Review product screens, landing pages, dashboards, and mobile flows for flow, hierarchy, spacing, consistency, feedback, and responsive polish. Each principle ships in two layers — human-readable principle plus agent-checkable rules with thresholds and named patterns.
Review product screens, landing pages, dashboards, and mobile flows for flow, hierarchy, spacing, consistency, feedback, and responsive polish. Each principle ships in two layers — human-readable principle plus agent-checkable rules with thresholds and named patterns.
A practical review skill for agents and humans auditing product screens, landing pages, dashboards, and mobile flows.
The discipline this skill enforces is sequencing: don't ask whether the interface is pretty until you've answered whether the user can complete the job, whether the screen has a visible hierarchy, whether components behave consistently, and whether the UI responds to user action.
Each principle in this skill ships in two layers:
Principle (human view) — the readable guideline, in plain language.
Agent checks — the same principle expressed as concrete, threshold-bearing rules an agent can execute against a screen.
This dual structure lets a human read the skill as a design manual and an agent run it as a checklist.
When To Use
Review a product screen, landing page, dashboard, or mobile flow for practical quality issues.
Diagnose why a UI feels amateur, cluttered, or hard to trust.
Improve visual hierarchy, spacing, typography, color, icons, or interaction states.
Audit charts and data visualization.
Give design feedback to a developer or founder.
Turn a rough wireframe into a more polished screen.
Review AI-generated UI from v0, Lovable, Cursor, or Bolt before it ships.
Skill Composition
Primitive ID
Job
Primary source layer
flow-and-states-review
Check completion, recovery, empty, loading, error, skip, search, no-result states.
Kole Jain
visual-hierarchy-ranking
Decide first/second/third in primacy before styling.
DesignSpo hierarchy
spacing-and-layout-system
Audit gaps, padding, type sizes, container widths against the 4-pixel scale.
DesignSpo golden rule
typography-system-review
Review type roles, line height, letter spacing, contrast, face choice.
Verify controls, text, repeated items, charts fit on mobile and desktop.
Kole Jain + BuildOS synthesis
delight-and-anti-delight-audit
Identify valley moments, useful delight, surface-only decoration, inclusion risk.
Nesrine Changuel
Primitive IDs match lineage.yaml so findings can cite the underlying source claim.
Preflight
Run preflight before producing findings. Same shape for humans and agents — different inputs.
For humans
Have the following ready before running this review:
The screen, flow, or page you're reviewing — preferably a live URL or an interactive prototype, not just a static PNG.
Both light and dark mode captured if the product supports both.
The screen at mobile (375px), tablet (768px), and desktop (1280px) widths, plus any breakpoint the design specifies.
The interactive states for the major elements: hover, focus, active, disabled, loading, error, success, empty.
The happy path clearly identified — what is the user trying to accomplish on this screen?
The edge paths at least named — skip, cancel, error, no-results, recovery.
Any design tokens or system the team is working from (Inkprint, Tailwind, internal DS) so findings can be expressed in tokens, not arbitrary values.
For agents
Before producing findings, capture or confirm:
Screenshots at the breakpoints listed above for both color modes.
All defined interactive states for primary CTAs, inputs, and links.
The DOM/computed-styles snapshot for typography, spacing, and color tokens (when source is available).
The user task on this surface (one sentence). If unclear, surface the ambiguity and ask before reviewing.
The closest matching primitive ID per finding, drawn from lineage.yaml.
Confidence floor: if a finding can't be evidenced with a specific component, class, region, or coordinate, do not include it.
Review (in order)
The review is sequential. Each step lists the principle (human view) followed by agent checks (the same principle as runnable rules).
1. Flow & states
Principle. Check whether the user can complete the job before fixing pixels. Every non-happy path needs a defined behavior — skip, search, recover, empty, loading, error. Sketch flows on paper before designing screens; users feel missing edges instantly.
"These are things you will miss if you don't plan out your flow, but users, they'll feel it instantly." — Kole Jain
Agent checks
Every onboarding/setup screen has: skip path, "other" or search escape, no-result fallback, error recovery.
Every interactive element has at least one of :hover, :focus, :active, :disabled, loading, success, error states defined in styles.
