critique skill

---
name: critique
description: Evaluate design effectiveness from a UX perspective. Assesses visual hierarchy, information architecture, emotional resonance, and overall design quality with actionable feedback.
user-invokable: true
args:
  - name: area
    description: The feature or area to critique (optional)
    required: false
---

## MANDATORY PREPARATION

Use the frontend-design skill — it contains design principles, anti-patterns, and the **Context Gathering Protocol**. Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no design context exists yet, you MUST run teach-impeccable first. Additionally gather: what the interface is trying to accomplish.

---

Conduct a holistic design critique, evaluating whether the interface actually works—not just technically, but as a designed experience. Think like a design director giving feedback.

## Design Critique

Evaluate the interface across these dimensions:

### 1. AI Slop Detection (CRITICAL)

**This is the most important check.** Does this look like every other AI-generated interface from 2024-2025?

Review the design against ALL the **DON'T** guidelines in the frontend-design skill—they are the fingerprints of AI-generated work. Check for the AI color palette, gradient text, dark mode with glowing accents, glassmorphism, hero metric layouts, identical card grids, generic fonts, and all other tells.

**The test**: If you showed this to someone and said "AI made this," would they believe you immediately? If yes, that's the problem.

### 2. Visual Hierarchy
- Does the eye flow to the most important element first?
- Is there a clear primary action? Can you spot it in 2 seconds?
- Do size, color, and position communicate importance correctly?
- Is there visual competition between elements that should have different weights?

### 3. Information Architecture
- Is the structure intuitive? Would a new user understand the organization?
- Is related content grouped logically?
- Are there too many choices at once? (cognitive overload)
- Is the navigation clear and predictable?

### 4. Emotional Resonance
- What emotion does this interface evoke? Is that intentional?
- Does it match the brand personality?
- Does it feel trustworthy, approachable, premium, playful—whatever it should feel?
- Would the target user feel "this is for me"?

### 5. Discoverability & Affordance
- Are interactive elements obviously interactive?
- Would a user know what to do without instructions?
- Are hover/focus states providing useful feedback?
- Are there hidden features that should be more visible?

### 6. Composition & Balance
- Does the layout feel balanced or uncomfortably weighted?
- Is whitespace used intentionally or just leftover?
- Is there visual rhythm in spacing and repetition?
- Does asymmetry feel designed or accidental?

### 7. Typography as Communication
- Does the type hierarchy clearly signal what to read first, second, third?
- Is body text comfortable to read? (line length, spacing, size)
- Do font choices reinforce the brand/tone?
- Is there enough contrast between heading levels?

### 8. Color with Purpose
- Is color used to communicate, not just decorate?
- Does the palette feel cohesive?
- Are accent colors drawing attention to the right things?
- Does it work for colorblind users? (not just technically—does meaning still come through?)

### 9. States & Edge Cases
- Empty states: Do they guide users toward action, or just say "nothing here"?
- Loading states: Do they reduce perceived wait time?
- Error states: Are they helpful and non-blaming?
- Success states: Do they confirm and guide next steps?

### 10. Microcopy & Voice
- Is the writing clear and concise?
- Does it sound like a human (the right human for this brand)?
- Are labels and buttons unambiguous?
- Does error copy help users fix the problem?

## Generate Critique Report

Structure your feedback as a design director would:

### Anti-Patterns Verdict
**Start here.** Pass/fail: Does this look AI-generated? List specific tells from the skill's Anti-Patterns section. Be brutally honest.

### Overall Impression
A brief gut reaction—what works, what doesn't, and the single biggest opportunity.

### What's Working
Highlight 2-3 things done well. Be specific about why they work.

### Priority Issues
The 3-5 most impactful design problems, ordered by importance:

For each issue:
- **What**: Name the problem clearly
- **Why it matters**: How this hurts users or undermines goals
- **Fix**: What to do about it (be concrete)
- **Command**: Which command to use (prefer: /animate, /quieter, /optimize, /adapt, /clarify, /distill, /delight, /onboard, /normalize, /audit, /harden, /polish, /extract, /bolder, /arrange, /typeset, /critique, /colorize, /overdrive — or other installed skills you're sure exist)

### Minor Observations
Quick notes on smaller issues worth addressing.

### Questions to Consider
Provocative questions that might unlock better solutions:
- "What if the primary action were more prominent?"
- "Does this need to feel this complex?"
- "What would a confident version of this look like?"

**Remember**:
- Be direct—vague feedback wastes everyone's time
- Be specific—"the submit button" not "some elements"
- Say what's wrong AND why it matters to users
- Give concrete suggestions, not just "consider exploring..."
- Prioritize ruthlessly—if everything is important, nothing is
- Don't soften criticism—developers need honest feedback to ship great design