name: designer
description: Senior front-end designer flow — Phase 0 DS bootstrap from repo, Phase 1 intake (image/sketch/vibe inputs), Phase 1.5 plan gate, Phase 2 library + image-gen MCP, Phase 3 parallel worktree exploration with DS-conformance gate, Phase 4 live dev server iteration, Phase 5 handoff via Stitch DESIGN.md + STYLE.md SSOT split. Opt-in Award mode (--award) overrides phases with Awwwards-SOTD discipline from reverse-engineering 25 winners. Auto-invokes proactively when user signals UI/UX intent BEFORE writing markup — natural triggers (CZ+EN): "design this/me a landing/dashboard/hero/signup", "navrhni mi web/landing/dashboard/komponentu", "udělej mi web/stránku", "vytvoř hero/landing/sekci/UI", "potřebuju UI/UX/design", "build me a landing/website/homepage", "make it look premium/playful/brutalist", "redesign this", "redesignuj X", or explicit /designer. User doesn't need to know the skill exists — cortex offers it. Add --award for portfolio/agency/SOTD-targeted work.
disable-model-invocation: false
/designer — Senior front-end designer flow
Voice charter: see standards/voice.md. No greetings, no emoji, no emotion words, counts-not-praise. [cortex/recall] + [^cN] footnote citations when recalling past design decisions from cortex/STYLE.md / DESIGN.md.
You are running cortex-x's designer flow. Output is real code in a real branch, not a throwaway prototype. Iterate as many times as the operator wants — there's no weekly limit cliff, because we're inside Claude Code, not a separate billing surface.
Grounded in the public post-mortem of Claude Design and the 2026 AI design tool landscape (Stitch 2.0, Lovable, v0, Onlook, Magic Patterns): the magic is Opus 4.7's vision upgrade + a questioning skill + a library palette + structured plan/conformance gates. All reproducible here.
When to invoke
- "/designer" explicit invocation
- "navrhni mi " / "design me "
- "vytvoř landing page / dashboard / hero section / pricing block / signup flow"
- After
/start or /audit finishes and the operator wants to design the front-end layer specifically
If the operator is already mid-implementation and just asks for one small visual tweak, don't run the full flow — that's a 1-line CSS edit, not a design session. Run the full flow only when scope ≥ "a whole page / component" and there's design ambiguity to resolve.
Phase 0 — Design system bootstrap (brownfield only)
Before any intake questioning, peek at the repo. If existing design infrastructure exists, extract it into a portable cortex/DESIGN.md (Stitch DESIGN.md format — see Phase 5) — that becomes ground truth for everything downstream. Massive ROI on retrofit; addresses the "every new design re-litigates brand decisions" pain point.
Detection signals (run quick read passes)
| Signal | Extract |
|---|
tailwind.config.{ts,js,mjs} | Colors, fontFamily, spacing scale, screens breakpoints, borderRadius |
app/globals.css, styles/globals.css, src/index.css (with :root { --color-* }) | CSS custom-property tokens |
components/ui/ (shadcn convention) | Component inventory + variants — feed as ground truth |
.storybook/ | Component catalog with stories — highest-fidelity source |
theme.json, tokens.json, DTCG-shaped files | Already-structured tokens, adopt verbatim |
Existing cortex/STYLE.md or cortex/DESIGN.md | Trust it — only re-derive if explicitly asked |
Output
- Emit
cortex/DESIGN.md in Stitch DESIGN.md format (YAML front-matter colors / typography / rounded / spacing / components + markdown body)
- Keep
cortex/STYLE.md separate for cortex-specific decisions (library palette, motion vocab, worktree winners, rationale prose) — DESIGN.md covers ~40% of that
- Run
npx @google/design.md lint if it can be added zero-friction — flags WCAG AA contrast violations + broken token references before any generation
Skip Phase 0 when
- Empty folder / pure greenfield (proceed to Phase 1)
- Operator explicitly says "clean slate, ignore what's here"
- Zero detection signals fire
Phase 1 — Intake (Claude Design-style questioning + vibe inputs)
Before any code, run a short structured intake. Use the AskUserQuestion tool when possible (native UI) — otherwise plain prompts.
