Throughline Protocol
Carry the emotional throughline into deliverables without losing it. Make the invisible communicable.
What is it?
The Throughline Protocol solves the translation problem. A spatial-emotional designer works from a rich mental representation: volumetric, dynamic, loaded with intentionality. When producing a deliverable (wireframe, prototype, spec), they perform a translation from 3D to static 2D. The loss is massive: why this spacing? Why this hierarchy? Why this transition? Without the protocol, the deliverable shows the what without the why. A PM or developer receiving this deliverable makes implementation decisions that degrade the original intent.
When to use it
During documentation and handoff. When creating specifications, presentations, or any artifact that will be interpreted by someone who was not in your head during design.
How to do it
For each screen, add an annotation: 'The user feels X here, therefore...'
Name your frames by emotional state, not content. 'Relief' rather than 'Confirmation'.
Include your spatial map as the first slide, even rough. It is the visible guiding thread.
Start your presentation with the target emotional state. The screens are the answer, not the question.
Pro tips
Most UX annotations are descriptive ('Primary blue button, H1 24px'). Intent annotations document the emotional why: 'The user is in validation mode, feedback must be immediate and unambiguous.'
Naming frames by emotional state reveals discontinuities: if 'Exploration state' is followed by 'Validation state', the team sees a missing decision state.
These annotations allow the team to make aligned decisions even in the designer's absence. They transform a deliverable into a permanent brief.