Frame 4: Minimise cognitive load
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Spec: descriptive guidance, not a checkable rule.
It carries no forbidden and instead pair, and no `jig check` detector applies to it directly.
Section: Principles
Group: Frames

**Ask: how much thinking does this require that is not the user's actual task?**

Attention spent decoding the interface is unavailable for the work. Reliable reductions:

- Remove styles, information and decisions that carry no meaning.
- Break information into smaller groups, so relationships are visible rather than worked out.
- Use conventional patterns. Familiarity is free comprehension; novelty is charged to the user.
- Stay consistent — things that look alike must behave alike, or each instance is re-learned.
- Make hierarchy visible, so importance is seen rather than inferred.

**Use it like this:** when something feels heavy but no rule is broken, the load is usually ungrouped information or an unnecessary decision. Split it or remove it. A long form becomes steps; a wide table becomes fewer default columns; six equal options become two recommended and four behind "more".