tachyon-beep/using-ux-designer

Using UX Designer

Overview

This meta-skill routes you to the right UX design skills based on your situation. Load this skill when you need UX expertise but aren't sure which specific skill to use.

Core Principle: Different UX tasks require different skills. Match your situation to the appropriate skill, load only what you need.

When to Use

Load this skill when:

• Starting any UX/UI design task
• User mentions: "design", "UX", "UI", "interface", "user experience", "layout", "navigation"
• You need to critique or review a design
• You need to create a new interface or feature
• User asks about UX principles or concepts

Don't use for: Backend logic, database design, pure technical implementation without UX implications. For static documentation or marketing sites (developer-tool docs, landing pages, OSS project sites), route to the sibling lyra-site-designer pack instead — this pack is for application UI (interactive web apps, mobile, desktop, game, AI surfaces).

---

How to Access Reference Sheets

IMPORTANT: All reference sheets are located in the SAME DIRECTORY as this SKILL.md file.

When this skill is loaded from: skills/using-ux-designer/SKILL.md

Reference sheets like ux-fundamentals.md are at: skills/using-ux-designer/ux-fundamentals.md

NOT at: skills/ux-fundamentals.md ← WRONG PATH

When you see a link like [ux-fundamentals.md](ux-fundamentals.md), read the file from the same directory as this SKILL.md.

---

Routing by Situation

Learning & Explanation

Symptoms: "What is...", "Explain...", "Teach me about...", "How does X work in UX?"

Route to: ux-fundamentals.md

Examples:

• "What is information architecture?" → ux-fundamentals.md
• "Explain visual hierarchy" → ux-fundamentals.md
• "How do I think about accessibility?" → ux-fundamentals.md

---

Design Critique & Review

Symptoms: "Review this design", "Critique this interface", "Is this usable?", "Does this follow best practices?"

Route to: Relevant competency skills based on critique focus

General Review (no specific focus):

• visual-design-foundations.md (visual hierarchy, color, typography)
• information-architecture.md (content organization, navigation)
• accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md (WCAG, inclusive design)

Specific Focus:

• Visual issues (color, contrast, hierarchy) → visual-design-foundations.md
• Navigation/findability issues → information-architecture.md
• Interaction feedback, touch targets → interaction-design-patterns.md
• Accessibility concerns → accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md

Add platform extension if design is platform-specific:

• Mobile app → Add mobile-design-patterns.md
• Web dashboard → Add web-application-design.md
• Desktop software → Add desktop-software-design.md
• Game interface → Add game-ui-design.md

---

New Interface Design

Symptoms: "Design a...", "Create interface for...", "Build a [feature] screen"

Route to: Competency skills + platform extension

Standard Web/Mobile Feature:

1. visual-design-foundations.md (layout, hierarchy, color)
2. interaction-design-patterns.md (buttons, feedback, states)
3. Platform-specific:
   • Mobile → mobile-design-patterns.md
   • Web app → web-application-design.md

Complex Navigation/IA:

1. information-architecture.md (content structure, nav systems)
2. visual-design-foundations.md (visual hierarchy)
3. Platform extension as needed

Research Phase (early discovery):

1. user-research-and-validation.md (understand users first)
2. Then return to design skills once research complete

---

Specific UX Domains

AI / LLM-Powered Interfaces

Symptoms: "Chatbot UX", "AI assistant", "copilot", "agent", "RAG UI", "streaming output", "model output is wrong / overconfident", "citations", "tool-call confirmation"

Route to: ai-experience-patterns.md

Add:

• interaction-design-patterns.md for streaming + modal patterns
• accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md for aria-live streaming + WCAG 2.2 SC 3.3.8 (don't gate AI behind cognitive auth tests)
• Platform extension if surface is mobile / web / desktop

Examples:

• "Design a chat assistant with citations" → ai-experience-patterns + web-application-design
• "Our agent silently sent the wrong refund" → ai-experience-patterns (Reversibility / preview-then-confirm)
• "Users say the AI sounds too confident when it's wrong" → ai-experience-patterns (Calibration)

---

Visual Design Issues

Symptoms: "Colors don't work", "Typography feels off", "Hierarchy unclear", "Layout cramped"

