aesthetic-literacy

name	aesthetic-literacy
license	MIT
description	Use this skill when a user names or describes a visual aesthetic (Y2K, vaporwave, brutalist, cottagecore, dark academia, etc.), wants to compare or disambiguate aesthetics, or needs formal characterization before producing design tokens or assets. Provides the 7-dimension framework (palette, type, texture, shape, motion, spatial conventions, cultural markers) and a curated dictionary of 124 major aesthetics. Foundation for aesthetic-application. Do not use for component implementation, layout, or accessibility decisions.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0","layer":"foundation","status":"stable","compatibility":{"agent_skills":true,"notes":"No non-portable allowed-tools frontmatter; uses skill-local markdown references only."},"hermes":{"tags":["aesthetic-movements","design-era","visual-culture","aesthetic-dictionary","period-style","semiotics","connotation"],"related_skills":["aesthetic-application"],"activation_keywords":["aesthetic","look and feel","style like","Y2K","vaporwave","brutalist","cottagecore","dark academia","retro","vintage","era","period style","design movement","vibe"],"known_limits":["Does not cover component implementation, layout, or accessibility decisions.","Limited to dictionary entries and skill-local references present in the package."],"eval_suite":"tests/trigger-evals/aesthetic-literacy.json"}}

Aesthetic Literacy

Summary

Gives an agent a structured framework for understanding named aesthetic movements as semiotic systems — not just visual preferences. Provides a 7-dimension decomposition model (palette, type, texture, shape, motion, spatial conventions, cultural markers) and a curated dictionary of 124 major aesthetics organized by family. Enables identification, characterization, disambiguation, and connotation-aware application of any named visual aesthetic.

Used as the foundation for aesthetic-application.

Compatibility / Tooling

This skill intentionally does not declare allowed-tools frontmatter. It is portable across Agent Skills-compatible runtimes and relies on reading this SKILL.md plus skill-local references/ and aesthetics/ markdown files. If an agent has file-reading tools, use them to load the referenced files; otherwise ask the user to provide the relevant excerpt.

When to Apply This Skill

Apply when:

• A user names an aesthetic ("Y2K", "brutalist", "cottagecore") and wants to understand it formally
• A user uses a vague descriptor ("retro", "cozy", "clean") that needs mapping to a concrete aesthetic
• A user asks about the difference between two related aesthetics
• A design aesthetic needs to be characterized before tokens or assets are produced
• Another workflow needs to reason about aesthetic identity before producing an application spec

Do NOT apply when the request is purely about component implementation, layout structure, or accessibility. Those are outside the scope of this skill.

The 7-Dimension Framework

Every aesthetic is a system expressible along 7 formal dimensions. Always characterize all 7. Never reduce an aesthetic to one dimension alone (typically palette).

#	Dimension	What it covers
1	Palette	Core hue family, saturation level, value range, contrast behavior, characteristic combinations
2	Type	Type category (serif/sans/mono/display), historical style, weight distribution, case convention, letter-spacing norms
3	Texture	Surface quality (smooth, noisy, glossy, matte, aged, digital artifact), technique (CSS gradient, SVG filter, backdrop-filter, image overlay)
4	Shape	Border-radius personality, geometry (rectilinear/curved/geometric/organic), silhouette energy, UI element proportions
5	Motion	Timing character (snappy/slow/elastic/linear), easing personality, animation types present (fade/slide/spring/morph), reduced-motion behavior
6	Spatial Conventions	Density (sparse/dense), whitespace use, layering / z-axis depth, grid structure (strict/free/radial), content hierarchy approach
7	Cultural Markers	Iconographic vocabulary, motifs, symbols, textual register — elements that signal membership in the aesthetic community

Non-Negotiables

Each aesthetic has 2–4 non-negotiable dimensions or properties. Removing them destroys the aesthetic identity even if other dimensions are correct. Always identify non-negotiables explicitly.

Example: Y2K requires metallic/chrome surface + bubbly geometry + acid/iridescent color. Remove any one and it becomes "vaguely retro digital" rather than distinctly Y2K.

Connotation Layer

Every aesthetic carries cultural connotations beyond its visual properties, shaped by:

• Origin context: When and where did the aesthetic emerge? What cultural moment produced it?
• Contemporary connotation: How is it read today — authentic period document, nostalgic quotation, or ironic pastiche?
• Audience resonance: Who recognizes it and what do they associate with it?
• Fatigue risk: Has saturation reduced the aesthetic's cultural signal?

Connotation modes (use these terms explicitly):

• Authentic: Applied in its original spirit — earnest, not knowing
• Nostalgic quotation: Affectionate backward glance; warmth without irony
• Ironic pastiche: Self-aware quotation; the knowingness is part of the message
• Contemporary revival: Formal vocabulary from a historical period, updated execution — neither pastiche nor parody

Aesthetic Dictionary

Dictionary entries are co-located with this skill in the aesthetics/ subdirectory. Load the relevant file when characterizing a specific aesthetic.

Lookup by slug: aesthetics/<slug>.md (relative to this SKILL.md)

For installed users, start with the skill-local index at references/aesthetic-index.md when you need to discover a slug, alias, or family. Then load aesthetics/<slug>.md for the canonical production entry.

Do not load root research logs for normal app-design workflows. Root knowledge/aesthetics/ resources are provenance, maintenance, or research materials; use them only when the user explicitly asks for provenance, maintenance, or research detail, or when a canonical entry flags uncertainty that must be source-checked.

