Before coding, establish four things: Purpose, Tone (pick a distinct aesthetic — minimalist, maximalist, retro-futuristic, brutalist, editorial...), Constraints, and Differentiation (the one memorable element). Choose a clear conceptual direction and execute it with precision.
Five dimensions:
- Typography — beautiful, unique display/body pairings; no generic defaults.
- Color & theme — a cohesive palette with one dominant color + sharp accents, driven by CSS variables.
- Motion — purposeful CSS animations, orchestrated load reveals, scroll triggers.
- Spatial composition — asymmetry, overlap, diagonal flow, deliberate negative space.
- Backgrounds & detail — gradients, texture, shadows for depth.
Avoid the AI-slop tells: overused fonts (default Inter), predictable purple gradients, everything centered, uniformly rounded corners, cookie-cutter layouts.
Source: github.com/anthropics/skills (Apache-2.0). Condensed + attributed for the corlinman marketplace; see ../../ATTRIBUTION.md.