# Frontend Design

> Use when a ticket builds or reworks a user-facing frontend surface — a hero, landing page, dashboard, marketing section, or any screen where the *visual quality* matters, not just the markup. Produces distinctive, intentional, production-grade UI that avoids generic template aesthetics. Invoke for "build the landing page", "make this look premium / less templatey", "design the X section", or as the design pack for any high-visibility frontend work.

- Skill: `tmj-90/frontend-design` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tmj-90/frontend-design`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tmj-90/frontend-design/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: tmj-90 (https://skillmd.com/u/tmj-90)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tmj-90/frontend-design

---


# Design distinctive, production-grade frontend

Build frontend that looks **intentional, opinionated, and specific to the product** — not
a default template. The bar is: *would this look believable in a real product screenshot?*
This pack is about visual quality and design judgement; pair it with `frontend-component`,
`frontend-a11y`, and `frontend-responsive` for structure, semantics, and breakpoints, and
with **`design-system`** for the structural layer beneath the aesthetic — the three-tier
token architecture (primitive → semantic → component) and full component state specs. This
pack decides *how it should look*; `design-system` decides *how that look is structured so it
scales*. Don't re-derive tokens or component-state matrices here — consume them from there.

## Before you write any code — pick a direction

Generic defaults ("clean minimal") are not a direction. Commit to a specific one and let
it drive every decision:

- **Editorial / magazine**, **Swiss / International**, **Neo-brutalism**, **Bento layouts**,
  **Glassmorphism with real depth**, **dark or light luxury** (disciplined contrast),
  **Scrollytelling**, **retro-futurism**, **3D integration**.
- Do **not** default to dark mode. Choose the direction the *product* wants.
- Define the palette deliberately (semantic roles, not one accent on grey-on-white) and a
  real **typography pairing strategy** — pick fonts with character, with a reason.
- Read the repo's existing tokens/brand first. If a brand exists, **extend it in its idiom**;
  do not re-pitch the aesthetic.

## Required qualities

Every meaningful surface must demonstrate **at least four**:

1. **Hierarchy through scale contrast** — a real type scale, not uniform sizes.
2. **Intentional rhythm** in spacing — not the same padding on everything.
3. **Depth / layering** — overlap, shadows, surfaces, or motion; not a flat stack.
4. **Typography with character** and a deliberate pairing.
5. **Colour used semantically**, not just decoratively.
6. **Designed hover / focus / active states** — interaction feels considered.
7. **Grid-breaking editorial or bento composition** where it fits.
8. **Texture, grain, or atmosphere** when the direction calls for it.
9. **Motion that clarifies flow**, never distracts.
10. **Data visualisation treated as part of the design system**, not an afterthought.

## Decision checklist (priority order)

Distilled reasoning rules — work them **top-down**; a failure high on the list outranks polish
lower down. The token/component-state items defer to `design-system` (don't re-specify them here):

1. **Accessibility (critical)** — contrast ≥ 4.5:1 text / 3:1 large+UI; visible focus rings;
   alt text; `aria-label` on icon-only controls; tab order matches visual order; never convey
   meaning by colour alone; respect `prefers-reduced-motion`.
2. **Touch & interaction (critical)** — ≥ 44×44px targets with ≥ 8px gaps; don't rely on hover
   for primary actions; every async action shows loading feedback; no instant 0ms state changes.
3. **Performance (high)** — AVIF/WebP, lazy-load below the fold, reserve space so CLS < 0.1;
   no layout thrash. See the budgets below.
4. **Style selection (high)** — commit to one direction (above) and hold it consistently; SVG
   icons, **never emoji as icons**; don't mix flat and skeuomorphic at random.
5. **Layout & responsive (high)** — mobile-first breakpoints, viewport meta, no horizontal
   scroll, never disable zoom, no fixed-px container widths.
6. **Typography & colour (medium)** — body ≥ 16px, line-height ~1.5, a real type scale, and
   **semantic colour tokens — no raw hex/`px` in components** (architecture: `design-system`).
7. **Animation (medium)** — 150–300ms, motion conveys meaning (not decoration), compositor-only,
   honour reduced-motion.
8. **Forms & feedback (medium)** — visible labels (never placeholder-only), errors beside the
   field, helper text, progressive disclosure.
9. **Navigation (high)** — predictable back, bottom nav ≤ 5 items, deep-linkable state.
10. **Charts & data (low)** — legends, tooltips, accessible colours, never colour-only encoding.

For the **tokens** (three-tier architecture, dark-mode seam) and **component state matrices**
(button/input/card/… across default/hover/focus/active/disabled/loading/error), use
`design-system` — this pack assumes that structure and focuses on the visual judgement on top.

