SwiftUI Design Skill

TL;DR: Design SwiftUI apps that look intentionally crafted, not AI-generated. Follow the 6 Anti-Slop Rules, use the Design Direction workflow when requirements are vague, and always pass the 5-Dimension Review before shipping.

When to Use

• Designing new SwiftUI views or screens from scratch
• Reviewing or improving existing UI quality
• Creating iOS app prototypes or mockups
• Choosing a visual style or design direction
• Integrating brand assets into SwiftUI
• When someone says "the UI looks generic" or "make it look better"
• When building a new feature that needs visual design

When NOT to Use

• Pure backend / API work with no UI
• Fixing SwiftUI compilation errors (use normal tools instead)
• Performance optimization of existing views (use normal tools instead)
• Accessibility compliance only (use normal tools instead)

Prerequisites

• Xcode 16+ with iOS 18+ / macOS 15+ SDK (iOS 26 / macOS 26 adds Liquid Glass; see below). Check the project's deployment target and gate newer APIs with #available.
• SwiftUI framework (not UIKit unless explicitly requested)
• Familiarity with SwiftUI view hierarchy and modifiers

Core Design Philosophy

These 6 principles guide every design decision. They are distilled from real-world design practice and anti-patterns observed in AI-generated UI.

Principle 1: Start From Context, Never Blank

Before designing any screen, ask:

• Is there an existing design system, UI kit, or Figma file?
• Is there an existing codebase with established visual language?
• Are there brand guidelines or a style guide?

If no context exists, create a brand-spec.md first (see Brand Asset Protocol below).

Principle 2: Junior Designer Mode — Hypothesize Early, Iterate Fast

Don't wait for the "perfect" design. Show hypotheses with placeholders early:

• Gray boxes for images are better than bad AI-generated SVGs
• System fonts with good spacing > custom fonts with bad spacing
• A rough but honest layout > a polished but generic one

Principle 3: Offer Variations, Not Finals

Always present 2-3 distinct design directions, not one "final answer." Each variation should:

• Represent a different design philosophy (e.g., editorial, functional, expressive)
• Have a clear rationale for why it works
• Be visually distinct — not just color swaps

Principle 4: Placeholder > Bad Implementation

If you cannot source a real asset (icon, image, illustration):

• Use a clean gray placeholder with clear labeling
• Never use AI-generated SVG clipart
• Never use emoji as icon substitutes in production UI
• For icons, prefer SF Symbols (Apple's built-in icon library)

Principle 5: System First, Don't Fill

Every element must earn its place. Before adding any UI element, ask:

• Does this serve the user's goal?
• Can this be combined with something else?
• What happens if I remove it?

Whitespace is a feature, not emptiness.

Principle 6: Anti-AI-Slop

These patterns are banned in production UI. See references/anti-ai-slop.md for detailed rules.

Banned visual patterns:

• ❌ Purple-to-blue gradient backgrounds
• ❌ Emoji as functional icons
• ❌ Rounded cards with left-border accent color
• ❌ Generic "hero section" with centered text over gradient
• ❌ Inter/Roboto as display fonts on Apple platforms
• ❌ Neon-on-dark "cyber" aesthetic (#0D1117 base)
• ❌ Symmetric 3-column feature grids
• ❌ AI-drawn SVG illustrations or CSS silhouettes

What to do instead:

• ✅ Single warm accent color on neutral background
• ✅ SF Symbols for icons, or custom icon set
• ✅ Serif display font (e.g., New York, Georgia) for headings
• ✅ Restrained info density — let content breathe
• ✅ One signature detail at 120% effort per screen
• ✅ Real photography or clean placeholders

Brand Asset Protocol

When building UI for a specific brand, follow this 5-step hard flow:

1. Ask — Ask to request brand guidelines, logo files, color palette, and typography. Offer concrete options when they exist.
2. Search — If not provided, search the web for "[brand name] brand guidelines"
3. Download — Get actual asset files (PNG/SVG logos, font files)
4. Verify — Confirm colors match official sources (check hex values)
5. Write brand-spec.md — Document: primary/secondary colors, fonts, logo usage rules, spacing tokens

Quality threshold: 5 real brand colors, 10 verified design tokens, 2 font families, 8pt spacing grid.

