anti-default-gateslisted

# Anti-Default Gate Lessons From a hard audit (design-genius) where 4 independent review lanes flagged a well-intentioned orange-ban as color-biased. Each one broke something real. ## 1. Ban the reproduction, never the hue A rule "no orange accent" bans a color family outright — a heritage gold on warm ivory with a real derivation line (the gilt stamp on the product) is a legitimate design, and force-coloring it off is the bias. It also can't tell blanket harm from a justified use. **Fix:** gate the default REPRODUCTION as a whole, all conditions AND-ed: fails only if (a) accent in the banned band AND (b) flat default bg AND (c) no causal derivation line. Clears if it escapes ANY one. Never ban a hue family. **Check:** state the 3 conditions AND-ed; a correct use must clear it. If the gate says "never warm on cream," it's a hue ban, not a reproduction gate. ## 2. One gate passing ≠ the audit passed A color gate only clears the COLOR axis. A site that passes ("generic blue, not in the banned band") can still fail type, layout, copy, motion — and a checklist that says "color-clear → mark DISTINCT, stop" lets the audit short-circuit before the other levers run. Silent false-negative. **Fix:** make every gate's pass NECESSARY, NOT SUFFICIENT for the overall verdict. "Cleared the color gate" means only that horizontal check passed; run the full dimension rubric, and mark done only when every axis passes. **Check:** does any gate's pass line end in "…and stop"? If yes, it