Dec cognitive load
Skill jpoindexter/design-engineering-canon/skills/dec-cognitive-load
20 agent-agnostic skills encoding the foundational canon of design engineering — usability heuristics, UX laws, product strategy, accessibility, performance, motion, software principles, design systems, AI-native patterns. Installs globally for Claude Code and any SKILL.md-aware agent.
npx -y skills add jpoindexter/design-engineering-canon --skill dec-cognitive-loadAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
One thing to look at
- 0 stars0 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
What its author says it does
Copied from the file, not written here
Cognitive Load Theory for interfaces — intrinsic (task difficulty), extraneous (poor-design overhead), and germane (useful mental-model building) load. Use when a screen feels overwhelming, deciding what to simplify vs preserve, chunking complex flows, or diagnosing whether friction comes from the task or the design.
SKILL.md
1.5 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it
Cognitive Load Theory
Three distinct sources of mental effort. The designer's job is to cut one, manage another, and protect the third.
- Intrinsic — inherent task difficulty. Can't be removed, but managed: chunk it, sequence it, apply progressive disclosure.
- Extraneous — overhead imposed by poor design (clutter, inconsistency, unclear copy, bad layout). Eliminate this — it's pure waste and squarely the designer's responsibility.
- Germane — productive effort spent building useful mental models. Preserve this — it's the user learning the system; don't strip it out chasing "simplicity."
How to apply
- When a screen overwhelms, first ask: is this intrinsic (hard task) or extraneous (bad design)? Attack extraneous first — it's free.
- Reduce intrinsic load by chunking and progressive disclosure, not by removing capability.
- Don't over-simplify away germane load — onboarding and well-designed friction that teaches the model are worth keeping.
- Every inconsistency, redundant field, and unclear label is extraneous load. Hunt them.