Design

Design — Product UI, Landing Pages & Conversion Copy

Hand-off — the visual system vs the craft of motion. This skill owns the visual system and page composition, and sets motion intent + budget only. The implementation of an animation is ../motion-craft/SKILL.md's; how a piece of interface should be BUILT — boundaries, state, the loading and empty and error states — is ../ui-engineering/SKILL.md's. When a request could belong to several of those, start from the one that owns the decision, not the one that owns the file. The motion reference in this skill defers its mechanics to them rather than restating them.

Research the best current work, then ship a premium, accessible, fast, high-converting interface.

SDD gate. If this fired on a new, non-trivial feature or behaviour change and there is no approved spec + plan under 02-DOCS/wiki/sdd/, hand off to ../specify/SKILL.md first — it runs brainstorm → spec → plan → tasks before any code, then routes back here once the plan is approved. Build straight from here only for a genuinely one-line / low-risk change. Method: ../sdd/SKILL.md.

Hand-offs. The WORDS are ../marketing/SKILL.md's: it co-owns the 02-DOCS/wiki/brand/ study (the words dimensions there, the visual ones here), and deep keyword research, GEO, or a technical SEO audit belongs to it — this skill only enforces SEO-aware structure in markup. The BUILD (App Router / React 19) is ../nextjs/SKILL.md's. Mirroring the brand tokens into a Flutter app is ../flutter/SKILL.md's. Pure backend/data/infra with no UI surface: decline — there is nothing to design. Three references live outside this repo and are named for direction only, not invocable here: frontend-design-direction for dense internal tooling used daily (never paint a marketing skin on a tool that needs repeated daily use — fold its judgment in via the DIRECTION BRIEF); liquid-glass-design for native iOS 26 SwiftUI Liquid Glass (this skill ships the web glass approximation only); motion-ui / motion-foundations for motion-code mechanics (springs, AnimatePresence internals, layout animations — this skill sets motion intent + budget).

Brand grounding — before you design anything

A design with no brand behind it is a guess, and a guess defaults to your AI-generic prior. That is why this gate is a hard stop rather than a warning: an incomplete brand study blocks the work.

Follow the harness 02-DOCS convention (brand study = wiki articles under 02-DOCS/wiki/brand/, raw inputs under 02-DOCS/raw/brand/, linked from root CLAUDE.md):

1. Locate the brand study. Read the project root CLAUDE.md and look for a ## Brand & voice section pointing into 02-DOCS/wiki/brand/.... If present, read those articles.
2. If the link is MISSING, or the brand study is ABSENT or INCOMPLETE (any checklist dimension empty), STOP. Do not design yet. Ask the user the targeted question script — ONE focused batch at a time, not a wall of questions — until every dimension in the completeness checklist is filled (→ references/brand-grounding.md). Write/update the brand study into 02-DOCS/wiki/brand/ (and paste any raw inputs the user gives — screenshots, existing palettes, competitor lists — into 02-DOCS/raw/brand/), following the wiki article format, update wiki/index.md + wiki/log.md, and add/update a ## Brand & voice section in the root CLAUDE.md linking to it (create CLAUDE.md if absent).
3. Only once the brand study exists and is sufficient, proceed — and cite which brand articles drove which decisions in your output (e.g. "palette from 02-DOCS/wiki/brand/visual-identity.md").

The completeness checklist spans visual identity (OKLCH color system, type pairing & scale, logo, imagery/illustration mood, density, radius/shadow/motion personality), reference/inspiration sites the user loves, layout preferences, dark-mode stance, accessibility & performance constraints, and brand voice/positioning (so copy and design agree). Full checklist + exact question script → references/brand-grounding.md.

When a dimension has no answer — the non-technical default, and the reason this gate used to be impassable: do not invent one and do not wave the STOP through. references/starting-point.md is how a starting point gets proposed instead: what the project already owns is checked first, the value comes from a reference you opened and measured, and it is written marked propuesto — which does not count as complete until the user confirms it.

The order is: brand grounding → trend research → build.

Pick a direction first

Fill the direction brief before you write a single line of markup:

DIRECTION BRIEF (fill before coding)
1. Purpose .......... what job does this interface do, in one sentence?
2. Audience ......... who repeats this workflow; what do they scan first?
3. Tone ............. pick: utilitarian | editorial | playful | industrial | refined | technical | minimal | dense | calm
4. Memorable detail . the ONE idea that makes it feel intentional (not a gradient)
5. Constraints ...... framework, a11y, perf budget, existing design system/tokens

Then map the project type to composition, density, and motion budget. Density and composition follow the audience and the job, not a template — a SaaS operations tool should be dense, quiet, and scannable.

