegate	400/500 body, 600/700 emphasis.
WYSIWYG	2	4	4	2	Delegate	What a person sees in a design context should be what they get in a delivery context
Apparent Motion	2	4	3	1	Delegate	The illusion of motion created when images are displayed in rapid succession
Baseline-align mixed font sizes	2	5	4	1	Delegate	Align on the baseline, never center.
Common Fate	2	4	3	1	Delegate	The brain automatically assumes elements moving in similar ways are related
Good Continuation	2	4	3	1	Delegate	The brain automatically assumes elements in motion continue in their established direction
Gutenberg Diagram	2	4	4	1	Delegate	A diagram that describes the pattern followed by the eyes when looking at a page of information
Orientation Sensitivity	2	4	3	1	Delegate	Certain line orientations are more quickly and easily processed and discriminated than others
Perspective Cues	2	4	3	1	Delegate	Visual properties that create the perception of depth and three-dimensionality
px/rem, never em, for the type scale	2	5	5	1	Delegate	em compounds on nesting and drops off the scale.
Top-Down Lighting Bias	2	5	4	1	Delegate	A tendency to interpret objects as being lit from a single light source from above
Uniform Connectedness	2	4	4	1	Delegate	The brain automatically assumes elements connected by lines or boxes are related

Low-leverage — 51

Fifty-one items parked here are part of the product. Neither axis pulls hard.