Every async action ≥ 200ms has a loading indicator (spinner, skeleton, or progress bar — pick one pattern per surface).
Every state-change action (save, submit, delete) has a system-wide visible feedback. Example: save → fill the icon AND drop a badge dot on the related tab.
Empty states are not just "no items." They include: illustration or icon, first-action CTA, helper text explaining how to populate.
Error messages name what went wrong AND what the user can do next. "Something went wrong" alone is a finding.
Cite primitive ID flow-and-states-review on findings in this section.
2. Visual hierarchy
Principle. Rank before style. Decide what is first, second, and third in primacy before picking sizes, fonts, or colors. Hierarchy is a ranking decision, not a styling decision. Most of the screen must be uniform — primacy is scarce.
"Hierarchy is not the decision of what's essential in the design, but simply what visitors should see first, second, third." — DesignSpo
Agent checks
Exactly one primary element per surface; flag if 3+ elements compete for primacy.
Contrast levers in rank order — use earlier levers before later ones:
Motion
Task-relevant information (the thing the user actually wants)
White space (focal point via breathing room)
Humans / faces (only when contextually relevant to the offer)
Color
Size
Weight
Imagery
Extra elements (tags like "best value", borders, badges)
Deliberate misalignment
Flag designs that lead with #5–#6 (color/size) and skip #1–#4.
Composition matches scan path: F-pattern for text-heavy pages; Z-pattern for minimalist hero or poster; top-to-bottom for cards and lists.
Cohesion rule: same-type components share every value — image size, font, weight, line height, border, radius, padding. Change one, change them all.
Stock human/face imagery is allowed only when the person is performing the task the product solves.
Motion is bounded: once the user is looking, motion minimizes or stops. Flag persistent looping animations.
Cite primitive ID visual-hierarchy-ranking on findings.
3. Spacing & layout
Principle. Use a 4-pixel-derived system. Every spacing value, padding, gap, container width, and font size is a multiple of 4. The closed scale is the system. Mobile needs more whitespace than desktop, not less.
Agent checks
Closed spacing scale (no exceptions): 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96. Reject 13px, 27px, "looks about right."
Spacing assigned by relatedness:
4px inside a composite element (icon + label)
8px inside list items
16px inside a component
24px between components
32px+ between sections
Mobile padding ≥ 1.25× equivalent desktop padding.
Touch targets ≥ 44px (iOS HIG) or 48dp (Android Material).
Whitespace at all three levels: line-height, element padding/margin, section gaps. One level alone is not enough.
Off-grid placement allowed as a deliberate hierarchy lever (#10) but flag if it looks accidental.
Cite primitive ID spacing-and-layout-system on findings.
4. Typography
Principle. One hierarchy with four roles: headings, paragraphs, buttons, labels. Don't trust browser defaults. Set line-height and letter-spacing per role and per size.
Agent checks
One primary font in product UI. Pair with display only on marketing surfaces.
Headings: 2–3 levels max. Set the largest first, derive smaller / thinner / more-spaced.
Line-height inversely proportional to size: ~1.0× for big headlines, ~1.5× for body. Override the browser default 125%.
Letter-spacing inversely proportional to size: tighten display sizes (48+) by ~−1% (-0.01em); body default; small text loosens; bold buttons get extra tracking.
Use rem on the web. 1rem = 16px default.
Body text contrast ≥ 4.5:1 (WebAIM AA). Aim for 7:1.
Headings as labels, not headlines, in tables: small, bold, uppercase, softer color.
Cite primitive ID typography-system-review on findings.
5. Color & contrast
Principle. Reason in HSB, ship in hex. Pick by hue/saturation/brightness; don't type raw hex when picking. Use color for meaning. Maintain 60/30/10 proportions.
Agent checks
Pick the model for the medium: RGB/A for digital, CMYK for print, HSB for selection.
Body text contrast ≥ 4.5:1 (WebAIM). Test text over Inkprint texture overlays — tx-bloom, tx-grain can degrade real contrast.
Complementary palettes never split 50/50 — they clash.
Dark-mode accents drop ~10–15% saturation vs. light mode.
