DOC HSX-01 Framework · v1.0 · 2026
High-stakes UX framework
A structured approach to designing interfaces where an error has real consequences. Built for teams, products and whole domains.
01 // Overview
What this covers
High-stakes UX is not a separate discipline. It is standard UX with the tolerance for ambiguity removed. Use this across any product where user error causes irreversible outcomes.
- Physical harm
Life & safety critical
Aerospace, nuclear, heavy industrial, where a UI error can result in physical harm, mission failure or loss of life.
- Regulatory
Operations & compliance
Systems managing regulated data, financial transactions, medical records or legal obligations with significant consequences.
- Operational
Business-critical workflows
Enterprise tooling where errors disrupt production, damage customer trust or trigger costly remediation cycles.
- Decision support
AI-assisted decision-making
Any interface where AI provides recommendations that humans act on, especially in consequential, time-sensitive contexts.
The four pillars
02 // Principles
Ten non-negotiables
Each applies at the component, screen and system level. Open any principle for its rationale and a do / don’t pair.
03 // Process
Seven phases, six gates
No phase begins until the prior gate is cleared. Gates are not bureaucracy. They are risk controls.
04 // Roles
Who owns what
Who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed at each stage. Adapt role titles to your org structure.
- R
- Responsible: does the work
- A
- Accountable: signs off
- C
- Consulted: input required
- I
- Informed: kept in the loop
Focus on a role
05 // Review checklist
Safety UX review
Run before any design moves to engineering. Your ticks stay on this device.
Handoff gate status
Blocked
- P0 open
- 0
- P1 open
- 0
- P2 open
- 0
06 // Metrics
Evidence, not intuition
These metrics operationalise quality across the design lifecycle, each with the target it has to hit.