Patterns
Progressive Disclosure
The system-wide law. Every intelligence surface has exactly four layers: a glanceable face, an expandable detail, an explainability block, and an action handoff. Nothing on the face requires deeper knowledge to be useful; nothing deeper is hidden from a user who asks why.
Layer 1 · Face
Train lighter
Layer 2 · Detail
Layer 3 · Explain
Based on: training load · sleep · symptoms
Layer 4 · Act
Rules
- 01Layer 1 — Face: one interpretation (recommendation title, dots, arrows). No reasoning.
- 02Layer 2 — Detail: drawer or accordion with stats, evidence, recommendation block.
- 03Layer 3 — Explain: “based on…”, signals used, assumptions, missing inputs.
- 04Layer 4 — Act: assumption action opens the relevant log screen after 320ms.
- 05Accordions for enumerable content; sheets for narrative content. Never both, never nested.
Examples
DailyFocusCard
Face: “Train lighter” + capacity bar → Drawer: recommendation block + workout chips → Explain: “based on training load · sleep · symptoms” + red assumptions → Act: “Log Sleep”.
Sleep Overview
Face: three stat rows + summary sentence → Accordion: playbook patterns with evidence counts → Drawer: “Sleep affects most” tags + assumptions.
Anti-patterns
What breaks this pattern
- Reasoning on the card face (“because your HRV dropped 12ms…”) — that's Layer 3 content leaking up.
- A drawer that adds no information beyond the face.
- Hiding the “why” behind a settings page or help center.
Do
- ·Make every face answer one question in one line
- ·Put provenance inside the thing it explains
- ·End every disclosure path with an action
Don't
- ·Nest sheets on sheets or open sheets from accordions
- ·Use “Learn more” links that leave the context
- ·Show raw engine fields on any face