ui-design

name

ui-design

description

Designs and builds UI: visual direction, Tailwind implementation, browser-comparable variants, screenshot-to-markup scaffolds, dark-mode and responsive retrofits, component extraction, and Tailwind cleanup. Use when asked to "build a landing page", "create a dashboard", "make this look premium", "pick a visual style", "design the UI", "show me 3 options", "create a brand kit", "turn this screenshot into markup", "add dark mode", "make this responsive", or "clean up the Tailwind". For product behavior use product-design; for UI audits use ui-audit; for motion use ui-animation; for copy use copywriting.

UI Design

Pick the visual direction, then implement it in code via the ui.sh design guideline system.

• IS: choosing visual direction (palettes, type scales, tokens, layout systems, CRO strategy, brand boards) and building or refining UI in code: one definitive design, variants compared in the browser, a semantic markup scaffold from a UI image, dark-mode and responsive retrofits, or component extraction and Tailwind canonicalization.
• IS NOT: deciding what should exist, action scope, consequence, or reachable states (use product-design); auditing existing UI quality (use ui-audit); deep typography audits (use typography-audit); motion design (use ui-animation); landing-page copy (use copywriting).

Modes

Pick one mode from the user's wording; load only that mode's files:

Mode	Dispatch when the user asks for	Load
Direction	visual direction, palettes, fonts, tokens, "make this look premium", "pick a style", conversion strategy, a brand kit; deliverable is a spec, not code	the Direction section below
Build (default)	one design in code: "build a landing page", "create a dashboard", "add a pricing section"	design-guidelines.md, then the applicable rule files from its index
Options	variants to compare in the browser: "show me 3 hero layouts", "a few ideas for this section"	ideas.md plus the guidelines per variant
Scaffold	semantic, unstyled markup from a screenshot, Figma export, mockup, or wireframe: "turn this screenshot into markup"	markup-from-image.md only; scaffold stays unstyled
Dark mode	dark mode onto existing UI, or a dark variant of an image: "add dark mode", "make a dark version of this image"	add-dark-mode.md; for raster images also dark-mode-image.md (requires the imagegen skill, Codex)
Responsive	desktop UI across breakpoints: "make this responsive", "fix this on mobile"	make-responsive.md
Componentize	extracting components or cleaning up Tailwind classes: "componentize this page", "clean up the Tailwind"	componentize.md; for cleanup also canonicalize-tailwind.md

Direction and Build chain: for a new surface with no direction, run Direction first (or propose one inline for small surfaces), then Build. If a direction already exists in the project, go straight to Build.

Direction mode

Output a decision set, not markup: a one-sentence visual thesis (mood, material, energy), palette as CSS variables, type pairing and scale, spacing grid, radius and depth strategy, the layout pattern for the primary surface, and for conversion pages the section sequence, CTA plan, and proof placement. Close with the track's litmus checks as the exit gate, then hand off to Build mode.

Pick a track

Surface	Track	Optimises for
Dashboards, admin panels, data tables, settings pages, internal and dev tools	direction/product-ui.md	Information density, calm chrome, scanability, utility copy
Landing pages, brand sites, promotional pages, portfolios, pricing pages	direction/marketing-ui.md	Visual impact, storytelling, one-CTA conversion flow

Tie-breakers: a marketing site for a SaaS product is the marketing track; the app behind the login is product. Design them separately. Convert a stranger = marketing; let an operator work = product.

Shared foundations (load with either track)

• direction/aesthetic-direction.md: AI-slop signals, restraint philosophy, reference products, polish details. Read after the track pick, before proposing a direction.
• direction/design-in-code.md: low-fi ASCII wireframing and the copy-what-works workflow. Read before building a new surface from scratch.

Marketing references (conversion pages only)

Load when the marketing track has a conversion goal (landing page, signup flow). Skip for pure brand/portfolio work and all product UI.

