Design method

<!-- Grounding: grounding-corpus.md §A (impeccable anatomy — thin router, Register, dials, Absolute bans, 2-level slop test), §G (root-cause fix: template reproduction demoted, register-first), §H (kept anchors: Gate 0, Signature Dominance, Focal-Block Floor, Competitor Lift Test, MOTION_INTENSITY). -->

Design Method — The Core

This is the one place the design pipeline is defined. The agent (agents/design-expert.md) always loads this file before dispatching to a move; every references/register/*.md and references/moves/*.md file assumes you've read this first and references it instead of restating it — if a rule elsewhere contradicts this file, this file wins.

Setup

How this core gets loaded, every time, no exceptions:

1. Read this file once per task — not once per move, once per task. If a second move runs later in the same task and nothing about the Register or the codebase changed, don't re-read it.
2. Read ../design-system/SKILL.md — always, unconditionally, before anything else below. It's a thin, pointer-only file, cheap to reload; this exact read is also the harness's phase-1 trigger, so it happens even on a task that turns out to need no new token. Existing design-system.md tokens still win over its defaults once resolved.
3. Resolve Register (below), then write the Design Read + 3 dials one-liner.
4. Pass Gate 0 — Brief Lock (below) before touching any HTML/CSS/tokens.
5. Read the ONE matched references/moves/<move>.md from the Routing table — not two, not a skim of several to "compare." The move file owns the how; this file only owns the gate and the pointer.
6. If the move builds or touches code, the Register also gates which references/register/{brand,product}.md floors apply — read that file too, once.

Register

Resolve before anything else downstream — brand vs product gates every floor (Signature Dominance, Focal-Block Floor, tone bounds, motion budget, the dial presets below). Never default silently.

• brand — one dominant, expressive message: marketing site, launch page, identity.
• product — dense, predictable, motion stays discreet: dashboard, SaaS tool, utility screen.

Priority order (fixed, first match wins):

1. The owner states it explicitly.
2. An existing design-system.md/PRODUCT.md already classifies it.
3. Inferable from the concrete surface (dashboard/settings/internal tool → product; landing/marketing/campaign/identity → brand).
4. Still unclear → ask ONE question. Never guess past this point.

Once resolved, load references/register/brand.md or references/register/product.md — each carries the register-specific floors, tone bounds, and motion budget for that lane. For copy/microcopy tone by register, load references/register/copy.md (used by ux-copy and by any move that touches user-facing text, regardless of which move it is).

Design Read + the 3 dials

Before any palette/font/layout choice, state one line:

Design Read: {page kind} for {audience}; vibe = {2-4 adjectives}; assets = {existing brand assets or "none"}; constraints = {quiet constraints or "none"}.

Then set the 3 numeric dials it implies — contractual inputs for every step after this one, not decoration:

Dial	1	10
DESIGN_VARIANCE	rigid, symmetrical, conventional	highly art-directed, asymmetric
VISUAL_DENSITY	airy, gallery-like, calm	packed, information-dense
MOTION_INTENSITY	static / near-still	cinematic, scroll-driven

Full preset-by-use-case table, partial-brief fallbacks, and MOTION_INTENSITY qualitative bands (calm <4 / expressive 4–7 / cinematic >7): read ../design-system/references/design-read-dials.md — mechanics live there, don't restate them here. The brief always overrides any default; an unresolvable dial uses the documented fallback and says so in the Design Read line, never a silent guess.

Gate 0 — Brief Lock

Before routing to any target skill — before writing or modifying a single line of HTML/CSS/tokens — four artefacts must exist in writing, not just in your head:

0. Register — resolved above, stated explicitly (not defaulted).
1. Tone committed to ONE extreme — not an adjective that could also describe three competitors. Produced by the matched move (generate derives it from the brief; refinement moves inherit it from the existing surface and state it explicitly). FULL scope + brand register only: produced by the Exploration Gate — 3 divergent, text-only direction sketches judged comparatively by fuse-ai-pilot:challenger — instead of a single fiat pick; mechanics and fallback in references/moves/generate.md (before its Step 1). Every other scope/register combination (product, or FULL/PAGE/COMPONENT/MOBILE outside brand) keeps the direct single-fiat pick — no exploration, no added cost.
2. Signature element (brand register) or primary task (product register) named in one sentence.
3. At least one concrete reference (a URL, a screenshot) supplied or found — OR the mandatory browse in design-web/references/design-inspiration.md actually executed, not merely planned.

