SlipItIn/.github/skills/slop-eval/references/tells.md

The tell catalog

Distilled from the pols.dev anti-slop design law. Each tell has an ID (grep the report with it), a severity, and what counts as evidence. Severity: crit = broken (absolute-rule violation), major = a recognized slop signature, minor = a default reached for without intent.

A tell is recorded once per page, with its worst instance cited. Where a "premium pair" note exists, the crafted version is NOT the tell — check it before recording.

C — Color & Light (Axis 1)

ID	Tell	Sev	Evidence to look for
C1	Blue→purple gradient	major	The single most recognizable slop move: soft blue-to-purple anywhere (backgrounds, buttons, borders, avatars). Any glowy two-adjacent-hue gradient counts. (Community name: the "AI purple problem".)
C2	Purple default palette	minor	Purple as the unexamined brand hue; upgrade to C1 when gradiated with blue.
C3	Pastel candy gradient background	major	Butter-yellow→peach→strawberry-milk (#ffe6a8→#ffc0da family), mint-to-lavender, sherbet washes filling a page/section.
C4	Drifting aurora blobs	major	2–4 big blurred radial blobs at ~0.5 opacity, often mix-blend-mode: multiply + blur(), melting into a pastel aurora behind content. Muted hexes don't rescue it.
C5	Radial glow halo behind an object	major	Concentric bloom centered behind a hero object. Warm color doesn't rescue a symmetric halo — light comes from a direction or not at all.
C6	Cool blue-charcoal dark default	major	The slate-indigo "serious dark product" base (~#0c0e15), bluer panels, lilac/periwinkle accent. Dark that nobody chose — the night-mode twin of C1, equally recognizable, equally default.
C7	Cream/beige "editorial" default	minor	Warm cream/bone as the reflexive "tasteful premium" background — the new blue-purple. Major when it carries the whole brand across every surface.
C8	Slop gray (UI-kit neutral)	minor	gray-100/200 family (#f3f4f6, #eceef2, #e7ecf3) as footer band, card fill, or page base — a wireframe left at its default.
C9	Saturated accent sprayed everywhere	major	One vivid mid-saturation hue on the accent word, eyebrow dot, button fill, and labels at once. Premium accents are tonal (value-shifted, desaturated), not poster-bright.
C10	Colliding colors / muddy wash	major	Two saturated unrelated hues fighting; an accent belonging to no system; a dim brown/grey-beige envelope under a fine component.
C11	Hard color seams between sections	major	A gradient/glow that dies at a section boundary; the page should resolve one section's color into the next. (Deliberate breaks — a footer stepping onto its own floor — are fine.)
C12	Background glow blob	minor	Soft radial accent bleeding from a corner/edge of a dark section for "atmosphere". See X12 for the clipped version.
C13	Gradient-filled headline text	major	background-clip: text pouring magenta-purple-cyan (or blue-cyan) into display type.
C14	Banded gradient	minor	A large color transition with visible stripes and no grain/dither. Premium pair: grainy gradients (noise dithered in) read as expensive.
C15	Full-page grid / graph-paper background	major	Faint module grid (often radial-masked) laid under the whole page, even at low opacity. Premium pair: a tight, textured micro-grid behind one panel, or sparse blueprint marks (ruler ticks, crop marks).

T — Typography · W — Copy (Axis 2)

