Design Skill

Use $design when product, UI/UX, frontend, or design-system decisions need a durable source of truth in the repository. This skill discovers existing design context, interviews for missing product/design information, and creates or refreshes repo-local DESIGN.md so future UI/UX/frontend work is grounded instead of improvised.

Purpose

Make repo-local DESIGN.md source of truth and canonical design contract for the current repository:

existing repo evidence -> missing-context interview -> create/refresh DESIGN.md -> use DESIGN.md for UI/UX/frontend decisions.

The output is not a pixel-matching loop and not a one-off visual critique. It is the maintained design brief/checklist that implementation, review, and future visual work should cite.

Use when

• The user asks for design direction, UX guidance, frontend planning, or design-system alignment.
• A repo needs a design brief before UI/frontend implementation begins.
• Existing UI/components/assets/screenshots need to be summarized into a reusable design source of truth.
• UI/UX/frontend decisions are ambiguous and should be resolved through product context, constraints, and documented principles.
• A feature needs DESIGN.md created or refreshed before $ralph, a designer lane, or implementation work proceeds.

Do not use when

• The user provides or requests a visual reference/image/live URL and wants measured implementation until screenshots match. Use $visual-ralph for that visual-reference implementation loop.
• The task is pure backend/API/infrastructure work with no user-facing design consequence.
• The user only asks to compare screenshots or score visual fidelity. Use $visual-ralph and its built-in visual verdict flow.

Relationship to $visual-ralph

$design owns the durable repo design source of truth: product goals, users, IA, visual language, components, accessibility, constraints, and open questions in DESIGN.md.

$visual-ralph owns implementation against an approved generated/static/live-URL visual reference, with screenshot capture, Visual Ralph verdict scoring, and pixel-diff evidence. $visual-ralph may read DESIGN.md, and it may leave design-system artifacts behind, but it does not replace the DESIGN.md discovery/interview/refresh workflow.

If both are needed, run $design first to establish the design contract, then run $visual-ralph only after the visual reference/baseline is approved.

Workflow

1. Discover local design evidence

Inspect the repository before writing guidance. Look for:

• DESIGN.md, docs/design*, docs/ux*, docs/frontend*, README.md, product specs, PRDs, and issue notes.
• Existing UI source: routes, pages, layouts, components, stories, examples, demos, theme files, CSS variables, Tailwind/theme config, tokens, icons, and assets.
• Screenshots, mockups, brand files, logos, Figma/export notes, Storybook snapshots, Playwright screenshots, visual-regression baselines, or .omx/artifacts/visual-ralph/* references.
• Accessibility, responsive, i18n, content, and platform constraints already encoded in code or docs.

Record evidence with file paths. Distinguish observed facts from design inferences.

2. Interview only for missing context

Ask concise questions only when repo evidence cannot answer design-critical context. Prefer one focused round that closes the biggest gaps, such as:

• target users/personas and jobs to be done,
• product/business goals and non-goals,
• brand personality or forbidden aesthetics,
• primary flows and information architecture,
• accessibility level, device/browser support, and implementation constraints,
• existing design assets or references the repo does not contain.

If the user wants autonomous progress or cannot answer, create DESIGN.md with explicit assumptions and open questions instead of blocking.

3. Create or refresh DESIGN.md

Use the structure below. Preserve useful existing content, remove contradictions, and mark unknowns as open questions. Keep it actionable for implementers and reviewers.

Required DESIGN.md structure/checklist

# Design

## Source of truth
- Status: Draft | Active | Needs refresh
- Last refreshed: YYYY-MM-DD
- Primary product surfaces:
- Evidence reviewed:

## Brand
- Personality:
- Trust signals:
- Avoid:

## Product goals
- Goals:
- Non-goals:
- Success signals:

## Personas and jobs
- Primary personas:
- User jobs:
- Key contexts of use:

## Information architecture
- Primary navigation:
- Core routes/screens:
- Content hierarchy:

## Design principles
- Principle 1:
- Principle 2:
- Tradeoffs:

## Visual language
- Color:
- Typography:
- Spacing/layout rhythm:
- Shape/radius/elevation:
- Motion:
- Imagery/iconography:

## Components
- Existing components to reuse:
- New/changed components:
- Variants and states:
- Token/component ownership:

## Accessibility
- Target standard:
- Keyboard/focus behavior:
- Contrast/readability:
- Screen-reader semantics:
- Reduced motion and sensory considerations:

## Responsive behavior
- Supported breakpoints/devices:
- Layout adaptations:
- Touch/hover differences:

## Interaction states
- Loading:
- Empty:
- Error:
- Success:
- Disabled:
- Offline/slow network, if applicable:

## Content voice
- Tone:
- Terminology:
- Microcopy rules:

## Implementation constraints
- Framework/styling system:
- Design-token constraints:
- Performance constraints:
- Compatibility constraints:
- Test/screenshot expectations:

## Open questions
- [ ] Question / owner / impact

4. Use DESIGN.md as the decision contract

For UI/UX/frontend work after the refresh:

• Cite the relevant DESIGN.md sections before making design choices.
• Prefer existing components, tokens, and documented constraints.
• If implementation reveals a design contradiction, update DESIGN.md or add an open question before proceeding.
• Do not introduce a new design-system layer when existing repo-native patterns can be extended.

5. Handoff to implementation or Visual Ralph when appropriate

• For normal frontend implementation, hand off with the relevant DESIGN.md sections, repo evidence, and acceptance criteria.
• For visual-reference/image/live-URL matching, hand off to $visual-ralph with the approved reference/baseline and note that DESIGN.md is supporting context, not the visual verdict target.

Completion checklist

Do not declare the design workflow complete until:

• Existing design docs/assets/components/screenshots have been inspected or explicitly noted as absent.
• Missing product/design context has been answered, assumed, or listed in DESIGN.md open questions.
• DESIGN.md exists at the repo root and contains all required checklist sections.
• UI/UX/frontend recommendations cite DESIGN.md rather than relying on unstated preferences.
• Any $visual-ralph handoff is clearly separated as visual implementation matching, not DESIGN.md governance.

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