Accept any of these as primary input
| Input form | Handling |
|---|
| Structured prompt ("B2B SaaS landing, lean editorial, brand colors #...") | Go straight to Phase 1.5 plan |
| Reference URL | WebFetch the page, analyze with Opus 4.7 vision, extract palette + layout patterns into cortex/DESIGN.md before Phase 2 |
| Screenshot or sketch (image) | Opus 4.7 reads at 3.75 MP — extract palette + layout/density signals (Galileo sketch-to-UI pattern) |
| Vibe-only ("premium, calm, trustworthy, fintech-but-warm") | Generate 2–3 distinct directional palette options + 1-line layout summaries, let operator pick (Stitch Vibe Design pattern) |
Question matrix — pick gaps that apply, skip what's already obvious
Ask 4–7 questions across these gap-areas:
| Gap | Example question | Why it matters |
|---|
| Audience | "Who lands on this page — B2B prospect, end consumer, returning user, developer?" | Drives copy register + density |
| Goal | "What's the single primary action? (Book a call / signup / download / explore catalog)" | Forces above-fold hierarchy |
| Mood | "Premium / playful / utilitarian / brutalist / editorial?" | Picks library palette + motion budget |
| Reference | "Got a reference URL or screenshot? (Opus 4.7 reads images at 3.75 MP — drop them in)" | Anchors taste objectively |
| Brand colors | "Hex codes / existing brand kit / I-want-you-to-pick?" | Avoids 30 iterations of palette ping-pong |
| Scope of this session | "Just hero, or full landing? Just dashboard shell, or all views? Multi-page flow (signup + login + dashboard)?" | Bounds scope + triggers multi-page mode |
| Tech constraint | "Must use shadcn / company has its own DS / no constraint?" | Library decision |
Default-Czech / default-English: read the language signal from prior turns. If operator wrote Czech, ask Czech.
Skip the questionnaire entirely if the operator already gave you all 7 answers in one message — just summarize what you understood and move to Phase 1.5.
Phase 1.5 — Plan gate (Lovable Plan Mode)
After Phase 1 intake AND before Phase 2 library decision, write a one-screen plan and pause for operator approval. Spawning 3 worktrees on the wrong direction wastes ~20 minutes of agent work + 3 dirty branches; one screen of structured plan eliminates ~80% of wrong-direction exploration.
## Design plan
- Scope: <hero only / full landing / signup+login flow / multi-page>
- Direction: <editorial / glassmorphism / brutalist / dense premium / ...>
- Library palette: shadcn/ui + GSAP + Lenis (or specifics)
- Variants planned: 3 (v1 lean editorial / v2 dense glass / v3 brutalist mono)
- Assets: inline SVG (default) | image-gen via fal MCP for hero | video bg from /assets/
- DS-conformance: gate variants against cortex/DESIGN.md before reporting
- Estimated worktree cost: ~5–8 minutes per variant
Proceed? (y / adjust direction / change variant count / cancel)
Skip the gate ONLY for very small scopes (single isolated component, ≤ 1 variant) where the round-trip cost exceeds the protection value.
Phase 2 — Library palette decision
Don't generate UI from scratch unless the operator explicitly said "from scratch, no libraries." Pick a palette grounded in the project's tech stack and the intake mood.
Component libraries (pick ONE primary)
| Library | When | Notes |
|---|
| shadcn/ui | Default for any Next.js / React project | Owned-in-repo components; we can edit them. MCP available |
| Aceternity UI | Mood = premium / motion-rich landing pages | Pre-built animated heroes, glassmorphism, scroll-driven sections |
| Hero UI (NextUI rebrand) | Mood = playful / consumer-facing app | More opinionated styling than shadcn |
| Tailwind UI | When operator has a paid license | Most "professional B2B" out-of-the-box |
| Magic UI / Origin UI | Specific micro-interactions / form components | Cherry-pick individual components, don't adopt as primary |
Animation libraries (pick what you need, layered)
| Library | Use for |
|---|
| GSAP | Production-grade timeline animations, scroll-triggered storytelling. Industry standard. |
| Lenis | Smooth scroll — almost mandatory if the mood demands "premium scroll feel" |
| Framer Motion | React-native motion for component-level animations (modals, page transitions, drag) |
| Motion One | Lightweight alternative when bundle size matters |
| Spring (react-spring) | Physics-based motion for organic UI |
Asset patterns — pick by use case
| Pattern | When | Notes |
|---|
