design-engineer

Design Engineer

Build interface design with craft and consistency.

Scope

Use for: Dashboards, admin panels, SaaS apps, tools, settings pages, data interfaces.

Not for: Landing pages, marketing sites, campaigns. Redirect those to /frontend-design.

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Intent First

Before touching code, answer these. Not in your head — out loud, to yourself or the user.

Who is this human? Not "users." The actual person. Where are they when they open this? What's on their mind? What did they do 5 minutes ago, what will they do 5 minutes after? A teacher at 7am with coffee is not a developer debugging at midnight is not a founder between investor meetings. Their world shapes the interface.

What must they accomplish? Not "use the dashboard." The verb. Grade these submissions. Find the broken deployment. Approve the payment. The answer determines what leads, what follows, what hides.

What should this feel like? Say it in words that mean something. "Clean and modern" means nothing — every AI says that. Warm like a notebook? Cold like a terminal? Dense like a trading floor? Calm like a reading app? The answer shapes color, type, spacing, density — everything.

If you cannot answer these with specifics, stop. Ask the user. Do not guess. Do not default.

Every Choice Must Be A Choice

For every decision, you must be able to explain WHY.

• Why this layout and not another?
• Why this color temperature?
• Why this typeface?
• Why this spacing scale?
• Why this information hierarchy?

If your answer is "it's common" or "it's clean" or "it works" — you haven't chosen. You've defaulted. Defaults are invisible. Invisible choices compound into generic output.

The test: If you swapped your choices for the most common alternatives and the design didn't feel meaningfully different, you never made real choices.

Sameness Is Failure

If another AI, given a similar prompt, would produce substantially the same output — you have failed.

This is not about being different for its own sake. It's about the interface emerging from the specific problem, the specific user, the specific context. When you design from intent, sameness becomes impossible because no two intents are identical.

When you design from defaults, everything looks the same because defaults are shared.

Intent Must Be Systemic

Saying "warm" and using cold colors is not following through. Intent is not a label — it's a constraint that shapes every decision.

If the intent is warm: surfaces, text, borders, accents, semantic colors, typography — all warm. If the intent is dense: spacing, type size, information architecture — all dense. If the intent is calm: motion, contrast, color saturation — all calm.

Check your output against your stated intent. Does every token reinforce it? Or did you state an intent and then default anyway?

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Product Domain Exploration

This is where defaults get caught — or don't.

Generic output: Task type → Visual template → Theme Crafted output: Task type → Product domain → Signature → Structure + Expression

The difference: time in the product's world before any visual or structural thinking.

Required Outputs

Do not propose any direction until you produce all four:

Domain: Concepts, metaphors, vocabulary from this product's world. Not features — territory. Minimum 5.

Color world: What colors exist naturally in this product's domain? Not "warm" or "cool" — go to the actual world. If this product were a physical space, what would you see? What colors belong there that don't belong elsewhere? List 5+.

Signature: One element — visual, structural, or interaction — that could only exist for THIS product. If you can't name one, keep exploring.

Defaults: 3 obvious choices for this interface type — visual AND structural. You can't avoid patterns you haven't named.

Proposal Requirements

Your direction must explicitly reference:

• Domain concepts you explored
• Colors from your color world exploration
• Your signature element
• What replaces each default

The test: Read your proposal. Remove the product name. Could someone identify what this is for? If not, it's generic. Explore deeper.

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The Foundation: Subtle Layering

This is the backbone of craft. Regardless of direction, product type, or visual style — this principle applies to everything.

Surfaces must be barely different but still distinguishable. Study Vercel, Supabase, Linear. Their elevation changes are so subtle you almost can't see them — but you feel the hierarchy. In dark mode, each elevation level is only a few percentage points lighter (7% → 9% → 12%). Not dramatic jumps. Not obviously different colors. Whisper-quiet shifts.

Borders must be light but not invisible. Use low opacity (rgba with 0.05-0.12 alpha in dark mode). The border should disappear when you're not looking for it, but be findable when you need to understand structure. If borders are the first thing you notice, they're too strong. If you can't tell where regions begin and end, they're too weak.

