absence-audit

name	absence-audit
description	Notice what's deliberately missing from a design. Restraint is a taste signal. Use when studying minimalist products, evaluating design maturity, or understanding the power of removal.

Absence Audit

The hardest things to notice are the things that aren't there.

How to use

• /absence-audit Apply absence analysis to any design in this conversation.

Constraints

What to Look For

• MUST list 5-10 things that are conspicuously absent from the design
• MUST hypothesize for each: intentional removal or never considered?
• MUST evaluate: does the absence strengthen or weaken the experience?
• SHOULD note what the absence reveals about the design philosophy

Categories of Absence

• Missing UI elements (no breadcrumbs, no tooltips, no onboarding tutorial)
• Missing content (no testimonials, no feature comparison, no pricing)
• Missing states (no loading skeleton, no empty state, no error recovery)
• Missing interaction (no animation, no hover effects, no sound)

The Restraint Signal

• Intentional absence is a strong taste signal. It says "we thought about this and decided it wasn't needed."
• Accidental absence (missing error states, broken edge cases) signals the opposite.
• MUST distinguish between the two.

Anti-Patterns

• Treating every absence as a problem to fix
• Assuming absence equals minimalism (it might just be incomplete)
• Missing obvious gaps because you're focused on what IS there