ID	Tell	Sev	Evidence to look for
T1	Google-shelf signature face	major	The identity carried by a free Google default. Rejected rotation — sans: Inter, Space Grotesk, Sora, Syne, Archivo, Onest, Darker Grotesque, Geologica, Hanken Grotesk, Spline Sans, Schibsted Grotesk, Gabarito, Figtree, Quicksand; serif: Fraunces, Cormorant, Bodoni/Didones, Playfair, Petrona, Hedvig Letters Serif, Brygada 1918, Young Serif; mono: JetBrains Mono, IBM Plex Mono, Spline Sans Mono, Fragment Mono. Inter as body is fine; Inter as the signature is the tell.
T2	Recognizable slop pairing	major	Fraunces+Work Sans, Space Grotesk+Inter, Sora+JetBrains Mono, or any serif-display+clean-sans house pairing reused across brands.
T3	Didone-as-luxury reflex	major	Bodoni/Didot/Playfair reached for because something "needs to feel expensive", usually letterspaced full caps. A Didone chosen on autopilot is slop.
T4	Mono as the house voice	minor	Monospace on copyright lines, eyebrows, captions, labels everywhere to signal "technical". Mono is correct only for genuine data (timestamps, codes, prices, tables).
T5	One label treatment everywhere	minor	The identical tracked-out-caps (or mono) costume on eyebrow, buttons, figure numbers, nav, and colophon at once. Different roles need different treatments.
T6	Letterspaced serif wordmark	minor	Brand name in all-caps serif with wide tracking and nothing else — instant "luxury" logo. (SaaS twin: K12.)
T7	Multi-line headline + dangling accent	major	Display line wrapping to 3–4 stacked rows; worse when the one colored/italic accent word lands stranded on the last line. Hold display to 1–2 composed lines, one coherent emphasis.
T8	Cramped display type	major	Big numbers/words with negative tracking until glyphs nearly touch, separators buried ("0·fail"). Large type needs air.
T9	The "tasteful" font swap	minor	Reaching for the known good alternative (Clash Display, General Sans, Big Shoulders, Newsreader, Instrument Serif, Bricolage) because it's the reputed safe pick. Picking type by reputation instead of by the brief is the tell.
T10	Novelty rounded display + system body	major	Fat bubbly display faces (Baloo, Fredoka, Chewy, Lobster, Bagel Fat One) carrying headings, wordmark, and prices over a default system-ui body.
W1	Em dashes as AI voice	minor	Em-dash-heavy copy — the classic AI writing tell. Hyphen, colon, or split the sentence.
W2	Wall of copy	minor	Many stacked lines of filler text where hierarchy and visuals should carry meaning. Premium is terse.
W3	Fake-but-impressive metrics	major	Invented social proof in copy: "velocity jumped 32%", fabricated customer names/titles ("VP Engineering, Northwind Labs").

K — Components & Ornament (Axis 3)

ID	Tell	Sev	Evidence to look for
K1	Icon-pack icons everywhere	minor	Uniform thin-stroke line icons (lucide-react and kin) on every feature/section. Also covers "custom" redrawn versions of the same generic glyphs, and emojis standing in for icons. Premium pair: a bespoke set with an invented construction.
K2	Pill / eyebrow badge	minor	The capsule above the hero headline (tiny icon + short text). Default hero decoration.
K3	Glowy pill buttons	major	Fully-rounded gradient-filled buttons with a soft blurred glow beneath.
K4	Oversized icon in a colored tile	major	Big icon centered in a filled rounded square/circle as hero visual or feature bullet.
K5	Floating/bobbing cards	minor	Cards over a hero that bob or float in a loop — decorative motion with no purpose.
K6	Kitchen-sink card	major	One card stacking icon-tile + category pill + tag pills + hairline divider + big price + glowy CTA. The clearest single signature.
K7	Fake macOS / app window	major	CSS-drawn window with traffic-light dots and mock UI (kanban, avatars, status pills) as hero filler. Premium pair: a detailed, fully-populated, real product UI floated with depth — but only when a product UI actually exists.
K8	Gradient pill with icon + text	major	Rounded box/pill with blue-purple fill holding an icon plus (often uppercase) label — the complete stack in one element.
K9	Default CTA button pair	major	Gradient primary with trailing arrow + glow, next to an outlined ghost ("See how it works"), same medium radius.
K10	Testimonial / quote card	major	Wide card, big quote-mark glyph, centered quote, avatar + name + title. Includes decorative oversized smart quotes around any line.
K11	Gradient-circle initials avatar	minor	Two-letter initials on a gradient circle standing in for a photo. Major when the gradient is blue-purple.
K12	Logo lockup (gradient tile + wordmark)	major	Icon in a small gradient squircle beside the name in a generic geometric font — the instant made-by-AI logo.
K13	Hairline light border on every box	minor	1px low-opacity outline (white-on-dark / light-grey-on-light) as default card styling. Premium pair: self-colored borders + tonal elevation (an edge you feel, not see).
K14	Countdown timer	minor	DAYS/HRS/MIN/SEC boxes faking urgency whether or not anything ends.
K15	Accent-bar card	minor	Dark box with one bright line down an edge to "add interest". Premium pair: the same idea with an invented silhouette (chamfer, notch, custom bracket).
K16	Fake code-snippet window	major	Dark rounded panel, traffic lights, quickstart.ts tab, toy SDK call, purple-keyword/green-string palette in JetBrains Mono.
K17	Floating tag pinned to an image	minor	Small info chip ("28°C & clear") stuck top-left on an image or gradient box.
K18	Inner-glow box / pulsing live dot	minor	Bordered chip lit from inside; a status dot with an expanding glow ring.
K19	Dot under the active nav item	minor	A lone dot as active state. Premium pair: weight/color shift on the type, or a genuine sliding tab indicator.
K20	Eyebrow tick	minor	The ~30px hairline (often gradient-fading) drawn beside a kicker label to make it feel "designed".
K21	Unrounded hairline rules as decoration	minor	Square-capped lines faking structure: dividers beside paragraphs, rails down lists.
K22	Metadata as tinted pill chips, everywhere	minor	Every category/status/tag wrapped in a colored pill — component-kit dashboard, not a brand.
K23	Faked or missing logos	major/minor	Faked: invented brand marks, fake customers, uniform icon-pack rows as filler (major). Missing: no social/integration marks where real ones would earn legitimacy (minor). Real marks, one size, one quiet treatment = premium.
K24	Icon or logo in a box	minor	Any mark parked on a filled tile/chip/circle. Premium pair: the bare mark, sized and colored with intent.
K25	Botched glass	major	Blur banding/pixelation over a flat backdrop, shadow/glow leaking below, a resting halo, or blur that pops on hover. A bad blur is worse than no blur. Premium pair: real liquid glass over a backdrop worth refracting (see premium-markers.md).
K26	Grain over content	minor	A noise layer sitting on top of text, icons, or panels, muddying legibility. Grain belongs on the substrate; one deliberately masked display word is the allowed exception.
K27	AI-brand convergence kit	minor	The unexamined AI-startup identity default: orbital/orbit-ring logo mark + corporate blue + generic geometric sans (often a name ending in -AI/-ly). Cite the mark and palette actually shown; the vibe alone is not evidence.

