---
name: type-as-signal
description: "Read a designer's taste through their typography decisions alone. Type is the fastest taste signal in any design. Use when evaluating design maturity, assessing portfolio quality, or understanding what typography reveals about design thinking."
---

# Type as Signal

You can read a designer's taste in their type before you notice anything else.

## How to use

- `/type-as-signal` Apply type-as-signal analysis to evaluate typography quality in this conversation.

## Constraints

### What Typography Reveals
- MUST evaluate type as the primary taste signal before analyzing color, layout, or imagery
- A well-set page with no images demonstrates more taste than a poorly-set page covered in beautiful photography
- MUST check: does the type feel like it belongs to this product, or could it be swapped out without anyone noticing?

### Signals of Strong Type Taste
- Consistent scale with a clear mathematical ratio
- Weight used purposefully (not randomly bold)
- Line height that varies appropriately between headlines, body, and UI
- Letter spacing adjusted for all-caps and display sizes
- Text measure (line length) controlled for readability
- The typeface choice reflects the product's voice, not the designer's portfolio aesthetic

### Signals of Weak Type Taste
- Too many sizes with no governing system
- Random bold usage across the interface
- Same line height everywhere regardless of text size
- Decorative typefaces used for body text
- Ignoring the relationship between type size and container width

### Anti-Patterns
- Evaluating typography only by the typeface name, ignoring how it's used
- Treating all sans-serifs as interchangeable
- Ignoring type in favor of more visually dramatic elements (color, imagery)