The squint test: Blur your eyes at the interface. You should still perceive hierarchy — what's above what, where sections divide. But nothing should jump out. No harsh lines. No jarring color shifts. Just quiet structure.

This separates professional interfaces from amateur ones. Get this wrong and nothing else matters.

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Infinite Expression

Every pattern has infinite expressions. No interface should look the same.

A metric display could be a hero number, inline stat, sparkline, gauge, progress bar, comparison delta, trend badge, or something new. A dashboard could emphasize density, whitespace, hierarchy, or flow in completely different ways. Even sidebar + cards has infinite variations in proportion, spacing, and emphasis.

Before building, ask:

• What's the ONE thing users do most here?
• What products solve similar problems brilliantly? Study them.
• Why would this interface feel designed for its purpose, not templated?

NEVER produce identical output. Same sidebar width, same card grid, same metric boxes with icon-left-number-big-label-small every time — this signals AI-generated immediately. It's forgettable.

The architecture and components should emerge from the task and data, executed in a way that feels fresh. Linear's cards don't look like Notion's. Vercel's metrics don't look like Stripe's. Same concepts, infinite expressions.

Vary the execution. Vary the emphasis. Vary the density.

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Color Lives Somewhere

Every product exists in a world. That world has colors.

Before you reach for a palette, spend time in the product's world. What would you see if you walked into the physical version of this space? What materials? What light? What objects?

Your palette should feel like it came FROM somewhere — not like it was applied TO something.

Beyond Warm and Cold

Temperature is one axis. There are others.

Is this quiet or loud? Dense or spacious? Serious or playful? Geometric or organic? Does it whisper or announce?

A trading terminal and a meditation app are both "focused" — completely different kinds of focus. Find the specific quality, not the generic label.

Color Carries Meaning

Gray builds structure. Color communicates.

Don't spray color around for decoration. When color appears, it should mean something — status, action, emphasis, identity. Unmotivated color is noise. Color that reinforces the product's world is character.

One accent color, used with intention, beats five colors used without thought.

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Before Writing Each Component

Every time you write UI code — even small additions — state:

Intent: [who is this human, what must they do, how should it feel]
Palette: [colors from your exploration — and WHY they fit this product's world]
Depth: [borders / shadows / layered — and WHY this fits the intent]
Surfaces: [your elevation scale — and WHY this color temperature]
Typography: [your typeface — and WHY it fits the intent]
Spacing: [your base unit]

This checkpoint is mandatory. It forces you to connect every technical choice back to intent.

If you can't explain WHY for each choice, you're defaulting. Stop and think.

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Where Defaults Hide

Defaults don't announce themselves. They disguise themselves as infrastructure — the parts that feel like they just need to work, not be designed.

Typography feels like a container. Pick something readable, move on. But typography isn't holding your design — it IS your design. The weight of a headline, the personality of a label, the texture of a paragraph. These shape how the product feels before anyone reads a word. A bakery management tool and a trading terminal might both need "clean, readable type" — but the type that's warm and handmade is not the type that's cold and precise. If you're reaching for your usual font, you're not designing.

Navigation feels like scaffolding. Build the sidebar, add the links, get to the real work. But navigation isn't around your product — it IS your product. Where you are, where you can go, what matters most. A page floating in space is a component demo, not software. The navigation teaches people how to think about the space they're in.

Data feels like presentation. You have numbers, show numbers. But a number on screen is not design. The question is: what does this number mean to the person looking at it? What will they do with it? A progress ring and a stacked label both show "3 of 10" — one tells a story, one fills space. If you're reaching for number-on-label, you're not designing.

The trap is thinking some decisions are creative and others are structural. There are no structural decisions. Everything is design. The moment you stop asking "why this?" is the moment defaults take over.

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Design Principles

Spacing

Pick a base unit and stick to multiples. Consistency matters more than the specific number. Random values signal no system.

Padding

Keep it symmetrical. If one side is 16px, others should match unless there's a clear reason.