L — Layout & Composition (Axis 4)

Fonts are one axis; layout is the other — a recolored skeleton is still slop. ≥3 majors here trigger the compounding cap (Axis 4 ≤ 40).

ID	Tell	Sev	Evidence to look for
L1	Default hero stack	major	Eyebrow → headline → subline → primary button + secondary link, centered down the middle. Slop layout even with fine type and color.
L2	Split hero / hero + right panel	major	Left column (kicker, big headline, subline, two buttons, stat row) + right framed visual/product panel. The skeleton is the tell, not any piece.
L3	Three-tier pricing preset	major	Free/Pro/Enterprise cards, pill over heading, "$X /mo", checkmark list, glowing "MOST POPULAR" middle card.
L4	Pre-footer CTA slab	major	Full-width rounded gradient box: centered headline, "no credit card required" byline, one dark + one light button.
L5	Kicker + serif-H2 section head	minor	Tiny uppercase accent kicker ("HOW IT WORKS") above a medium serif headline opening every section. Major when it opens 3+ sections.
L6	Small-label-over-big-heading	minor	L5 generalized past serifs: mono/uppercase label over big heading as the template for starting any section.
L7	Big serif statement block	minor	Kicker + one large serif sentence with a single italic accent word as the "philosophy" beat.
L8	Inset enquire island as default closer	minor	The rounded floated panel (kicker + serif headline + lead + form) as the closing CTA, every time.
L9	Email-pill + button form	minor	Long pill email input beside a pill button — the most repeated capture row there is.
L10	Image card with overlay caption	minor	Portrait tile, bottom gradient scrim, uppercase meta label, serif name, link arrow.
L11	Flat fill under everything after the hero	major	Atmospheric hero, then every section drops to one flat dark/cream field with boxes. The whole page needs atmosphere, not just the fold.
L12	Numbered steps beside a vertical rail	minor	01/02/03 items along a rule. Worse with square caps (also K21).
L13	Filled + outlined button pair	major	Solid primary beside ghost secondary as the default action row, any color/radius.
L14	Standard footer	minor	Wordmark + tagline, rule, four link columns under uppercase labels, rule, copyright with a cute sign-off. Correct, expected, no idea.
L15	The SaaS meta-skeleton	major	The Stripe/Linear/Vercel clone: two-column hero → three icon-tile feature cards → tabbed switch → pricing cards → FAQ accordion → CTA slab → multi-column footer. Counts as one major AND each present block counts on its own — this is how the compounding cap fires.
L16	Hero doesn't own the fold	major	Hero shorter than the viewport with the next section peeking in unaligned; the first frame is an accident, not a composition.
L17	Content flung to far edges	minor	Two clusters jammed against opposite rims with a dead gulf between (default-asymmetric footers). Symmetry and a real grid unless asymmetry is composed.
L18	Fixed background trailing the scroll	minor	One position: fixed sheet dragged behind every section (and the nav) — a static texture wearing a costume.
L19	Recycling your own house style	major	The same five section shapes across briefs with a new palette — a theme reskinned, not a design. Needs portfolio context; else Unverifiable.
L20	Botched oversized footer wordmark	major	Giant brand word pasted without composition: off-center, caps clipped, gradient fighting the background, default face with no treatment. Premium pair: anchored flush to the bottom edge, above the texture, deliberate case and spacing, bleeding intentionally.
L21	Repeated section template	major	3+ sections (or 3+ blocks in a row: identical cards with icon + heading + two lines) built on the same grid/card/column skeleton with only content, icon, or color swapped. The self-cloning is the tell, not any single block. (L15 is the page-level sequence; this is repetition within one page.)

