01

Lock the character before styling it

Choose the exact Simplified or Traditional form, a reliable typeface, and a native-reader reference. The generator must preserve stroke count, radical position, and the character’s recognizable outer balance.

02

Attach meaning to one real structure

A path can move through the central stroke of 山, or light can appear in the relationship between 日 and 月 in 明. The visual action should come from how the character is already built.

03

Ask a reader, not only a designer

Shrink the result, remove its caption, and ask a fluent reader to name it. If explanation is needed before recognition, the intervention has gone too far.