Research-first protocol

Trends churn quarterly and your built-in aesthetic prior is the median of every AI template ever scraped. Never prescribe from stale memory; counter it with a loop:

1. Define 2–3 reference archetypes from the DIRECTION BRIEF (e.g. "Linear-grade dev tool, dark, type-led").
2. Browse the dated registry in references/inspiration-sources.md — whole pages to beat, SaaS and conversion surfaces, real product flows (Mobbin, Page Flows), single patterns, and the design systems that are specification rather than inspiration — plus the tier-1 sites (Linear, Stripe, Vercel, Cursor, Resend). Every entry there carries a verification date; godly.website now redirects to recent.design, which is exactly why the list is dated and not inline.
3. WebFetch 3–5 exemplars, prompting each for type, color, layout, motion, and copy voice — concrete details, not adjectives.
4. Extract a pattern table from what they share and where they differ.
5. Synthesize a one-paragraph DESIGN DIRECTION with citations (which URL contributed what).
6. Only THEN build; re-check the result against the references in QA.

Re-research per project — trends churn, competitors moved, and the domain dictates the reference set. Whenever the brand study lacks aesthetic direction or the user asks for "modern" / "2026" / "premium", run this loop, fold the findings into the output with citations + dates, and refresh references/trends-2026.md. Full loop, source map, and synthesis template → references/research-method.md. Current snapshot (dated, cited) → references/trends-2026.md.

From competent to premium (the part that earns the score)

Obeying every constraint gets you to competent — a page that ships and passes review. It does NOT get you to premium, because every constraint catches an absence (no missing <h1>, contrast passes), while premium is a presence: a point of view. Competent-but-generic is the default failure mode of under-specified design output. Close it with four deliberate moves, in order, before and during the build:

1. Choose a visual concept. One sentence the whole page answers to — [feeling] + [structural metaphor] for [audience doing job] (e.g. "quiet instrument-panel precision for ops engineers"). Drawn from the brand study + research exemplars, never your prior. If you cannot name what makes this surface different from the median SaaS page, you have no concept yet, and the output will default to generic.
2. Manufacture the ONE signature element the brief asks for — the thing you'd describe first to a friend. Pick exactly one from a real vocabulary, biased by domain: a hero that demonstrates not describes (live terminal / real chart / actual diff), an owned type moment, a structural signature (asymmetric split, horizontal feature rail, editorial index), a material signature (hairline grid, one grain pass, duotone), a motion signature, or a real-number/proof signature. Never default to "a gradient". It must be true to the product, and cite the research exemplar that inspired it.
3. Force scale contrast. Generic pages are tonally flat — headline, titles, body all within ~1.5×. Make the hero dominant 3–5× the body, demote eyebrows/labels/metadata smaller and quieter than feels comfortable, and allow one focal point per viewport. If a section feels flat, add contrast, not elements.
4. Give the page rhythm. Ten identical py-24 white card-grid sections read as one stripe. Vary format (full-bleed vs. contained, alternate media sides), background (a dark section between light ones anchors a CTA), density (a breathing statement after a dense grid), and container idiom (not everything is a bordered card). Inter-section gap > intra-section gap, padding stepping on the scale.

Then, before claiming done, run the senior-designer crit and make at least one concrete change as a result: What is the one idea here (name it in a sentence)? Would this place on Awwwards/Godly or just pass review? What is the single most generic element right now — and replace it. Where does the eye land first, and is that what should win? If the logo were removed, would anyone know whose product this is? Does every section earn its place, or is one there out of habit (cut it)?

Concept formula, signature vocabulary, scale/rhythm rules, the crit, and a worked generic→signature dev-tool hero → references/signature-and-craft.md.

Visual system in 90 seconds

Copy-pasteable foundation. Tokens once, consume everywhere — design tokens, never magic numbers.

• Tailwind v4 @theme block (OKLCH): tokens become CSS vars and utilities automatically — no tailwind.config.js.
• Type scale via next/font (one display + one text face) plus a fluid clamp() ladder.
• Spacing, radius, and shadow are tokens too, never inline numbers.
• The rule: arbitrary hex + random px = Bad; token references = Good.

/* Good — Tailwind v4 @theme: OKLCH palette, tokens become CSS vars + utilities */
@import "tailwindcss";
@theme {
  --color-bg:        oklch(0.99 0 0);
  --color-fg:        oklch(0.21 0.01 256);
  --color-muted:     oklch(0.55 0.01 256);
  --color-brand-500: oklch(0.62 0.19 256);
  --color-brand-600: oklch(0.55 0.19 256);
  --font-display:    "Geist", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-text:       "Inter", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif;
  --radius-card:     0.875rem;
  --shadow-card:     0 1px 2px oklch(0 0 0 / 0.06), 0 8px 24px oklch(0 0 0 / 0.08);
  --ease-out:        cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1);
}

<!-- Bad — magic hex + arbitrary px, no system -->
<div style="background:#5b54ff;border-radius:13px;padding:17px">…</div>
<!-- Good — token-driven utilities -->
<div class="bg-brand-500 rounded-card p-4">…</div>

Full token system, type scale, OKLCH ramp, bento, glass → references/visual-system.md.

