A taste system for AI agents. Skills, agents, rules, and hooks that turn generic AI output into work with genuine design quality.
Not a style guide. Not a component library. A system that gives AI agents something resembling taste, so they stop producing the visual equivalent of elevator music.
Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and any AI agent that reads markdown.
| The Shortform Guide | The Longform Guide |
| Philosophy, quick start, profiles. Read this first. | Deep dives on agents, skills, rules, hooks, customization. |
| The Taste Guide |
| What taste is, how to develop it, how to encode it for AI. |
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/0xDragoon/everything-design-taste.git
cd everything-design-taste
# Install with a profile
./install.sh --profile standard
# Or install everything
./install.sh --profile fullThat's it. Your AI agent now has opinions about typography, a zero-tolerance policy for "In today's fast-paced world," and a scoring system for taste.
AI agents produce the statistical average of everything they've seen. The average of everything is mediocre.
Left to their own devices, AI agents will generate:
- Purple gradients on white backgrounds
- Inter font for everything
- 3-column card grids with rounded corners and drop shadows
- "Get Started" buttons that don't say what you're starting
- Copy that reads like a LinkedIn post written by a committee
This system fights that with specific, opinionated, actionable knowledge about what makes design work.
everything-design-taste/
├── agents/ # 10 specialized design/product subagents
├── skills/ # 22 domain knowledge workflows
├── rules/ # 8 always-on quality constraints
│ ├── common/ # Universal principles (always install)
│ ├── react-ui/ # React/Tailwind specific
│ ├── figma/ # Figma file organization
│ └── brand/ # Brand system enforcement
├── hooks/ # 4 automated quality gate scripts
├── contexts/ # 4 mode-switching contexts
├── design-templates/ # 5 ready-to-use design systems
├── examples/ # 4 project configuration examples
├── docs/ # 3 comprehensive guides
├── scripts/ # Hook implementations and utilities
├── tests/ # Validation suite
├── SOUL.md # The ideology document
├── CLAUDE.md # Project-level AI config
└── install.sh # Profile-based installer
| Agent | What It Does |
|---|---|
| design-reviewer | Reviews UI for taste, hierarchy, spacing, and coherence. Catches AI slop. |
| brand-guardian | Enforces brand system consistency across visual and verbal output. |
| product-strategist | Frames features as user problems. Connects design to business outcomes. |
| copy-editor | Catches AI tone, corporate speak, and dead language. Makes text sound human. |
| design-system-auditor | Audits token consistency, component coverage, and documentation quality. |
| ux-researcher | Separates evidence from assumption. Structures research questions. |
| visual-qa | Pixel-level checks for alignment, spacing, color, responsive behavior. |
| pitch-architect | Structures narratives for investors, stakeholders, and founders. |
| content-strategist | Editorial direction, content architecture, and voice systems. |
| art-director | Overall visual direction, creative coherence, and aesthetic vision. |
| Category | Skills |
|---|---|
| Core | anti-slop, design-system-patterns, typography-craft, color-systems, layout-principles |
| Brand | brand-voice, photography-direction, icon-systems |
| Product | product-framing, case-study-writing, pitch-deck-patterns, founder-communication |
| Craft | design-critique, motion-principles, responsive-craft |
| Strategy | competitive-teardown, design-economics, design-org-structure |
| System | design-spec-writing, web3-design-patterns, taste-audit, configure-edt |
| Rule | What It Enforces |
|---|---|
| taste | Every element justifies its existence. Direction over decoration. |
| hierarchy | One primary action per page. Visual weight communicates importance. |
| anti-ai-aesthetic | No Inter defaults, no purple gradients, no generic card grids. |
| writing-quality | Front-load the point. Cut filler. Be specific. No nominalizations. |
| accessibility | WCAG AA contrast. Semantic HTML. Focus states. Touch targets. |
| intentionality | No defaults. Every choice is a choice, not a fallback. |
| component-styling | CSS variables for tokens. State coverage. Skeleton loading. |
| consistency | Brand token enforcement. Visual language coherence. |
| Hook | Trigger | What It Catches |
|---|---|---|
| check-ai-tone | Text edits | "Leverage," "synergy," "In today's fast-paced world" |
| check-contrast | CSS/HTML edits | Potential WCAG contrast violations |
| check-consistency | Component edits | Hardcoded values that should be design tokens |
| check-naming | React components | Generic names like "Component," "Wrapper," "Container" |
| Template | Aesthetic | Key Traits |
|---|---|---|
| minimal-saas | Clean, functional | Plus Jakarta Sans, blue accent, light default |
| luxury-brand | Dark, premium | Cormorant Garamond, gold accent, sharp corners |
| retro-computing | Terminal-inspired | Space Mono, window chrome, borders as structure |
| editorial-magazine | Print-inspired | Playfair Display, serif-forward, high contrast |
| developer-tool | Dense, precise | Geist Sans/Mono, dark default, information-dense |
| Profile | Best For | Skills | Rules | Agents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimal | Getting started | 3 | common | 2 |
| standard | Most users | 8 | common + react-ui | 4 |
| full | Design leaders | 22 | all | 10 |
| product | Founders, PMs | 7 | common | 3 |
./install.sh --profile minimal # Start small
./install.sh --profile standard # Recommended
./install.sh --profile full # Everything
./install.sh --profile product # Product/strategy focus# Pick specific components
./install.sh --skills anti-slop,typography-craft --rules common --agents design-reviewer,copy-editor# Copy only what you need
cp -r skills/anti-slop ~/.claude/skills/
cp -r rules/common ~/.claude/rules/
cp agents/design-reviewer.md ~/.claude/agents/| I want to... | Use this agent |
|---|---|
| Review a UI design | design-reviewer |
| Check brand compliance | brand-guardian |
| Frame a feature properly | product-strategist |
| Fix AI-sounding copy | copy-editor |
| Audit my design system | design-system-auditor |
| Validate my assumptions | ux-researcher |
| Do pixel-level QA | visual-qa |
| Structure a pitch deck | pitch-architect |
| Design content systems | content-strategist |
| Set creative direction | art-director |
Starting a new product:
1. product-strategist → Frame the problem and user
2. art-director → Set the creative direction
3. design-reviewer → Review initial designs
4. copy-editor → Clean up all text
5. taste-audit skill → Final quality gate
Redesigning an existing product:
1. competitive-teardown skill → Understand the landscape
2. design-system-auditor → Audit current system health
3. art-director → Set new direction
4. design-reviewer → Review iterations
5. visual-qa → Pixel-level polish
Building a pitch deck:
1. product-strategist → Frame the narrative
2. pitch-architect → Structure the deck
3. copy-editor → Tighten all language
4. art-director → Visual direction for slides
The taste-audit skill provides a structured scoring system that evaluates design output across five dimensions:
| Dimension | Weight | What It Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Intentionality | 30% | Is every element deliberate? |
| Craft Quality | 25% | Is execution precise and consistent? |
| AI Slop Check | 20% | Are generic AI patterns present? |
| Writing Quality | 15% | Does the copy sound human? |
| Accessibility | 10% | Are baseline standards met? |
Rating Scale:
- 4.5-5.0: Exceptional. Ship with pride.
