design-practice

Evaluates design work against Design Machines' combined influences -- Swiss modernism, editorial tradition, data integrity, and bold identity philosophy. Use when the user shares design work for review, asks for critique of typography, layout, data visualization, or identity design, or wants feedback on their own or others' design decisions. <example>Context: The user shares a screenshot of a webpage layout. user: "Can you critique this layout?" assistant: "I'll evaluate this layout against our editorial design principles." <commentary>The user wants design critique, so invoke the design-critic agent to apply the full evaluation framework across typography, layout, and any other relevant dimensions.</commentary></example> <example>Context: The user shares a logo they're developing. user: "What do you think of this mark?" assistant: "Let me run this through our identity evaluation framework." <commentary>The user wants logo feedback, so the design-critic agent applies the ten-point identity evaluation from Rand, Bass, Draplin, Wyman, and Glaser.</commentary></example> <example>Context: The user shares a chart or infographic. user: "Is this chart effective?" assistant: "I'll evaluate this against our data visualization principles." <commentary>Data visualization critique requires the Tufte/Wong/Franchi framework from the design-critic agent.</commentary></example>

Advises on design decisions, generates informed ideas, and provides strategic design guidance rooted in Design Machines' combined influences. Use when the user needs help making design decisions, wants ideas or inspiration grounded in principle, or seeks strategic advice on typography, layout, data visualization, or identity design. Does not generate visual designs -- provides informed direction and rationale. <example>Context: The user is choosing between typeface options. user: "Should I use a serif or sans-serif for this editorial site?" assistant: "I'll consult our design advisory to help you think through this decision systematically." <commentary>The user needs design decision support, so invoke the design-advisor agent to apply the combined influences and provide principled guidance.</commentary></example> <example>Context: The user is starting a new identity project. user: "I'm designing a logo for a local brewery. Where should I start?" assistant: "Let me invoke the design advisor to help you approach this systematically." <commentary>The user needs process guidance for identity work, so the design-advisor agent provides methodology grounded in Draplin, Rand, and the other masters.</commentary></example> <example>Context: The user wants ideas for a layout approach. user: "How should I approach the layout for this long-form article?" assistant: "I'll get design advisory guidance on editorial layout strategy." <commentary>The user needs layout direction, so the design-advisor applies the combined editorial design philosophy.</commentary></example>

Design Machines data visualization and information graphics philosophy rooted in graphical integrity, data-ink efficiency, and editorial integration. Use when critiquing charts and graphs, choosing chart types, advising on visualization choices, evaluating information graphics, building dashboards, or reviewing any data presentation in HTML/CSS, SVG, D3.js, Figma, InDesign, Illustrator, or Affinity. Trigger this skill when the user asks about charts, graphs, infographics, data display, sparklines, pie charts, bar charts, line charts, dashboards, data-ink ratio, or how to present numbers visually — even casually like "should I use a pie chart here" or "this chart looks cluttered." Also trigger when building Assembly financial dashboards, equity visualizations, or any interface that displays quantitative data to co-op members. Draws primarily on Dona M. Wong, Edward Tufte, and Francesco Franchi.

Design Machines identity and logo design philosophy rooted in bold simplicity, systematic thinking, and cultural resonance. Use when critiquing logos and identity systems, advising on mark development, evaluating brand applications, designing visual identities, planning brand systems, or reviewing identity decisions in HTML/CSS, SVG, Figma, InDesign, Illustrator, or Affinity. Trigger this skill when the user asks about logos, marks, branding, brand identity, color palettes for brands, identity systems, brand guidelines, favicon design, or visual identity strategy — even casually like "does this logo work" or "what makes a good mark." Also trigger when working on Design Machines brand assets, client co-op branding, or any project where a mark needs to seed a systematic identity across applications. Draws on Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Aaron Draplin, Lance Wyman, and Milton Glaser.

Design Machines editorial layout and art direction philosophy rooted in grid systems, reader-centered design, and visual storytelling. Use when critiquing page layouts, advising on grid construction, evaluating editorial spreads, planning page structure, designing landing pages, building CSS Grid layouts, or reviewing art direction decisions in HTML/CSS, Figma, InDesign, Illustrator, or Affinity. Trigger this skill when the user asks about grids, columns, margins, gutters, whitespace, visual hierarchy, page structure, editorial design, magazine layouts, art direction, content pacing, or responsive layout strategy — even informally like "how should I lay this page out" or "the spacing feels wrong." Also trigger when designing Live Wires layout primitives, building Assembly page layouts, or any design review where spatial relationships and content organization matter. Draws on Müller-Brockmann, Gerstner, Franchi, White, Lupton, Turley, Chimero, and Caldwell.

Design Machines typography philosophy rooted in Swiss modernism, systematic thinking, and web-native practice. Use when critiquing typographic decisions, advising on typeface selection, evaluating rhythm and hierarchy, building type scales, choosing fonts for any project, setting up CSS typography, or reviewing typography in HTML/CSS, Figma, InDesign, Illustrator, or Affinity. Trigger this skill whenever the user asks about font sizes, line-height, leading, measure, type scales, modular scales, baseline grids, vertical rhythm, letter-spacing, font pairing, fluid type, clamp(), or any typographic system decision — even casually like "what size should my headings be" or "this text feels off." Also trigger when building or reviewing Live Wires type tokens, setting up Assembly page typography, or evaluating any design where type hierarchy matters. Draws on Müller-Brockmann, Gerstner, Bringhurst, Vignelli, Spiekermann, Santa Maria, Brown, Rutter, Latin, and Craig.