| name | design-thinking |
| description | Direction and intent for frontend design. Use with design when defining purpose, tone, domain, color world, and review bar; includes cross-domain lens from cinema, architecture, marketing, UX, automotive, industrial design. |
| risk | unknown |
| source | https://github.com/connerkward/ckw-design-skill/tree/main/design-thinking |
| source_repo | connerkward/ckw-design-skill |
| source_type | community |
| date_added | "2026-07-01T00:00:00.000Z" |
| license | MIT |
| license_source | https://github.com/connerkward/ckw-design-skill/blob/main/LICENSE |
| author | Conner K Ward |
Design thinking
When to Use
Use this skill when you need direction and intent for frontend design. Use with design when defining purpose, tone, domain, color world, and review bar; includes cross-domain lens from cinema, architecture, marketing, UX, automotive, industrial design.
Apply with the design skill on every design task. Do this before coding.
Design thinking (before coding)
- Purpose: What problem does this interface solve? Who uses it?
- Tone: Pick an extreme and execute with intention — e.g. brutally minimal, maximalist, retro-futuristic, organic/natural, luxury/refined, playful/toy-like, editorial/magazine, brutalist/raw, art deco/geometric, soft/pastel, industrial/utilitarian.
- Constraints: Framework, performance, accessibility.
- Differentiation: One thing that makes it unforgettable.
Commit to one bold direction. Intentionality over intensity.
Reserve impact for punctuation (use sparingly for effect)
High-impact devices — full-bleed media, dramatic motion, oversized type, a saturated accent, parallax — lose their force the moment they become the default. If every section is a full-screen video, none of them land. Choose 1–2 moments to go big (the hero, the payoff) and make everything else quiet and contained, so the big moments read as deliberate punctuation rather than noise. Restraint is what gives the rare full-bleed beat its hit; wall-to-wall intensity reads as flat. This is the luxury of reduction — a single bold gesture in generous negative space beats maximalism. Applies equally to scale, color (one accent, not five), and motion (one signature move, not constant animation).
Domain and color
- Domain: 5+ concepts, metaphors, or vocabulary from the product's world (territory, not features).
- Color world: 5+ colors that "belong" in that world — what you'd see if this product were a physical space. Not "warm" or "cool"; name actual colors from that domain.
- Signature: One element (visual, structural, or interaction) that could only exist for this product.
Review bar
Ask: "Would I put my name on this?" Design-lead review means: not "does it work?" but "is this unmistakably intentional and crafted?"
Non-negotiable craft invariants (a single failure fails the review):
- No font pop-in. Ever. Title/display text must never flash a fallback face or reflow as the webfont loads. Gate it on
document.fonts.ready and fade in. See design-system → Never let fonts pop in.
- Whatever is in the opening viewport (hero text, hero media, brand mark) must be prioritized to paint complete and correct before anything below the fold loads. See design-system → .