- 4.0-4.4: Strong. Ship, polish later.
- 3.5-3.9: Acceptable. Ship if timeline demands.
- 3.0-3.4: Below bar. Revise before shipping.
- Below 3.0: Not ready. Significant rework needed.
npm testValidates all agents, skills, rules, hooks, templates, examples, and AI tone detection patterns.
This system is opinionated by design. But it's your system to modify.
- Fork the repo
- Edit rules to match your standards
- Add skills for your domain
- Modify agents to match your review style
- Create design templates for your brand
- Submit a PR if your contribution would help others
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
Read SOUL.md for the full ideology. The short version:
- Design is direction, not decoration. Every design decision is a strategic decision.
- Taste is a skill, not a gift. It can be learned, encoded, and systematized.
- AI produces averaged-out slop by default. This system fights it.
- Every element earns its place. Nothing exists because it's expected.
- Writing quality is design quality. Bad copy ruins good design.
- Honest over polished. Authenticity is a design principle.
Does this work with Cursor / Codex / other tools? Yes. The agents, skills, and rules are markdown files. Any tool that reads markdown instructions can use them. Copy the relevant files to your tool's config directory.
Can I use only some components? Yes. Use manual installation and copy only what you need. Each component is independent.
Is this only for web design? The core principles (taste, hierarchy, anti-slop, writing quality) apply to any design context. Some skills are web-specific (responsive-craft, react-ui rules) but most are universal.
How do I add my own skills?
Create a directory in skills/your-skill-name/ with a SKILL.md file. Follow the YAML frontmatter format. See docs/the-longform-guide.md for details.
My team has different design standards. Can I override the rules?
Yes. Fork the repo and modify rules/ to match your standards. Or disable specific rules by removing them from your installation.
Contributions welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Ideas for contributions:
- Skills for specific domains (mobile design, data visualization, design for print)
- Agents for specific review contexts (motion review, content accessibility)
- Design templates for additional aesthetics
- Rules for additional tech stacks (Vue, Svelte, Flutter)
- Translations
MIT. Use freely, modify as needed, contribute back if you can.
By Dragoon0x). Star this repo if it helps. Read the guides. Build something with taste.
| Category | Count | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| UI Patterns | 30 | Forms, navigation, tables, modals, search, cards, buttons, notifications, pagination, tabs, sidebars, and more |
| Industry Design | 20 | Fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, education, media, SaaS, marketplace, developer tools, social, gaming, travel, food delivery, and more |
| Platform Design | 15 | iOS, Android, desktop, tablet, watch, TV, email, voice UI, AR/VR, kiosk, PWA, accessibility deep, i18n |
| Content & Writing | 20 | Microcopy, landing pages, technical writing, social media, changelogs, error messages, onboarding copy, SEO, blog design, and more |
| Visual Craft | 20 | Data visualization, illustration, gradients, shadows, borders, image optimization, dark mode, density, whitespace, glassmorphism, and more |
| Product & Business | 15 | Retention, growth, A/B testing, pricing, design economics, competitive analysis, user journeys, personas, and more |
| Design Process | 10 | Design sprints, usability testing, workshops, handoff, critique facilitation, design ops, portfolio building, and more |
| Core | 22 | Anti-slop, typography, color, layout, brand voice, motion, responsive, case studies, pitch decks, and the original skill set |
| Category | Count | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| UI Specialists | 10 | Form, navigation, table, dashboard, mobile, interaction, conversion, layout, icon, animation review |
| Industry Experts | 8 | Fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, SaaS, marketplace, developer experience, education, social platform |
| Content Specialists | 8 | Copy, SEO, documentation, email, accessibility, localization, notification, UX writing review |
| Process Agents | 6 | Research planning, workshop facilitation, sprint planning, design ops, competitive analysis, metrics |
| Strategy Agents | 6 | Growth, onboarding, pricing, retention, data storytelling, design research |
| Technical Agents | 6 | Performance, responsive, dark mode, design tokens, CSS architecture, component API review |
| Core | 10 | Design review, brand, product strategy, copy editing, design systems, UX research, visual QA, pitch, content, art direction |