File	Read when
direction/cro.md	Persuasion tactics, social proof, page length, or a CRO plan: Cialdini's principles, proof credibility hierarchy, conversion benchmarks
direction/testing.md	Optimising a page or planning experiments: test prioritisation, A/B vs multivariate, significance rules, heatmap insights, the canonical CTA statistics table
direction/modern.md	Personalisation and mobile-first conversion (page speed, accessible copy, and microcopy route out to optimise-seo and copywriting)

Brand kit

For "create a brand kit", "generate a visual identity", or a brand direction board from a product idea, load direction/brand-kit-prompt.md; its Rendering section covers the imagegen handoff (Codex, gpt-image-2) and the text-only fallback for agents without it.

Build mode

1. Inspect the request, target files, existing design conventions, and available components.
2. Load design-guidelines.md, then every applicable rule and reference file from its index.
3. Implement using the project's existing framework, component patterns, assets, and Tailwind conventions.
4. Check across responsive breakpoints and interaction states.

Rules:

• Guideline files in this skill are the source of truth for new UI design work.
• design-guidelines.md is the single one-level index for guidelines/; load applicable rule files from there, do not maintain a second list here.
• Load too many applicable guideline files rather than too few.
• Preserve user constraints unless a guideline requires asking about a design conflict.

Other modes follow their loaded file: Options ideas.md, Scaffold markup-from-image.md, Dark mode add-dark-mode.md, Responsive make-responsive.md, Componentize componentize.md.

Quality Bar

Reference products below are calibration only; verify with this litmus checklist:

• Product UI keeps high information density without card piles, hero furniture, or marketing copy.
• Marketing UI has one primary conversion path, visible proof, and no generic SaaS gradients or stock-like imagery.
• Hierarchy is readable at desktop and mobile widths without viewport-scaled type.
• Palette uses project tokens or a deliberate direction; no default Tailwind indigo/gray look.
• Interactive states exist for hover, focus, pressed, disabled, loading, empty, and error where applicable.
• Controls preserve stable dimensions when labels, counts, hover states, or loading text change.
• Visual assets show the actual product, place, object, state, gameplay, or person when inspection matters.
• The result looks compatible with the product's category, not copied from a reference brand.

Reference calibration:

• Linear: restrained palette, dense without clutter, keyboard-first product UI
• Raycast: dark-first polish, crisp iconography, fast-feeling interactions
• Things 3: calm, spacious layouts, friendly without being cute
• OpenAI: typography-led editorial minimalism in marketing surfaces
• ElevenLabs: modern AI-product clarity, confident whitespace
• Mintlify: docs-grade legibility, tidy navigation, quiet color
• Family (crypto wallet): delightful detail and motion in small moments
• Zed Editor: minimal chrome, performance-feel, developer-tool austerity

Verify

• Start the local dev server when the app requires one, and report its URL.
• Check desktop and mobile viewports; capture screenshot paths or browser tool observations.
• Check console errors and failed network requests.
• Exercise the primary interaction states: hover, focus, pressed, disabled, loading, empty, and error where applicable.
• Confirm text does not overflow or overlap in buttons, cards, sidebars, and compact panels.
• List the guideline, track, and mode files loaded.

Gotchas

• Marketing track on a product surface puts hero sections and campaign copy on dashboards, so operators can't find status or actions. product-ui.md's "Utility copy" section exists for this failure.
• Load aesthetic-direction.md in Direction mode; skipping it defaults output toward generic Inter, white backgrounds, and purple gradients.
• Loading CRO references for a brand or portfolio page biases toward conversion furniture (badge strips, sticky CTAs, urgency banners) the brief never asked for.
• Quoting the references' conversion stats as promises ("this will lift conversions 34%") misrepresents them; they are directional priors for prioritising tests.
• Skipping colors.md in Build mode produces the stock Tailwind look: indigo accents and gray-* neutrals, both banned as defaults.

Related Skills

• ui-audit: page-level quality and accessibility audit of the built result
• typography-audit: rule-level audit of existing typography; route "fix the fonts" on shipped CSS there
• ui-animation: motion timing, easing, and review
• copywriting: landing-page copy, message match, persuasion frameworks
• product-design: the product decision before the build (which interactions exist, action naming, reachable-state coverage); decide there, then build here
• optimise-seo: meta descriptions and page titles