Aesthetic

Create aesthetically beautiful interfaces by following proven design principles and systematic workflows.

DraftForge Brand — Delegate to brand

For draftforge-specific theming (palette, button policy, brand wrappers, mandatory components, brand tokens), use the brand skill — entry point at .claude/skills/brand/SKILL.md. Canonical guide is docs/THEMING-GUIDE.md, AI references at docs/theming-guide/ai/references/. This skill (aesthetic) covers generic design principles; brand enforces the project's specific brand contract (<PrimaryButton> over <button>, bg-base-* over bg-slate-*, <UserAvatar> over <img>, etc.). Whenever a design choice would land in frontend/app/, run the brand review before declaring done.

When to Use This Skill

Use when:

• Building or designing user interfaces
• Analyzing designs from inspiration websites (Dribbble, Mobbin, Behance)
• Generating design images and evaluating aesthetic quality
• Implementing visual hierarchy, typography, color theory
• Adding micro-interactions and animations
• Creating design documentation and style guides
• Need guidance on accessibility and design systems

Core Framework: Four-Stage Approach

1. BEAUTIFUL: Understanding Aesthetics

Study existing designs, identify patterns, extract principles. AI lacks aesthetic sense—standards must come from analyzing high-quality examples and aligning with market tastes.

Reference: references/design-principles.md - Visual hierarchy, typography, color theory, white space principles.

2. RIGHT: Ensuring Functionality

Beautiful designs lacking usability are worthless. Study design systems, component architecture, accessibility requirements.

Reference: references/design-principles.md - Design systems, component libraries, WCAG accessibility standards.

3. SATISFYING: Micro-Interactions

Incorporate subtle animations with appropriate timing (150-300ms), easing curves (ease-out for entry, ease-in for exit), sequential delays.

Reference: references/micro-interactions.md - Duration guidelines, easing curves, performance optimization.

4. PEAK: Storytelling Through Design

Elevate with narrative elements—parallax effects, particle systems, thematic consistency. Use restraint: "too much of anything isn't good."

Reference: references/storytelling-design.md - Narrative elements, scroll-based storytelling, interactive techniques.

Workflows

Workflow 1: Capture & Analyze Inspiration

Purpose: Extract design guidelines from inspiration websites.

Steps:

1. Browse inspiration sites (Dribbble, Mobbin, Behance, Awwwards)
2. Use chrome-devtools skill to capture full-screen screenshots (not full page)
3. Use ai-multimodal skill to analyze screenshots and extract:
   • Design style (Minimalism, Glassmorphism, Neo-brutalism, etc.)
   • Layout structure & grid systems
   • Typography system & hierarchy IMPORTANT: Try to predict the font name (Google Fonts) and font size in the given screenshot, don't just use Inter or Poppins.
   • Color palette with hex codes
   • Visual hierarchy techniques
   • Component patterns & styling
   • Micro-interactions
   • Accessibility considerations
   • Overall aesthetic quality rating (1-10)
4. Document findings in project design guidelines using templates

Workflow 2: Generate & Iterate Design Images

Purpose: Create aesthetically pleasing design images through iteration.

Steps:

1. Define design prompt with: style, colors, typography, audience, animation specs
2. Use ai-multimodal skill to generate design images with Gemini API
3. Use ai-multimodal skill to analyze output images and evaluate aesthetic quality
4. If score < 7/10 or fails professional standards:
   • Identify specific weaknesses (color, typography, layout, spacing, hierarchy)
   • Refine prompt with improvements
   • Regenerate with ai-multimodal or use media-processing skill to modify outputs (resize, crop, filters, composition)
5. Repeat until aesthetic standards met (score ≥ 7/10)
6. Document final design decisions using templates

Design Documentation

Create Design Guidelines

Use assets/design-guideline-template.md to document:

• Color patterns & psychology
• Typography system & hierarchy
• Layout principles & spacing
• Component styling standards
• Accessibility considerations
• Design highlights & rationale

Save in project ./docs/design-guideline.md.

Create Design Story

Use assets/design-story-template.md to document:

• Narrative elements & themes
• Emotional journey
• User journey & peak moments
• Design decision rationale

Save in project ./docs/design-story.md.

Resources & Integration

Related Skills

• ai-multimodal: Analyze documents, screenshots & videos, generate design images, edit generated images, evaluate aesthetic quality using Gemini API
• chrome-devtools: Capture full-screen screenshots from inspiration websites, navigate between pages, interact with elements, read console logs & network requests
• media-processing: Refine generated images (FFmpeg for video, ImageMagick for images)
• ui-styling: Implement designs with shadcn/ui components + Tailwind CSS utility-first styling
• web-frameworks: Build with Next.js (App Router, Server Components, SSR/SSG)

Reference Documentation

References: references/design-resources.md - Inspiration platforms, design systems, AI tools, MCP integrations, development strategies.

Key Principles

1. Aesthetic standards come from humans, not AI—study quality examples
2. Iterate based on analysis—never settle for first output
3. Balance beauty with functionality and accessibility
4. Document decisions for consistency across development
5. Use progressive disclosure in design—reveal complexity gradually
6. Always evaluate aesthetic quality objectively (score ≥ 7/10)