Creates unique web designs with brand identity, color palettes, typography, and modern UI/UX patterns. Use for brand identity development, visual design systems, layout composition, and responsive web design. Activate on "web design", "brand identity", "color palette", "UI design", "visual design", "layout". NOT for typography details (use typography-expert), color theory deep-dives (use color-theory-expert), design system tokens (use design-system-creator), or code implementation without design direction.
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Creates unique web designs with brand identity, color palettes, typography, and modern UI/UX patterns. Use for brand identity development, visual design systems, layout composition, and responsive web design. Activate on "web design", "brand identity", "color palette", "UI design", "visual design", "layout". NOT for typography details (use typography-expert), color theory deep-dives (use color-theory-expert), design system tokens (use design-system-creator), or code implementation without design direction.
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Web Design Expert
Expert web designer creating distinctive visual systems for web applications.
Decision Points
Layout Approach Selection
IF content-heavy (blog, documentation, learning platform)
├─ 12-column grid system
├─ High text density with clear hierarchy
└─ Consistent gutters for readability
IF marketing/conversion focused (SaaS, e-commerce landing)
├─ Hero-section-first design
├─ Asymmetric layouts allowed for drama
└─ Large whitespace to guide attention
IF e-commerce/catalog heavy
├─ CSS Grid auto-fit for products
├─ Card-based layouts
└─ Filter/search prominence
IF dashboard/app interface
├─ Sidebar + main content
├─ Data density prioritized
└─ Navigation always accessible
IF editorial/magazine style
├─ Mixed grid systems
├─ Large images with pull quotes
└─ Visual variety over consistency
Color Palette Strategy
IF B2B/Enterprise audience
├─ Blue primary (trust, professional)
├─ Neutral-heavy palette
└─ Minimal accent colors
IF Consumer/Lifestyle brand
├─ Warmer primaries (orange, green, purple)
├─ Seasonal accent options
└─ Emotionally-driven choices
IF High-traffic/accessibility-critical
├─ 4.5:1 contrast minimum enforced
├─ Color-blind tested combinations
└─ Dark mode variants required
Visual Hierarchy Decision Tree
IF user goal = immediate action (signup, purchase)
├─ Hero CTA above fold (mandatory)
├─ Single primary action per page
└─ Visual weight on conversion elements
IF user goal = content consumption
├─ Content preview/summary first
├─ Multiple engagement paths okay
└─ Reading experience optimized
IF user goal = exploration (portfolio, catalog)
├─ Grid/gallery layout primary
├─ Quick scanning optimized
└─ Thumbnail → detail flow
Failure Modes
Design by Committee Syndrome
Symptoms: Multiple visual styles on same page, conflicting brand messages, no clear design system
Detection Rule: If you see 3+ different button styles or font families on one page
Fix: Establish design principles document, enforce single source of truth, get stakeholder buy-in on constraints
Decoration Over Function
Symptoms: Animations without purpose, visual elements that don't aid comprehension, slow loading due to graphics
Detection Rule: If you can't explain why each visual element helps the user accomplish their goal
Fix: Remove elements that don't serve user needs, justify every animation with user benefit
Mobile Afterthought Pattern
Horizontal scroll on mobile, tiny touch targets, desktop navigation on small screens
Symptoms:
Detection Rule: If mobile version requires zooming or horizontal scrolling to use
Fix: Start mobile-first, test on actual devices, ensure 44px minimum touch targets
Low Contrast Accessibility Failure
Symptoms: Light gray text (#999) on white, poor readability in sunlight, user complaints about text visibility
Detection Rule: If any text fails WCAG 4.5:1 contrast ratio when tested
Fix: Use contrast checker tools, test in bright light conditions, provide high-contrast mode option
Information Architecture Collapse
Symptoms: Users can't find primary content, navigation doesn't match mental models, high bounce rates
Detection Rule: If users can't complete primary task within 3 clicks or 30 seconds
Fix: User journey mapping, card sorting for navigation, prominence for key actions
Conversion Elements: Add to cart sticky on mobile, prominent but not pushy
Key Design Decisions:
Hero product image fills screen width on mobile
Price in large, bold typography immediately visible
Reviews summary above product details
Size/color selectors with immediate visual feedback
Novice vs Expert Approach:
Novice would: Put all product info above fold, use small product images
Expert catches: Users need large images to evaluate fashion, price-conscious audience needs reviews validation early
Measurable Results:
Mobile conversion rate increased 31%
Average session duration increased (users exploring more products)
Cart abandonment decreased 18%
Quality Gates
Primary user action is visually obvious within 3 seconds of page load
All text passes WCAG AA contrast requirements (4.5:1 minimum)
Mobile layout works on 320px width without horizontal scroll
Touch targets are minimum 44px for interactive elements
Brand colors are used consistently (same hex values across components)
Visual hierarchy uses maximum 3 font weights and 4 sizes
Page loads and is interactive within 3 seconds on 3G connection
Navigation matches user mental model (confirmed by task completion rate >80%)
Design works in both light and dark system preferences
Components have hover, focus, and active states defined
Validating a Design Plan
State the design's Quality Gate compliance as a structured plan (see
schemas/design-plan.schema.json) and check it deterministically instead of
eyeballing a mockup:
node scripts/design_audit.mjs --input plan.json
The auditor returns { pass, score, findings, recommendations } and flags
the five failure modes above by name: design-by-committee (too many button
styles/font weights/sizes), decoration-over-function, mobile-afterthought
(320px horizontal scroll or sub-44px touch targets), low-contrast (below
4.5:1), and information-architecture collapse (nav that doesn't match the
user's mental model). See examples/expected-output.md for a passing and a
failing run side by side.
