Frontend Design Polish

Designs and iterates production-grade frontend interfaces. Real working code, committed design choices, exceptional craft.

Setup (non-optional)#

Before any design work or file edits, pass these gates. Skipping them produces generic output that ignores the project.

GateRequired checkIf failContextThe PRODUCT.md / DESIGN.md loader result is known from node .kiro/skills/impeccable/scripts/load-context.mjs.Run the loader before continuing.ProductPRODUCT.md exists and is not empty or placeholder ( [TODO] markers, <200 chars).Run /impeccable teach, refresh context, then resume. Never synthesize PRODUCT.md from the user's original prompt alone.CommandThe matching command reference is loaded when a sub-command is used.Load the reference before continuing.Craft/impeccable craft has a user-confirmed shape brief for this task. teach / PRODUCT.md never counts as shape.Run /impeccable shape and wait for explicit brief confirmation.ImageRequired visual probes / mocks are generated or skipped with a reason.Resolve the image-generation gate in shape.md or craft.md before code.MutationAll active gates above pass.Do not edit project files yet.

Codex-style agents must state this before editing files:

text

IMPECCABLE_PREFLIGHT: context=pass product=pass command_reference=pass shape=pass|not_required image_gate=pass|skipped:<reason> mutation=open

For /impeccable craft, shape=pass is only valid after a separate user response approving the shape design brief, or when the user provided an already-confirmed brief in the request. Do not mark shape=pass after writing PRODUCT.md, summarizing assumptions, or drafting an unconfirmed brief yourself.

Other harnesses should follow the same checklist when they can expose this state.

1. Context gathering#

Two files, case-insensitive. The loader looks at the project root by default and falls back to .agents/context/ and docs/ if the root is clean. Override with IMPECCABLE_CONTEXT_DIR=path/to/dir (absolute or relative to cwd).

• PRODUCT.md — required. Users, brand, tone, anti-references, strategic principles.
• DESIGN.md — optional, strongly recommended. Colors, typography, elevation, components.

Load both in one call:

bash

node .kiro/skills/impeccable/scripts/load-context.mjs

Consume the full JSON output. Never pipe through head, tail, grep, or jq. The output's contextDir field tells you where the files were resolved from.

If the output is already in this session's conversation history, don't re-run. Exceptions requiring a fresh load: you just ran /impeccable teach or /impeccable document (they rewrite the files), or the user manually edited one.

/impeccable live already warms context via live.mjs — if you've run live.mjs, don't also run load-context.mjs this session.

If PRODUCT.md is missing, empty, or placeholder ( [TODO] markers, <200 chars): run /impeccable teach, then resume the user's original task with the fresh context. If the original task was /impeccable craft, resume into /impeccable shape before any implementation work.

If DESIGN.md is missing: nudge once per session ( "Run /impeccable document for more on-brand output"), then proceed.

2. Register#

Every design task is brand (marketing, landing, campaign, long-form content, portfolio — design IS the product) or product (app UI, admin, dashboard, tool — design SERVES the product).

Identify before designing. Priority: (1) cue in the task itself ("landing page" vs "dashboard"); (2) the surface in focus (the page, file, or route being worked on); (3) register field in PRODUCT.md. First match wins.

If PRODUCT.md lacks the register field (legacy), infer it once from its "Users" and "Product Purpose" sections, then cache the inferred value for the session. Suggest the user run /impeccable teach to add the field explicitly.

Load the matching reference: reference/brand.md or reference/product.md. The shared design laws below apply to both.

Shared design laws#

Apply to every design, both registers. Match implementation complexity to the aesthetic vision — maximalism needs elaborate code, minimalism needs precision. Interpret creatively. Vary across projects; never converge on the same choices. Claude is capable of extraordinary work — don't hold back.

Color#

• Use OKLCH. Reduce chroma as lightness approaches 0 or 100 — high chroma at extremes looks garish.

• Never use #000 or #fff. Tint every neutral toward the brand hue (chroma 0.005–0.01 is enough).

• Pick a color strategy before picking colors. Four steps on the commitment axis:

  • Restrained — tinted neutrals + one accent ≤10%. Product default; brand minimalism.
  • Committed — one saturated color carries 30–60% of the surface. Brand default for identity-driven pages.
  • Full palette — 3–4 named roles, each used deliberately. Brand campaigns; product data viz.
  • Drenched — the surface IS the color. Brand heroes, campaign pages.

• The "one accent ≤10%" rule is Restrained only. Committed / Full palette / Drenched exceed it on purpose. Don't collapse every design to Restrained by reflex.

Theme#

Dark vs. light is never a default. Not dark "because tools look cool dark." Not light "to be safe."

Before choosing, write one sentence of physical scene: who uses this, where, under what ambient light, in what mood. If the sentence doesn't force the answer, it's not concrete enough — add detail until it does.

"Observability dashboard" does not force an answer. "SRE glancing at incident severity on a 27-inch monitor at 2am in a dim room" does. Run the sentence, not the category.

Typography#

• Cap body line length at 65–75ch.
• Hierarchy through scale + weight contrast (≥1.25 ratio between steps). Avoid flat scales.

