---
type: Quality Gate
title: Harmony Evaluation Gate
description: Contract for judging webpage content-to-layout fit, visual-reference use, and implementation handoff.
---
# Harmony Evaluation Gate

Use this gate before a generated image or visual reference becomes implementation guidance for a homepage or ordinary webpage.

## Required Contract

Record:

```txt
Use case:
Primary task:
Audience:
Content-to-layout match:
Overall harmony:
Claim record route:
GPT Image reference:
Implementation handoff:
Consumer reference: not_applicable
Consumer reference reason: This blank harmony-gate template declares no consumer-specific reference record.
Rejected alternatives:
Final implementation proof:
Evidence family:
Verification protocol:
Boundary or limitation:
Decision:
```

Do not generate a GPT Image reference before harmony evaluation approves the semantic order, section jobs, pattern stack, scroll owner, and constraints.
Source order, accessibility, brand correctness, and usability cannot be inferred from the image.
Final implementation proof: screenshot or visual-diff evidence, accessibility evidence, and viewport/content stress evidence from the built page.

## Evidence Families

Use the normalized [evidence family glossary](https://style.gallery/materials/v2/pages/quality/evidence/families.md):

- `validator`: layout brief fields, recipe choice, pattern stack, semantic skeleton, linkable workflow docs, and validator output.
- `screenshot`: generated GPT Image reference, screenshots, state captures, viewport captures, and visual diffs.
- `accessibility`: keyboard order, focus visibility, contrast, reduced-motion, semantic landmarks, assistive-technology review, and cognitive accessibility review.
- `user`: content hierarchy review, cognitive walkthrough, visitor decision-path review, design critique, participant testing, or validated measurement.
- `source`: external methodology or standards used to frame the harmony claim.
- `rationale`: claim record, rejected alternatives, limitations, accepted debt, owner, and review trigger.

## Blocking Conditions

Block the harmony claim when:

- the use case is unnamed;
- the page uses a fashionable layout that does not match the content jobs;
- the GPT Image reference is generated before semantic order, section jobs, and pattern stack are approved;
- the GPT Image reference is generated before scroll owner and constraints are approved;
- rejected alternatives are missing when a fashionable or image-led pattern was considered;
- a generated image is treated as proof of usability, accessibility, or brand fit;
- visual novelty weakens source order, focus order, task completion, or content stress behavior;
- decorative styling is moved into reusable pattern CSS;
- the implementation handoff omits constraints, scroll ownership, accepted debt, or verification.

## Accessibility Boundary

Generated images, screenshots, visual diffs, and GPT Image references cannot prove accessibility. They can show rendered state, hierarchy, or visual intent, but accessibility claims must link to the accessibility evidence register and name an `automated`, `manual`, `user`, or `debt` verification method.

## Boundary

This gate decides whether a webpage composition is coherent enough to guide implementation. It does not define the consuming product's brand, typography, color, illustration style, animation system, or component library.

Use a [structured claim record](https://style.gallery/materials/v2/pages/quality/claims.md) when the harmony decision approves, blocks, or redirects implementation. Harmony records must include the use case and implementation handoff because they decide what the implementer may safely carry from a visual reference into product-level styling.

If the work is an existing-consumer migration that declares conformance, route the separate migration evidence decision through the [Consumer Migration Evidence Gate](https://style.gallery/materials/v2/pages/quality/gates/consumer-migration-evidence.md). Harmony cannot substitute for runtime parity or source-bound page evidence.

## IA Navigation

Parent: [Gate Contracts](https://style.gallery/materials/v2/pages/quality/gates/index.md).
Next: [Evidence References](https://style.gallery/materials/v2/pages/quality/evidence/index.md) when a gate needs admissible support.