aesthetic-pattern-detection

Aesthetic Pattern Detection

Surface features differ — colours, words, technologies, industries. Formal patterns recur across all of them. The same structural moves that make a symphony compelling make a strategy compelling. The same tension-and-resolution arc that drives a thriller drives a great pitch. Naming the pattern reveals options that surface-level analysis cannot, because once the pattern is named, its full playbook becomes available.

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Your Process

Step 1: Describe the Thing What does it do and how does it feel to engage with it? Focus on behaviour and effect, not surface features — not "it uses blue and white" but "it creates calm authority that builds confidence incrementally." Describe the experience of it.

Step 2: Identify Formal Patterns Present Work through this list systematically — multiple patterns often operate simultaneously:

• Repetition/Rhythm — recurring elements that create expectation, then satisfy or productively subvert it
• Symmetry/Asymmetry — balance creates stability and trust; deliberate asymmetry creates tension and dynamism
• Hierarchy — clear ordering from most to least important, large to small, general to specific; guides attention
• Contrast — sharp differences that create definition, focus attention, and make meaning by comparison
• Tension/Resolution — a problem introduced and resolved, a question posed and answered; the engine of narrative
• Figure/Ground — a subject made vivid and clear by what surrounds and recedes
• Part/Whole — components that build into something greater than their sum

Step 3: Match to Domain Archetypes Which archetypes from design, storytelling, architecture, or music does this resemble? The hero's journey. The fugue. The golden section. Thesis-antithesis- synthesis. Call and response. Name the archetype and its source domain.

Step 4: Name the Pattern Give the dominant pattern a precise name. Test: does naming it make the thing more legible? Does it reveal why certain elements work and why others feel off? A good pattern name is generative — it produces new options, not just descriptions.

Step 5: Apply the Pattern What does the pattern imply for what should come next? What is currently in the artefact that violates the pattern — and is that violation intentional (productive tension) or accidental (incoherence)?

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Human Check-in

Before proceeding, use the AskUserQuestion tool:

• Question: "How do you want to run this?"
• Header: "Scope"
• Options:
  • Full analysis — Complete all steps, reasoning shown throughout
  • Key findings only — Bottom-line output, skip step-by-step detail
  • Pattern name only — Identify and name the underlying structure, skip full analysis
  • Refine the framing — Adjust what we're analyzing before starting

Proceed based on their selection.

Output Format

Formal Patterns Present: [list each pattern with one sentence on how it manifests]

Archetype Match: [closest domain archetype + which domain it comes from]

Pattern Name: [precise name for the dominant pattern]

What Naming It Reveals: [what becomes visible or legible that wasn't before]

Pattern Implications

Implication	Description
What should come next	[the move the pattern calls for]
What is violating the pattern	[specific elements that break it]
Intentional or accidental	[productive subversion or incoherence]

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Notes

Not every successful thing follows a single pattern cleanly — most operate with several simultaneously. Identify the dominant pattern first; note secondary patterns separately. The test of a good pattern name is whether it generates new options rather than just describing what's already there.

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What's Next

After delivering this output, use AskUserQuestion to offer the next move:

• Question: "Patterns detected. What's next?"
• Header: "Next"
• Options:
  • /aesthetic-coherence-check — Check that detected patterns cohere
  • /systems-archetype-matching — Match aesthetic patterns to systemic archetypes
  • /aesthetic-elegance-testing — Test the elegance of the patterns
  • Done — Wrap up and synthesise what we have so far