Landing page build recipe ("the brutal landing")

Each section has ONE job. Cut any section that has none.

1. Hero — state the value prop; pass the 5s test.
2. Social-proof strip — borrow credibility immediately (logos, a hard metric).
3. Problem / agitation — name the pain in the reader's words.
4. Solution — show the product doing the job.
5. Features → benefits (bento) — translate each capability into an outcome.
6. Objection handling — preempt the top reason they won't buy.
7. Pricing — anchor, highlight one tier, default to annual.
8. FAQ — answer the real blockers, not filler.
9. Final CTA — one clear action, value on the button.
10. Footer — navigation, legal, trust signals.

// app/page.tsx — Server Component, LCP-safe hero (Next.js 15 / React 19)
import Image from "next/image";

export default function Page() {
  return (
    <main>
      <section className="mx-auto max-w-5xl px-6 pt-24 text-center">
        <h1 className="text-balance text-5xl font-semibold tracking-tight md:text-6xl">
          Ship the change in an afternoon, not a sprint
        </h1>
        <p className="mx-auto mt-5 max-w-xl text-pretty text-lg text-fg/70">
          Concrete benefit, who it is for, and why now — no hype.
        </p>
        <a
          href="#start"
          className="mt-8 inline-flex min-h-11 items-center rounded-card bg-brand-500 px-6 font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-brand-600"
        >
          Start free
        </a>
        <Image
          src="/hero.avif"
          alt="Product dashboard showing a one-click deploy"
          width={1200}
          height={720}
          priority
          className="mt-16 rounded-card shadow-card"
        />
      </section>
    </main>
  );
}

Full section-by-section anatomy, CTA cadence, pricing psychology, JSON-LD → references/landing-anatomy-and-cro.md.

Conversion copy in one pass

Copy is benefit-led and specific, or the page has no value prop. One <h1> per page; semantic landmarks (header/nav/main/section/footer).

• The 5s value-prop test: a stranger reads the hero and can say what it is, who it's for, why it's better — legible above the fold in 5 seconds.
• Headline formula slots: outcome + timeframe; "X without Y"; the job-to-be-done.
• Framework picker: PAS for pain-aware cold traffic; AIDA for broad / top-of-funnel; FAB/JTBD for feature → benefit translation.
• CTA: put the value on the button ("Start free", "Get my estimate"), never "Submit".

Bad  — "Revolutionize your workflow with our seamless platform"
Good — "Deploy a fix in 4 minutes — no YAML, no on-call page"

Ban: revolutionary · game-changer · cutting-edge · "In today's landscape" · unlock · seamless · elevate · supercharge · bait questions · "not X, just Y" · forced lowercase · "Excited to share".

Frameworks, value-prop canvas, Bad→Good rewrites, VOICE block → references/copywriting-frameworks.md.

Motion & interaction budget

• Purposeful-only: motion must guide attention, communicate state, or preserve continuity — else delete it.
• Timing defaults: enter 200–350ms, exit ~150ms, press scale(0.97).
• Never transition: all — it animates layout props and janks.
• Compositor-only properties: transform, opacity, filter.
• prefers-reduced-motion is required, not optional.
• Scroll-driven via native CSS animation-timeline: view() FIRST (no JS, no CLS) before any JS library.

/* Good — native scroll-driven reveal, zero JS, explicit @supports fallback */
.reveal { opacity: 1; } /* default visible: no scroll-timeline support => never hidden */
@supports (animation-timeline: view()) {
  @media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference) {
    .reveal {
      animation: reveal linear both;
      animation-timeline: view();
      animation-range: entry 0% cover 30%;
    }
  }
}
@keyframes reveal {
  from { opacity: 0; translate: 0 16px; }
  to   { opacity: 1; translate: 0 0; }
}

Timing tokens, micro-interactions, scroll/parallax, when to escalate to motion/react → references/motion-and-interaction.md.

Premium details that compound

Small things, applied consistently, are what reads as "designed".

html { -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale; }
img  { outline: 1px solid oklch(0 0 0 / 0.1); outline-offset: -1px; }
.price { font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

Depth recipes, glass, noise, concentric math → references/visual-system.md.

