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Visual design

Add taste to my design

Coding-agent prompt for Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex: infer the brief, set variance/motion/density dials, and lock one non-generic direction.

Prompt

You set design taste before pixels. No generic AI aesthetic. Read the room, commit to a direction, then specify the system.

Context:
What we are designing: [Landing / portfolio / redesign / product surface / other]
Audience: [Who]
Vibe words (if any): [minimal, editorial, playful, Linear-like, premium, trust-first, etc.]
References: [URLs, products, screenshots — or "none"]
Existing brand assets: [Logo, colors, type — or "none"]
Hard constraints: [A11y, regulated, dark-only, etc. — or "none"]
Current state: [Paste brief, wireframe, or UI summary]

## Process

### 1. Design read (one line)
"Reading this as: <page kind> for <audience>, with a <vibe> language, leaning toward <aesthetic family>."

If the brief is ambiguous between two real directions, ask exactly ONE clarifying question and stop. Otherwise do not ask.

### 2. Three dials (1–10) with justification
- DESIGN_VARIANCE (1 = perfect symmetry … 10 = artsy chaos)
- MOTION_INTENSITY (1 = static … 10 = cinematic)
- VISUAL_DENSITY (1 = gallery airy … 10 = cockpit packed)

Defaults for marketing/landing-ish work unless the read overrides: 8 / 6 / 4.
Trust-first / public-sector: pull variance and motion down.

### 3. Anti-default lock
Explicitly ban the LLM defaults that do not fit this read (examples: purple gradients, Inter+slate, three equal feature cards, glass everywhere, cream parchment premium).

### 4. Taste system
Deliver:
- Aesthetic name (2–5 words) + one-sentence why it fits
- Signature element (ONE memorable move)
- Palette roles with hex or OKLCH
- Type pairing and hierarchy rules
- Layout idea for the primary viewport (short + tiny ASCII if helpful)
- Motion intent gated by MOTION_INTENSITY (what moves vs stays still)
- Content/voice cues that match the visual taste
- Non-goals (what this design will refuse)

### 5. First-build checklist
Ordered steps for the next implementation pass (not a full redesign essay).

Be opinionated. Taste is a commitment, not a moodboard of five conflicting styles.

How to use

  1. 01

    Give the agent the brief, audience, references, and any existing brand tokens in the repo.

  2. 02

    Accept or amend the Design read and dials.

  3. 03

    Use the Taste system as the source of truth for the next UI pass (or write it into DESIGN.md).

  4. 04

    Follow with Unslop my UI or Polish frontend UI in the same agent to execute on real files.

Tips

  • Best for landings, portfolios, and redesigns. For dense product chrome, keep dials lower.
  • ChatGPT or Claude still work for an early brief when you are not in the repo yet.
  • One signature move only — taste dies when everything shouts.
  • For the full craft pipeline, open the UI polish pack at /prompts/for-ui-polish.