This is a present/absent check on four named artefacts — structural, not a taste judgment. One missing ⇒ generation or modification is forbidden until it exists. The mechanics of producing artefacts 1–2 (the brief questions, the signature element, the two-pass critique) live in references/moves/generate.md, not here — this section is only the checkpoint every move respects before it's allowed to touch code.

Design guidance

Dense and general — the taste rules specific to one move live in that move's file, not here. These apply regardless of which move is running.

Absolute bans

Match-and-refuse, unconditional across both registers — not a statistical reflex to weigh, a hard stop. If you're about to write any of these, rewrite the element with a different structure, never a variation on the same idea.

• Side-stripe borders — border-left/border-right >1px as a colored accent on cards, list items, callouts, or alerts. Rewrite with full borders, background tints, leading numbers/icons, or nothing.
• Gradient text — background-clip: text combined with a gradient background. Decorative, never meaningful. Single solid color; emphasis via weight or size.
• Glassmorphism as default — blurs/glass cards used decoratively rather than rare and purposeful, or nothing.
• The hero-metric template — big number, small label, supporting stats, gradient accent. SaaS cliché; see register/brand.md §2 "Ribbon 4-stats" furniture for the fix.
• Identical card grids — same-sized cards, icon + heading + text, repeated endlessly.
• Modal as first thought — modals are usually laziness. Exhaust inline/progressive alternatives first.
• Em dash in copy — commas, colons, semicolons, periods, or parentheses instead. Also not --.

Deterministic grep companions for the structural ones (side-stripe, identical grids, nested cards, icon-bento): design-review/references/anti-ai-slop-audit.md.

The AI-slop test — 2 levels

If someone could look at this interface and say "AI made that" without doubt, it's failed. Run at two altitudes — the second catches what the first misses. Cross-register failures are the Absolute bans above; register-specific failures live in each register/*.md.

First-order — category reflex. If someone could guess the theme + palette from the category alone, it's the first training-data reflex:

1. Cream #F4F1EA + a contrasted serif + terracotta accent — the default "editorial SaaS" look.
2. Near-black background + one acid accent color — the default "dark developer tool" look.
3. Broadsheet hairlines, zero border-radius, black/white only — the default "premium minimal" look.
4. Glassmorphism + rounded-2xl used globally — the default "2026 AI app" look, applied everywhere instead of gated (design-motion gates it deliberately).
5. Generic icon-bento — every cell centered text over a round colored-icon badge, zero image/gradient/pattern variation between cells.

Rework the Design Read's vibe words and the color strategy (design-system §Color strategy) until the answer isn't obvious from the category — "observability → dark blue", "healthcare → white + teal", "finance → navy + gold", "crypto → neon on black" are all this tier. Purple-on-white gradients are banned outright regardless of tier — the single most common tell.

Second-order — category-plus-anti-reference trap. The first reflex was avoided, but if someone could still guess the aesthetic family from category-plus-anti-references — "AI workflow tool that's not SaaS-cream → editorial-typographic", "fintech that's not navy-and-gold → terminal-native dark mode" — it's the trap one tier deeper. Rework until neither answer is obvious. Register-specific reflex-reject aesthetic lanes: register/brand.md and register/product.md.

Deterministic grep detectors cover the first-order clusters plus the Absolute bans; the second-order trap is judgment, checked at the challenger gate (design-review/references/review-procedure.md), not grep-lintable.

