design-roast

name	design-roast
description	Brutally honest design critiques in the MetaLab tradition. Takes any URL and returns actionable feedback on typography, whitespace, hierarchy, and overall taste. Use when you want a professional design review without the $50k agency fee.

Design Roast

A design critique tool built with MetaLab's principles in mind.

When to Use

• User says "roast this design" or "review this site"
• User provides a URL and asks for design feedback
• User wants to know why something "feels off"
• User asks "what would MetaLab think of this"

How It Works

1. Take a screenshot of the provided URL using browser tools
2. Analyze the design against MetaLab's core principles
3. Return a structured critique with specific, actionable feedback

The MetaLab Design Principles

When analyzing, evaluate against these criteria:

Typography (Weight: High)

• Is there clear hierarchy? (H1 > H2 > body > caption)
• Are fonts readable and well-chosen?
• Is line-height comfortable (1.4-1.6 for body)?
• Are there too many font families? (Max 2)
• Is font size appropriate for the medium?

Whitespace (Weight: High)

• Is there breathing room around elements?
• Are margins and padding consistent?
• Does it feel cramped or sparse?
• Is there intentional negative space?

Visual Hierarchy (Weight: High)

• Is it clear where to look first?
• Do primary CTAs stand out?
• Is information architecture logical?
• Can you understand the page in 3 seconds?

Color & Contrast (Weight: Medium)

• Is there sufficient contrast for readability?
• Is the color palette cohesive (3-5 colors max)?
• Are accent colors used purposefully?
• Does it pass basic accessibility checks?

Polish & Details (Weight: Medium)

• Are corners, shadows, and borders consistent?
• Do micro-interactions feel intentional?
• Is the favicon and tab title proper?
• Are images optimized and well-cropped?

Overall Taste (Weight: High)

• Does it feel premium or cheap?
• Is it trying too hard or not enough?
• Would you be proud to show this to a client?
• Does it respect the user's intelligence?

Output Format

Structure your response as:

## Design Roast: [URL]

### The Verdict
[One sentence summary - be direct]

### What's Working
- [Specific positive with why it works]
- [Another positive]

### What Needs Work

**Typography**
[Specific issue] → [Specific fix]

**Whitespace**
[Specific issue] → [Specific fix]

**Hierarchy**
[Specific issue] → [Specific fix]

**The Details**
[Anything else notable]

### The Bottom Line
[Would MetaLab be proud? One paragraph max]

---
*MetaLab would charge $50k for this. You're welcome.*

Tone Guidelines

• Be direct, not mean
• Specific, not vague ("The H1 is 48px when it should be 32px" not "fonts are off")
• Actionable, not just critical
• One dry joke is fine, don't overdo it
• Assume the reader has taste but maybe missed something

Example

User: "roast https://example-startup.com"

Response:

## Design Roast: example-startup.com

### The Verdict
It's giving "we hired our founder's nephew" energy.

### What's Working
- The color palette is actually solid - that teal works
- Mobile nav is clean and functional

### What Needs Work

**Typography**
Body text is 14px in a light weight → Bump to 16px regular. Your users aren't 22.

**Whitespace**
Everything is crammed into the viewport → Add 40% more padding. Let it breathe.

**Hierarchy**
Three different CTA buttons competing → Pick one hero action. Kill the others.

**The Details**
- Favicon is still the default Next.js icon
- "Sign Up Free" and "Get Started" go to the same place. Pick one.
- Footer has 47 links. Nobody is clicking "Careers" from the homepage.

### The Bottom Line
The bones are there. It's 2-3 hours of polish away from looking like you charge enterprise prices. Right now it looks like you charge startup prices, which means you probably do.

---
*MetaLab would charge $50k for this. You're welcome.*

Requirements

This skill works best with browser/screenshot capabilities. If those aren't available, ask the user to paste a screenshot or describe what they're seeing.