/taste-skill

name: taste-skill
description: High-agency frontend design system for distinctive premium UI with anti-slop layout, motion, typography, and engineering rules.
version: "1.0.0"
metadata:
  author: CoWork OS Contributors <info@coworkosapp.com>
  source-author: "Leonxlnx"

Taste Skill

Use this skill when you need a strong frontend point of view, not a safe default.

The goal is not "pretty enough." The goal is a frontend that feels intentional, premium, and hard to confuse with generic LLM output.

1. Active Baseline Configuration

• `DESIGN_VARIANCE: 8`

`1 = symmetric and quiet`, `10 = asymmetric and experimental`

• `MOTION_INTENSITY: 6`

`1 = nearly static`, `10 = cinematic and highly reactive`

• `VISUAL_DENSITY: 4`

`1 = airy gallery`, `10 = dense cockpit`

Treat these as working dials, not fixed constants.

• Do not ask the user to edit this file.
• Adapt the dials to the brief. If the user wants calmer output, lower them. If the user wants bolder output, raise them.
• Use the dials to drive layout, animation, spacing, and card usage.

2. Required Working Model

Before coding, establish three things:

1. Visual thesis One sentence for mood, material, and energy. 2. Layout thesis What makes the page memorable: asymmetry, crop, white space, stacked motion, split hero, bento rhythm, etc. 3. Interaction thesis Two or three motions that materially change the feel of the interface.

Then implement real code. Do not stop at design commentary.

• Do not leave "TODO: add animation here" style placeholders.
• Do not output fake code snippets for components that are supposed to be shipped.
• Do not ask for permission to make obvious design decisions once the brief is clear.

3. Architecture and Dependency Rules

Unless the user explicitly asks for something else, prefer React or Next.js.

Dependency verification

Before importing any third-party package:

• check `package.json`
• if the package is missing, state the exact install command before using it
• never assume `framer-motion`, `lucide-react`, `zustand`, or any font package is already installed

React and Next.js rules

• Default to server-safe structure in Next.js.
• Keep global state out of server components.
• If motion or highly interactive behavior is required, isolate it in a focused client component.
• Do not spread animation logic across an entire tree when one leaf component can own it.

Styling rules

• Use Tailwind for most styling unless the project clearly uses something else.
• Check whether the project is Tailwind v3 or v4 before writing config-sensitive code.
• Do not use v4 patterns in a v3 project.

Icon rules

• Prefer `@phosphor-icons/react` or `@radix-ui/react-icons` when the project supports them.
• Keep icon stroke weight consistent across the page.

Hard bans

• No emojis in code, markup, UI copy, or alt text.
• No `h-screen` heroes on mobile-sensitive layouts. Use `min-h-[100dvh]`.
• No flexbox percentage math when grid solves the layout more cleanly.

4. Design Engineering Directives

LLMs drift toward familiar, overused UI patterns. Correct for that proactively.

Typography

• Default headline energy: large, tight, decisive.
• Avoid generic font stacks like Inter, Arial, Roboto, and raw system defaults when the brief calls for premium or creative work.
• Favor distinctive but disciplined display fonts such as Geist, Outfit, Cabinet Grotesk, or Satoshi.
• For dashboards and software UI, serif display choices are banned.
• Pair a strong display face with a quieter supporting face or mono.

Color

• Use a restrained neutral base plus one main accent.
• Keep accent saturation controlled.
• Avoid the default AI purple/blue glow aesthetic.
• Do not mix warm and cool gray systems randomly.

Layout

If `DESIGN_VARIANCE > 4`:

• do not center the entire hero by default
• avoid "headline + two buttons + card grid" as the first screen
• prefer split-screen, offset content, asymmetric negative space, anchored media, or broken-grid composition

Surfaces and cards

• Cards are not the default.
• Use cards only when elevation communicates hierarchy or interaction.
• For denser dashboards, prefer dividers, border rhythms, and spacing over endless card mosaics.
• If removing a card keeps the meaning intact, remove it.

Forms and states

Every serious surface needs full interaction coverage:

• loading state
• empty state
• error state
• success state
• tactile active state

For forms:

• label above input
• helper text optional but useful
• error text below input
• consistent vertical spacing

5. Motion System

Motion should create presence and hierarchy, not noise.

If `MOTION_INTENSITY <= 3`:

• limit motion to entrance, hover, and small affordance shifts

If `MOTION_INTENSITY > 5`:

• add continuous micro-interactions
• stagger reveals
• use spring-based motion
• make at least one interaction feel physically responsive

Preferred motion patterns

• staggered entrances
• layout transitions
• hover-aware buttons
• scroll-linked depth shifts
• type or shimmer loops for active interfaces
• floating or breathing status details

Magnetic interaction rule

If you build cursor-reactive magnetic behavior:

• do not use React `useState` for per-frame cursor updates
• prefer motion values or equivalent render-loop-safe primitives

Motion quality bar

• no linear-by-default motion
• no gratuitous infinite animation without purpose
• no animation that only decorates and does not improve rhythm, focus, or affordance

6. Materiality and Visual Texture

When the design calls for glass or translucent layers:

• go beyond raw `backdrop-blur`
• add a subtle inner border
• add a restrained inner highlight or inset shadow

Use atmosphere intentionally:

• gradient meshes
• noise overlays
• soft vignettes
• layered transparency
• controlled shadows

But:

• keep grain and noise on fixed overlays, not scrolling containers
• do not turn every section into a s