Layout#

• Vary spacing for rhythm. Same padding everywhere is monotony.
• Cards are the lazy answer. Use them only when they're truly the best affordance. Nested cards are always wrong.
• Don't wrap everything in a container. Most things don't need one.

Motion#

• Don't animate CSS layout properties.
• Ease out with exponential curves (ease-out-quart / quint / expo). No bounce, no elastic.

Absolute bans#

Match-and-refuse. If you're about to write any of these, rewrite the element with different structure.

• Side-stripe borders. border-left or border-right greater than 1px as a colored accent on cards, list items, callouts, or alerts. Never intentional. Rewrite with full borders, background tints, leading numbers/icons, or nothing.
• Gradient text. background-clip: text combined with a gradient background. Decorative, never meaningful. Use a single solid color. Emphasis via weight or size.
• Glassmorphism as default. Blurs and glass cards used decoratively. Rare and purposeful, or nothing.
• The hero-metric template. Big number, small label, supporting stats, gradient accent. SaaS cliché.
• Identical card grids. Same-sized cards with icon + heading + text, repeated endlessly.
• Modal as first thought. Modals are usually laziness. Exhaust inline / progressive alternatives first.

Copy#

• Every word earns its place. No restated headings, no intros that repeat the title.
• No em dashes. Use commas, colons, semicolons, periods, or parentheses. Also not --.

The AI slop test#

If someone could look at this interface and say "AI made that" without doubt, it's failed. Cross-register failures are the absolute bans above. Register-specific failures live in each reference.

Category-reflex check. Run at two altitudes — the second one catches what the first one misses.

• First-order: if someone could guess the theme + palette from the category alone — "observability → dark blue", "healthcare → white + teal", "finance → navy + gold", "crypto → neon on black" — it's the first training-data reflex. Rework the scene sentence and color strategy until the answer isn't obvious from the domain.
• Second-order: if someone could guess the aesthetic family from category-plus-anti-references — "AI workflow tool that's not SaaS-cream → editorial-typographic", "fintech that's not navy-and-gold → terminal-native dark mode" — it's the trap one tier deeper. The first reflex was avoided; the second wasn't. Rework until both answers are not obvious. The brand register's reflex-reject aesthetic lanes list catches the currently-saturated families.

Commands#

CommandCategoryDescriptionReferencecraft [feature]BuildShape, then build a feature end-to-endreference/craft.mdshape [feature]BuildPlan UX/UI before writing codereference/shape.mdteachBuildSet up PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md contextreference/teach.mddocumentBuildGenerate DESIGN.md from existing project codereference/document.mdextract [target]BuildPull reusable tokens and components into design systemreference/extract.mdcritique [target]EvaluateUX design review with heuristic scoringreference/critique.mdaudit [target]EvaluateTechnical quality checks (a11y, perf, responsive)reference/audit.mdpolish [target]RefineFinal quality pass before shippingreference/polish.mdbolder [target]RefineAmplify safe or bland designsreference/bolder.mdquieter [target]RefineTone down aggressive or overstimulating designsreference/quieter.mddistill [target]RefineStrip to essence, remove complexityreference/distill.mdharden [target]RefineProduction-ready: errors, i18n, edge casesreference/harden.mdonboard [target]RefineDesign first-run flows, empty states, activationreference/onboard.mdanimate [target]EnhanceAdd purposeful animations and motionreference/animate.mdcolorize [target]EnhanceAdd strategic color to monochromatic UIsreference/colorize.mdtypeset [target]EnhanceImprove typography hierarchy and fontsreference/typeset.mdlayout [target]EnhanceFix spacing, rhythm, and visual hierarchyreference/layout.mddelight [target]EnhanceAdd personality and memorable touchesreference/delight.mdoverdrive [target]EnhancePush past conventional limitsreference/overdrive.mdclarify [target]FixImprove UX copy, labels, and error messagesreference/clarify.mdadapt [target]FixAdapt for different devices and screen sizesreference/adapt.mdoptimize [target]FixDiagnose and fix UI performancereference/optimize.mdliveIterateVisual variant mode: pick elements in the browser, generate alternativesreference/live.md

Plus two management commands — pin <command> and unpin <command>, detailed below.

Routing rules#

1. No argument — render the table above as the user-facing command menu, grouped by category. Ask what they'd like to do.
2. First word matches a command — load its reference file and follow its instructions. Everything after the command name is the target.
3. First word doesn't match — general design invocation. Apply the setup steps, shared design laws, and the loaded register reference, using the full argument as context.

Setup (context gathering, register) is already loaded by then; sub-commands don't re-invoke /impeccable.

If the first word is craft, setup still runs first, but reference/craft.md owns the rest of the flow. If setup invokes teach as a blocker, finish teach, refresh context, then resume the original command and target.

Pin / Unpin#

Pin creates a standalone shortcut so /<command> invokes /impeccable <command> directly. Unpin removes it. The script writes to every harness directory present in the project.

bash

node .kiro/skills/impeccable/scripts/pin.mjs <pin|unpin> <command>

Valid <command> is any command from the table above. Report the script's result concisely — confirm the new shortcut on success, relay stderr verbatim on error.