| name | design-taste |
| description | Master skill for design taste — embeds deliberate, opinionated design decisions into every agent interaction. Use at the START of any task to replace generic AI output with intentional design. Adapted from taste-skill (Leonxlnx) for emdesign's design system pipeline. |
| tags | ["design-system","design-taste","anti-slop","design-engineering","emdesign"] |
design-taste
Design taste is what separates a system that feels intentional from one that looks templated. This skill embeds taste into every phase: DESIGN.md authoring, token generation, primitive scaffolding, component building, and review.
The core idea: Read the room first, set your dials, then design with intent. Never default.
1. Design Taste Philosophy
Taste isn't subjective opinion — it's consistent, informed judgment applied across every decision. In emdesign, taste means:
- Intent over default — every token value, component variant, and layout choice has a reason tied to the design system's character
- Restraint over abundance — knowing what not to do (one accent color, not five; one display typeface, not three; generous whitespace over crowded layouts)
- Coherence over variety — every element reads as belonging to the same system, not a grab bag of UI patterns
- Opinion over safety — a design system with a strong point of view produces better output than one that tries to please everyone
The four sources of taste in emdesign:
- Brief inference (The Design Read) — extract intent from the user's words
- Three dials (Variance × Motion × Density) — tune the system's character
- Anti-default discipline — actively avoid AI-generated clichés
- Brand fingerprint — what makes this system distinct from every other system
2. The Three Dials (Design System Edition)
The three dials from taste-skill, recontextualized for design system work:
DESIGN_VARIANCE (1-10) — How opinionated are the token values?
Controls the boldness of every visual decision in the system.
| Range | Token Character | Color | Typography | Radius |
|---|
| 1-3 (Conventional) | Standard scale, safe values | 2-3 neutrals + 1 accent | System UI (Inter/SF) + 1 weight | 4-6px |
| 4-6 (Characterful) | One distinctive move | Warm/cool shift, 1-2 accents | UI sans + display serif/sans | 8-12px |
| 7-8 (Bold) | Strong opinion, unusual combos | High contrast, saturated accent | Custom display, expressive pairing | 16px+ or 0 |
| 9-10 (Avant-garde) | Extreme, provocative | Clashing/neon, duotone | Kinetic/experimental type | Variable/oversized |
MOTION_INTENSITY (1-10) — How much motion does the system use?
Controls duration, easing, and what properties animate.
| Range | Motion Profile | Durations | Easing | Scope |
|---|
| 1-3 (Static) | Instant transitions | 0-100ms | Linear | Only feedback (hover) |
| 4-6 (Purposeful) | Micro-interactions | 150-300ms | Ease-in-out | Feedback + state transitions |
| 7-8 (Expressive) | Delight-driven | 300-500ms | Custom spring | Layout, enter/exit, parallax |
| 9-10 (Kinetic) | Cinematic | 500ms+ | Physics/bounce | Page transitions, scroll-driven |
VISUAL_DENSITY (1-10) — How much information per view?
Controls spacing scale, type size, and information density.
| Range | Density Profile | Spacing Unit | Body Type | Padding |
|---|
| 1-3 (Airy) | Generous whitespace, editorial | 8-12px base | 18-20px | 48-64px sections |
| 4-6 (Balanced) | Comfortable reading | 4-8px base | 16-18px | 24-32px sections |
| 7-8 (Compact) | Efficient use of space | 2-4px base | 14-16px | 16-20px sections |
| 9-10 (Dense) | Data-rich, power-user | 2px base | 12-14px | 8-12px sections |
Setting Dials from a Brief
| Signal in Prompt | Variance | Motion | Density |
|---|
| "minimalist / clean / calm / editorial" | 4-5 | 2-3 | 2-3 |
| "premium / luxury / brand-forward" | 6-7 | 4-6 | 3-4 |
| "playful / experimental / agency" | 8-9 | 7-9 | 3-4 |
| "enterprise / B2B / professional" | 3-4 | 2-3 | 5-6 |
| "dark mode / tech / developer" | 5-6 | 4-5 | 4-5 |
| "warm / friendly / consumer" | 5-6 | 4-6 | 3-4 |
| "accessibility-first / public-sector" | 2-3 | 1-2 | 4-5 |
Default: 5 / 5 / 5 — balanced, characterful, purposeful motion, comfortable density.
3. The Design Read (Brief Inference)
Before generating anything, perform a design read:
"Reading this as: <system kind> for <audience>,
with a <vibe> language,
leaning toward <design system family>,
dials: V<variance> / M<motion> / D<density>"
Example reads:
- "Reading this as: editorial system for a literary magazine, with a warm paper-and-ink language, leaning toward serif display + generous whitespace, dials: V5 / M3 / D3"
- "Reading this as: SaaS system for B2B technical buyers, with a Linear-minimalist language, leaning toward Inter + restrained color, dials: V4 / M4 / D5"
- "Reading this as: experimental portfolio for a creative agency, with a high-contrast kinetic language, leaning toward variable type + bold accent, dials: V8 / M8 / D3"
Signals to extract from every prompt:
- System kind — editorial, SaaS, portfolio, e-commerce, dashboard, docs, brand
- Audience — consumers, enterprise, developers, designers, general public
- Vibe words — warm, cold, playful, serious, minimal, ornate, tech, organic
- Reference signals — brands, URLs, screenshots, competing products
- Quiet constraints — accessibility, localization, platform, performance
If the brief is ambiguous, ask one clarifying question. Never guess.