References
File
Load When
references/layout-systems.md
Need the grid decision tree, the 8px spacing scale, responsive breakpoints, or the mobile-first/consistency checklists.
references/color-accessibility.md
Need the minimum viable palette, color psychology table, dark-mode guidance, or the WCAG 2.1 AA checklist.
references/tooling-integration.md
Need to use 21st.dev or Figma MCP tools to go from design direction to code.
templates/output-template.md
Need a reusable design-plan template to fill in before auditing.
examples/expected-output.md
Need the shape of a finished design-plan audit, both passing and failing.
schemas/design-plan.schema.json
Need to validate a design plan's structure programmatically.
scripts/design_audit.mjs
Need deterministic scoring of a design plan against the Quality Gates and named failure modes.
agents/openai.yaml
Need a subagent descriptor for delegated design-plan generation.
NOT-FOR Boundaries
Do NOT use this skill for:
Deep typography decisions (line-height calculations, character spacing) → use typography-expert
Color theory mathematics or palette generation → use color-theory-palette-harmony-expert
Design system token architecture or CSS variables → use design-system-creator
Retro or historical design styles → use windows-3-1-web-designer
Native mobile app interface design → delegate to native-app-designer
Detailed accessibility audits → use accessibility-expert
Animation and micro-interaction specifications → use motion-design-expert
Boundary indicators:
If user asks for specific font pairing recommendations → typography-expert
If user needs HSL color calculations → color-theory-expert
If user wants CSS architecture advice → design-system-creator
If user needs WCAG compliance checklist → accessibility-expert
Layout QA gate (mechanical — run before shipping)
Before calling any rendered page, artifact, dashboard, deck, or component done,
run the mechanical overflow/collision checker. It renders the page headlessly and
flags text-vs-text collisions, clipped/ellipsis-truncated elements, text escaping
its container, and horizontal page scroll — the visual defects a screenshot hides
and that only appear at a specific width or in one theme.
Resolve layout-overflow-guard from the active skill catalog before running it.
The command below shows the standard Claude install path; use the path reported
by your harness. If the skill is absent, install or sync it instead of skipping
this gate.
You do not need to read check_layout.py — invoke it with the Bash tool and
act on its report and exit code (non-zero = a defect). The script's source never
enters your context; only its findings do. Drive it to zero violations across
every width and both themes before you ship. Full detail: the
layout-overflow-guard skill.
Skill Bundle Index
Every file in this skill, and when to open it. Auto-generated; run scripts/index_references.py --fix.
root
CHANGELOG.md — Changelog — All notable changes to the web-design-expert skill will be documented in this file.
README.md — Web Design Expert — Creates unique web visual systems: brand identity, color palettes, layout composition, and responsive UI patterns for web applications.
examples/expected-output.md — Example Output: Web Design Plan Audit — Scenario: a SaaS marketing site redesign has been specified as a structured design plan (matching schemas/design-plan.schema.json) and is
templates/output-template.md — Web Design Plan Template — [One-sentence description of the product/page this design plan covers.] Field notes: - primaryActionObviousWithin3s — true only if a fresh
