UI Design Skill

Atomic Skill: Create visually compelling and systematic user interfaces

Purpose

This skill provides structured approaches to visual design, design systems, and component creation.

Skill Invocation

Skill("custom-plugin-ux-design:ui-design")

Parameter Schema

Input Parameters

interface UIDesignParams {
  // Required
  task: "visual" | "system" | "component" | "typography" | "color";
  scope: string;

  // Optional
  brand?: {
    colors?: string[];
    fonts?: string[];
    guidelines_url?: string;
  };
  platform?: "web" | "mobile" | "desktop" | "cross-platform";
  constraints?: {
    accessibility_level?: "AA" | "AAA";
    dark_mode?: boolean;
  };
}

Validation Rules

task:
  type: enum
  required: true
  values: [visual, system, component, typography, color]

scope:
  type: string
  required: true
  min_length: 5

platform:
  type: enum
  default: "web"
  values: [web, mobile, desktop, cross-platform]

Execution Flow

UI DESIGN EXECUTION
────────────────────────────────────────────

Step 1: ANALYZE REQUIREMENTS
├── Parse brand guidelines
├── Identify constraints
└── Define design scope

Step 2: ESTABLISH FOUNDATIONS
├── Define design tokens
├── Set up grid system
└── Create base styles

Step 3: CREATE COMPONENTS
├── Design atomic elements
├── Build component variants
└── Document specifications

Step 4: COMPOSE LAYOUTS
├── Apply visual hierarchy
├── Ensure consistency
└── Optimize for platform

Step 5: VALIDATE & HANDOFF
├── Check accessibility
├── Generate specifications
└── Prepare assets

────────────────────────────────────────────

Retry Logic

retry_config:
  max_attempts: 3
  backoff_type: exponential
  initial_delay_ms: 1000
  max_delay_ms: 10000
  retryable_errors:
    - ASSET_GENERATION_FAILED
    - TOKEN_SYNC_ERROR
    - EXPORT_INTERRUPTED

Logging Hooks

interface DesignLog {
  timestamp: string;
  event: "start" | "token_created" | "component_built" | "error" | "complete";
  task: string;
  tokens_defined: number;
  components_created: number;
  accessibility_score: number;
}

Learning Modules

Module 1: Visual Hierarchy

VISUAL HIERARCHY PRINCIPLES
├── Size and scale
├── Color and contrast
├── Typography weight
├── Spacing and proximity
├── Alignment and grids
└── Visual flow patterns

Module 2: Design Tokens

TOKEN ARCHITECTURE
├── Primitive tokens (raw values)
│   ├── Colors: #hex values
│   ├── Spacing: px/rem values
│   └── Typography: font specs
├── Semantic tokens (purpose)
│   ├── color-text-primary
│   ├── spacing-component-gap
│   └── font-heading-lg
└── Component tokens (scoped)
    ├── button-background
    ├── card-padding
    └── input-border-color

Module 3: Component Design

COMPONENT ANATOMY
├── Base state
├── Hover state
├── Active state
├── Focus state
├── Disabled state
├── Loading state
└── Error state

COMPONENT VARIANTS
├── Size variants (sm, md, lg)
├── Style variants (primary, secondary)
└── Context variants (dark, light)

Module 4: Typography Systems

TYPE SCALE DESIGN
├── Base size selection (16px)
├── Scale ratio (1.25 major third)
├── Heading hierarchy
├── Body text styles
├── Caption and labels
└── Responsive adjustments

FONT PAIRING
├── Primary font (headings)
├── Secondary font (body)
└── Monospace (code)

Module 5: Color Systems

COLOR ARCHITECTURE
├── Brand colors
│   ├── Primary
│   ├── Secondary
│   └── Accent
├── Neutral palette
│   ├── Gray scale
│   └── Background/surface
├── Semantic colors
│   ├── Success (green)
│   ├── Warning (yellow)
│   ├── Error (red)
│   └── Info (blue)
└── State colors
    ├── Hover variations
    ├── Active variations
    └── Disabled variations

Error Handling

Error Code	Description	Recovery
UI-001	Token undefined	Add to token system
UI-002	Contrast failure	Suggest accessible colors
UI-003	Component orphaned	Link to design system
UI-004	Grid misalignment	Snap to grid
UI-005	Asset export failed	Retry with fallback format

Troubleshooting

Problem: Design inconsistency

Diagnosis:
├── Check: Token usage
├── Check: Component variants
├── Check: Manual overrides
└── Solution: Audit and standardize

Steps:
1. Extract all style values
2. Compare to token definitions
3. Replace hardcoded values
4. Update component library

Problem: Dark mode issues

Diagnosis:
├── Check: Semantic color mapping
├── Check: Contrast in dark mode
├── Check: Image/icon adaptation
└── Solution: Separate dark tokens

Steps:
1. Create dark mode token set
2. Map semantic colors
3. Test all components
4. Adjust problem areas

Unit Test Templates

describe("UIDesignSkill", () => {
  describe("token generation", () => {
    it("should create valid color tokens", async () => {
      const result = await invoke({
        task: "color",
        scope: "primary palette"
      });
      expect(result.tokens.colors).toBeDefined();
      expect(result.tokens.colors.primary).toMatch(/^#[0-9A-F]{6}$/i);
    });
  });

  describe("accessibility compliance", () => {
    it("should meet AA contrast requirements", async () => {
      const result = await invoke({
        task: "color",
        constraints: { accessibility_level: "AA" }
      });
      expect(result.contrast_ratio).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(4.5);
    });
  });

  describe("component specification", () => {
    it("should include all states", async () => {
      const result = await invoke({
        task: "component",
        scope: "button"
      });
      const states = ["default", "hover", "active", "focus", "disabled"];
      states.forEach(state => {
        expect(result.component.states).toContain(state);
      });
    });
  });
});

Quality Metrics

Metric	Target	Measurement
Token coverage	> 95%	Styles using tokens
Accessibility	100%	AA compliance
Component reuse	> 80%	Instances vs customs
Consistency score	> 95%	Design audit

Version History

Version	Date	Changes
1.0.0	2025-12-30	Production-grade upgrade