Design philosophy

1. Calm by default

The interface is quieter than the user's work. One accent color, one primary action per view, no decorative animation. If a screen feels busy, remove before you restyle.

2. Persian is not an afterthought

Parch's core audience includes Persian speakers. Every layout must survive translation to RTL, every font stack must render Persian text correctly, and locale-aware defaults (fa_IR, the Solar Hijri calendar option, Persian numerals where appropriate) are design inputs from day one.

3. The system is the brand

Applications inherit Parch's identity from shared tokens and patterns, not from custom chrome. An app that fights the system theme is broken even if it is beautiful.

4. Progressive disclosure

Show the essential; put the advanced behind disclosure (menus, secondary buttons, an “Advanced” group). Defaults should be correct for 90% of users.

5. Errors are conversations

Every failure state names what happened, why, and what to do next. Errors preserve the user's work. Silence and dead ends are the only unacceptable responses.

What the HIG is not

• Not a mandate for identical apps: toolkit-native patterns win where they conflict (see Platform integration).
• Not a replacement for usability testing: rules here are defaults, not evidence.
• Not frozen: proposals for change go through the same review process as code (see Distribution development).