UI/UX Pro Max

Overview

A comprehensive UI/UX design intelligence system that combines visual design expertise with engineering rigor. This skill provides opinionated, production-ready guidance covering style selection, color palettes, typography, UX heuristics, data visualization, and multi-stack implementation. Every recommendation is filtered through a strict priority hierarchy that ensures accessibility and performance are never sacrificed for aesthetics.

Phase 1: Requirements Gathering

1. Identify the product type and target audience
2. Determine platform(s) (web, mobile, desktop)
3. Assess existing brand guidelines or design system
4. Define accessibility requirements
5. Set performance budgets

STOP — Confirm requirements with user before making design recommendations.

Priority Hierarchy (Non-Negotiable Order)

Do NOT skip or reorder these priorities. Accessibility always comes first.

1. Accessibility — WCAG 2.1 AA minimum, AAA preferred
   • Contrast ratio: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text
   • Keyboard navigation: all interactive elements focusable, visible focus ring
   • ARIA labels on all non-text controls
   • Screen reader announcements for dynamic content
   • Reduced motion: respect prefers-reduced-motion
2. Touch Targets — 44x44px minimum (Apple HIG / WCAG 2.5.5)
   • Spacing between targets: minimum 8px
   • Clickable area may exceed visual bounds via padding
3. Performance
   • Images: WebP with AVIF fallback, lazy loading below fold
   • CLS < 0.1, LCP < 2.5s, FID < 100ms
   • Font loading: font-display: swap, preload critical fonts
   • Bundle: code-split routes, tree-shake unused components
4. Style — Applied only after 1-3 are satisfied
5. Layout — Composition and spacing applied last

Phase 2: Style Selection

STOP — Present style recommendation with rationale before proceeding to implementation.

Style Selection Decision Table

Style Reference (Key Categories)

Glass and Transparency:

• Glassmorphism: backdrop-filter: blur(10px), semi-transparent backgrounds, subtle border
• Frosted Glass: heavier blur (20px+), lower opacity, works on busy backgrounds
• Acrylic (Fluent Design): noise texture overlay + blur

Minimal and Clean:

• Minimalism: maximum whitespace, single accent color, limited element count
• Swiss Design: grid-based, Helvetica/Grotesk, asymmetric balance
• Japandi: warm neutrals, organic shapes, hidden complexity

Bold and Expressive:

• Brutalism: raw, exposed structure, system fonts, harsh borders, no border-radius
• Neo-Brutalism: brutalism + bright accent colors + drop shadows
• Maximalism: layered textures, mixed fonts, dense information

Depth and Dimension:

• Neumorphism: soft inner/outer shadows on same-color backgrounds
• Material Design 3: elevation tokens, tonal surfaces, dynamic color
• Claymorphism: inflated 3D look, pastel colors, inner shadows

Dark and Moody:

• Dark Mode: OLED-safe (#000 backgrounds), muted primaries, reduced brightness
• Cyberpunk: neon on dark, glitch effects, monospace accents
• Noir: high contrast, grayscale with single accent

Phase 3: Color and Typography

STOP — Present palette and font pairing for approval before building components.

Color Palette Selection Rules

Color Token Rules

• Primary: brand identity color, used for CTAs and key actions
• Secondary: complementary, used for secondary actions and accents
• Neutral: gray scale for text, borders, backgrounds (minimum 9 shades)
• Semantic: success (#22C55E), warning (#F59E0B), error (#EF4444), info (#3B82F6)
• Always define as semantic tokens: --color-action-primary, not --color-blue-500

Dark Mode Palette Rules

Font Pairings (Top 10)

Typography Scale (Default)

--text-xs: 0.75rem / 1rem
--text-sm: 0.875rem / 1.25rem
--text-base: 1rem / 1.5rem
--text-lg: 1.125rem / 1.75rem
--text-xl: 1.25rem / 1.75rem
--text-2xl: 1.5rem / 2rem
--text-3xl: 1.875rem / 2.25rem
--text-4xl: 2.25rem / 2.5rem

Phase 4: UX Guidelines Application

Navigation Rules

1. Primary navigation: maximum 7 items (Miller's Law)
2. Current location always indicated (breadcrumb or active state)
3. Back button must always work as expected
4. Search available on every page for content-heavy apps

Form Rules

5. Labels above inputs, never placeholder-only
6. Inline validation on blur, not on keystroke
7. Error messages: specific, actionable, adjacent to field
8. Auto-focus first field on page load
9. Submit button disabled until form valid (with explanation)
10. Progress indicator for multi-step forms

Feedback Rules

11. Loading states for any action > 300ms
12. Skeleton screens over spinners for content loading
13. Toast notifications: auto-dismiss success (3s), persist errors
14. Tap feedback: 80-150ms response time
15. Optimistic UI for low-risk actions

Content Layout Rules

16. F-pattern for text-heavy pages
17. Z-pattern for landing pages
18. Above-the-fold: value proposition + primary CTA
19. One primary CTA per viewport

Mobile Rules

20. Bottom navigation for primary actions (thumb zone)
21. Pull-to-refresh for feed content
22. Swipe gestures with visual affordance

Phase 5: Implementation

Chart Type Selection Decision Table

Supported Stacks

Design Token Architecture

master.tokens.json    -> Primitive values (colors, spacing, fonts)
semantic.tokens.json  -> Mapped meanings (action-primary, surface-elevated)
component.tokens.json -> Component-specific (button-padding, card-radius)
overrides/
  brand-a.tokens.json -> Brand-specific overrides
  dark.tokens.json    -> Dark mode overrides

• Master tokens are read-only defaults
• Overrides are shallow-merged at runtime
• Component tokens reference semantic tokens only
• Never reference primitive tokens in components

Quick Wins Checklist

• No emoji as icons — use Lucide React or Heroicons
• Tap feedback delay: 80-150ms
• Semantic color tokens (not raw hex values)
• 8dp spacing rhythm (4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64)
• prefers-color-scheme media query for dark mode
• prefers-reduced-motion for animations
• :focus-visible instead of :focus for keyboard-only focus
• Image aspect ratios set to prevent CLS
• Font preloading for above-the-fold text
• loading="lazy" on below-fold images

Anti-Patterns / Common Mistakes

Integration Points

Skill Type

FLEXIBLE — Follow the priority hierarchy (accessibility > touch > performance > style > layout). Style recommendations adapt to context. Accessibility and performance rules are strongly recommended and should not be deprioritized.