the-ask

Summary

Amber means the app is asking the user a question, and it means nothing else.

Why it matters

This is the product. Everything around it — the log, the ring, the trends — is table stakes that a dozen apps have. The one thing AskCal does differently is admit what it could not see and then ask about it, and the amber is the only visual signal that separates "we know" from "we need you".

Spending amber on premium, on warnings, or on decoration flattens that signal until the ask reads as another badge.

Implications

• accent-* in the design tokens IS the ask. The name is the estate-wide role name; the reservation is this product's.
• The clarify screen shows one question at a time, at most two per scan, with big tappable options, a free Skip, and the cost of the question stated in calories.
• No free text in a question. A question with a keyboard is a form. The one free-text field in the scan flow is on Not this dish, which is a correction rather than a question.
• Cooking fat is the standing exception that proves the rule: it is the largest hidden number on most plates in this market, so it is reachable in one tap whether or not the estimator thought to ask.

Related

• confidence
• metering

Sources

• .context/designs/mobile/scan/clarify.html
• .context/designs/mobile/food/fat.html