%20Self-contained%20SVG.%20No%20animations,%20no%20JavaScript.%20PURPOSE:%20Simplified%20mark%20for%20use%20at%20small%20sizes%20(favicons,%20nav%20bars,%20avatars).%20Features%20only%20the%20gold%20pyramid%20inside%20a%20blue-bordered%20dark%20circle.%20DIMENSIONS:%20•%20viewBox:%200%200%20100%20100%20(vector,%20scales%20to%20any%20size)%20•%20Default%20export%20size:%20400×400px%20(change%20width/height%20to%20resize)%20•%20Optimized%20for%20rendering%20at%2032–80px%20display%20sizes%20COLOR%20PALETTE:%20•%20Background%20fill:%20deep%20navy%20hsl(220,%2040%25,%208%25)%20•%20Border%20stroke:%20blue%20gradient%20hsl(210,%2060%25,%2040–50%25)%20•%20Pyramid:%20solid%20gold%20hsl(45,%2075%25,%2048%25)%20GEOMETRY:%20•%20Open%20chevron%20(outer%20pyramid%20outline,%20no%20base%20closing%20line)%20•%20Solid%20inner%20triangle%20fill%20for%20weight%20at%20small%20sizes%20•%20Stroke%20weights%20increased%20for%20crispness%20at%20small%20scales%20--%3e%3cdefs%3e%3clinearGradient%20id='blueGrad'%20x1='0%25'%20y1='0%25'%20x2='100%25'%20y2='100%25'%3e%3cstop%20offset='0%25'%20stop-color='hsl(210,%2060%25,%2050%25)'%20/%3e%3cstop%20offset='100%25'%20stop-color='hsl(210,%2060%25,%2040%25)'%20/%3e%3c/linearGradient%3e%3c/defs%3e%3c!--%20Circle%20background%20with%20blue%20border%20--%3e%3ccircle%20cx='50'%20cy='50'%20r='45'%20fill='hsl(220,%2040%25,%208%25)'%20stroke='url(%23blueGrad)'%20stroke-width='3'%20/%3e%3c!--%20Pyramid%20—%20open%20chevron%20(no%20base%20line),%20gold%20fill%20--%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(50,%2050)'%3e%3cpath%20d='M%20-22,14%20L%200,-20%20L%2022,14'%20fill='none'%20stroke='hsl(45,%2075%25,%2048%25)'%20stroke-width='3.5'%20stroke-linecap='round'%20stroke-linejoin='round'%20/%3e%3cpath%20d='M%20-11,14%20L%200,2%20L%2011,14'%20fill='hsl(45,%2075%25,%2048%25)'%20opacity='0.8'%20/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Session One
Session 1 builds the case that your judgment about your own pages is unreliable in a predictable direction, then hands you the instrument that corrects for it — and puts that instrument to work on the first of the two cost forces.
Index · Session One+
The Perception Problem and the Cost of Friction
Opening Diagnostic — The Blind Critique.
Competing pages, no framework, no help. You commit to a judgment and defend it before you are given a single tool. What the room writes here stays on the board for the whole session.
The Prospect's Perception Gap.
Why the senses reconstruct rather than receive, the scale of what human perception misses, and the transfer to the page.
Principle One: the prospect has a perception gap.
Belief Is Built by More Than Reasons.
A published study in which identical scientific reasoning produced different levels of belief depending on how it was presented.
Includes Exercise 1.B — vote before the reveal.
Case Study: Travel Insurance.
A full control-versus-treatment page test from the MECLABS Research Library, walked one page at a time, with downstream funnel and revenue evidence.
Includes Exercise 1.C — predict the lift.
Break
The Marketer's Blind Spot.
What thousands of consumers say they want, set against what hundreds of marketers believe they want — across social, shipping, direct mail and product discovery — followed by three head-to-head page tests.
Principle Two: the marketer has a blind spot. Includes Exercise 1.D — Guess the Gap.
The Conversion Sequence Heuristic.
Principle Three, the research base behind the method, and the heuristic itself: every variable, why it is weighted the way it is, and how to read any page element as a value force or a cost force.
Friction I: Difficulty.
The operational definition of friction, then three mechanisms of difficulty-oriented friction — competing information, eye path, and the moment of action — each with a documented experiment.
Friction II: Implied Friction and the Canvas Differential.
The difference between the work a page requires and the work it appears to require, and the case in which one identical treatment won on desktop and lost on mobile.
LAB 1 — The Friction Audit.
Small groups, one live page. A short list of findings, each traceable to a specific element, ranked by expected impact. Readouts to the room.
Close and Assignment.
Concepts introduced
- Perception gap
- Marketer's blind spot
- Conversion Sequence Heuristic
- Value force / cost force
- Friction
- Difficulty friction
- Implied friction
- Competing information
- Eye path
- The Canvas Differential
Assignment
1. Friction Audit. Select one live page you are personally responsible for. Record three difficulty-friction findings and three implied-friction findings. For each, give the element (located precisely enough that a developer could find it), the mechanism, and your corrective. One page. The one-page limit is part of the exercise.
2. Heuristic from memory. Write the Conversion Sequence Heuristic before you open any notes, then note honestly what you got wrong. You will be asked for it in the opening block of Session 2.
3. Bring the page. Have it open in a browser tab. Session 2 works on real pages, including yours.