Critique

MANDATORY PREPARATION

Invoke /frontend-design — 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.

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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.

Phase 1: 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 & Cognitive Load

Consult cognitive-load for the working memory rule and 8-item checklist

• Is the structure intuitive? Would a new user understand the organization?
• Is related content grouped logically?
• Are there too many choices at once? Count visible options at each decision point — if >4, flag it
• Is the navigation clear and predictable?
• Progressive disclosure: Is complexity revealed only when needed, or dumped on the user upfront?
• Run the 8-item cognitive load checklist from the reference. Report failure count: 0–1 = low (good), 2–3 = moderate, 4+ = critical.

4. Emotional Journey

• 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"?
• Peak-end rule: Is the most intense moment positive? Does the experience end well (confirmation, celebration, clear next step)?
• Emotional valleys: Check for onboarding frustration, error cliffs, feature discovery gaps, or anxiety spikes at high-stakes moments (payment, delete, commit)
• Interventions at negative moments: Are there design interventions where users are likely to feel frustrated or anxious? (progress indicators, reassurance copy, undo options, social proof)

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?

Phase 2: Present Findings

Structure your feedback as a design director would:

Design Health Score

Consult heuristics-scoring

Score each of Nielsen's 10 heuristics 0–4. Present as a table:

Be honest with scores. A 4 means genuinely excellent. Most real interfaces score 20–32.

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, tag with P0–P3 severity (consult heuristics-scoring for severity definitions):

• [P?] What: Name the problem clearly
• Why it matters: How this hurts users or undermines goals
• Fix: What to do about it (be concrete)
• Suggested command: Which command could address this (from: /animate, /quieter, /optimize, /adapt, /clarify, /distill, /delight, /onboard, /normalize, /audit, /harden, /polish, /extract, /bolder, /arrange, /typeset, /critique, /colorize, /overdrive)