Warm advances, cool recedes.
"Lighter" colored text uses hue rotation, not lightness. Drag picker toward top-left in HSB, same hue. Do not use text-gray-400 on a colored background.
Greys are not pure grey. Saturate cool for cool brands, warm for warm brands. Bump saturation at lightest and darkest extremes.
Reject pop-psychology shortcuts ("blue = trust").
Each semantic role (success, warning, danger, focus, selection, category) maps to ≤ 1 color per surface.
Cite primitive ID color-and-contrast-review on findings.
6. Component consistency (cohesion)
Principle. Same-type components share every value. Change one, change them all.
Corner-radius standard: pick one radius for the whole system (often 10px for small components; 8–12px for inputs/cards). Mixing scales on the same screen is a tell.
Same-purpose buttons (back, cancel, skip) match in size, radius, and style. Different prompting text only.
Variation between rows of the same kind is intentional, not accidental.
Use the system's reusability primitives: styles for colors, variables for measurements, components for UI elements.
Cite primitive ID component-consistency-review on findings.
Principle. One icon library per region. Match line height. Label ambiguous icons.
Agent checks
One library per region — no Heroicons + Lucide + Phosphor mixed.
Icons next to text match the text's line-height around them.
Solid icons softened in color so perceived weight matches the label.
Universal icons (house, bookmark, user, search) — no label needed.
Ambiguous icons — tooltip required, or pair with a text label.
Mixed icon styles okay only when visually separate (different region, different purpose).
Replace browser-default form controls — radios, checkboxes, select chevrons.
9. Feedback & states
Principle. Every user action needs a visible response. Feedback closes the action-result loop.
Agent checks
Every interactive element has hover / focus / active / disabled states defined.
Click → at least a fraction-of-a-second visual change.
Async actions ≥ 200ms = loading spinner or skeleton.
State-change actions propagate system-wide.
No layout shift on hover/selected: don't change size, weight, or case. Acceptable: text color, background, shadow, slight transform.
Cite primitive ID feedback-and-affordance-review on findings.
10. Charts & data clarity
Principle. Function over Dribbble aesthetic. Show the axis. One bar per data point.
Agent checks
Vertical axis labels visible. Reject "no axis."
Bar tops flat, not rounded, when reading the value matters.
One bar per data point. Reject 16 bars for 7 days of the week.
No portfolio-style decorative gradients on data series.
Headings as labels, not headlines, in dense data tables.
Y-axis starts at zero unless explicitly truncating with a clear marker.
Color coding has a legend reachable in the first scan.
11. Responsive fit
Principle. Verify text, controls, repeated items, and charts fit on mobile and desktop without overlap or clipping.
Agent checks
Capture screens at mobile (375px), tablet (768px), desktop (1280px) plus design-specified breakpoints.
Text wraps; doesn't overflow or clip.
Touch targets ≥ 44px on mobile.
Repeated lists/cards stack vertically on mobile, grid on desktop.
Charts re-flow or scroll horizontally on mobile.
Mobile padding > desktop padding.
No horizontal scroll on mobile unless explicitly intended.
Cite primitive ID responsive-fit-review on findings.
12. Delight & anti-delight (optional final pass)
Principle. Run only after foundational review. Delight does not rescue broken flow. Use the three pillars: remove friction at valley moments, anticipate needs, exceed expectations after needs are anticipated.
Agent checks — three-pillar audit
Pillar 1 — Remove friction. Identify valley moments: errors, cancellation, refunds, account deletion, lost work, support requests.
Pillar 2 — Anticipate needs. Surface something the user did not request but recognizes as theirs.
Pillar 3 — Exceed expectations. Once a need is anticipated, deliver more than asked.
Agent checks — delight grid placement
Type
Solves Functional?
Solves Emotional?
Verdict
Low Delight
Yes
No
Default. Most of the product. Fine.
Surface Delight
No
Yes
Allow only when the underlying moment has weight. Cap at ~10%.
Deep Delight
Yes
Yes
The goal.
Agent checks — roadmap balance (50/40/10)
~50% pure functionality, ~40% deep delight, ~10% surface delight. If a review keeps surfacing surface-only delighters, something upstream is broken.