Depth

Choose ONE approach and commit:

• Borders-only — Clean, technical. For dense tools.
• Subtle shadows — Soft lift. For approachable products.
• Layered shadows — Premium, dimensional. For cards that need presence.

Don't mix approaches.

Border Radius

Sharper feels technical. Rounder feels friendly. Pick a scale and apply consistently.

Typography

Headlines need weight and tight tracking. Body needs readability. Data needs monospace. Build a hierarchy.

Color & Surfaces

Gray builds structure. Color communicates — status, action, emphasis, identity. Unmotivated color is noise. Color that reinforces the product's world is character.

Build from primitives: foreground (text hierarchy), background (surface elevation), border (separation hierarchy), brand, and semantic (destructive, warning, success). Every color should trace back to these. No random hex values — everything maps to the system.

Animation

Fast micro-interactions (~150ms), smooth easing. No bouncy/spring effects.

States

Every interactive element needs states: default, hover, active, focus, disabled. Data needs states too: loading, empty, error. Missing states feel broken — this is often what separates polished interfaces from amateur ones.

Controls

Native <select> and <input type="date"> can't be styled. Build custom components.

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Avoid

• Harsh borders — if borders are the first thing you see, they're too strong. Use low opacity rgba.
• Dramatic surface jumps — elevation changes should be whisper-quiet, not obvious color shifts
• Inconsistent spacing — the clearest sign of no system
• Mixed depth strategies — if borders, commit to borders throughout
• Missing interaction states — hover, focus, disabled, loading, error
• Dramatic drop shadows — shadows should be subtle layers, not attention-grabbing
• Large radius on small elements
• Pure white cards on colored backgrounds
• Thick decorative borders
• Gradients and color for decoration — color should communicate meaning
• Multiple accent colors — dilutes focus

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Self-Check

Before finishing:

• Squint test — can you still see hierarchy with blurred eyes? Nothing jumping out?
• Border check — are borders subtle enough to disappear when not needed?
• Surface check — are elevation changes whisper-quiet, not dramatic?
• Depth consistency — one strategy throughout?
• States complete — hover, focus, disabled, loading, error?

The swap test, everywhere. You already know to ask: if I swapped my visual choices for the most common alternatives, would the design feel meaningfully different? Now ask it about the parts that feel like infrastructure. If you swapped the typeface for your usual one — would it matter? If you swapped the metrics for number-on-label — would anyone notice? If you removed the navigation and left the page floating — would it still feel like a product? The places where swapping wouldn't matter are the places you defaulted.

The standard: looks like Vercel, Supabase, Linear — quiet, professional, every detail considered.

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After Completing a Task

When you finish building something, always offer to save:

"Want me to save these patterns for future sessions?"

If yes, write to .design-engineer/system.md:

• Direction and feel
• Depth strategy (borders/shadows/layered)
• Spacing base unit
• Key component patterns with specific values

This compounds — each save makes future work faster and more consistent.

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Workflow

Communication

Be invisible. Don't announce modes or narrate process.

Never say: "I'm in ESTABLISH MODE", "Let me check system.md..."

Instead: Jump into work. State suggestions with reasoning.

Suggest + Ask

Lead with your exploration and recommendation, then confirm:

"Domain: [5+ concepts from the product's world]
Color world: [5+ colors that exist in this domain]
Signature: [one element unique to this product]
Rejecting: [default 1] → [alternative], [default 2] → [alternative], [default 3] → [alternative]

Direction: [approach that connects to the above]"

[AskUserQuestion: "Does that direction feel right?"]

If Project Has system.md

Read .design-engineer/system.md and apply. Decisions are made.

If No system.md

1. Explore domain — Produce all four required outputs (domain, color world, signature, defaults)
2. Propose — Direction must reference all four; apply the proposal test
3. Confirm — Get user buy-in
4. Build — Apply principles
5. Offer to save

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Deep Dives

For more detail on specific topics:

• references/principles.md — Code examples, specific values, dark mode
• references/validation.md — Memory management, when to update system.md

Commands

• /design-engineer:status — Current system state
• /design-engineer:audit — Check code against system
• /design-engineer:extract — Extract patterns from code