4. Design System Creation with Taste
When authoring a DESIGN.md, let the three dials guide every section:
§1 Visual Theme (driven by: vibe words + audience + variance)
- Low variance: "Clean, professional, readable. Convention with quality execution."
- High variance: "Provocative, memorable. Challenges expectations."
- Always give the theme an opinionated point of view — never "A modern design system."
§2 Color (driven by: variance + brand direction)
- Low variance: 2-3 neutrals + 1 accent. WCAG AAA across the board.
- Mid variance: Warm/cool palette, 1-2 accents. AA minimum, AAA for text.
- High variance: Unexpected combinations, saturated hero colors. Accept AA-only.
§3 Typography (driven by: variance + density)
- Low density: Larger body text (18-20px), generous leading (1.6-1.8)
- High density: Compact type (14-16px), tighter leading (1.4-1.5)
- Low variance: System sans + one weight
- High variance: Custom display + expressive pairing
§4 Spacing (driven by: density dial)
- Low density: 8px base unit, 64px section padding
- High density: 4px base unit, 16px section padding
- Let the spacing scale tell a story: tight internal, generous external
§5 Layout (driven by: variance)
- Low variance: Standard grid (12-column), centered content, predictable
- High variance: Asymmetric grids, broken layouts, intentional tension
§6 Components (driven by: full dial profile)
- Each component specification should reference the system's taste character
- Button radii, card padding, input height — all flow from the dials
§7 Motion (driven by: motion dial)
- Low: Instant transitions, no animation on critical path
- High: Scroll-triggered, parallax, spring physics
§8 Voice (driven by: audience + variance)
- Enterprise: Clear, direct, accessible
- Consumer: Warm, friendly, human
- Experimental: Bold, distinctive, memorable
§9 Anti-patterns (driven by: positive taste, inverted)
- What this system doesn't do is as important as what it does
- Each anti-pattern should map to a lint rule
5. Token Generation with Intent
When generating tokens.css, taste means:
- Semantic hierarchy:
--color-surface (bg), --color-surface-raised (card), --color-surface-overlay (modal). Don't invent flat lists.
- Spacing rhythm from the brief: An editorial system gets generous spacing (8px unit, large section gaps). A dashboard gets compact spacing (4px unit, tight internal).
- Radius as character: 4px = precise/corporate. 8px = friendly/consumer. 16px = playful/brand. 0 = serious/industrial. 9999px = approachable/SaaS.
- Accent budget: Exactly one accent color. Maybe a second for status. Never five.
- Font pairing logic: Display font → personality. Body font → readability. Mono font → technical credibility. Pair them with intentional contrast (serif display + sans body, or geometric sans + humanist sans).
- Shadow as depth, not decoration: 1-2 levels max. Subtle for UI, slightly more for overlays.
6. Anti-Slop Checklist for Design Systems
Actively avoid these AI-generated defaults:
- ❌ AI-purple gradients (indigo-500 → purple-600) — reached for first by every LLM
- ❌ Centered hero with three equal feature cards — the most common AI layout pattern
- ❌ Generic glassmorphism — frosted glass as a default decorative move
- ❌ Sans-only systems — LLMs rarely reach for serif, even when appropriate
- ❌ Inter + slate-900 — the default AI font stack (use it intentionally, not by habit)
- ❌ Accent overuse — accent color on every interactive element (buttons, links, icons, borders, badges)
- ❌ Placeholder copy — "Feature One", "Lorem ipsum", "© 2024" — real content shapes real design
- ❌ Emoji as icons — 🚀, ✨, 💡 used as primary iconography
- ❌ Over-elevation — 3+ shadow levels when 1-2 would do
- ❌ No dark mode consideration — generating only light mode as default, even for dark-first brands
7. Routing Table
| Task | Skill or Workflow |
|---|
| Generate DESIGN.md from prompt | workflow('ds-taste-profile', { prompt }) |
| Import a DESIGN.md | workflow('ds-import', { source }) |
| Scaffold tokens + primitives | workflow('ds-scaffold', { id, designMdPath }) |
| Build a new component | component-build skill |
| Edit an existing component | component-build with edit mode |
| Review component quality | design-review skill |
| Generate preview HTML | workflow('ds-generate-preview', { id }) |
| Extract brand tokens | brand-extract skill |
| Reason about color | color-expert skill |
| Manage DS lint rules | ds-lint-rules skill |
| Compile + export tokens | ds-compile skill |
| Audit visual quality | visual-quality skill |
8. Taste in Review
When reviewing output (components, DESIGN.md, previews), evaluate against these criteria:
- Does this have a point of view? — could it belong to any brand, or does it feel specific?
- Is there an intentional hierarchy? — visual weight, spacing, and color should guide the eye
- Are the defaults challenged? — is this just another centered card layout with purple gradient?
- Would a designer approve this? — not just "is it technically correct" but "does it look good?"
- Is the accent used sparingly? — accent should be the spice, not the main ingredient