If no brand exists, create a brand-spec.md with:

• 1 primary accent color (warm, not purple-blue gradient)
• 1 neutral palette (grays with warm undertone)
• 1 display font + 1 body font (SF Pro default is fine)
• 8pt spacing grid

Design Direction Workflow

When requirements are vague or the user asks "what style should we use?", follow this workflow:

Phase 1: Understand Context (5 min)

1. Ask the user: What is the app? Who is the user? What platform? Offer iOS, macOS, and watchOS as options.
2. Ask the user: Any reference apps or websites they admire? Offer concrete options when they exist.
3. Check: Existing design system or brand assets?

Phase 2: Recommend 3 Directions

Present 3 distinct design philosophies from different schools:

Phase 3: Present Visual Anchors

For each direction, describe:

• Color palette (3-5 colors with hex values)
• Typography pairing (display + body)
• Layout density (comfortable / compact / spacious)
• Signature detail (one standout element per screen)

Phase 4: Let User Choose

Ask the user, offering the design directions as concrete options. After the choice, lock in the design system.

SwiftUI Design Workflow

Step 1: Define the Design System (Before Coding)

Create or confirm these design tokens:

// Requires: references/swift-extensions.md (Color(hex:) extension)
// DesignTokens.swift
enum DesignTokens {
    // Colors
    static let accent = Color(hex: "E85D3A")      // Warm coral
    // Prefer asset-catalog colors with light/dark variants over fixed hex in production.
    static let background = Color(hex: "FAFAF8")   // Warm white
    static let textPrimary = Color.primary          // Adapts to dark mode
    static let textSecondary = Color.secondary

    // Typography: system fonts scale with Dynamic Type; don't hardcode font names or sizes
    static let display = Font.system(.largeTitle, design: .serif, weight: .bold)  // New York
    static let body = Font.body                                                   // SF Pro

    // Spacing (8pt grid)
    static let spaceXS: CGFloat = 4
    static let spaceS: CGFloat = 8
    static let spaceM: CGFloat = 16
    static let spaceL: CGFloat = 24
    static let spaceXL: CGFloat = 32
    static let spaceXXL: CGFloat = 48

    // Corner radius
    static let radiusS: CGFloat = 8
    static let radiusM: CGFloat = 12
    static let radiusL: CGFloat = 16
}

Step 2: Build the Layout Hierarchy

Follow the layout patterns in references/layout-patterns.md:

• Start with the primary content container
• Use VStack for vertical flow, HStack for horizontal
• Use LazyVGrid / LazyHGrid for grid layouts
• Use ScrollView with .scrollTargetBehavior(.paging) for paged content
• Avoid GeometryReader — prefer containerRelativeFrame (iOS 17+)

Step 3: Apply Typography Hierarchy

Follow references/typography-color.md:

• Display (screen titles): Serif font, 28-34pt, bold
• Heading (section titles): Sans-serif, 20-24pt, semibold
• Body (content text): Sans-serif, 15-17pt, regular
• Caption (labels, metadata): Sans-serif, 12-13pt, secondary color

Step 4: Add the Signature Detail

Each screen should have ONE element that goes 120% — a custom animation, a unique layout choice, a distinctive color moment. This is what makes the design memorable.

Examples:

• A custom pull-to-refresh with brand-colored animation
• A card that expands with a spring animation on tap
• A header that uses the brand's display font at an oversized scale
• A subtle parallax effect on scroll

Step 5: Review Against Checklist

Before shipping, run the 5-Dimension Review (see references/design-review.md).

Platform Look (iOS 26 / macOS 26)

• Standard bars, tab bars, toolbars, sheets, and controls get Liquid Glass automatically when built with the new SDK. Don't paint opaque backgrounds over them or fake the effect with blur.
• Use .glassEffect() sparingly, on floating controls above content (not on content itself, and not stacked glass on glass). Group neighbors in GlassEffectContainer.
• Content stays flat and legible; glass belongs to the navigation and control layer.
• On older targets fall back to .regularMaterial.
• Respect Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion, Reduce Transparency, and Increased Contrast; test the largest accessibility text size.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Quick Reference: Topic Router

Validation Checklist

Before considering any SwiftUI design complete, verify:

• Design tokens defined (colors, fonts, spacing)
• No banned AI-slop patterns present
• Typography has clear hierarchy (3+ scales)
• Spacing follows 8pt grid
• Dark mode colors defined and tested
• One signature detail per screen
• SF Symbols used for icons (not emoji)
• Minimum 44×44pt tap targets
• Layout survives the largest Dynamic Type size and VoiceOver labels exist for icon-only buttons
• Previews cover light, dark, and large text
• No GeometryReader or UIScreen.main.bounds
• 5-Dimension Review score ≥ 7/10 on all dimensions