Individual skill

form-follows-function

Use this skill when designing the visual or aesthetic layer of a product, deciding between expressive style and functional restraint, evaluating decorative elements, or arguing about whether a feature should ship plain vs. polished. Trigger when stakeholders ask "should we add visual flair to this?", when reviewing a design that "feels too decorated," or when picking between competing visual directions. Form Follows Function is one of the foundational principles in 'Universal Principles of Design' (Lidwell, Holden, Butler 2003) and one of the most-quoted dictums in design — but its meaning depends on which interpretation (descriptive vs. prescriptive) you take.

plugins/aesthetics-and-emotion-principles/skills/form-follows-function/SKILL.md

Source commit 09b9858fc983fe917b7fedae67a9625d9e6655a6

What was checked

Matches the observed repository HEAD

Yes

Scanner rules are current

Yes

Repository scan complete

No

Skill scan complete

Yes

Observed behavior

Instructions only

Last checked

Nov 6, 2026

These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.

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