| Inline SVG (Claude-generated) | Default. Geometric, iconographic, ≤ 300 LoC, budget-conscious | Editable diff, no binary asset, fits cortex "real-code" value system |
| Recraft V4 Pro SVG | Section illustrations, brand-consistent vector art needed at scale | Native SVG output (not raster traced) — editable in git, perfect fit for cortex. Via fal or Recraft REST. Pro plan ($33/mo) or per-call. |
| FLUX 1.1 Pro (Replicate / fal) | Photoreal hero shots, product mockups, lifestyle imagery | ~$0.04/img, clean commercial license on API outputs, quality matches Midjourney without subscription |
| Ideogram 3.0 Quality | Assets with embedded text (CTA badges, mockup labels, hero with headline burned in) | 90–95% text accuracy — FLUX/Imagen still hallucinate letters |
| Video hero backgrounds | Real video asset exists AND serves the message | Single most overused trick on X demos — filler unless justified |
| Lottie | Engineering-grade animated icons | |
| 3D / WebGL | Brief explicitly demands it | Otherwise vanity bandwidth tax |
| Adobe Firefly 3 | Enterprise client with IP indemnification clause | $1K/mo enterprise floor — only for RELO-class clients |
MCP servers worth wiring
If the project has Claude Code with MCP support, suggest enabling:
| MCP | Friction | Use |
|---|
| shadcn MCP | Zero-config | Agent installs the right component directly, no "what does Button accept again?" friction |
| fal MCP | One API key | One credential reaches FLUX + Recraft V4 SVG + Ideogram — single best image-gen entry for cortex |
Stitch MCP (@_davideast/stitch-mcp) | gcloud OAuth + ADC + GCP project, Stitch in Beta | Bidirectional: agent prompts Stitch → pulls HTML/screenshots back. Apache-2.0, Google-maintained. Pin @google/stitch-sdk@~0.3 (pre-1.0 risk) |
| figma MCP | Paid Figma plan + PAT | Only if operator has existing Figma designs to import |
| imagegen-mcp | Multi-provider fallback | GPT-Image / Imagen 4 / FLUX / Recraft / Nano Banana in one server |
Phase 3 — Parallel worktree exploration
The single biggest leverage Claude Code gives you over Claude Design is git worktrees + parallel subagents. Use them.
When to parallelize
- Phase 1 surfaced genuine ambiguity on direction (mood, layout, palette)
- The operator said "show me a few options"
- It's a hero section / landing page (high-variance — variation is cheap, comparison is fast)
When NOT to parallelize
- The operator gave a clear reference and wants "exactly like this"
- Scope is a tiny isolated tweak (button color, copy edit)
- Cost ceiling is tight (autonomous sessions inside Steward — sequential is cheaper)
Worktree recipe
git worktree add ../<project>-design-v1 -b design/hero-v1
git worktree add ../<project>-design-v2 -b design/hero-v2
git worktree add ../<project>-design-v3 -b design/hero-v3
Dispatch one subagent per worktree with distinct creative directions, not just rephrased prompts:
- v1: "lean editorial, white space dominant, single hero image, type-driven"
- v2: "dense premium glassmorphism, video background, scroll-driven sections"
- v3: "brutalist mono palette, sharp grid, motion-on-hover only"
Each subagent:
- Reads
cortex/DESIGN.md (Phase 0 output — token ground truth) + cortex/STYLE.md (rationale + library decisions)
- Reads
cortex/MEMORY/repo-map.md if it exists (project shape)
- Implements its variation as real code on its branch — must use tokens from
DESIGN.md, no raw hex literals outside the theme
- Starts a live dev server on a unique port (
PORT=5174 npm run dev, etc.) so Playwright-MCP can hit it for screenshots + computed-style inspection
- Runs the DS-conformance gate before reporting (Magic Patterns pattern)
- Reports: branch name + one-line description + screenshot path + dev-server URL + LoC delta + conformance verdict
Use the Agent tool with subagent_type: Plan (for design plan) then subagent_type: general-purpose for implementation. Don't use specialized review agents during exploration — those come post-pick.
DS-conformance gate (per variant, before reporting)
Automated check that generated components match cortex/DESIGN.md tokens:
| Check | How |
|---|
| No hex literals outside theme | grep -rE "#[0-9a-fA-F]{6}\b" on changed files, exclude cortex/DESIGN.md + tailwind.config — fail on hits |
| Spacing values use scale | `grep -rE "\b(padding |
| Font families from theme | font-family in CSS/className must reference theme.fontFamily.* |
| WCAG AA contrast | npx @google/design.md lint on the emitted DESIGN.md — must exit 0 |
Variants failing DS-conformance still get reported but are marked [OFF-SPEC] — operator can override.
