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Author opinionated design principles and a flexible brand identity system — name, logo, attributes-to-visuals translation, brand-in-product, the brand→token bridge, guidelines, and rebrands — that stay consistent, accessible, and alive across any surface.
Passed 20 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 18 of 22 without it.
2 fixed18 passed either way2 still failing0 broke
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
One of 2 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
We are writing design principles for our enterprise SaaS product platform. Our team drafted 'Make it simple', 'Delight our users', and 'Be consistent'. How should we refine these into effective design principles, and what structural test determines if a principle is valid?
| Checked | Without skill | With skill |
|---|---|---|
| Rejects platitudes like 'Make it simple' in favor of rules that state an explicit tradeoff where a competitor could reasonably choose the opposite position. | Passed | Passed |
| Includes an example design principle that explicitly trades off feature power or speed against clarity. | Missed | Passed |
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
This is the philosophical and expressive layer above tokens and components. Tokens say what #4F46E5 means; components say how a button behaves. Principles and brand say why the whole thing looks and decides the way it does. Get this layer right and the rest writes itself; get it wrong and you ship a thousand inconsistent screens that all technically pass review.
A design principle is a shared, opinionated rule that resolves disputes before they happen. It is not a value, not a guideline, not a slogan.
| Layer | What it is | Example | Lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | What you believe (cultural) | "We respect the user's time" | Years |
| Principle | A design-decision rule with a tradeoff | "Default to the fastest path, not the most powerful one" | Years, rarely change |
| Guideline | A specific, enforceable rule | "Primary actions use --color-action, max one per view" | Versioned, change often |
| Standard/spec | A measurable check | "Touch targets ≥ 44×44pt" | Per release |
Principles live between values and guidelines. They are abstract enough to apply to a screen you haven't designed yet, concrete enough to make you choose.
A strong principle is specific, actionable, opinionated, and reveals a tradeoff — it helps you say no.
The acid test: can a smart person disagree with it? If no one could possibly hold the opposite position, it is a platitude, not a principle.
A principle should pass three checks:
test cases passed, vs 18 / 22 without
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