{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp03_full320_20260801","cell_id":"negative_space_design__linguistics_semiotics","trajectory_id":"R","attempt_index":0,"archetype_slug":"negative_space_design","domain_slug":"linguistics_semiotics","decision":"CANDIDATE","problem_id":"multilingual_evacuation_sign_cue_competition","causal_lever_id":"protected_separation_of_primary_escape_cues","proposal":{"problem":"HYPOTHESIS: Multilingual evacuation signs that co-locate required translations, pictograms, arrows, qualifiers, and repeated explanations can create sign competition: people may fail to identify which arrow and instruction constitute the primary escape cue under time pressure.","actors_substrate":["Transit or building occupants across language and literacy groups","Language-access and accessibility reviewers","Emergency-management and facilities authorities","Sign-system designers"],"observable_state":"Panels show tightly packed translations, icons, arrows, and qualifiers with weak separation; in simulated evacuation tasks, participants hesitate, inspect multiple regions, or select the wrong route.","consequence":"HYPOTHESIS: Competing signs and ambiguous grouping delay or misdirect evacuation choices, with disproportionate effects on unfamiliar, low-literacy, or low-vision users.","affected_objective":"Fast, correct, and equitable recognition of the designated evacuation route.","structural_mapping":[{"archetype_element":"Competing elements crowd the field","domain_realization":"Multiple linguistic and pictorial signs compete within one emergency panel.","claim_kind":"HYPOTHESIS"},{"archetype_element":"Important form is buried","domain_realization":"The arrow-plus-imperative route cue lacks perceptual isolation from explanations and secondary qualifiers.","claim_kind":"HYPOTHESIS"},{"archetype_element":"Absence clarifies what remains","domain_realization":"Protected gaps make the arrow, imperative, and their translations perceptually group as one primary instruction.","claim_kind":"HYPOTHESIS"},{"archetype_element":"Absence has a boundary and purpose","domain_realization":"A specified clear zone surrounds the primary cue and separates it from secondary text.","claim_kind":"INFERENCE"},{"archetype_element":"Necessary context remains recoverable","domain_realization":"Mandated translations and safety qualifiers remain on the primary panel; only verified redundancy or nonurgent explanation moves to an adjacent detail layer.","claim_kind":"INFERENCE"}],"component_map":[{"component":"Omission Candidate","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Inventory duplicated headers, decorative marks, and nonurgent explanatory text for reversible removal or relocation."},{"component":"Protected Empty Space","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Reserve a clear zone around the arrow-plus-imperative cue."},{"component":"Positive Form Relationship","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Tie the clear zone specifically to recognition and grouping of the primary escape instruction."},{"component":"Attention Competition Map","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Map which words, icons, borders, and arrows receive first looks or are mistakenly grouped."},{"component":"Absence Boundary","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Specify minimum clear-zone and intergroup spacing that later content cannot occupy."},{"component":"Clarity or Effect Test","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Measure correct route choice, decision time, cue recall, and grouping interpretation by language and accessibility subgroup."},{"component":"Rest and Pacing Zone","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Use a quiet band between the primary route cue and secondary qualifications to create a two-stage reading order."},{"component":"Meaning-of-Absence Check","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Ask whether users read the gap as intentional separation rather than a missing translation, broken sign, or concealed instruction."},{"component":"Reintroduction Trigger","status":"adapted","domain_realization":"Present relocated nonurgent explanation on an adjacent detail panel after the route choice point, with an explicit details marker."},{"component":"Accessibility and Recoverability Guardrail","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Retain regulated content, tactile or audible alternatives, high contrast, and a recoverable record of every cut."},{"component":"Context Preservation Frame","status":"direct","domain_realization":"Keep destination, hazard, direction, location, and applicable-language context attached to the primary cue."}],"mechanism_dispositions":[{"slug":"architectural_void","disposition":"considered_rejected","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Building-scale voids do not address sign-internal competition.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; it is outside the causal chain."},{"slug":"blank_or_rest_frame","disposition":"considered_rejected","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Sequential blank frames could resemble sign failure during an emergency.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; static spacing supplies pacing."},{"slug":"editorial_cut","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"CORE_CAUSAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Reversibly removes or relocates only tested redundancy while preserving required context.","counterfactual_removal":"Without disciplined cuts, protected space cannot be created on the constrained panel."},{"slug":"empty_state_design","disposition":"incompatible","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"The problem is an overfull sign, not a no-content state.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; it is not used."},{"slug":"facilitation_silence","disposition":"incompatible","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"There is no facilitator or conversational turn.