ui-design-critique

name	ui-design-critique
description	Design critique for user interfaces that produces a prioritized, strict report of design issues. Use when asked to "critique this design", "review the UI", "design review", "roast my UI", "is this AI slop", "does this look AI-generated", "audit the visual design", or evaluate a screen, page, or screenshot against brand guidelines or a DESIGN.md spec. Classifies every finding as a gap, inconsistency, suggestion, or strength and ranks it by impact. Runs deterministic DOM detectors to catch broken layout (overflow, overlap, clipping) and evaluates visually via browser/devtools capture and against design tokens.
metadata	{"category":"Frontend, UI & Design"}

UI Design Critique

Produce a rigorous, prioritized design critique of a user interface. Output a single report that lists every issue ranked by impact, classifies each finding, and calls out what already works. Be strict. The goal is a report a designer can act on top-to-bottom, not vague praise.

This skill evaluates and reports. It does not implement fixes. For building or polishing UI, use design-engineering. For self-evidence/affordance depth, cross-reference ux-interface-design.

Non-Negotiables

1. Breakage is computed, not judged. Run the deterministic broken-UI smoke test (references/broken-ui-detectors.md) before any judgment-based review. Vision review reliably misses overflow, overlap, clipping, and misalignment — never rely on "looking at" a screenshot to find them. A page that fails the smoke test is broken regardless of its aesthetics.
2. AI Slop Detection is the most important judgment check. Run it immediately after the smoke test. See references/ai-slop-detection.md.
3. Critique against intent, not personal taste. When a DESIGN.md spec exists, it is the source of truth. Distinguish a violation of intent (a real finding) from a stylistic preference (a suggestion, clearly labeled).
4. Every finding needs evidence. Point to the specific element, region, or token. No pattern-only claims like "typography feels off" without naming the element and the reason.
5. Every finding needs a priority and a classification. No unranked, unclassified findings.
6. Report strengths too. A critique that only lists problems is incomplete and untrustworthy.

Inputs

Accept any of these; ask only if none are available:

Input	How to evaluate
Live URL / running dev server	Capture visually — see references/visual-capture.md
Screenshot(s)	Evaluate the image directly
Component / page code	Read the code, and render + capture if a dev server is available
DESIGN.md (or brand doc)	Load as source of truth for how it looks — see references/design-md-spec.md
USERS.md (personas)	Load for who it's for — the resonance_cue per user type drives the Emotional Resonance check

If no design spec is provided, ask once whether a DESIGN.md or brand guideline exists. If none exists, critique against general craft standards and note the absence of a spec as a gap (intent cannot be verified).

Process

1. Establish intent (source of truth)

• If a DESIGN.md exists, load it and its tokens. Run references/design-md-spec.md. Optionally lint it: npx @google/design.md lint DESIGN.md.
• If a USERS.md exists (from grill-users), load the target users and their resonance_cue — the aesthetic is judged partly on whether each user type would feel "this is for me" (dimension 4, Emotional Resonance).
• If only a brand/style doc exists, extract stated colors, type, tone, and personality.
• If nothing exists, state the intended audience and product category from context, and flag "no design spec" as a finding.

2. Capture the interface

• Live UI: follow references/visual-capture.md to screenshot key states (default, hover/focus, empty, loading, error) and viewports (mobile + desktop at minimum). Capture at full resolution and tile long pages — downscaled or squeezed captures hide exactly the defects being hunted.
• Screenshots only: work from what is provided; note any states/viewports you could not verify.

3. Run the broken-UI smoke test (deterministic — MANDATORY on live UI)

Load references/broken-ui-detectors.md and run every detector at every viewport in the matrix via evaluate_script: page overflow, element overlap, text clipping, out-of-viewport content, broken/distorted images, zero-size content, unreadable text. Detector hits are objective P0/P1 findings — confirm each with an element-level screenshot and report the measured values. Do not proceed to judgment-based review as if the page were fine when the smoke test failed. On screenshots-only input, note that the smoke test could not be run.

4. Run AI Slop Detection (CRITICAL)

Load references/ai-slop-detection.md. Score the interface against every fingerprint. Answer the core test: If someone said "AI made this," would they be believed instantly? Record the AI-slop risk level in the summary. Slop tells are high-priority findings.

5. Run the 11 critique dimensions

Load references/critique-dimensions.md and evaluate each dimension. For each issue found, capture: element/location, what is wrong, why it matters, classification, priority.

6. Run the precision audit (measured — do not eyeball)

Load references/precision-audit.md and measure spacing, alignment, sizing, rhythm, and containment with real pixel values (getBoundingClientRect / getComputedStyle across sets of like elements). Derive selectors from the actual DOM first — an empty selector result means the selector is wrong, not that the page is clean. This is dimension 11 and it is mandatory — most "it looks broken / sloppy / off" problems live here and are invisible to judgment-based review. Every precision finding's recommendation must state the exact current values and the target value.

