A seal, a signature, and the shape of a good API

A personal seal is a contract pressed into a single mark — small, deliberate, and hard to forge by accident. The best API surfaces aim for the same economy: one clear way in, a shape you cannot misread, nothing decorative.

Most API design mistakes are really a failure of restraint. You add the convenience method, the second parameter, the escape hatch — and the seal stops meaning one thing.