design-style - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: design-style

description: |

Use this skill when the user asks to build, create, design, develop, or improve ANY frontend interface, web page, UI component, or visual element. This includes:

Building landing pages, websites, web apps, dashboards, portfolios, or any web interface
Creating UI components (buttons, forms, cards, navbars, modals, etc.)
Designing pages with React, Vue, Next.js, Svelte, or any frontend framework
Adding styling or improving visual design of existing components
Implementing specific design aesthetics (modern, dark, minimalist, brutalist, etc.)
User mentions "frontend", "UI", "UX", "design", "interface", "web design", or "styling"
User asks for "beautiful", "modern", "professional", "clean", or any aesthetic adjective
User requests help with CSS, Tailwind, styled-components, or any styling approach

This skill automatically retrieves the appropriate design system prompt (Neo-brutalism, Modern Dark, Bauhaus, Cyberpunk, Material, etc.) to help create visually distinctive, production-grade frontend code instead of generic UI.

IMPORTANT: Trigger this skill proactively for ANY frontend/UI work, not just when design style is explicitly mentioned. The default style is Professional.

allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep

Design Style Skill

Purpose

This skill helps Claude Code create beautiful, distinctive frontend interfaces by automatically retrieving design system prompts from the prompts/ directory. Instead of producing generic UI, this skill enables Claude to build interfaces with specific design aesthetics like Neo-brutalism, Modern Dark, Luxury, Cyberpunk, and more.

When to Use

This skill is automatically invoked when:

User asks to build a web page, landing page, or web application
User requests a UI component with a specific design style
User mentions frontend, React, Vue, or web development
User asks for a specific aesthetic (e.g., "make it look modern and dark" or "use a brutalist style")

Available Design Styles

The following design systems are available in the prompts/ directory:

Academia - Scholarly, classic, refined
ArtDeco - Luxurious 1920s glamour
Bauhaus - Functionalist, geometric minimalism
BoldTypography - Type-driven design
Botanical - Nature-inspired, organic
Claymorphism - Soft, clay-like 3D elements
Cyberpunk - Futuristic, neon, high-tech
Enterprise - Professional, corporate, scalable
FlatDesign - Clean, minimal, 2D
Fluent2 - Microsoft Fluent 2 Design System
HumanistLiterary - Warm, literary, conversational (Claude aesthetic)
Industrial - Raw, mechanical, utilitarian
Kinetic - Dynamic, motion-focused
Luxury - Premium, elegant, sophisticated
Material - Google Material Design
Maximalism - Bold, expressive, abundant
MinimalDrak - Minimal dark theme (note: typo in original)
ModernDark - Contemporary dark UI with depth
Monochrome - Black and white, high contrast
Neo-brutalism - Bold, raw, colorful brutalism
Neumorphism - Soft UI, skeuomorphic
Newsprint - Newspaper-inspired
Organic - Natural, flowing forms
PlayfulGeometric - Fun geometric shapes
Professional - Clean, business-focused
Retro - Vintage, nostalgic
Saas - Modern SaaS aesthetic
Sketch - Hand-drawn, artistic
Swiss - International Typographic Style
TerminalCLI - Command-line interface aesthetic
Vaporwave - 80s/90s aesthetic, nostalgic
Web3 - Decentralized, crypto-inspired

How It Works

Step 1: Understand User Intent

When the user requests frontend work, first determine:

Tech stack - What framework are they using? (React, Vue, Next.js, etc.)
Design preference - Did they mention a specific style or aesthetic?
Component scope - Single component, full page, or entire application?

Step 2: Select Design Style

If user specifies a style:

Match their request to available styles (e.g., "brutalist" → Neo-brutalism)
Case-insensitive matching (brutalism, Brutalism, BRUTALISM all work)

If user doesn't specify:

For modern, professional projects → ModernDark or Professional
For creative, bold projects → Neo-brutalism or BoldTypography
For minimal, clean projects → FlatDesign or Swiss
For enterprise/corporate → Enterprise

Ask the user if you're uncertain about which style fits their needs.

Step 3: Retrieve Design System

Use the Read tool to load the appropriate prompt file:


Read: prompts/<StyleName>.md

For example:

prompts/Neo-brutalism.md
prompts/ModernDark.md
prompts/Cyberpunk.md

Step 4: Apply Design System

Once you've loaded the design system prompt:

Internalize the design philosophy - Understand the core principles, visual signatures, and differentiation factors
Extract design tokens - Colors, typography, spacing, shadows, borders
Follow component patterns - Use the specified button styles, card layouts, etc.
Apply the "Bold Factor" - Implement signature elements that make the design authentic
Avoid anti-patterns - Don't use techniques that break the aesthetic

Step 5: Build with Context

Before writing code:

Identify the user's existing tech stack
Understand their component architecture
Note any constraints (CSS frameworks, design libraries, etc.)

When writing code:

Match their existing patterns and conventions
Centralize design tokens in CSS variables or a config file
Create reusable, composable components
Explain your architectural choices briefly

Quality standards:

Preserve or improve accessibility
Ensure responsive design across devices
Make deliberate, creative design choices (not generic boilerplate)
Leave the codebase cleaner than you found it

Examples

Example 1: User Specifies Style

User: "Create a landing page for my SaaS product with a neo-brutalist design"

Skill Actions:

Detect keywords: "landing page", "neo-brutalist"
Map "neo-brutalist" → prompts/Neo-brutalism.md
Read the design system prompt
Ask clarifying questions: "What tech stack are you using? React, Vue, or plain HTML/CSS?"
Build the landing page following Neo-brutalism principles (thick borders, hard shadows, bold colors, etc.)

Example 2: User Doesn't Specify Style

User: "Help me build a portfolio website"

Skill Actions:

Detect: "portfolio website" (creative context)
Suggest options: "Would you like a specific design style? I can create it in Modern Dark (sophisticated), Neo-brutalism (bold and creative), or Swiss (minimal and clean)."
User responds with preference
Load appropriate prompt and build

Example 3: Component Request

User: "Add a contact form to my Next.js app. Make it look modern and professional."

Skill Actions:

Keywords: "Next.js", "modern and professional"
Select: ModernDark.md (modern) or Professional.md (professional)
Read design system
Build form component matching their Next.js patterns
Use design tokens from the prompt (colors, typography, shadows, etc.)

Quick Reference Commands

When implementing, you can quickly reference specific sections:

Colors:


Grep: pattern "Token|Value|Usage" path "prompts/<Style>.md"

Typography:


Grep: pattern "Font|Weight|Size" path "prompts/<Style>.md"

Component Patterns:


Grep: pattern "Button|Card|Input" path "prompts/<Style>.md"

Tips for Best Results

Read the full prompt - Don't just skim. The design philosophy and differentiation sections are critical.
Implement signature elements - Every design system has a "Bold Factor" section. These elements are what make it authentic.
Avoid anti-patterns - Each prompt lists what NOT to do. Follow these rules strictly.
Ask questions - If the user's needs are unclear, ask before building.
Match existing code - Don't fight their tech stack. Integrate the design system into their existing patterns.

Notes

All design system prompts follow the same structure: <role> and <design-system> sections
Prompts include detailed color palettes, typography scales, component patterns, and implementation examples
Each style is production-ready and has been carefully crafted for visual distinctiveness
The prompts are designed to prevent generic, AI-looking interfaces

Future Enhancements

Potential improvements to this skill:

Style combination support (e.g., "Cyberpunk + Minimal")
Custom style creation workflow
Design token extraction to JSON/CSS
Component library generation from prompts