M — Motion & Interaction (Axis 5)

ID	Tell	Sev	Evidence to look for
M1	Invisible-content trap	crit	Content starting at opacity:0 / translated-away, revealed by JS or scroll timeline. Covers animation-timeline: view(), IntersectionObserver toggles, and initial={{opacity:0}}. If the reveal never fires, the section is GONE. Content is visible by default — absolute rule 1.
M2	Hover boop	minor	Button lifts (translateY) or scales on hover. Buttons don't move; change state cleanly (fill/color shift, icon slide).
M3	Underline-fill hover	minor	Underline that grows/wipes/travels in on links or ghost buttons.
M4	Default card hover-lift	minor	Translate-up + all-around shadow bloom + accent glowing border on every card grid.
M5	Sun-and-moon theme toggle	minor	The stock pill sliding a knob between sun and moon.
M6	Botched fill animation	major	Caps flipping sharp↔rounded mid-transition (scaleY on a rounded shape), partial fill of the track, stuttering ease. Half-built motion screams slop.
M7	Dead page	major	No authored motion at all: static nav, nothing responds to scroll or hover. "Boring/static" is a rejection on its own. Calm is allowed; dead is not.
M8	Dead controls / fake interactivity	crit	Tabs, accordions, toggles, or buttons that look live and do nothing when clicked — or props dressed as controls. Absolute rule 6; verify with a real click.

X — Execution & Craft (Axis 6)

The "broken, not designed" family. X1, X2, X3, X5, X11 are the remaining absolute rules.

ID	Tell	Sev	Evidence to look for
X1	Nothing actually centered	crit	Numbers floating high in circles, glyphs sitting low in tiles, labels off-axis in pills. SVG traps: text-anchor: middle without dominant-baseline, optical vs bounding-box center. Zoom in and verify.
X2	Content sliced by an edge	crit	Caps shaved flat, controls missing top pixels, descenders vanishing into borders — from clip-path, notches, overflow:hidden, fixed heights. "Clear the cut": content must sit fully inside the visible region.
X3	Ragged comparison columns	crit	Pricing/plan/feature columns where titles, prices, list starts, and above all buttons sit at different heights because copy length pushed rows around. Equal heights, bottom-anchored CTAs, shared baselines.
X4	Text jammed against the edge	major	Copy kissing the viewport/container rim with no gutter. (Deliberate cropped watermarks excepted.)
X5	Unreadable contrast	crit	Text too close in value to its background; worst on filled buttons. Every string clears its background by a real value gap.
X6	Default all-around shadow	major	Soft symmetric shadow bloomed on every side of everything by reflex — the "float it on a fluffy cloud" signature. Premium pair: tight, low-offset, directional, tinted to the surface/element — or depth from tone with no shadow.
X7	Fake shadow (second box)	major	A literal offset rectangle/duplicate element imitating a shadow to dodge a no-shadow rule — routing around the rule, worse than the shadow.
X8	Botched shadow (hard-edged box)	major	A shadow reading as a solid rounded-rectangle silhouette behind the element. If you can trace the shadow's border, it's a box, not a shadow.
X9	Bloom = blurred self-copy	major	Glow/shadow that is the element's own outline blurred and offset — a sticker with a halo, pooling to the sides, never blending.
X10	Off-center strike line	major	Strike-through/redaction bar floating off the true optical center of the glyphs (measure against real x-height).
X11	Clipped at a section overlap	crit	Content that should continue under an overlapping panel/sheet guillotined at the seam by the upper layer's edge or overflow:hidden.
X12	Cut-off glow	major	A glow clipped by a section edge so it ends in a hard line — the accidental edge on a "premium" effect.
X13	Hard image seams	major	Full-bleed image butting a flat section with a visible line. Premium fix: mask the image's own pixels with a long many-stop fade, tall section, continuous page color — never a color overlay, and never a scrim ending at the boundary.
X14	Focus states stripped	major	outline: none (or :focus suppressed) on interactive elements with no visible replacement — keyboard navigation rendered invisible. Sibling of X5: legibility laws apply to keyboard users too. Verifiable in code or by tabbing through a live page.