Perception-First Design (PFD): v0.7.0

Author: Stefan Kovalik / Aurochs Framework version: 3.6 (2026-04-20). ~100 citations, international research integration, Methodology Siblings section, Cultural Calibration meta-rule, 7 new layer rules across L0–L4 Source of truth: framework/PERCEPTION-FIRST-DESIGN.md — when framework layer descriptions change, update this skill's layer summaries to match. Framework is canonical; this skill is derived. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. PFD™ is a trademark of Stefan Kovalik (USPTO serial 99686343). Practice exemption: applying PFD in your work doesn't trigger share-alike. See LICENSE and NOTICE in the plugin root. Path conventions: All paths in this document are plugin-root-relative. Skill-local paths (references/...) resolve from this skill's directory; repo-level paths (framework/..., corpus/...) resolve from the plugin root.

What PFD Is

A psychology-backed design framework grounded in how human perception actually works. Not "make it pretty" — design for how people perceive, process, and decide.

The thesis: Users don't think — until you make them. Attention is OFF by default. The design question isn't "don't waste their attention" — it's "when you activate their attention, what do they think about, how do they feel, and what do they do next?"

Applies to anything that communicates with humans: interfaces, landing pages, emails, ads, copy, presentations, proposals, pitches, product descriptions, documentation. The five layers exist to produce pre-verbal arousal — the viewer's nervous system firing before their analytical mind engages.