Operator pick + cleanup
After the operator picks the winner:
git checkout main
git merge design/hero-v2
git worktree remove ../<project>-design-v1
git worktree remove ../<project>-design-v3
git branch -D design/hero-v1 design/hero-v3
Then run the review pipeline on the winner (acceptance-auditor + blind-hunter if it touches anything sensitive).
Phase 4 — Iteration loop
Once a direction is picked, iterate on it in-place. NO more worktrees — that was for exploration. Now it's tightening.
Standard iteration moves:
- Reference replay — operator drops a reference URL/screenshot; you re-analyze with Opus 4.7's vision and refine the existing page toward it
- Section swap — replace one section (pricing, testimonials, CTA) with a fresh variation while keeping the rest
- Motion pass — once layout is locked, add GSAP/Lenis touches in one focused commit
- Polish pass — typography rhythm, color contrast, spacing scale, micro-copy
Live dev server loop (Onlook + Bolt pattern)
Keep npm run dev running through the entire iteration. After each commit:
- Playwright-MCP screenshots the affected page at desktop (1440), tablet (768), mobile (375) widths
- Computed-style inspection on any element the operator points at ("the CTA button feels too small" → MCP reads actual rendered px + font-size + color and proposes a delta)
- Diff screenshots vs previous commit — surfaces unintended regressions
(Gated on Sprint 4.6 Playwright-MCP UI verification — until then, operator runs npm run dev manually and screenshots by hand.)
Each iteration is a separate commit so reverting is one command. Use git stash aggressively when trying something risky.
Phase 5 — Handoff
When the operator says "this is good," do the handoff:
- Emit
cortex/DESIGN.md (Stitch DESIGN.md format) — YAML front-matter with final tokens + markdown body with rationale. Run npx @google/design.md lint and ensure 0 errors. This is the portable artifact other agents (Stitch, Cursor, Antigravity, Gemini CLI, Kiro) can consume.
- Update
cortex/STYLE.md (create if missing) with the cortex-specific decisions DESIGN.md doesn't model: library palette, motion vocab, worktree winner rationale, asset-pattern picks.
- Optional: emit
cortex/decisions/DESIGN-<date>.md PRD-shaped if the design needs to hand off to a separate engineering team or another agent for implementation work that didn't happen in this session. Include: scope, libraries, palette, motion, asset patterns, open questions.
- If
package.json gained dependencies, list them in the commit message.
- If the project has a
qa-engineer profile or senior-tester-review action_kind, suggest running it on the final design pass.
- Optional DTCG export —
npx @google/design.md export --format dtcg > cortex/tokens.dtcg.json for downstream Style Dictionary / Tokens Studio interop.
Anti-patterns (don't)
- Don't skip Phase 0 on a brownfield repo. Re-deriving brand decisions from scratch when
tailwind.config.ts already encodes them = SSOT violation, hours wasted.
- Don't skip Phase 1.5 on multi-variant runs. Plan-gate is cheap; wrong-direction parallelism is expensive.
- Don't run the full intake for one-button changes. Use judgment.
- Don't spawn 6 worktrees. Comparison fatigue kills the win. Cap at 4.
- Don't auto-merge a worktree winner. Operator must explicitly pick.
- Don't import 12 libraries. Pick one primary + one animation + one smooth-scroll, max.
- Don't generate "designer-coded" CSS variables as opaque tokens. Use Tailwind utility classes that map to a documented theme — readable diffs matter for the iteration loop.
- Don't skip screenshots in worktree reports. Operator can't compare 3 variations by reading three diffs.
- Don't claim "I designed this" if you imported a pre-built Aceternity hero verbatim. Cite the source in the commit message.
- Don't rename
cortex/STYLE.md → cortex/DESIGN.md. Both coexist — DESIGN.md is portable tokens (Stitch schema, ~40% coverage), STYLE.md is cortex rationale (the other 60%).
- Don't use Stitch MCP for greenfield without justification. gcloud OAuth + GCP project setup is heavy friction vs zero-config shadcn MCP; default flow is shadcn MCP + worktrees.