Principle	H	AI	B	L	Zone	Gloss
Mnemonic Device	3	3	2	5	Low-lev	Techniques for making things more meaningful and memorable
Learnability	3	3	4	4	Low-lev	The ease with which a new thing can be understood and productively used
Picture Superiority Effect	3	3	3	4	Low-lev	Pictures are remembered better than words
Swiss Cheese Model	3	3	3	4	Low-lev	A model describing how risks combine to cause accidents and other bad outcomes
Biophilia Effect	3	2	2	3	Low-lev	A state of reduced stress and improved concentration resulting from nature views
Bus Factor	3	3	2	3	Low-lev	The number of team members who, if lost, would put a project in jeopardy
Convergence	3	2	1	3	Low-lev	A tendency for similar characteristics to evolve independently in similar environments
Crowd Intelligence	3	3	1	3	Low-lev	An emergent intelligence arising from the unwitting collaboration of many people
Dunbar’s Number	3	2	1	3	Low-lev	The maximum number of relationships a person can comfortably maintain
Factor of Safety	3	3	2	3	Low-lev	The design of a system beyond expected loads to offset unknowns and prevent failure
Freeze-Flight-Fight-Forfeit	3	1	1	3	Low-lev	The ordered, instinctive response to acute stress
Gamification	3	3	3	3	Low-lev	Using gaming strategies in nongame contexts to enhance experience and modify behavior
Hierarchy of Needs	3	3	4	3	Low-lev	A hierarchy of user-centered goals that a design must satisfy to achieve optimal success
Interference Effects	3	3	3	3	Low-lev	Things that trigger conflicting thought processes, reducing reaction and thinking efficiency
Maintainability	3	3	4	3	Low-lev	The ease with which a thing can be accessed, inspected, repaired, and serviced
Mimicry	3	3	3	3	Low-lev	Copying properties from familiar things in order to realize benefits of those properties
No Single Point of Failure	3	3	3	3	Low-lev	The design of systems to be able to continue operating even when components fail
Operant Conditioning	3	3	2	3	Low-lev	Using rewards and punishments to change the frequency and durability of a behavior
Product Life Cycle	3	2	2	3	Low-lev	The common stages of life for products
Redundancy	3	3	3	3	Low-lev	Using backup or fail-safe elements to maintain system performance in the event of failure
Shaping	3	3	2	3	Low-lev	Training a target behavior by reinforcing successive approximations of that behavior
Uncanny Valley	3	3	3	3	Low-lev	Abstract and realistic depictions of human faces are appealing but faces in between are not
Wayfinding	3	3	4	3	Low-lev	The process of using spatial and environmental information to navigate to a destination
Weakest Link	3	3	2	3	Low-lev	An element designed to fail in order to protect more important elements from harm
Anthropomorphism	3	3	2	2	Low-lev	The attribution of humanlike characteristics to nonhuman things
Baby-Face Bias	3	2	1	2	Low-lev	A tendency to see things with baby-faced features as having the characteristics of babies
Classical Conditioning	3	3	2	2	Low-lev	A method of influencing how a person viscerally responds to a thing
Color Effects	3	3	3	2	Low-lev	The cognitive and behavioral effects triggered by exposure to colors
Contour Bias	3	3	3	2	Low-lev	A tendency to favor things with contoured features over angular or rectilinear features
Entry Point	3	3	4	2	Low-lev	A point of physical or attentional entry that sets the emotional tone for subsequent interaction
Five Tenets of Queuing	3	3	2	2	Low-lev	Five principles for improving the experience of waiting in lines
Gloss Bias	3	3	3	2	Low-lev	A preference for glossy versus dull objects. People find glossy objects more interesting and attractive
Phonetic Symbolism	3	2	3	2	Low-lev	The meaning conveyed by the sounds of words
Play Preferences	3	2	1	2	Low-lev	A tendency for male children and female children to like different kinds of play
Prospect-Refuge	3	2	2	2	Low-lev	A preference for environments where people can see without being seen
Savanna Preference	3	2	1	2	Low-lev	A preference for savanna-like environments over other types of environments
Threat Detection	3	3	2	2	Low-lev	Threatening things are detected more efficiently than nonthreatening things
Face-ism Ratio	3	3	2	1	Low-lev	The ratio of face to body in an image that influences how the person is perceived
MAFA Effect	3	3	1	1	Low-lev	The average face of a local population is more attractive than any individual face
Cathedral Effect	2	2	1	2	Low-lev	High ceilings promote abstract thinking
Development Cycle	2	3	3	2	Low-lev	The stages of product creation: requirements, design, development, and testing
Number-Space Associations	2	3	3	2	Low-lev	The intuition that serial information is spatially organized by magnitude along an axis
Structural Forms	2	3	1	2	Low-lev	There are three ways to create rigid things: solids, frames, and shells
Abbe Principle	2	3	1	1	Low-lev	Measure things so that the measuring scale is aligned with the distance being measured
Aposematism	2	3	2	1	Low-lev	The use of conspicuous markings to grab attention and signal danger
Defensible Space	2	2	1	1	Low-lev	An environment designed to signal ownership and deter crime
Face Detection	2	3	2	1	Low-lev	The tendency to find or see human faces in objects and patterns
Magic Triangle	2	3	2	1	Low-lev	A triangular relationship between facial features that creates the illusion of sentience
Saint-Venant’s Principle	2	3	1	1	Low-lev	Local effects of loads on structures have negligible global effects
Visuospatial Resonance	2	3	1	1	Low-lev	A phenomenon in which different images are visible at different distances
Waist-to-Hip Ratio	2	2	1	1	Low-lev	A preference for a particular ratio of waist size to hip size in men and women

The scores are a snapshot. The AI column will drift. Human-5 items are still candidates, one already graduated. Parking the fifty-one Low-leverage rows is a decision, not an omission.

Related

• Human vs AI Capability Lens — the scoring model, the two independent axes, the four zones.
• Design Two-Track Extraction — how the two books were split into Agent and Human tracks.
• Agent Track — the executable rules, many of which appear here as Delegate rows.
• Human Track — the judgment entries, many of which appear here as Own rows.
• Design Expansion — Reading & Resources — the reading list; the principles book is also a Feeds item there.

Open Questions

Whether the owner re-grades the AI column against a later model snapshot, or leaves 30 June 2026 as the dated cut.

Whether more Human-5 items graduate the way Wabi-Sabi did.

Sources

Lidwell, Holden & Butler, Universal Principles of Design, 3rd ed. (2023) — 200 principles. Wathan & Schoger, Refactoring UI (2018) — 50 rules. Grades are the owner’s, 30 June 2026, not the books’. Miller 1956 for the 7±2 wording; Cowan 2001 for the 3–5 design instruction used on the Agent Track and Front-End pages.