ui-distill

name	ui-distill
description	Strip design to essence. Remove unnecessary complexity

UI Distill

/ui-distill [target] - Strip design to essence. Remove unnecessary complexity, declutter, reduce noise. Simplicity with power.

Flow

1. Assess complexity sources:

   • Too many elements competing
   • Excessive variation (colors, fonts, sizes)
   • Information overload (everything visible at once)
   • Visual noise (borders, shadows, decorations without purpose)
   • Confusing hierarchy
   • Feature creep

2. Find the essence:

   • Primary user goal (should be ONE)
   • What's truly necessary vs nice-to-have
   • What can be removed, hidden, or combined
   • 20% that delivers 80% of value

3. Simplify systematically

Simplification Dimensions

Information Architecture

• Remove secondary actions and redundant info
• Progressive disclosure (hide complexity behind entry points)
• Combine related actions
• ONE primary action, few secondary, rest tertiary/hidden
• Remove redundancy

Visual

• Reduce to 1-2 colors + neutrals
• One font family, 3-4 sizes, 2-3 weights
• Remove decorative borders, shadows, backgrounds
• Flatten structure — never nest cards inside cards
• Remove unnecessary cards (spacing creates grouping naturally)
• One consistent spacing scale

Layout

• Linear flow over complex grids
• Remove sidebars (move inline or hide)
• Full-width over multi-column where possible
• Generous white space

Interaction

• Fewer buttons, fewer options, clearer path
• Smart defaults (automate common choices)
• Inline editing over modal flows
• Remove steps from flows
• ONE obvious CTA

Content

• Cut copy in half, then half again
• Active voice ("Save changes" not "Changes will be saved")
• Remove jargon, hedging, redundant copy
• Scannable structure

Code

• Remove dead CSS, unused components, orphaned files
• Flatten component trees
• Consolidate styles
• Reduce component variants

NEVER

• Remove necessary functionality (simplicity ≠ feature-less)
• Sacrifice accessibility for simplicity
• Make things so simple they're unclear (mystery ≠ minimalism)
• Remove information users need for decisions
• Eliminate hierarchy entirely
• Oversimplify complex domains