design-components

Design - Components

This skill guides Claude through designing components and sections within an existing design system. Unlike design-concepts (which explores new visual identities), this skill works within established constraints — same fonts, same colors, same tokens — and finds creative variation through composition, layout, interaction, and information hierarchy.

Core Methodology

Why Constrained Variation Matters

A design system gives you vocabulary. This skill is about writing different sentences with the same words:

• Same palette, different emphasis: Brand orange as a subtle border vs. a bold background vs. a gradient accent
• Same type scale, different hierarchy: Large title + small body vs. medium everything + bold labels
• Same spacing tokens, different density: Compact data table vs. airy editorial card
• Same primitives, different composition: Stacked cards vs. side-by-side panels vs. tabbed sections

The goal is showing stakeholders that meaningful variety exists within the system — and helping pick the composition that best serves the component's purpose.

When to Create 3 Variations vs. 1

• 3 variations: New component type, section redesign, unclear requirements, stakeholder needs to choose
• 1 variation: Extending an existing pattern, minor variant of something that already works, clear requirements with no ambiguity

Step 1: System Audit

Before designing anything, understand what you're working with. Read the project's design system files.

Files to look for:

- globals.css / global styles (CSS variables, tokens, layers)
- tailwind.config.ts/js (theme extensions, custom values)
- Design token files (colors, spacing, typography scales)
- Component library (shadcn components, Radix primitives, custom components)
- Existing components similar to what's being designed
- Any design docs (docs/design/, docs/css-quick-reference.md, etc.)

What to catalog:

1. Color tokens: Brand colors, semantic colors, neutral scale, accent colors, dark mode variants
2. Typography: Font families, size scale, weight scale, any utility classes (.text-page-title, .heading-font, etc.)
3. Spacing: Token scale (if semantic like section/card/element/rhythm, or numeric like Tailwind defaults)
4. Animation: Custom durations, easings, keyframes, transition patterns, motion preference support
5. Component primitives: What's already built — cards, buttons, badges, dialogs, inputs, etc.
6. Patterns in use: How existing components handle states, hover effects, responsive behavior, dark mode