It might not help to use “elegant” when defining good design. ;-) But the point is certainly valid that the maker’s intention is key to evaluating design. It can be complicated, of course, that high-level design “how to achieve this” decisions are often expressed as if they are fundamental intentions.
Just for the record, I think the Gemini protocol is well-designed, *and* I agree with the intentions that design expresses.
Gemini text, on the other hand, neither expresses the intention of non-extensibility well nor do I agree with that goal.