No AI Slop

AI- and template-built UIs share a recognizable set of "tells." The root cause is always the same: uniformity + unconsidered defaults - one font, one accent, one card, one centered template applied to everything. Build UI that looks deliberately designed by applying both layers.

How to use

• Generating UI -> apply Layer 1 always + the active Layer 2 style.
• Reviewing UI -> scan against Layer 1 and fix every hit (use the self-check).
• Full reference: TELLS.md (~100 tells across 9 categories). This file is the distilled, always-on set.

Layer 1 - Universal anti-tells

Fonts & type

• Don't ship default fonts: Inter, Geist, or the "Space Grotesk + Instrument-Serif-italic + Inter" trio. Choose a face with a point of view; pair display + body with real contrast.
• Solid heading color - no gradient-clipped text.
• Real weight hierarchy - not font-semibold/font-medium as the heaviest weight on the page.
• Headings wrap naturally: no manual <br>, no text-balance on everything, no 4-line or orphan-word headlines. Keep them tight (~5-9 words).
• Left-aligned body/subtitles run to the container's content width; only CENTERED text gets a max-width measure. Never a thin floating column.
• Sentence case for headings/buttons. No spaced-out eyebrow/kicker over headings (pill, rule+caps, or spaced-caps) - the heading leads.
• tabular-nums for prices/stats; no negative tracking on body.