Agent checks — pre-ship checklist
User impact / business impact / feasibility / familiarity / inclusion / maintainability of surprise. Every box must be checked.
Agent checks — anti-delight rejections
Default-on celebrations in unknown contexts.
Pseudo-personal pushes (missed call from "Mom") for unknown user contexts.
"Delight" as a feature-gating excuse for a broken product.
Demotivator inversion (when delight feels off): ask "what would frustrate, embarrass, or exhaust the user here?" Invert the demotivator, get the brief.
Habituation risk: surprise decays — first-use wow, fifth-use wallpaper. Every delight feature needs a continuous-iteration plan or it becomes invisible.
Cite primitive ID delight-and-anti-delight-audit on findings.
AI-Generated UI Smoke Test
Reviewing AI-generated UI from v0 / Lovable / Cursor / Bolt is the most common modern use of this skill. Detect these fingerprints first:
AI-slop pattern
Why it reads as slop
Corrective move
rounded-2xl + shadow-md + border stacked on every card
Triple belt-and-suspenders
Pick one.
text-gray-400 / text-slate-500 on every muted element
Pure grey on colored backgrounds reads dull
Replace with a lighter S/B variant of the brand hue.
shadow-md everywhere, no elevation distinction
No two-part decomposition
Define an elevation ladder.
bg-gradient-to-r from-blue-500 to-purple-500
"AI gradient" — distant hues blended
Rotate hue across a single family or remove.
Inter, Inter, Inter
Single biggest fingerprint of AI-generated UI
Swap to Satoshi / Metropolis / Figtree, or pair with display headline.
Default p-4 / gap-4 / space-y-4 everywhere
Tight Tailwind defaults
Double the spacing values.
Outline buttons everywhere
Ghost buttons feel weightless
Soft-solid based on text color at low alpha.
Borders separating every form field, table row, card section
Borders as the only hierarchy lever
Replace with zebra striping, off-white blocks, or spacing.
For deeper AI-slop coverage and corrective tokens, hand off to visual-craft-fundamentals.
Output Schema
Every finding follows this canonical shape:
Domain: <flow | hierarchy | spacing | typography | color | consistency | noise | icons | feedback | charts | responsive | delight>
Finding: <named principle violated, e.g., "Closed-scale spacing violated">
Evidence: <specific component, class string, region, or coordinate>
Severity: <high | medium | low>
Fix: <concrete tokens or named technique>
Source claim: <lineage primitive ID>
Delegated: <optional sibling skill if the fix is out of scope>
A finding without Evidence is not a finding. A finding without Severity is not actionable.
Severity rubric
high — blocks task completion, breaks accessibility floor (body text contrast < 4.5:1), or creates inclusion risk.
medium — degrades polish or readability significantly; consistency drift; off-scale spacing.
low — stylistic preference, minor decorative noise.
Stop conditions
At least one finding per applicable category (or category explicitly marked "no issues").
Top 3 high-severity fixes ranked by impact.
All findings carry evidence and severity.
Out-of-scope concerns tagged Delegated: to a sibling skill rather than dropped.
Stack With (Workflow)
stackWith is workflow, not just metadata. Default chain:
delightful-product-review — full delight rubric when foundational + craft are clean.
Handoff outputs. Findings tagged Delegated: <sibling-skill> route to the appropriate sibling. Each sibling consumes the canonical schema directly.
Default order: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5. Skip 2 if accessibility is out of scope. Skip 4 unless the surface is a marketing page. Skip 5 unless foundational + craft passes are clean.
Guardrails
Do not recommend decorative gradients, extra cards, or ornamental effects as the first fix.
Do not prioritize visual novelty over task clarity.
Do not remove labels from unfamiliar icon-only controls without adding tooltips.
Do not make every element the same visual weight.
Do not assume desktop spacing works on mobile.
Do not allow off-scale spacing or font-size values.
Do not trust the browser default 125% line-height.
Do not split a complementary color palette 50/50.
Do not pick color by typing hex values.
Do not stack contrast levers to make everything important.
Do not return findings without evidence.
Do not assign severity without referencing the rubric.