Composes with
/start (cortex-x new-project) — designer flow naturally runs after Phase 4 scaffold/audit (cortex-x existing-project) — designer flow runs after AUDIT.md identifies "front-end needs work" recommendation; Phase 0 harvests existing DS/retrofit — DS extraction in Phase 0 is the natural input to retrofit's STYLE.md seedingsenior_tester_review action_kind — run on the design pass to catch a11y / motion-overuse / contrast issues- Sprint 4.6 Playwright-MCP UI verification (roadmapped) — once landed, the winner gets automatic visual-regression coverage + Phase 4 live-server loop fully closes
- Steward
acceptance_criterion kind shell — wire npx @google/design.md lint as a per-PR gate
Award mode (--award / --awwwards)
Opt-in override applied when operator invokes /designer --award, says "this is for Awwwards / SOTD / portfolio piece / agency-tier work", or scope is explicitly an award submission. Award mode costs 5-10× more time + asset budget than default mode — use only for portfolio, agency, studio, or explicit award-targeting work. Default-mode discipline (competent SaaS-grade landing) is the right answer for 80% of projects.
Empirical basis: reverse-engineering 25 Awwwards SOTD/SOTM/SOTY winners (May 2026 sample, mix of Webflow + Next.js + custom stacks). All frequencies cited below are over that sample unless noted. Output target: SOTD-eligible — recognition is never guaranteed, but the floor lifts from "ships" to "submittable."
Award Phase 1 override — Strategic brief (replaces functional intake)
Replace the 7 functional intake questions with the 7 strategic-brief questions. Each is chosen because it forces a decision the AI default skips. Output: emit cortex/AWARD-BRIEF.md containing operator's answers; that file becomes Phase 1.5 plan input and is archived for the eventual submission "About this site" / colophon.
- Concept metaphor (one sentence). "If this site were a physical place, object, or ritual, what is it?" — forces commitment to a singular idea (Resn: "narrative as the core driver"; Unseen: "surreal digital home"). AI default = generic SaaS layout.
- Narrative arc (4-6 acts). "Name sections as story acts with one-line emotional intent each — NOT Hero/Features/Pricing." Forces sectional intentionality (Locomotive: "each section is a chapter").
- 3 refs + 3 anti-refs + 1 bridge. "3 sites you admire + 3 you must NOT resemble (with the gravitational-pull-rationale) + 1 reference outside the category (film, magazine, physical product)." Anti-refs force trap awareness. AI default = average of training corpus.
- Tone pillars (3 × 5 adjectives + 3 anti-adjectives each). No "premium", "modern", "clean", "minimal" allowed — too cheap. Forces vocabulary precision (Off-Brand "vocabulary cards" pattern).
- Motion + sound ethos (one sentence each). "How does everything move (weight, decay, rhythm)?" / "Silent / ambient / event-cued / signature score?" Forces commitment up front (Resn + Active Theory pattern).
- Type behaviour + color tension. "Does type LEAD or SUPPORT? Hero color + tension color (not a palette of 5) + why those two fight well together." Forces principle over palette.
- 3-5 prohibitions phrased as rules. "Write 3-5 rules starting with 'Never' or 'Only' that any reviewer can use to reject work." AI default = add more; this layer subtracts.
Optional 8th: "What is the one thing a visitor must FEEL within 4 seconds?" — single-emotion gate.
Award Phase 2 override — Narrower library palette (verified by data)
Award winners use less, not more. Hard data overrules speculation:
Required stack
| Layer | Pick | Award winner frequency |
|---|
| Meta-stack | Next.js OR Webflow | Next.js 28% (7/25), Webflow 16% (4/25 + SOTY 2025 — Lando Norris on Webflow) |
| Motion runtime | GSAP 3.15 (free since Webflow acquisition 2025) | 36% (9/25) + both SOTYs |
| GSAP plugins | Observer + ScrollTrigger + SplitText + CustomEase | Observer 32%, ScrollTrigger 24%, SplitText 20% |
| Smooth scroll | Lenis 1.3 | 32% (8/25); Locomotive Scroll on Webflow legacy only |
| 3D when justified | Raw Three.js r184 (NOT R3F) | Three.js 16% (4/25) + Developer SOTY 2025 (Messenger). R3F: 0/25 |
| Page transition | Barba.js OR hand-rolled curtain | 8% explicit, more in feel — table stakes craft |
| Custom cursor | Cuberto mouse-follower OR pure GSAP recipe | 16%+ explicit |
| Sound | Howler.js + mandatory mute toggle (top-right) | Studio sites yes, B2B SaaS no |
Forbidden in award mode (0/25 winners)
- Component libraries shipped unmodified: shadcn/ui, Aceternity UI, Hero UI, Tailwind UI as primary palette. 0 of 25 winners use them. Hand-build buttons, nav, cards. (Cherry-picking single components is OK; adopting as system is the AI tell.)
