Variation

Variation — Design Variation Generation

Generate N alternative visual designs from an existing base design. Variations change the visual style while preserving the page architecture and content.

What Varies vs. What Stays

Varies (visual style)

• Color strategy — different palette, mood, contrast level, dark vs light
• Typography — different font pairing, weight strategy, size contrast
• Animation intensity — subtle vs dramatic, fast vs slow, fewer vs more animations
• Spacing density — compact vs spacious, tight grid vs breathing room
• Visual texture — flat vs gradient, minimal vs rich shadows, sharp vs rounded corners

Stays (structure + content)

• Page count and site map
• Section order and layout composition
• All text content (headlines, body, CTAs)
• Mock data
• Media descriptions (though the style prefix changes)
• Icon choices
• Functionality and interactions

Variation Workflow

Step 1: Read the Base Design Document

Read the complete design document from the source path (e.g., designs/1/docs/). Extract:

• Page architecture (pages, sections, content)
• Current styleguide choices
• Animation plan
• Media prompts (extract the content descriptions, discard style prefix)

Step 2: Generate Variation Specs

For each variation, make deliberate changes across variation dimensions. Use the variation-dimensions.md reference for strategies.

Each variation should have a clear identity — not random tweaks, but a coherent alternative vision. Examples:

• Variation 1: "Dark premium" — dark backgrounds, gold accents, editorial serif fonts, subtle animations
• Variation 2: "Bold maximalist" — vibrant colors, oversized type, dramatic animations, high contrast
• Variation 3: "Clean minimal" — lots of whitespace, muted palette, geometric sans-serif, restrained motion

Step 3: Produce Variation Design Documents

For each variation, produce a complete design document in designs/{base}v{N}/docs/:

• New styleguide (colors, fonts, spacing)
• Updated CSS architecture (tailwind config, CSS variables)
• Updated media prompts (new style prefix, same content descriptions)
• Updated animation plan (adjusted intensity)
• Same page architecture and content (copied from base)

Step 4: Implementation

Each variation goes through the standard implementation workflow (scaffold → page-builders → assembly → test) using its own design document, outputting to designs/{base}v{N}/src/.

Variation Naming Convention

designs/
  1/          ← base design
  1v1/        ← variation 1 of design 1
  1v2/        ← variation 2 of design 1
  2/          ← second independent design
  2v1/        ← variation 1 of design 2

Output Template

Each variation document starts with:

# Design Variation: {base}v{N}
**Base:** designs/{base}/
**Identity:** [one-line description, e.g., "Dark premium — editorial luxury with restrained motion"]
**Key changes from base:**
- Color: [what changed]
- Typography: [what changed]
- Animation: [what changed]
- Spacing: [what changed]

[... full design document follows, same structure as base ...]

Cross-Plugin Skills Used

• design-plugin:styleguide — generate alternative aesthetic profiles, font pairings, color moods
• design-plugin:design-system — validate new color palettes for accessibility (WCAG contrast)
• design-plugin:media-prompt-craft — generate new style prefixes for media prompts