jangles-byte Design Direction
Generic output happens when implementation starts before intent exists. This skill forces the intent step: a short, written design philosophy that commits to one aesthetic point of view — and names what it is not — before a single pixel exists.
Workflow
- Interrogate the brief — answer the five questions in references/interrogation.md. If the user's request doesn't answer them, infer defensible answers from context and state your assumptions; do not stall on questions when the user isn't available.
- Write the philosophy — a named direction plus 4–6 tight paragraphs, using the
format in references/philosophy-format.md.
Write it into the project (e.g.
DESIGN.md) or state it in full before implementing. - Pick a point of view — choose or blend a direction from references/aesthetic-vocabularies.md, and check the result against references/anti-generic.md (the catalog of default-AI tells to avoid).
- Then implement — loading the other Atelier skills (
color,typography-and-layout,motion) as the work requires them. - Render, critique, iterate — never ship a visual without rendering the real
result and running the
critiqueskill on it.
Which reference to load
| Situation | Load |
|---|---|
| Starting any visual work | references/interrogation.md then references/philosophy-format.md |
| Choosing/naming an aesthetic | references/aesthetic-vocabularies.md |
| Work is drifting generic, or reviewing for genericism | references/anti-generic.md |
The one rule
Every project gets one signature move — a single distinctive decision (a color no template uses, an unusual type pairing, a bold grid break, a characteristic motion) that someone could describe from memory. If nothing about the design is describable, the direction step failed. Go back to step 2.