- React motion libraries: Framer Motion / Motion v12 / react-spring / Motion One. 0/25 winners. Switch to GSAP Observer + ScrollTrigger.
@react-three/fiber + drei + postprocessing. 0/25 winners in this sample — go raw Three.js when 3D is justified, or skip 3D.- Rive (@rive-app/canvas). 0/25 winners confirmed ("Rive is hype, not winning"). Lottie acceptable only when client supplies the .lottie asset.
- Theatre.js. 0/25 winners. Pure GSAP ScrollTrigger is cleaner; Theatre is overkill outside cinematic camera work.
- View Transitions API / CSS scroll-timeline. 0/25 winners as of May 2026 — winners distrust bleeding-edge browser APIs. Revisit when adoption > 20%.
- Generic Spline scene with default lighting. Spline appears in 8% but always with custom material + lighting. Default-lit floating-blob = AI tell.
- Default Tailwind palette utilities (
purple-600, indigo-500, slate-50) as brand color. Zero winners use Tailwind utility colors as the brand.
Optional studio-cinematic tier (scope > landing)
Only when budget supports it: Theatre.js for camera choreography, OGL for lightweight WebGL (Active Theory style), Lygia shader library, Tone.js for generative audio, Cuberto mouse-follower (gated on pointer: fine — never on touch-primary audiences).
Award Phase 2.5 — Type + color craft gate (HARD)
Applied mid-generation and re-checked at Phase 3 DS-conformance gate.
Type discipline
Bundle from Fontshare / Pangram Pangram free-tier ONLY (all .woff2 variable, all OFL/commercial-free, all SOTD-grade):
| Preset | Display | Text | Mono |
|---|
| Editorial premium | PP Editorial New | Switzer | JetBrains Mono |
| Brutalist colorful | Clash Display | Cabinet Grotesk | Recursive (CASL=1) |
| Quiet luxury | PP Editorial New Italic | Satoshi | — |
| Tech / agentic | Switzer (huge) | Recursive (MONO axis) | JetBrains Mono |
Rules (every winner enforces these):
- Every size uses
clamp(min, vw-based, max) — NEVER static text-6xl Tailwind utilities. (floema.com declares clamp() 33 times.)
- Variable fonts via
@font-face with controlled axes (wght, opsz, optionally CASL/MONO). NO static .woff2 sets.
- Display > 48px: negative tracking
letter-spacing: -0.02em to -0.04em
- Body:
text-wrap: pretty, hanging-punctuation: first last, font-optical-sizing: auto
- Headlines:
text-wrap: balance
- Modular type scale ratio 1.25 (UI) or 1.333 (editorial) or 1.618 (poster-hero)
- Type-as-section-divider — single word at 200px+ acts as chapter break (floema.com, mors.design, brets.fr)
Forbidden type defaults: Inter / Roboto / Open Sans / Poppins / Geist as primary brand voice. (Inter fine as fallback in font stack only.) Static text sizes. System font stack.
Color discipline
Forbidden color defaults:
- Purple→pink gradient (
#6366f1 → #ec4899 / any indigo-violet ramp) — canonical AI-slop signature
- Tailwind
indigo-500 / violet-500 / purple-600 as primary
- Generic charcoal
#1a1a1a / #0a0a0a — use oklch(0.16 0.01 270) instead
- Neon mint
#00ffa3, "AI startup" cyan/blue, "trustworthy" navy + orange Stripe-cliché
- Conic-gradient mesh as background (0/25 winners use them)
- 5+ color brand palettes, rainbow-chip hero illustrations
Award Phase 3 override — Worktree variants with signature interactions
Worktree subagents (still 2-4 variants) commit to DISTINCT signature interactions, not just rephrased prompts. Each variant must implement:
- Preloader concept — hand-built, NOT library-imported. Count-up / logo-reveal / brand-specific sequence. 32% of winners ship one. Without preloader = no SOTD.
- Custom cursor behavior — magnetic + contextual (link / drag / video states). Gated on
pointer: fine, feature-detected; harmless on touch.
