design-review — be your own design critic (rubric + references)

The agent has no innate taste, but it CAN apply known-good patterns and self-critique against a checklist. That converts "ugly default" into "clean and intentional." (It will not produce designer-grade originality — that ceiling stays; this just stops things from looking amateur.)

1. Look at the real thing

Screenshot the actual rendered UI/scene and Read it back — eyes on screen, not a guess from the code.

2. Critique against the rubric

• hierarchy — is the most important thing the most prominent?
• spacing & alignment — consistent scale, a grid, generous whitespace (cramped reads as amateur)
• typography — a real type scale, few fonts/weights, readable line length
• color & contrast — limited palette, semantic colors, WCAG-legible contrast
• consistency — the same component looks and behaves the same everywhere
• states — empty / loading / error / hover / disabled all designed, not forgotten
• motion / game-feel (interactive/games) — feedback on every action, easing, juice

3. Don't invent — adopt

Pull proven patterns instead of hand-rolling: an established component library / design system, common layout patterns, documented game-feel principles. Research a reference first if unsure what "good" looks like here.

4. Iterate, then re-screenshot

Fix the worst rubric failures, screenshot again, confirm it actually improved. Don't call a visual feature done until it passes the rubric on a real screenshot.