Visual Engineering UI Anti-Patterns

• Generic containers used in place of a meaningful information model
• Equal emphasis across competing elements
• Color as the only state or urgency signal
• Low-contrast text used to manufacture hierarchy
• CSS visual reordering that conflicts with source, reading, or focus order
• Responsive layouts that merely shrink instead of recomposing
• Excess whitespace that destroys comparison or scanning
• Excess density without grouping, alignment, or hierarchy
• Icon-only critical actions without established meaning
• Hidden system status or recovery paths
• Shadow DOM used by default rather than by demonstrated need
• Public component APIs that expose internal styling structure
• Token proliferation used to avoid structural decisions
• Accessibility treated as a final audit
• Visual novelty prioritized over recognition and verification
• Research guidance applied without inspecting the product context