## Steps

1. **Read the lore + tokens first.** `search_lore` (Memory MCP) for the design system,
   brand voice, and component conventions. Inspect `tokens.css`/theme files and a sibling
   surface; match the framework and styling system — never introduce a competing one.
2. **Commit to one direction** (above) and a palette + type pairing before building.
3. **Define design tokens as CSS custom properties** — colour, type scale (`clamp()` for
   fluid sizes), spacing, durations, easings, in the three-tier architecture from
   `design-system` (primitive → semantic → component). Reference tokens everywhere;
   **hardcode no raw hex or `px` font sizes** in component files.
4. **Build semantic HTML first** — `header`/`nav`/`main`/`section`/`footer`, real `button`s,
   a single `h1`, labelled landmarks. Hierarchy comes from structure + scale, not `div` soup.
5. **Layer and compose** — use overlap, surfaces, and a grid you deliberately break for
   editorial moments; avoid uniform card grids with no hierarchy.
6. **Design every interactive state** — hover/focus/active/disabled — so they feel
   designed, with visible, accessible focus rings (never `outline: none` with no replacement).
7. **Animate on the compositor only** — `transform`, `opacity`, `clip-path`, `filter`
   (sparingly). **Never animate** `width`/`height`/`top`/`left`/`margin`/`font-size`. Use
   `will-change` narrowly and remove it when done; respect `prefers-reduced-motion`.
8. **Mind performance budgets** (see below) — fluid type, optimised images with explicit
   dimensions, deferred non-critical JS, ≤2 font families with `font-display: swap`.
9. **Verify + evidence.** Run the repo's tests + lint; for visual-heavy work prefer
   screenshot/visual checks at key breakpoints. Record `test_output` via `record-evidence`
   and submit for review.

## Build / Test

- Run the repo's configured test + lint; type-check (`tsc --noEmit`) for TS surfaces.
- **Visual regression carries more signal than brittle markup assertions** for visual work:
  screenshot the key breakpoints (320 / 768 / 1024 / 1440) and both themes if both exist.
- Run an automated a11y check (axe/Lighthouse) and verify keyboard nav + reduced-motion.
- The DoD is verified by the repo's configured commands — record the output as evidence.

## Performance budgets (Core Web Vitals)

- Targets: **LCP < 2.5s · INP < 200ms · CLS < 0.1 · FCP < 1.5s**.
- Bundle: landing **< 150kb JS / < 30kb CSS** gzipped (app pages < 300kb / < 50kb).
- All images: explicit `width`/`height`; hero `loading="eager"` + `fetchpriority="high"`;
  below-fold `loading="lazy"`; prefer AVIF/WebP; never ship images far beyond rendered size.
- Preload only the hero image + the single critical font; defer non-critical CSS/JS;
  dynamically import heavy libs (e.g. `await import('gsap')`).

## Security (frontend)

- **No unsanitised HTML** — avoid `dangerouslySetInnerHTML`/`innerHTML` unless sanitised
  with a vetted sanitizer first; escape dynamic values.
- Third-party scripts load `async`/`defer`, with SRI when served from a CDN.
- A production **CSP** should be configured (prefer per-request nonce over `'unsafe-inline'`).

## Review checklist (a design reviewer must check)

- **Doesn't look like a default Tailwind/shadcn/template** — has a point of view.
- **At least four required qualities** are clearly present (hierarchy, rhythm, depth,
  type, semantic colour, designed states, composition, atmosphere, motion, data-viz).
- **Hierarchy via scale**, not uniform emphasis; rhythm is intentional, not uniform padding.
- **Tokens, not hardcoded values** — no raw hex / `px` font sizes leaking into components.
- **Designed hover/focus/active states**; focus is visible and accessible.
- **Motion is compositor-only** and respects `prefers-reduced-motion`.
- **Semantic HTML + a11y** — landmarks, one `h1`, labelled controls, contrast holds.
- **Performance** — images have dimensions, no obvious render-blocking, no layout shift,
  fonts capped and `swap`ed.
- **Both themes feel intentional** if both exist.

## Rules

- Pick a specific direction and a deliberate palette + type pairing — never ship "generic clean".
- Tokens for all colour/spacing/type; no hardcoded palette/sizes in components.
- Animate compositor-friendly properties only; honour reduced-motion.
- Semantic HTML, accessible focus, no unsanitised HTML; match the repo's framework + styling system.

## Capture lore

This skill is one of the places durable, reusable knowledge naturally surfaces:
**A design-system fact this repo enforces — the token set, the brand voice, a chosen aesthetic direction, a motion philosophy, or a "never do X" visual rule.** That kind of fact is *lore*. Capture it via the **lore-capture
protocol in your brief** (`CLAUDE.factory.md`, step 11 "Memory contribution"):
call the Memory MCP `suggest_lore` once at the close of your work — reusable
conventions, gotchas, decisions, and boundaries only, never per-ticket trivia.