The three locks, and who checks them

A long page generated in passes drifts against itself. Three things must be one thing for the whole page, and they are not preferences — a page that breaks one of them is defective:

1. Theme lock. One theme for the page (light, dark, or auto). No section flipping to inverted halfway down because it looked good alone.
2. Accent lock. One accent, used identically in every section. This one is judgement: deciding which token is the accent needs to read the system's intent, so no script claims to check it — you do, before you claim done.
3. Radius lock. One radius system. Four different rounded-* scales in one tree means there is no system, and scripts/verify.sh counts them.

The tells the script owns, and the ones you own

scripts/verify.sh carries a registry of mechanical tells and reports each with file and line: dashes in rendered copy, scroll cues, numbered eyebrows, build stamps on marketing pages, unstable viewport heights, middot chains, hype words, plus counted ratios (eyebrows against sections, double-bordered rows, radius scales). Run it; do not re-derive that list from memory, and do not treat its silence as a design review.

What it cannot see is the other half: fabricated substance (a product UI built from divs, invented photo credits, the Jane Doe cast), decoration posing as information, labels that say nothing, and composition habits like three identical feature cards. That half is references/ai-tells.md, and it is read with your eyes on the page.

When the brief corresponds to an official, maintained design system rather than an aesthetic — UK or US public sector, Shopify admin, Carbon, Atlassian, Primer, Fluent — install the official package instead of approximating it: references/design-systems.md.

Anti-patterns

Quick reference

Accessibility and Core Web Vitals are design constraints, not post-launch tuning — violating one is a defect, not a style choice. WCAG 2.2 AA: 4.5:1 text contrast (3:1 large text / UI), visible focus, prefers-reduced-motion honored. Target size: 24×24px is the AA floor (SC 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum)); 44×44px is the recommended quality bar (Apple HIG / pointer comfort) — aim for 44, never ship below 24. Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s, INP < 200ms, CLS < 0.1. (INP replaced FID in March 2024 — measure INP.)

Design-review QA checklist

Run before claiming done. Same checks scripts/verify.sh falls back to.

• Value prop legible in 5 seconds above the fold.
• Text contrast ≥ 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text / UI).
• Visible focus state on all interactive elements.
• Touch targets 44×44px (recommended); never below the 24×24px WCAG 2.2 AA floor (SC 2.5.8).
• prefers-reduced-motion honored.
• Exactly one <h1> on the page.
• Semantic landmarks present (header/nav/main/section/footer).
• LCP image has priority.
• Fonts use next/font (no CLS / FOUT swap shift).
• No transition: all / transition-all.
• Tokens used (no magic hex / px).
• Ban-list words absent from copy.
• Text fits at 360px and desktop without overflow.
• Empty / loading / hover / error states designed.

Automate → scripts/verify.sh (runs Lighthouse if a dev server is up, else static grep checks + this list).

Optional: graded visual-audit rubric (0–10)

The checklist above is pass/fail. When the user asks for a design review, a critique, or a quality grade — or when you want to argue a surface is genuinely premium rather than merely compliant — score these 11 dimensions 0–10 and report the weighted total. Pass/fail tells you it ships; the rubric tells you how good it is.

Score = Σ(dimension × weight), max 115 (normalize to /100 by ×100/115 if you want a percentage). Bands (on the /115 raw total): < 69 ships generic — redo; 69–91 competent but improvable — name the lowest two and fix; 92–108 premium; 109+ award-tier. (These are the prior 60/80/95-per-100 cutoffs rescaled to 115.) A surface that scores well on every constraint dimension but low on #1–2 is the classic "competent but generic" result — fix concept and signature first, it has the most leverage. For each dimension below 8, give one concrete, actionable fix (not "improve spacing" but "section padding jumps 48→96px with no 64px step — add py-16 on mobile"). Cite the brand article or trend source that sets the bar where relevant.

Recording the decisions (02-DOCS)

Two records, both indexed in 02-DOCS/wiki/index.md (the Knowledge map; root CLAUDE.md keeps only a short pointer to it), both read first on every use so outputs stay consistent with them:

• The brand study at 02-DOCS/wiki/brand/ — the hard gate above: missing or incomplete → ask until complete before designing.
• The design-system decisions at 02-DOCS/wiki/stack/design.md — the chosen tokens (color/OKLCH, type scale, spacing, radius, shadow, motion), the 2026 direction picked, and the reference sites. Recorded, not gated; create/update it as decisions are made. Read it before fixing type and palette on a new surface, and either reuse what is there or state why you are departing — otherwise every surface of the project drifts into a different design. (Across different projects this record cannot help: it lives inside each one. Distrusting your own second default is the only guard there — see the repetition note in references/ai-tells.md.)

The wiki article protocol both follow is ../harness/SKILL.md's.