Reference lock

The failure this prevents

References get collected and then lost in one of three ways:

1. Averaged. One reference is dark, one is loud, one is serif; the design comes out cream, muted and polite, which is none of them and is the model's default anyway.
2. Untraceable. The DESIGN doc says "inspired by A and B", but no choice in it can be pointed back to either. A reviewer cannot tell research from memory.
3. Drifted. The direction was sharp on paper; the build softened it — safer accent, rounder corners, a generic section order — and nobody compared the two.

The lock fixes the first, the ledger the second, the close-out check the third.

1. Get references, free sources first

Take the first source on this list that answers the question, and record which one did:

Record the result as one of the three states design-advisor already uses — consulted (name each reference), unreachable (name the source that refused and why), not attempted (and why). A paid source that answers "no subscription" is unreachable, not consulted.

References are studied, never shipped. Captures and screenshots of other products stay outside the repository (scratch dir or ~/.great_cto/refs/). The DESIGN doc names the reference and describes the pattern in our own words; it never embeds the image, the logo or the copy. Follow the source's own attribution terms when it states them.

2. Write the lock

Pick one primary reference. It owns the overall mood, density and structure. Others may contribute narrow details only. When references conflict, the primary wins; do not split the difference.

Primary reference: <one source>
Preserve (3–5):    <traits that must survive the build — canvas, type, accent, density,
                    layout move, media treatment>
Borrow (≤2):       <one detail each from a secondary source, with the source named>
Role rules:        <token/component meanings kept from the source — e.g. accent = primary
                    action only; mono = machine output only; gradient = decoration only>
Media:             <real asset | generated | product screenshot | code-native | placeholder>,
                    with aspect ratio and a one-line art direction
Reject:            <the defaults that would collapse this direction, named concretely>
Tokens:            <background, text, accent, radius, border/shadow, type scale — numbers>

The Tokens line resolves to the DESIGN doc's brand-token table; it is the same numbers, not a second set.

3. Keep a decision ledger

Every major visual, layout, content or interaction choice gets a row:

Source is one of: a named reference, an operator constraint, an existing-system value, a cited rule (ui-ux-pro-max, committed-aesthetic, this skill). A row whose source is "felt right" is not a decision: research it, tie it to a constraint, or cut it.

4. Drift checks before handing over

The cliché list lives in skills/committed-aesthetic/SKILL.md (gradient grounds, the rounded-card-with-left-accent triplet, Inter/Roboto/Poppins as display, emoji icons, category-naming heroes). On top of it, check the three failures only a lock can see:

• Averaging. Does any Preserve trait appear weaker than in the primary reference (accent desaturated, contrast lowered, radius increased, density relaxed)? Restore it.
• Role drift. Is any token used outside its role rule — the action colour as a section background, the code font in UI chrome, a decorative gradient behind content? Move it back or drop it.
• Media collapse. Did an image-led direction become text and boxes? Keep the slot at its aspect ratio with alt text and the art-direction line, or change the lock on purpose.

Also refuse the two defaults that pass every other check: indigo/violet as the accent with no source for it, and hero → three features → pricing → FAQ → CTA as the section order with no reference that uses it.

5. Close the loop after the build

1. Screenshot the built surface at the same viewports as the references (desktop and phone).
2. Walk the Preserve list: each trait is held, weakened or lost, with the screenshot that shows it.
3. Walk the ledger: each row is as specified or changed (and why).
4. For a surface whose tokens were lifted from a live site, re-run python skills/anydesign/scripts/verify_design.py design-tokens.json <url> to catch values that drifted at the source.

Weakened or lost traits go back to implementation, not into the report as "close enough". A deviation found during the build that changes the look is a new design decision: it returns to the approval step the project requires before it is coded.

Output

In docs/design/DESIGN-<slug>.md, add two sections after the reference-research status: Reference lock (the block from step 2) and Decision ledger (the table from step 3). After the build, append Lock check (step 5). Screenshots of our own built surface may be committed; captures of other products may not.