Macrostructure variety

Centered hero + 3-column icon-card grid is forbidden as a default skeleton. Pick a different one from references/macrostructure-bank.md before any plan is finalized and name it explicitly — the same "vary every time" discipline design-web/references/design-inspiration.md applies to inspiration sourcing, one level up, applied to the chosen page skeleton.

Non-negotiable floor

Regardless of tone, register, target, or move, every deliverable must have: responsive behavior across the target's breakpoints/size classes; visible keyboard focus on every interactive element (:focus-visible, never suppressed); prefers-reduced-motion respected wherever motion is added.

Generation approach

Generate HTML/CSS directly — the default and primary path, following the same method as Anthropic's official frontend-design skill (commit to a point of view, avoid templated defaults, verify with tools not vibes). Gemini Design MCP, Magic (21st.dev), and shadcn MCP are optional tools of convenience — never a requirement, native direct generation is always the fallback. Mobile targets (design-ios, design-android) never generate SwiftUI or Compose — they produce token specs, an HTML device-framed mockup, and a handoff spec for the platform developer.

Frozen taste data — canonical home, read from source, never restated

Concern	Path
Token strategy (color/type/spacing) + design-system.md format	skills/design-system/SKILL.md
Sector palettes	skills/design-system/references/sector-palettes.md
Typography pairs	skills/design-system/references/typography-pairs.md
OKLCH color mechanics	skills/design-system/references/oklch-system.md
Forbidden fonts (canonical)	skills/design-system/references/forbidden-fonts.md
Buttons	skills/design-web/references/buttons-guide.md
Cards	skills/design-web/references/cards-guide.md
Spacing / density	skills/design-system/references/spacing-density.md
Layout hard rules	skills/design-web/references/layout-discipline.md
Visual design technique	skills/design-web/references/ui-visual-design.md
Macrostructure skeletons	skills/design-method/references/macrostructure-bank.md
Premium layout patterns	skills/design-web/references/premium-patterns/PATTERNS.md
Component composition	skills/design-web/references/component-composition-ref.md
Inspiration browsing	skills/design-web/references/design-inspiration.md (+ -urls.md)

Routing

1. Read ../design-system/SKILL.md (Setup step 2 above) — this is the first step of routing, not optional, not conditional on whether design-system.md already exists.

Moves — the one file each dispatches to owns the step-by-step procedure and the report template; read it, don't reinvent it.

#	Move	When to use	File
2	generate	Nothing built yet — new page, app screen, component, or mobile mockup	references/moves/generate.md
3	critique	UX design review of an existing surface — hierarchy, clarity, emotional resonance	references/moves/critique.md
4	audit	Technical quality pass — a11y, contrast, responsive, token adherence	references/moves/audit.md
5	bolder	Design reads as timid/generic for its committed tone — commit harder, don't add elements	references/moves/bolder.md
6	quieter	Design reads as loud/overloaded — dial back intensity	references/moves/quieter.md
7	distill	Design reads as overloaded with elements — strip to essence	references/moves/distill.md
8	harden	Error states, i18n, text overflow, edge cases missing	references/moves/harden.md
9	polish	Final pass before shipping — design-system alignment, last-mile detail	references/moves/polish.md
10	redesign	Total redesign/refonte of an EXISTING surface — rethink structure/layout/typography/composition from scratch, keep the existing color palette, never copy-paste the old design	references/moves/redesign.md

Target skill chain — which skill(s) the matched move (typically generate) routes into next, per platform, once design-system/SKILL.md has already been read (step 1):

Platform	Chain
Web (marketing/landing)	design-web → design-motion → design-review
Web app (dashboard/SaaS)	design-webapp → design-motion → design-review
iOS	design-ios → design-review
Android	design-android → design-review
Copy only	ux-copy (any point in the pipeline)

Scope (FULL / PAGE / COMPONENT / MOBILE — how much browsing and audit depth a generate run needs) is resolved inside references/moves/generate.md, not here.

Next

Read the matched move file from the Routing table above. Token/contrast mechanics live in design-system (already read at step 1); the final quality gate — deterministic checks + the challenger gate — lives in design-review.