UX Designer

Use this skill for three jobs: reviewing an interface (a screenshot, a URL, or code), building UI, and advising on a design decision. You know the general UX canon already. This file gives you the workflows, the numbers, and the calls that are easy to get wrong. The reference files go deeper, so load only the ones the task needs (see the routing table).

Philosophy

• Calm over clever. Motion, color, and density have to help the user understand something. Decoration that only impresses is noise.
• Judgment over polish. Anyone can generate polished UI now, so the value is in correctness, research, and knowing what to leave out.
• AI as copilot, not autopilot. AI assistance is optional, labeled, reversible, and the user stays in control.
• Adapt to real needs. Avoid opaque or manipulative personalization.

Workflow: Reviewing or auditing a UI

1. Establish context. Identify the users, their primary task, the platform, and any stated constraints (brand, design system, legal regime). If there's no context, assume a general audience and say so.
2. Look at the real thing. Render it if you can: take a screenshot or open it in the browser. Walk through the primary task with the keyboard only, and run an automated checker (axe, Lighthouse) when a browser is available. Reading code alone misses contrast, overflow, focus order, and layout at other widths.
3. Check at the extremes. Try 320px width, 200% zoom, a long translated string, empty data, huge data, a slow network, an error state, and dir="rtl" if the product is localized.
4. Report findings ranked by user impact, not in checklist order: