Design

atris-design

Part of the Atris policy system. Prevents ai-generated frontend from looking generic.

Atris Integration

This skill uses the Atris workflow:

1. Check atris/MAP.md for existing patterns before building
2. Read atris/policies/design-seed.md first — it has the project's unique visual identity (fonts, colors, spacing, motion). This is the design DNA. Do not override it with defaults.
3. Reference atris/policies/atris-design.md for full anti-slop guidance
4. After building, run atris review to validate against this policy

Quick Reference

Typography: avoid inter/roboto/arial/system fonts. pick one distinctive font, use weight extremes (200 vs 800). size jumps should be dramatic (3x). use clamp() for fluid sizing. use ch units for measure (max-width: 65ch).

Font alternatives: instead of Inter → Instrument Sans, Plus Jakarta Sans, Outfit. Instead of Roboto → Onest, Figtree, Urbanist. Editorial → Fraunces, Newsreader, Lora.

Color: commit to a palette. use OKLCH for perceptually uniform colors. tint your neutrals toward your brand hue (never pure gray). never put gray text on colored backgrounds. never use pure black (#000) or pure white (#fff). avoid the AI palette: cyan-on-dark, purple-to-blue gradients, neon accents on dark.

--brand: oklch(65% 0.2 250);
--gray-100: oklch(95% 0.01 250); /* tinted, not pure gray */

Layout: break the hero + 3 cards + footer template. no card-in-card nesting. no identical card grids. asymmetry is interesting. dramatic whitespace. use container queries for component-level responsiveness. fluid spacing with clamp().

Motion: one well-timed animation beats ten scattered ones. use exponential easing (cubic-bezier(0.25, 1, 0.5, 1)), never bounce/elastic. 150-300ms duration. only animate transform and opacity. always respect prefers-reduced-motion. no cursor-following lines, no meteor effects, no buttons that chase the cursor.

Interaction: progressive disclosure — start simple, reveal complexity. optimistic UI — update immediately, sync later. every interactive element needs ALL states: default, hover, focus, active, disabled, loading, error, success. don't make every button primary.

Hover: make elements feel inviting on hover (brighten, subtle scale 1.02-1.05). never fade out, shift, or hide content behind hover. hover doesn't exist on mobile.

Scroll: never override native scroll. use "peeking" (show a few px of next section) instead of full-screen hero + scroll arrow.

Responsive: mobile-first. touch targets 44x44px minimum. no text under 14px on mobile. no horizontal scroll. container queries > media queries for components. adapt, don't amputate.

Accessibility: 4.5:1 contrast for text, 3:1 for UI (WCAG AA). visible focus indicators always. semantic HTML. never use color alone as an indicator. keyboard nav with logical tab order.

Hero (H1 test): must answer in 5 seconds — what is it, who is it for, why care, what's the CTA.

Assets: high-res screenshots only. no fake dashboards with primary colors. no decorative non-system emojis.

Backgrounds: add depth. gradients, patterns, mesh effects. flat = boring. but no glassmorphism everywhere — that's AI slop.

Hierarchy: 2-3 text levels max. don't mix 5 competing styles.

Labels: never use all-caps UI labels, tracked-uppercase labels, faux small-caps, or eyebrow-style microcopy for ordinary product surfaces. Keshav strongly dislikes this style. Prefer natural title case or sentence case for labels like "Threads", "Active tasks", and "Team"; do not write them as THREADS, ACTIVE TASKS, or letter-spaced metadata.

Visual anti-patterns: no glassmorphism, no gradient text, no sparklines as decoration, no rounded-rect-with-colored-border, no large icons with rounded corners above headings, no hero metric layout (big number + small label), no modals unless truly necessary. no "claude beige" off-white backgrounds, no instrument serif overuse (the new AI tell), no generic flat tinted backgrounds.

Vocabulary is the Lever

Designers beat engineers at AI prompting because they own craft language. Name the move precisely: "tighten vertical rhythm," "increase negative space," "make hierarchy bolder here, quieter there." Vague prompts = vague output. Core terms: vertical rhythm, negative space, bolder/quieter, affordances, meta-design, conviction.

Raising Floor vs Ceiling

Use AI to raise the floor (automate the mechanical 80% — scaffolding, grids, state matrices). Spend human attention on the ceiling (last 10-20% — taste, instinct, the unexpected choice). Cognitive delegation, not surrender. AI routes you there; you make the final call.

AX — Agentic Experience

Design for AI agents as users, not just humans. Agents can't see your buttons. They need: speed, clarity, structured output, verbose errors with next steps, edge case coverage, agentic affordances (llms.txt, clear --help, stable exit codes).

Conviction Over Local Maxima

Iterating toward "slightly better" = local maximum (safe, forgettable). Great design is a bet on a global maximum. AI makes the local-max trap worse — you converge on average faster. Subtraction over addition: the strongest move is often deleting something.

Anti-Attractors

Models have gravity wells (purple gradients, instrument serif, claude beige). Escape them deliberately: name what you don't want, seed with a specific reference, inject a constraint (monochrome, one font weight), rotate your defaults between projects.

The Scarcity Principle

Taste emerges from constraints. Pick constraints before starting: one font, two colors, three spacing values. Infinite options produce the distribution center.

The AI Slop Test

"if you showed this to someone and said 'AI made this,' would they believe you immediately? if yes, that's the problem."

Fingerprints: inter/roboto, purple-to-blue gradients, cyan-on-dark, glassmorphism, gradient text, hero metrics, identical card grids, bounce easing, dark mode with neon, sparklines as decoration, rounded rectangles with drop shadows, "claude beige" off-white backgrounds, instrument serif overuse, generic flat tinted backgrounds.

Before Shipping Checklist

Run through atris/policies/atris-design.md "before shipping" section:

• can you name the aesthetic in 2-3 words?
• distinctive font, not default?
• at least one intentional animation?
• background has depth?
• hover states feel inviting, not confusing?
• scrolling feels native?
• hero passes H1 test (what/who/why/CTA)?
• all assets crisp?
• all interactive elements have all states (hover/focus/active/disabled/loading/error)?
• WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1 text, 3:1 UI)?
• works on mobile (44px touch targets, no horizontal scroll, readable text)?
• respects prefers-reduced-motion?
• did you name the moves in craft vocabulary (vertical rhythm, negative space, bolder/quieter)?
• did you use anti-attractors (named what to avoid, seeded a reference, set a constraint)?
• if agent-facing: does it have agentic affordances (clear errors, structured output, stable exit codes)?
• would a designer clock this as ai-generated?

Atris Commands

atris            # load workspace context
atris plan       # break down frontend task
atris do         # build with step-by-step validation
atris review     # validate against this policy

Learn More

• Full policy: atris/policies/atris-design.md
• Navigation: atris/MAP.md
• Workflow: atris/PERSONA.md