UI/UX Pro Max - Design Intelligence

BM25 search engine-based UI/UX design intelligence for style, color, typography, layout, and UX decisions.

When to Use

Use proactively when:

• Building landing pages, dashboards, or web apps
• Choosing UI style, colors, or typography
• Designing for specific industries (SaaS, fintech, healthcare, etc.)
• Need design system recommendations

Triggers: design system, UI style, color palette, font pairing, landing page design, glassmorphism, minimalism, brutalism, design intelligence, style recommendation

Do NOT use for: backend code, API design, database, code review

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Designing new UI components or pages
• Choosing color palettes and typography
• Reviewing code for UX issues
• Building landing pages or dashboards
• Implementing accessibility requirements

Rule Categories by Priority

Quick Reference

1. Accessibility (CRITICAL)

• color-contrast - Minimum 4.5:1 ratio for normal text
• focus-states - Visible focus rings on interactive elements
• alt-text - Descriptive alt text for meaningful images
• aria-labels - aria-label for icon-only buttons
• keyboard-nav - Tab order matches visual order
• form-labels - Use label with for attribute

2. Touch & Interaction (CRITICAL)

• touch-target-size - Minimum 44x44px touch targets
• hover-vs-tap - Use click/tap for primary interactions
• loading-buttons - Disable button during async operations
• error-feedback - Clear error messages near problem
• cursor-pointer - Add cursor-pointer to clickable elements

3. Performance (HIGH)

• image-optimization - Use WebP, srcset, lazy loading
• reduced-motion - Check prefers-reduced-motion
• content-jumping - Reserve space for async content

4. Layout & Responsive (HIGH)

• viewport-meta - width=device-width initial-scale=1
• readable-font-size - Minimum 16px body text on mobile
• horizontal-scroll - Ensure content fits viewport width
• z-index-management - Define z-index scale (10, 20, 30, 50)

5. Typography & Color (MEDIUM)

• line-height - Use 1.5-1.75 for body text
• line-length - Limit to 65-75 characters per line
• font-pairing - Match heading/body font personalities

6. Animation (MEDIUM)

• duration-timing - Use 150-300ms for micro-interactions
• transform-performance - Use transform/opacity, not width/height
• loading-states - Skeleton screens or spinners

Prerequisites

Check if Python is installed:

python3 --version || python --version

How to Use This Skill

When user requests UI/UX work (design, build, create, implement, review, fix, improve), follow this workflow:

Step 1: Analyze User Requirements

Extract key information from user request:

• Product type: SaaS, e-commerce, portfolio, dashboard, landing page, etc.
• Style keywords: minimal, playful, professional, elegant, dark mode, etc.
• Industry: healthcare, fintech, gaming, education, etc.
• Stack: React, Vue, Next.js, or default to html-tailwind

Step 2: Generate Design System (REQUIRED)

Always start with --design-system to get comprehensive recommendations with reasoning:

python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "<product_type> <industry> <keywords>" --design-system [-p "Project Name"]

This command:

1. Searches 5 domains in parallel (product, style, color, landing, typography)
2. Applies reasoning rules from ui-reasoning.csv to select best matches
3. Returns complete design system: pattern, style, colors, typography, effects
4. Includes anti-patterns to avoid

Example:

python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "beauty spa wellness service elegant" --design-system -p "Serenity Spa"

Step 2b: Persist Design System (Master + Overrides Pattern)

To save the design system for hierarchical retrieval across sessions, add --persist:

python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "<query>" --design-system --persist -p "Project Name"

This creates:

• design-system/MASTER.md - Global Source of Truth with all design rules
• design-system/pages/ - Folder for page-specific overrides

With page-specific override:

python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "<query>" --design-system --persist -p "Project Name" --page "dashboard"

How hierarchical retrieval works:

1. When building a specific page (e.g., "Checkout"), first check design-system/pages/checkout.md
2. If the page file exists, its rules override the Master file
3. If not, use design-system/MASTER.md exclusively

Step 2c: Use Existing DESIGN.md (Google Stitch Format)

If the project already has a DESIGN.md in the root (e.g., from awesome-design-md), skip design system generation and use it directly. DESIGN.md follows the 9-section Stitch format (visual theme, colors, typography, components, layout, depth, do/don'ts, responsive, agent prompts) and serves as the single source of truth for all UI decisions.

Install a brand DESIGN.md:

npx getdesign@latest add {brand}     # e.g., vercel, stripe, linear.app
npx getdesign@latest list             # show all 66 available brands

Available brands: airbnb, apple, claude, cursor, figma, linear.app, notion, stripe, supabase, tesla, vercel, and 55 more.

Template: Use templates/visual-design.template.md to create a custom DESIGN.md from scratch.

Step 3: Supplement with Detailed Searches (as needed)

After getting the design system, use domain searches to get additional details:

python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "<keyword>" --domain <domain> [-n <max_results>]

When to use detailed searches:

Step 4: Stack Guidelines (Default: html-tailwind)

Get implementation-specific best practices. If user doesn't specify a stack, default to html-tailwind.

python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "<keyword>" --stack html-tailwind

Available stacks: html-tailwind, react, nextjs, astro, vue, nuxtjs, nuxt-ui, svelte, swiftui, react-native, flutter, shadcn, jetpack-compose

Search Reference

Available Domains

Available Stacks

Output Formats

The --design-system flag supports two output formats:

# ASCII box (default) - best for terminal display
python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "fintech crypto" --design-system

# Markdown - best for documentation
python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py "fintech crypto" --design-system -f markdown

Common Rules for Professional UI

Icons & Visual Elements

Interaction & Cursor

Light/Dark Mode Contrast

Pre-Delivery Checklist

Before delivering UI code, verify:

Visual Quality

• No emojis used as icons (use SVG instead)
• All icons from consistent icon set (Heroicons/Lucide)
• Brand logos are correct (verified from Simple Icons)
• Hover states don't cause layout shift

Interaction

• All clickable elements have cursor-pointer
• Hover states provide clear visual feedback
• Transitions are smooth (150-300ms)
• Focus states visible for keyboard navigation

Light/Dark Mode

• Light mode text has sufficient contrast (4.5:1 minimum)
• Glass/transparent elements visible in light mode
• Borders visible in both modes

Layout

• No content hidden behind fixed navbars
• Responsive at 375px, 768px, 1024px, 1440px
• No horizontal scroll on mobile

Accessibility

• All images have alt text
• Form inputs have labels
• Color is not the only indicator
• prefers-reduced-motion respected

Related Skills

• /frontend-design - Creative, production-grade UI code generation
• /web-design-guidelines - UI code review with 100+ Vercel Web Interface rules

Design Pipeline

DESIGN.md (source of truth) -> /ui-ux-pro-max (design decisions) -> /frontend-design (implementation) -> /web-design-guidelines (quality review)

0. Design System (DESIGN.md): Brand design tokens — install via npx getdesign@latest add {brand} or generate via --persist
1. Design Decisions (/ui-ux-pro-max): Style, color, typography, pattern recommendations
2. UI Implementation (/frontend-design): Creative, polished code generation
3. Quality Review (/web-design-guidelines): Accessibility, performance, UX rule verification