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Philosophy
How Andeus Design thinks. Every rule has a reason attached, so cases the components do not cover can still be decided.
Markdown, with every reference included.
Lineage
Dieter Rams / Braun
Less, but better. A warm platinum grey, one or two signal colours, and a label printed under every control.
Teenage Engineering
A small live screen for each job. Colour that does a job. Playful without being cute. Its monospace and all caps were left out.
Classic Mac
Striped title bars, 1-bit pixel icons, and one clear default button.
Composer
Logic you can read as blocks: when, if, then, until. Every strategy is measured against a benchmark.
Principles
1
Less, but better
Every element costs the user attention.
Do
Remove until the screen breaks, then put one thing back.
Don’t
Add sections, stats, icons or copy to fill space.
2
Every control says what it does
An instrument is learned by reading its panel.
Do
Print a short sentence-case label under each control (Labeled).
Don’t
Ship icon-only controls without a label or tooltip.
3
Colour does a job
If everything is coloured, nothing stands out.
Do
Orange is the one action. Blue and yellow tie a screen line to its control. Green and red are state.
Don’t
Use colour for decoration, gradients, or tinted section backgrounds.
4
One screen, one job
Live values need one place to be read at a glance.
Do
Put changing numbers on a Screen, big and light. Lit elements are flat colour.
Don’t
Add glow, mix several jobs on one screen, or build dashboards of identical cards.
5
Physical, not flat
A control should look pressable before it is touched.
Do
Raised keys, hard offset shadows, pressed states that sink 2px.
Don’t
Soft blurry shadows, ghost-only interfaces, rotary knobs.
6
Playful, not cute
Delight comes from craft and scale, not decoration.
Do
Oversized numbers, one well-placed orange key, real working interaction.
Don’t
Emoji, mascots, exclamation marks, bubbly shapes.
7
Logic you can read aloud
People trust what they can say back in a sentence.
Do
Express rules as when, if, then, until blocks. Show results against a benchmark.
Don’t
Hide behaviour in settings or unexplained toggles.
When in doubt
| Situation | Decision |
|---|---|
| Two options look equally good | Pick the one with fewer elements. |
| A component is missing | Compose existing components first. If you must build one, use tokens only and give it a label. |
| Unsure which colour | Platinum. Colour must earn its place. |
| Unsure which word | Shorter. Sentence case. Buttons start with a verb. |
| A value is continuous | Slider. |
| Two to four exclusive options | Segmented. Five or more: Select. |
| A destructive action | Dialog. The safe answer is ghost; the action has the default ring. |
| A live number | Screen with Metric, light weight, tabular numerals. |
Voice
| Write | Not |
|---|---|
| Run backtest | Submit |
| Delete strategy? | Are you sure you want to delete? |
| Saved | Your changes have been saved successfully! |
| 14.2% a year | 14.2 |
| Not yet | Cancel |