Frontend judgment

Frontend Judgment

Overview

Feel like a senior frontend engineer: decide with the user, then build. Do not dump a generic UI for blank-canvas work. This skill is a short gate before design-tokens / ui-components / etc.

Exploration ideas adapted from design-lab (axes, inspiration, style inference) — without a temporary /__design_lab route or multi-phase interview.

When to use (mandatory gate)

Run this before domain skills when any of these apply:

• New page, screen, flow, or blank-canvas layout
• Unspecified information architecture / navigation / density
• Marketing / landing page without a section recipe → load marketing-landing after approaches (or with “langsung saja”)
• Multiple reasonable visual or interaction directions
• User ask is vague for a new screen (“bikin dashboard”, “UI modern”) — not mere “rapihin” on existing UI (that’s ui-feel / ui-quality-loop)

When to skip

• Clear bugfix with known expected behavior
• Tiny change (one component prop, one token color, copy tweak)
• User already chose a direction or said “langsung saja” / “just implement”
• Pure /design audit with no implementation request
• Follow-up turn continuing an already-approved plan
• User only wants micro polish on existing UI (“rapihin detail”, “feels off”) → use ui-feel
• User wants iterate until audit-clean (“sampai bagus”) → use ui-quality-loop, which may call judgment only on first blank-canvas pass

Workflow

0. Quick context (silent — no questions yet)

• If DESIGN_MEMORY.md exists in the project root, read it and honor captured tone/density/patterns
• Note whether the project already has tokens / a component library (feeds step 4 handoff)

1. Clarify only if blocked (max 1–2 questions)

Ask only what changes the design. Prefer multiple choice. Do not run a full design-lab interview.

Good single questions (pick at most two total):

Topic	Example options
Density	Compact · Comfortable · Spacious
Context	Desktop-first · Mobile-first · Both
Pain (redesign)	Cluttered · Unclear hierarchy · Weak mobile · Outdated
Inspiration	Linear density · Stripe clarity · Notion flexibility · Apple space

Skip questions you can infer from the repo or DESIGN_MEMORY.md.

2. Offer 2–3 approaches on distinct axes

Do not offer three near-identical skins. Each option should explore a different axis (from design-lab variant thinking):

Axis	Explores
Hierarchy	What is primary? Gestalt grouping; one primary action
Layout model	Card vs list vs table vs split-pane / sidebar
Density	Compact vs comfortable vs spacious (using project spacing tokens)
Interaction	Modal vs inline vs drawer vs page; progressive disclosure
Expression	How far to push brand (borders vs soft depth, motion amount) — still on-token

Present 2–3 options (not 5 coded mocks). Label each with its axis.

For each option:

• Name + axis (short)
• What it looks/behaves like (1–2 sentences)
• Tradeoff (clarity, density, a11y, ship cost)
• Mark one recommendation and why (1 sentence)

3. Wait for a clear choice

• Affirmative on one option → proceed
• Hedged → pick recommended and state that, or one tight confirm
• “Langsung saja” → pick recommendation and build

4. Hand off

After direction is set:

1. Style inference (for design-tokens / build) — if a project system exists:
   • Read Tailwind theme / :root / theme file
   • Skim 2–3 existing buttons, cards, forms for padding, radius, shadow, type
   • Do not invent a parallel visual language
2. Token source — walk the decision tree in references/token-preset-scoring.md (custom → explicit → Plasma hard-gate → score). Judgment sets axes/signals; it does not pick a preset by vibe. Include Token score / hard-gate / project system in the handoff.
3. Load: design-tokens → (+ shell/data/forms) → ui-components → responsive-ui → motion (light) → anti-ai-slop → ui-feel → accessibility (+ frontend-testing / fe-seo if in scope)

Optional short handoff note (when exploration was non-trivial):

## Build plan (brief)
- Axis chosen: …
- Files likely touched: …
- States: loading / empty / error / …
- Tokens: <project system | explicit | hard-gate | scored preset + n/24>
- Responsive: 320/768/1024/1440

Do not re-litigate the approach mid-build unless new constraints appear.

Hierarchy pass (ship gate — post-build)

Before DONE / Conventions check, verify the built surface against this checklist. Theory: references/ux-foundations.md, axes: references/design-axes.md.

Check	Pass when
One primary focus	One clear focal element per view (not three competing heroes)
One primary CTA	One dominant action; secondary actions quieter (weight/contrast/position)
Weight before decoration	Size, weight, contrast, position establish order — not badges/glow/extra chrome
One job per section	Each section: one purpose, one headline, usually one short supporting line
Gestalt grouping	Related items closer; sections farther; same style = same kind
No equal-weight noise	Avoid same padding/gap/type size on primary vs tertiary

Report in Conventions when auditing: Hierarchy: pass (or list fails). Missing hierarchy on blank-canvas / polish → treat as Needs Work on Visual Hierarchy.

Typography ladder (ship gate)

Pair with ui-feel / anti-ai-slop. Full anti-patterns: references/anti-patterns.md.

Check	Pass when
Families	≤2 type families (project tokens)
One h1	Exactly one <h1> (or page title role) per page
Ladder	h1 → h2 → h3 → body without skipping levels for style
Roles via tokens	Heading/body/muted/label use type tokens — not random rem sizes
Measure	Body ~60–75ch where long-form; product chrome may be narrower
Mobile scale	Inputs ≥16px; heading jumps not extreme (no 3rem title crushing a 320px form)

Quick decision check

When stuck between options, prefer the one that is: clear · fast · consistent · accessible · calm · specific · recoverable.

Expert voice (do / don't)

Do:

• Push back on AI-slop defaults with a better alternative
• Prefer content and hierarchy over decoration
• Name tradeoffs honestly
• Reference concrete inspiration (“Linear-like density”) when it helps

Don't:

• Block on slash commands
• Ask more than 2 questions up front
• Offer 5+ options or five full coded variants by default
• Start a temporary design-lab route unless the user explicitly asks to explore in-browser
• Start coding blank-canvas UI before a direction is set (unless skip rules apply)

Output template (before build)

## Approaches
**A — … (axis: hierarchy)** … Tradeoff: …
**B — … (axis: density)** … Tradeoff: …  ← recommended: …
**C — … (axis: interaction)** (optional) …

## Recommendation
…

## Need from you
Pick A/B/C (or say “go with recommended”).

Checklist

• Direction chosen (or skip rules applied) before domain skills
• Handoff includes tokens + Responsive breakpoints
• Hierarchy pass completed on built surface
• Typography ladder (one h1, no skipped levels, token roles)
• Build plan notes states (loading / empty / error) when non-trivial

Depth

Lifecycle A→Z: references/fe-lifecycle.md.
Axes + memory convention: references/design-axes.md.
Token preset scoring: references/token-preset-scoring.md.
UX/UI theory + color for products: references/ux-foundations.md (wire hierarchy/type here into ship gates above).
Anti-patterns: anti-ai-slop + references/anti-patterns.md.
Domain how-to stays in the other skills.