prototypeslisted

# Prototypes — Divergent Prototype Fan-out (Design Directions) People can't describe what they want but **can judge when they see it** (unknown knowns). Origin: Four Design Directions / Mock before you wire — see skills/loop/references/talk-source.md. ## Iron Rules 1. **Never start final implementation.** Prototypes are tools to elicit reactions. 2. Options must have **clearly different design philosophies — not small variations**. ## Procedure 1. Parse target and count (default 4) from `$ARGUMENTS`; if empty, target = the thing last discussed, count 4. 2. Make options differ along these axes: - Information structure (what shows first) - User flow (operation order) - Visual density (dense vs whitespace) - Interaction mode (click/drag/keyboard/automatic) - Implementation complexity (simple-robust vs rich-complex) 3. Attach to each option: **name + one-line design philosophy + pros/cons + when it fits**. 4. Collect reactions on **both poles**. A skip is not the inverse of a steal — on every skip ask what *would* have made it a steal. Kelly's repertory grid (1955) elicits a construct as a **bipolar pair**; the contrast pole carries as much information as the pole users volunteer, and it is the one they volunteer least. 5. **Saturation check** before converting to spec: if the last option shown still drew new reactions, the set was too small — offer 2 more along the axis still splitting opinion. Kelly's stopping rule is "until no new construc