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; it is not used."},{"slug":"focus_mode_or_control_hiding","disposition":"considered_rejected","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Emergency information must not depend on hidden controls or gestures.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; required information remains continuously visible."},{"slug":"margin_and_gutter_system","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"OPERATIONAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Codifies protected clear zones and prevents later clutter creep across sign families.","counterfactual_removal":"The intervention loses its enforceable boundary and may decay into crowding."},{"slug":"negative_space_logo","disposition":"incompatible","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Figure-ground puzzles would add ambiguity to a safety cue.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; it is excluded."},{"slug":"pause_in_speech","disposition":"incompatible","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"The substrate is persistent signage rather than live speech.","counterfactual_removal":"No change; it is not used."},{"slug":"sparse_layout","disposition":"considered_rejected","contribution_type":"NONE","adaptation_or_rejection":"Unqualified sparsity risks deleting required language access; editorial cutting provides the stricter rule.","counterfactual_removal":"No change beyond avoiding a redundant mechanism."},{"slug":"whitespace","disposition":"selected_load_bearing","contribution_type":"CORE_CAUSAL","adaptation_or_rejection":"Uses proximity and separation to group translations with the correct arrow and isolate the primary cue.","counterfactual_removal":"The proposed perceptual grouping lever disappears even if content is reduced."}],"causal_chain":["HYPOTHESIS: Dense co-location creates competition and ambiguous grouping among signifiers.","A competition map identifies secondary material that attracts attention or breaks arrow-text association.","Editorial cutting creates room without removing mandated or meaning-bearing context.","Protected whitespace groups the primary translations and arrow while gutters separate secondary qualifications.","HYPOTHESIS: Stronger grouping improves first-look identification, correct route choice, and decision time."],"baseline":"Ordinary practice: place all required and locally requested content on each panel, using typography, borders, color, and pictograms within the available area even when the result is dense.","nearest_rival":"A compositional-attention redesign that retains every item on the panel and relies on larger type, color, numbering, or hierarchy without omission or protected empty regions.","authority_safety":{"affected_parties":["Occupants using the evacuation route","People with limited proficiency in the dominant language","Low-literacy, low-vision, and cognitively disabled users","Emergency responders and facilities staff"],"decision_authority":"The responsible emergency-management or facilities authority, subject to fire-code, accessibility, and language-access approval.","authorized_first_step":"Run a preregistered, non-live comparison of baseline, nearest-rival, and negative-space mockups in simulated route-choice tasks stratified by language and accessibility needs.","excluded_actions":["Removing legally required warnings, translations, destinations, or directional cues","Deploying an unvalidated redesign on live evacuation routes","Making QR codes, gestures, or hidden layers the sole source of safety information","Using blankness to conceal uncertainty or unresolved hazards"],"halt_rollback":"Halt if any mandated element is absent, users interpret the gap as missing information, or any prespecified subgroup shows worse correct-route performance beyond the noninferiority margin; reject the variant and restore the baseline mockup."}},"negative_tests":{"strongest_counterevidence":"A controlled comparison showing that fully populated hierarchical signs outperform the negative-space variant across route accuracy, time, and all prespecified subgroups would directly oppose the proposed lever.","analogy_break":"Unlike ordinary layouts, evacuation signs operate under urgency and regulation; empty space can be read as a missing translation, and removing repetition may eliminate redundancy that is protective under stress.","failure_condition":"The design fails if protected space consumes needed content area, breaks arrow-text association, fragments translations, or creates unequal access.","problem_falsifier":"The problem is falsified if baseline audits and simulated tasks show no meaningful cue competition, grouping error, hesitation, or subgroup disparity attributable to panel density.","intervention_falsifier":"The intervention is falsified if crowding is confirmed but the negative-space variant does not outperform the baseline and nearest rival, or harms any prespecified subgroup.","risks":["Omitting context that appears redundant but is safety-critical","Mistaking unfamiliarity or translation quality problems for crowding","Creating a sparse aesthetic that users interpret as incomplete","Improving aggregate results while worsening a language or disability subgroup","Clutter returning when local content is added after deployment"]},"null_rationale":null,"classification":{"candidate_kind":"TESTABLE_CONJECTURE","prior_art_status":"UNSEARCHED","evidence_maturity":"HYPOTHESIS"},"revision_change_log":{"revision_kind":"ORIGINAL","prior_problem_id":null,"prior_causal_lever_id":null,"problem_changed":false,"causal_lever_changed":false,"conceptual_changes":[],"operational_changes":[],"repairs_addressed":[]},"confidence":0.78,"generator_notes":"Closed-book structural inference. The candidate is bounded to simulated testing because emergency-sign omission carries asymmetric safety risk."}