Layout Paradigms And Consistency
A layout is not a neutral container — choosing the right layout paradigm (feed, board, table, canvas, master-detail, dashboard, gallery, timeline, map, single-focus, narrative long-scroll) is a design decision that shapes how content is understood. Landing and marketing pages get a product narrative framework — hook, problem, USP, value props, proof points, how it works, stakes, CTA — used to review whether the page carries a visitor to a decision. Once chosen, the same paradigm and page skeleton must be reused consistently across the application so users build one mental model. This is consistency at the macro scale, above component and token consistency. Use when deciding the overall structure of a screen, designing page templates, or reviewing whether screens across a product feel like one coherent application.
- Skill ID
- dembrandt/dembrandt-skills/layout-paradigms-and-consistency
- Publisher
- dembrandt
- Repository
- dembrandt-skills
- Installs
- 0
- Files
- 1
- Synced
- Sep 23, 2026
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dembrandt/dembrandt-skills/layout-paradigms-and-consistencyInstalls these files- SKILL.md
What this skill tells the agent
Layout Paradigms and Consistency
A layout is not a neutral container you pour content into. The layout paradigm you choose is part of the argument about how the content should be read, compared, and acted on. Two products showing the same data can communicate completely different things depending on whether that data is a feed, a table, or a board.
This skill operates at the macro scale of consistency. It sits above [[component-family-consistency]] (the meso scale — buttons and inputs sharing one DNA) and above token-level consistency like [[button-states]], [[status-colors-and-errors]], and [[modular-scale-typography]] (the micro scale). Consistency is not one rule — it is the same discipline applied at three altitudes.
Consistency operates at three scales
| Scale | What stays consistent | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Estate | Brand chassis and shared shell across separate applications | this skill, Part 3 + [[app-shell]] |
| Macro | Layout paradigm and page skeleton across screens | this skill |
| Meso | Component family — shared radius, height, colour logic | [[component-family-consistency]], [[brand-visual-language]] |
| Micro | States, tokens, type scale, semantic colours | [[button-states]], [[status-colors-and-errors]], [[modular-scale-typography]], [[algorithmic-color-palette]] |
A product can have perfect tokens and a coherent component family and still feel broken — because every screen is laid out differently and the user re-orients on every navigation. Macro consistency is what makes a product feel like one application.
Layout is downstream — it serves something upstream
A layout paradigm is never the starting point. It is a consequence of decisions made earlier, and a means to ends defined elsewhere. Choosing a layout in isolation — "let's use a dashboard because dashboards look impressive" — is the most common way layouts go wrong.
It flows down from information architecture. The data model and structure ([[information-architecture]]) largely determine the candidate paradigms. Entities that move through states want a board; records compared on shared fields want a table; a hierarchy of containers and items wants master–detail. If the IA says "tasks belong to projects and have a status," the layout has already half-decided itself. Get the IA right first, then read the paradigm off it.
It serves the brand and the story. The same content can be laid out to feel calm or urgent, premium or utilitarian, editorial or operational. Layout is one of the loudest carriers of brand tone ([[brand-visual-language]]) and of the narrative you want the user to experience ([[motion-and-storytelling]]). A spacious single-focus layout tells a different story than a dense dashboard of the same data. Ask: what should the user feel here, and what are we trying to say? — then pick the paradigm that says it.
It serves the user experience. Ultimately the test is the user's task and context: what are they trying to do, how often, on what device, under what pressure ([[ui-density]], [[responsive-paradigms]]). The paradigm that best serves the task wins, even when a flashier one is available.
So the order is: IA and brand intent first → derive the paradigm that supports them → then apply consistency. Part 1 is how you derive it; Part 2 is how you keep it.
Part 1 — Choose the paradigm that fits the content
Start from the nature of the content and the primary task, not from a default grid. Ask: what relationship between items matters most here? The answer points to a paradigm.
| Content nature / primary task | Layout paradigm | Why it fits | When NOT to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A stream of recent, homogeneous items, consumed top-down | Feed | Recency and flow are the message; infinite, low-commitment scanning | When items must be compared field-by-field, or order is not temporal |
| Items moving through stages of a workflow | Board / Kanban | Columns make state visible and transitions physical (drag) | When there are no discrete stages, or items have many attributes to compare |
| Many records compared across the same fields | Table | Aligned columns make values directly comparable; sort/filter is natural | When records are visual or heterogeneous, or on small screens |
| Browsing visual, heterogeneous items | Gallery / Grid | The artifact itself is the content; thumbnails carry meaning | When precise values matter more than the visual |
| A list plus the detail of the selected item | Master–detail / Split | Keeps context while drilling in; fast scanning + deep reading | On mobile where two panes don't fit (collapse to drill-down) |
| At-a-glance overview of many metrics | Dashboard | Spatial arrangement lets the eye triage what needs attention | When the user has one task, not monitoring — it becomes noise |
| Spatial relationships, free arrangement | Canvas | The user's spatial model is the data (diagrams, design, maps) | When content is inherently linear or ordered |
| Events ordered in time | Timeline | Time is the primary axis; gaps and density are meaningful | When time is just one of many equal attributes |
| Geographic data | Map | Location is the primary dimension | When location is incidental to the task |
| One object, one task, full attention | Single-focus / Wizard | Removes everything but the current decision | When the user needs surrounding context to decide → see [[user-flows-and-guided-paths]] |
| Persuading a stranger who has not bought in yet | Narrative long-scroll | Sequence is the argument — each section earns the next scroll | Inside the product, where the user has already committed and wants to work |
The paradigm interacts with other layout skills: it must group coherently ([[gestalt-ui-organisation]]), establish one clear emphasis ([[visual-emphasis-and-hierarchy]]), reflect the data model and naming ([[information-architecture]]), and adapt — not merely shrink — across breakpoints ([[responsive-paradigms]]). Where a real-world metaphor reinforces the paradigm (a board feels like cards on a wall), lean on it ([[real-world-metaphors]]).
A view can offer more than one paradigm. A collection of records is legitimately a table and a gallery and a board, chosen by the user per task — see [[data-display-and-selection]]. The point is that each option is a deliberate fit, not an accident.
The narrative long-scroll — the product narrative framework
Marketing and landing pages are the one paradigm where sequence is the argument. Every other paradigm arranges content the user already wants; this one earns each scroll from someone who has committed to nothing. Judge a landing page by how it carries a stranger through these beats — not by whether the sections look good in isolation.
| # | Beat | The job | Typical treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hook | Stop the right visitor and make them want to keep reading | Large headline, generous whitespace, supporting line, product shot / video / demo alongside |
| 2 | Problem empathy | Prove you understand the visitor's current situation | Named pains — slow, costly, manual, unreliable, scattered, hard to source |
| 3 | USP | What it is, who it's for, why it's different — in one sentence | One clear statement, given room |
| 4 | Value propositions | The 3–5 differentiated benefits | Benefit phrasing, not feature or spec nouns |
| 5 | Proof points | A reason to believe each claim | Whatever counts as evidence in the field — customers, figures, case studies, certifications, test data, materials, stock and delivery times, before/after |
| 6 | How it works | Remove uncertainty about mechanism and effort | Three steps, in the field's own terms — order/fit/measure, connect/process/result, browse/try/return |
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