7. Check spec conformance (if a spec exists)

Compare rendered UI to the tokens: colors, type scale, spacing, radius, component styles. Every deviation from a defined token is an Inconsistency unless the deviation is clearly intentional and justified.

8. Classify, prioritize, and write the report

Use the taxonomy and priority scale below. Produce the report in the exact template.

Classification Taxonomy

Every finding gets exactly one classification.

Classification	Meaning
Gap	Something required is missing — an unhandled state (empty/loading/error), a missing focus style, no clear primary action, no design spec, absent hierarchy.
Inconsistency	Something contradicts the spec or itself — off-token color, mismatched spacing, two buttons styled differently for the same role, drifting type scale.
Suggestion	The design works but could be stronger — an opportunity, an optional refinement, or a taste-based preference. Label taste-based ones as such.
Strength	Something done well. Name it specifically so it is preserved.

Priority Scale (by impact)

Rank by how much the issue harms the user's ability to understand and use the interface, and how much it damages perceived quality.

Priority	Bar	Examples
P0 — Critical	Breaks usability, trust, or accessibility; visibly broken layout; or screams AI slop	No discernible primary action; unreadable contrast; content overflow/clipping; elements overlapping or touching edges; interface indistinguishable from generic AI output; broken/absent core states
P1 — High	Meaningfully hurts comprehension, flow, or brand fit; or reads as sloppy	Weak/competing hierarchy; off-brand palette; confusing IA; illegible body text; visible misalignment (>3px); mismatched control heights on the primary action
P2 — Medium	Noticeable friction or polish gap	Inconsistent padding across like elements; off-scale spacing; uneven rhythm; weak affordances; inconsistent component styling; flat empty states
P3 — Low	Minor refinement or preference	1–2px optical alignment nits; microcopy tightening; optional delight

Treat visible layout breakage and measurable inconsistency as objective findings, not taste — broken spacing and misalignment are always in scope regardless of any brand spec.

Sort findings P0 → P3. Within a priority, order by classification severity: Gap, Inconsistency, then Suggestion.

Report Template

ALWAYS output this exact structure.

# Design Critique: [Screen / Page / Component]

## Verdict
[2–4 sentences: overall quality, biggest risk, and the single most important thing to fix.]

- **Smoke Test:** Clean / X defects / Not run (screenshots only) — [viewports checked, e.g. "clean at 1280, 3 hits at 375"]
- **AI-Slop Risk:** None / Low / Moderate / High / Severe — [one-line reason]
- **Execution:** Clean / Minor issues / Sloppy / Broken — [one-line reason from the measured precision audit]
- **Spec Conformance:** N/A (no spec) / Strong / Partial / Poor — [one-line reason]
- **Findings:** X total — P0: _ · P1: _ · P2: _ · P3: _
- **Verified:** [states/viewports checked; note whether the smoke test and spacing/alignment were measured or only eyeballed]

## Findings

### P0 — Critical
#### [F-01] [Short title] · [Gap | Inconsistency | Suggestion]
- **Dimension:** [e.g. AI Slop / Visual Hierarchy / Color]
- **Location:** [element, region, or token — be specific]
- **Issue:** [what is wrong]
- **Impact:** [why it matters to the user or brand]
- **Evidence:** [screenshot region, token value vs. spec, code ref, or measured values — e.g. "padding 14/16/13px"]
- **Recommendation:** [concrete, actionable fix — for precision findings, state the exact target value, e.g. "set all three to 16px (`spacing.md`)"]

[repeat for each finding, continuing F-02, F-03, ... across all priority sections]

### P1 — High
...

### P2 — Medium
...

### P3 — Low
...

## What Looks Good (Strengths)
- **[Dimension]:** [specific thing done well and why it works — preserve this]
- ...

## Spec Conformance (if a DESIGN.md/brand doc was provided)
| Token / Rule | Spec | Observed | Status |
|--------------|------|----------|--------|
| colors.primary | #1A1C1E | #6366F1 | ✗ off-token |
| body-md size | 1rem | 0.875rem | ✗ drift |
| ... | | | ✓ / ✗ |

## Top 3 Actions
1. [highest-leverage fix]
2. [next]
3. [next]

If the interface is genuinely strong, say so plainly and keep the findings list honest — do not invent problems to fill sections. If there are no findings at a priority level, omit that section's body and note "None."

Reference Files

File	Load when
references/broken-ui-detectors.md	Always on live UI — step 3, the deterministic smoke test
references/ai-slop-detection.md	Always — step 4, the critical judgment check
references/critique-dimensions.md	Always — step 5, the 11 dimensions
references/precision-audit.md	Always — step 6, the measured spacing/alignment/sizing pass
references/design-md-spec.md	A DESIGN.md or brand doc exists (steps 1, 7)
references/visual-capture.md	Evaluating a live URL or running app