57 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
57 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: deterministic-design
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description: "Render the UI and prove it's balanced + usable: a deterministic layout audit (centroid / optical-center / pixel-oracle balance via explicit math + annotated screenshot) plus a vision-judged Nielsen usability audit by a separate fresh-eyes judge. The measurement layer taste-only design skills lack."
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risk: safe
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source: community
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source_type: community
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source_repo: connerkward/deterministic-design-skill
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date_added: "2026-06-16"
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author: Conner K Ward
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license: MIT
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tags:
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- design
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- layout
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- usability
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- audit
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- verification
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- vision
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tools:
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- claude-code
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- antigravity
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- cursor
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- gemini-cli
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- codex-cli
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---
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## When to Use
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Use to catch AI-generated UI that "looks off", is misaligned or centered-mush, or fails usability — when you need to PROVE a layout is balanced and usable instead of trusting the model's eye. Compose it with any taste/token design skill before reporting design "done".
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_Source: [connerkward/deterministic-design-skill](https://github.com/connerkward/deterministic-design-skill) (MIT)._
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# deterministic-design
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Thesis: **determinism beats AI randomness.** A model can't trust its own eye on layout — so
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don't. Render the UI and *measure* it.
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Two sub-skills (load as needed):
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- **[design-spatial](https://github.com/connerkward/deterministic-design-skill/blob/main/design-spatial/SKILL.md)** — deterministic layout audit: explicit grid
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+ 8-pt spacing, and `layout-audit.js` computes centroid / optical-center / pixel-oracle
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balance and draws an annotated screenshot. **Numbers, not vibes.** Plus a render-then-
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critique vision loop.
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- **[design-ux](https://github.com/connerkward/deterministic-design-skill/blob/main/design-ux/SKILL.md)** — usability audit: scores the rendered UI against
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Nielsen's 10 + interaction heuristics via a SEPARATE fresh-eyes judge → prioritized fix list.
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This **improves** existing design skills (including the default Anthropic one) by adding the
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layer they lack — it doesn't just advise on taste, it renders, measures, and judges the
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output. Composable with any design skill.
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In central this lives as a subdir of ckw-design; it **publishes separately** as
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`deterministic-design-skill` (its own distribution) via publish-skill. One of the two
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flagship narratives — the *determinism* one; its sibling is human-in-the-loop (lookdev).
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## Limitations
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- Layout metrics and vision-judged audits catch many spatial and usability failures, but they are not a substitute for product judgment or user testing.
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- The workflow requires a rendered UI or screenshot; it cannot validate components that have not been built or captured.
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- Automated scoring can miss brand nuance, copy tone, accessibility needs, and domain-specific user expectations.
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