Activation Contract
Use for web and product interfaces when shaping, implementing, or assessing a user experience. Pair with gentle-design when producing artboards: gentle-design owns delivery, this skill owns UX quality. Use gentle-ai-tui-design for terminal interfaces.
Hard Rules
- Keep a read-only critique read-only; do not install tools or dependencies for this guidance.
- Establish the user's job and success condition before appearance. Ask only when missing intent would materially change a decision.
- Reuse the project's brand, components, and platform conventions; avoid universal aesthetic bans.
- Do not invent evidence or conceal inaccessible controls. Model real content ranges and states; this guidance adds no hooks, detectors, or mandatory tool chains.
Decision Gates
| Need or symptom | Load and apply |
|---|---|
| Unclear purpose, weak copy, or generic direction | references/task-and-content.md |
| Search, large collections, or difficult comparison | references/browse-and-compare.md |
| Flat hierarchy, clutter, or weak feedback | references/composition-and-feedback.md |
| Narrow screens, input access, or missing states | references/adaptive-interfaces.md |
Execution Steps
- Identify the audience, primary job, constraints, and likely content sizes; inspect existing project conventions when available.
- Load only the relevant references and select defaults or justified exceptions for the task.
- Apply the project's visual language and account for touch, keyboard, focus, contrast, and reduced motion.
- Inspect visually when useful and authorized; report observations rather than implying an inspection occurred.
Output Contract
Summarize design choices and tradeoffs, files changed if any, checks actually performed, and important unknowns.
References
references/task-and-content.md— purpose, information architecture, art direction, and truthful copy.references/browse-and-compare.md— search, collection scale, comparison, and navigation state.references/composition-and-feedback.md— hierarchy, density, color, type, and visual feedback.references/adaptive-interfaces.md— responsive behavior, accessible interaction, and states.