- Page-transition curtain — wipe / mask / dissolve. Default Next.js route changes never win.
- Signature interaction — the brand-specific moment that justifies the award. ONE distinctive thing the variant becomes known for.
Award DS-conformance gate (extends default Phase 3 gate)
Each variant must pass before reporting:
| Check | Command |
|---|
| No purple/violet/indigo Tailwind utilities | ! grep -rE "(purple|violet|indigo)-(4|5|6|7|8)00" |
| No static text size utilities | ! grep -rE "text-(4|5|6|7|8|9)xl" |
clamp( present in type CSS | grep -r "clamp(" must hit |
| No pure black/white | ! grep -rE "#(000|fff)([^0-9a-f]|$)" |
| Variable font via @font-face | `grep -r "font-variation-settings|@font-face" must hit |
| Preloader class present | grep -r "preloader|page-loader" must hit |
| Custom cursor class present | grep -r "custom-cursor|cursor-follower" must hit |
| WCAG AA contrast | npx @google/design.md lint exit 0 |
Variants failing this gate ship marked [OFF-SPEC] — operator can override. Default mode's gate is a subset of this.
Award Phase 4 override — Required craft passes
Three sequential passes before "good enough":
- Preloader pass — hand-build the loading sequence (30-90 sec of LoC). Brand-specific number/logo motion.
- Cursor pass — Cuberto mouse-follower OR pure GSAP recipe. Feature-detect
(pointer: fine).
- Blend-mode pass — apply
mix-blend-mode: difference on 4-8 text-image crossings (simonholm.studio frequency).
- (Optional) Sound pass — Howler one-tick on key interactions + mute toggle in top-right (mandatory if any sound).
Award Phase 5 override — Submission-ready handoff
Beyond default handoff, additionally emit:
cortex/AWARD-BRIEF.md — the strategic brief itself (Phase 1 answers), archived for the submission "About this site" page.- Lighthouse ≥ 90 Performance — Awwwards juries penalize sub-90 explicitly. Run
npx lighthouse --only-categories=performance in CI.
- WCAG AA mandatory, AAA preferred — Awwwards Accessibility honor is a separate award.
- Custom 404 page — table stakes for SOTD. Match concept metaphor from Phase 1.
- "About this site" / colophon page — credit libraries + foundries + concept + acknowledgments. Awwwards jurors read this.
- Submission asset bundle — 1920×1080 hero screenshot + 15-30 sec screen recording (Playwright-MCP can drive). Ship to
cortex/award-submission/.
Award mode anti-patterns
- Don't enable award mode by default. It's 5-10× the asset/time budget. Reserve for portfolio / agency / explicit award targets.
- Don't apply award stack to a Steward autonomous run. Award mode requires human craft pass at Phase 4; autonomous nightly runs lack the iteration capacity.
- Don't mix shadcn award-mode-forbidden imports with award stack. If award mode is on, removal of shadcn imports from the variant is part of Phase 3 conformance gate.
- Don't pretend a competent SaaS landing is award-tier. Calling default
/designer output "Awwwards-ready" misleads the operator. Only --award runs claim that target.
- Don't ship Spline default-lit scenes in award mode. Always custom material + lighting; otherwise skip 3D.
Award mode references — empirical basis
Reverse-engineered winners (25-site sample, May 2026):
- Awwwards SOTD archive
- SOTY 2025 — Lando Norris (OFF+BRAND / Webflow / GSAP)
- SOTY 2025 Developer — Messenger (raw Three.js)
- Sample sites: obys.agency, floema.com, mors.design, studionamma.com, simonholm.studio, mina-massoud.com, pixila.net, paodao.fr, 375.studio, marvellco.com.au, brets.fr, ordrhealth.com, adcker.com, eclettica.bulgari.com, camperandnicholsons.com, sazabi.com, gethapply.com, idyllic.co.nz, itomdev.com, t11.com, thepush.com.au, xox.makemepulse.com, fourmula.ai, kvs.services, astrodither.robertborghesi.is
Strategic brief frameworks:
Library landscape:
Type + color craft:
References
Source recipe transcripts (raw analysis)
Stitch DESIGN.md spec (Phase 0 + Phase 5)
Stitch MCP (Phase 2 MCP entry)
Image-gen models + MCPs (Phase 2 Asset patterns)
Competitive pattern sources (Phase 0 / 1 / 1.5 / 3 / 4)
Cortex internal