Skill-local references for installed users:

• references/aesthetic-index.md — generated slug/family/alias lookup
• references/artifact-schema.md — compact artifact model and canonical-entry schema
• references/canonical-entry-example.md — copyable canonical-entry shape

Family	Count	Representative Slugs
Digital / Internet-Native	22	y2k, vaporwave, synthwave, early-internet, glitch, frutiger-aero, 8-bit-pixel, skeuomorphism, web-2-gloss, flat-design, material-design, corporate-grunge, myspace-chaos, neumorphism, claymorphism, pen-and-pixel, j-gov-futurism, liminal-space-backrooms, dreamcore-weirdcore, ai-slop-synthetic-corporate-art, hauntology, xlyk
Contemporary Lifestyle	14	cottagecore, dark-academia, warm-minimalism (supersedes quiet-luxury), maximalism, 1990s-minimalism, decora-kei, magical-girl, witchcore, gorpcore, balletcore, barbiecore, coastal-grandmother, goblincore, nu-goth-pastel-goth
Historical Design Movements	43	art-nouveau, art-deco, swiss-international, bauhaus, ulm-school, polish-poster-school, shaker-design, high-tech-architecture, prairie-school, beaux-arts, italian-radical-design, new-objectivity, japanese-metabolism, aesthetic-movement, memphis, brutalism, arts-and-crafts, vienna-secession, futurism, vorticism, suprematism, constructivism, de-stijl, streamline-moderne, wpa-poster-style, wartime-propaganda, scandinavian-modern, die-neue-typographie, mid-century-modern, pop-art, op-art, psychedelic, atomic-age, punk-zine, new-wave-typography, grunge-typography, desktop-publishing, rave-flyer, city-pop, blue-note-jazz-modernism, chinoiserie, gothic-revival, wabi-sabi-slow-living
Emerging / Hybrid	9	organic-digital, solarpunk, corporate-memphis, glassmorphism, neubrutalism, quiet-luxury (redirect → warm-minimalism), cybersigilism, scandi-noir, storybook-gothic
Technical / Institutional	5	high-performance-hmi, sports-scorebug, prescription-label-clarity, bloomberg-terminal-monochrome, cheminformatics-map-explorer
Material / Print Craft	4	risograph, harm-reduction-zine, queer-nightlife-ephemera, fairground-carnival-poster-art
Vernacular / Commercial	11	mexican-rotulismo, guochao, konbini-utility, convenience-store-backoffice, b2b-quick-order-grid, lotto, casino, tiki-polynesian-pop, chicano-lowrider-art, board-game-box-art, trading-card-game-design
Speculative / Robotics	16	cyberpunk, cassette-futurism, nanopunk, techno-noir, apple-core-tech, uncanny-android, dieselpunk, steampunk, post-apocalyptic-scavenged-tech, space-western, cute-tech, companion-bot, mecha-kaiju, anime-mecha-realism, biomechanical, chibi-mecha

Full listing: see aesthetics/ directory. 124 total entries across 8 families.

Each entry specifies: palette, type, texture, shape, motion, spatial conventions, cultural markers, non-negotiables, connotation, and subsets/related aesthetics (where applicable). Fatigue notes appear where applicable.

---

Disambiguation Protocol

When aesthetic cues are vague or overlapping:

1. Extract cues: List the mood/descriptor words the user gave ("warm", "retro", "cozy", "clean")
2. Map to clusters: Identify which aesthetics in the dictionary are compatible with those cues
3. Identify the axis of ambiguity: What single question would resolve the ambiguity? (Often: era/decade, warmth vs. coolness, earnest vs. ironic)
4. Ask ONE targeted question: Never ask multiple disambiguation questions at once
5. Confirm and proceed: After the answer, name the aesthetic you're working with and continue

Examples

Load EXAMPLES.md when uncertain about output format, ideal response structure, or to review anti-patterns.

Gotchas

• Don't reduce an aesthetic to one dimension (usually palette). A design with Y2K palette but flat surfaces and neutral sans-serif type will not read as Y2K. All 7 dimensions must be addressed, and non-negotiables (e.g., bubbly geometry + metallic surface for Y2K) are as important as palette.
• Don't conflate neighboring aesthetics. Vaporwave and synthwave share palette adjacency but differ in origin, cultural loading, and formal properties. Conflating them produces a hybrid with neither aesthetic coherence nor cultural clarity.
• Don't conflate a subset with its parent aesthetic. If a user requests a term that is a documented subset (e.g., "outrun" within synthwave, "datamoshing" within glitch, "old money" adjacent to quiet-luxury), name the canonical parent aesthetic, load the full dictionary entry, read the Subsets / Related section, and amplify the subset's specific properties rather than treating it as a synonym. The subset's distinct characteristics — palette emphasis, motifs, technique constraints — are the design signal.
• Don't skip disambiguation for vague descriptors. "Retro" spans at least 5 distinct aesthetics. Ask one targeted question before producing any design decisions.
• Always run a connotation audit before confirming a historical aesthetic. Art Deco may read as "timeless luxury" or "Gilded Age excess" depending on execution context. Surface the ambiguity first.

Do NOT run disambiguation when the aesthetic is named explicitly and unambiguously.

Knowledge Base Lookup

Before characterizing any aesthetic for routine app design, load the canonical dictionary entry at aesthetics/<slug>.md and use its production guidance as the hot-path source of truth.

Only check root knowledge/aesthetics/<slug>.md when the user asks for provenance, maintenance, or research, or when you are explicitly updating the repository's research artifacts. If a research profile is loaded for that purpose, its dimension analysis may supersede dictionary frequencies, but distill any design guidance back through the canonical entry instead of dumping research notes into the user-facing answer.

Slug format: lowercase-hyphenated (e.g., dark-academia, frutiger-aero, neubrutalism).

If a canonical entry does not exist and the aesthetic is unknown or niche, state that this public package does not yet contain enough source-grounded guidance instead of inventing values.