Design Loop 002: whole-site agency-readiness and escaped-defect closure

[iainherd]

Objective

Loop 002 is not a generic aesthetic retry. It is a whole-site agency-readiness and escaped-defect closure loop prompted by client feedback after Pilot 001.

Goal: make the public site feel intentionally complete, conventionally usable, and agency-presentable across every route and breakpoint, before further broad visual exploration.

Preconditions

• Post-mortem Pilot 001 and harden Loop 002 process #67 post-mortem findings have been captured or explicitly carried into this issue.
• The post-loop retrospective / whole-site readiness process changes from PR Add post-loop retrospective gate for design loops #66 are present on main.
• Open client questions either have answers or default assumptions recorded.

Default assumptions unless client overrides

• Mobile nav uses a conventional right-aligned hamburger/menu pattern.
• Desktop nav uses clean functional labels; descriptors are removed unless explicitly approved.
• Public nav/CTA routes must be production-grade or hidden/renamed.
• Contact page should support a discreet conversation with clear email/contact method and expectation-setting.
• Legal page should use minimal conservative copy if no counsel-approved copy exists; no invented specificity.
• Crossing illustration concept is preserved but reduced/refined if it cannot reach brand-asset craft quality.

Priority surfaces

• Global header/nav at mobile, tablet, desktop, and super-wide widths.
• Homepage hero and transition into One Function. Two Directions.
• /for-investors/
• /for-deals/
• /team/
• /contact/
• /legal/
• Footer and cross-route consistency.

Hard blockers

• Mobile nav is unconventional/confusing without explicit approval.
• Desktop nav retains confusing dual descriptors or internal taxonomy feel.
• Any public primary-nav/footer/CTA route is blank, scaffold-like, or lacks a clear page job.
• Hero overlaps, creates accidental one-word headline lines, or degrades at 1728/1920.
• Hero illustration remains prototype-like, generic, or visually dominant beyond its craft quality.
• Repeated dividers/rules or orphaned sections feel accidental.
• Contact page does not answer how/why to contact and what happens next.
• Legal page contains nonsense, placeholder legal copy, false specificity, or unsourced legal/privacy claims.
• Footer is merely basic/default rather than intentionally simple and refined.
• Whole-site contact-sheet review shows inconsistent heading, spacing, divider, CTA, nav, or footer systems.

Required evidence

• Whole-public-site screenshots/contact sheet for /, /for-investors/, /for-deals/, /team/, /contact/, /legal/ at 320, 390, 768, 1024, 1180, 1280, 1440, 1728/1920 where practical.
• Browser QA metrics: console/page errors, overflow, focus/keyboard, reduced motion where relevant.
• Production-design review using the new whole-site readiness template.
• Design-director wall review: “Would we present this as agency-grade work tomorrow?”
• Brand/content route-purpose review for nav labels, Investors/Deals, Contact, Legal, Footer.
• Audience/task scenarios for mobile nav, investor/deal navigation, contact task, and legal sanity.
• Scorecard binary gates completed before weighted scoring.

Candidate framing

Use 1–3 isolated candidates only if hypotheses are materially different. Suggested candidates:

A. Global shell + route readiness: nav convention/copy, footer, route completeness, contact/legal sanity.
B. Hero + homepage narrative craft: super-wide hero integrity, illustration refinement, divider/orphan-section closure.
C. Whole-site consistency polish: typography rhythm, section spacing, divider/rule system, cross-route component refinement.

Do not promote a candidate unless every hard blocker is cleared. NO PROMOTION remains valid.

Client questions to resolve or carry as defaults

1. Confirm conventional right-aligned hamburger/mobile menu?
2. Confirm clean functional nav labels only?
3. Should Investors/Deals remain public before substantive content exists?
4. What is the contact page job and acceptable contact method(s)?
5. Is approved legal/privacy/disclaimer copy available?
6. Should the crossing illustration be a signature asset or reduced until proper art direction exists?
7. Which launch audience has priority if trade-offs arise: investor, deal originator, intermediary, or compliance reviewer?

Acceptance criteria

• Preconditions recorded.
• Client answers/default assumptions recorded before implementation.
• Candidate hypotheses and pre-declared scoring rules recorded before implementation.
• Whole-site screenshots/contact sheet captured for baseline and candidate(s).
• Binary readiness gates complete before weighted scoring.
• Production-design review PASS or focused fixes re-reviewed.
• Audience/task findings recorded and mapped to dimensions.
• No hard blockers remain.
• If promoted, PR includes score delta, evidence links, review verdicts, and parent verification.
• If no promotion, candidate failure records and process learnings are committed/commented.

[iainherd]

Loop 002 started

Run ID: 20260629-loop-002-whole-site-readiness
Baseline commit: a4b027035ecebfd676e6fce06af2902acbc34546
Baseline evidence captured locally under:

• docs/design/loops/20260629-loop-002-whole-site-readiness/run.md
• docs/design/loops/20260629-loop-002-whole-site-readiness/baseline/browser-qa.json
• docs/design/loops/20260629-loop-002-whole-site-readiness/baseline/metrics-summary.md
• docs/design/loops/20260629-loop-002-whole-site-readiness/baseline/scorecard.md
• docs/design/loops/20260629-loop-002-whole-site-readiness/baseline/production-design-review.md
• screenshots for /, /for-investors/, /for-deals/, /team/, /contact/, /legal/ at 320, 390, 768, 1024, 1180, 1280, 1440, 1728, 1920.

Baseline parent verdict: BLOCKER for whole-site agency-readiness.

Main baseline findings:

• /for-investors/ and /for-deals/ are still scaffold/draft public routes.
• Mobile nav is an exposed grid/button pattern, not the default right-aligned hamburger/menu assumption.
• Desktop nav retains dual label/cue descriptors.
• Homepage H1 reaches 5 lines at 1440/1728/1920.
• Contact/legal/footer are conservative but still read too much like pre-production/status surfaces.
• No captured horizontal overflow across the baseline matrix.

Candidate worktrees dispatched:

Candidate	Branch	Worktree	Hypothesis
A	design-loop/20260629-loop-002-a-shell-routes	/root/lircap/worktrees/20260629-loop-002-a-shell-routes	global shell + public route readiness
B	design-loop/20260629-loop-002-b-hero-home	/root/lircap/worktrees/20260629-loop-002-b-hero-home	hero + homepage narrative craft
C	design-loop/20260629-loop-002-c-system-polish	/root/lircap/worktrees/20260629-loop-002-c-system-polish	whole-site consistency polish

Pre-declared default assumptions are the issue defaults: conventional mobile hamburger/menu, clean functional desktop nav, public routes production-grade or hidden, conservative legal/contact/footer, no fake imagery or new claims.