Route to: visual-design-foundations.md

Add: accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md if contrast/readability concerns

---

Navigation & Findability

Symptoms: "Users can't find features", "Navigation confusing", "Menu structure", "Content organization"

Route to: information-architecture.md

Add: Platform extension for platform-specific nav patterns

---

Interaction & Feedback

Symptoms: "Button states unclear", "No loading feedback", "Micro-interactions", "Touch targets too small"

Route to: interaction-design-patterns.md

Add: Platform extension for platform-specific interaction conventions

---

Accessibility & Inclusion

Symptoms: "WCAG compliance", "Accessibility audit", "Colorblind-safe", "Keyboard navigation", "Screen reader"

Route to: accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md

Note: This skill should be referenced by all other design decisions (accessibility is universal)

---

User Research & Validation

Symptoms: "Understand users", "User interviews", "Usability testing", "Mental models", "Journey mapping"

Route to: user-research-and-validation.md

Add: Other skills once research informs design direction

---

Platform-Specific Routing

Mobile (iOS/Android)

Symptoms: "Mobile app", "iOS", "Android", "Touch interface", "Phone", "Tablet"

Route to:

• Core competency skills (visual, IA, interaction) as needed
• Always add: mobile-design-patterns.md

Mobile-Specific Concerns:

• Touch targets (44x44pt iOS, 48x48dp Android)
• Gestures (swipe, pinch, long-press)
• Platform conventions (iOS HIG vs Material Design)
• One-handed use, thumb zones

---

Web Applications

Symptoms: "Web app", "Dashboard", "SaaS", "Data visualization", "Admin panel", "Responsive design"

Route to:

• Core competency skills as needed
• Always add: web-application-design.md

Web-Specific Concerns:

• Responsive breakpoints
• Complex data display (tables, charts)
• Keyboard shortcuts, power-user workflows
• Multi-tasking (tabs, split views)

---

Desktop Software

Symptoms: "Desktop app", "Electron", "Native application", "Multi-window", "Keyboard shortcuts"

Route to:

• Core competency skills as needed
• Always add: desktop-software-design.md

Desktop-Specific Concerns:

• Window management (multi-window, panels)
• Keyboard-first workflows
• Workspace customization
• Power-user features (preferences, scripting)

---

Game UI

Symptoms: "Game", "HUD", "Menu system", "Game interface", "In-game UI", "Player experience"

Route to:

• Core competency skills as needed
• Always add: game-ui-design.md

Game-Specific Concerns:

• Visibility vs immersion (diegetic UI)
• Controller/gamepad navigation
• Readability during action
• Performance impact (frame rate)

---

Multi-Skill Scenarios

Complete Feature Design (Mobile Login)

Load in order:

1. visual-design-foundations.md (layout, button hierarchy)
2. interaction-design-patterns.md (form feedback, button states)
3. accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md (form labels, contrast)
4. mobile-design-patterns.md (touch targets, platform conventions)

---

Dashboard Redesign (Web)

Load in order:

1. information-architecture.md (organize data, navigation)
2. visual-design-foundations.md (hierarchy, chart design)
3. web-application-design.md (responsive, data display patterns)
4. accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md (data table accessibility)

---

Game HUD Evaluation

Load in order:

1. visual-design-foundations.md (readability, contrast)
2. game-ui-design.md (immersion, performance, input method)
3. accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md (colorblind-safe indicators)

---

Cross-Faction Integration

Lyra + Muna (Technical Writer)

When designing documentation UX:

• lyra/ux-designer/information-architecture (organize docs)
• muna/technical-writer/documentation-structure (content structure)
• muna/technical-writer/clarity-and-style (microcopy, UI text)

Example: "Design documentation site navigation" → Load IA + documentation-structure

---

Lyra UX + Lyra Site (sibling pack)

When the surface is a static documentation site or marketing page (not an interactive application):

• Hand off to lyra-site-designer — owns information architecture, HTML/CSS, design tokens, and developer-UX patterns for docs-first frameworks (Starlight / VitePress / Docusaurus).

This pack stays in scope for: SaaS dashboards, web applications, mobile apps, desktop tools, game UI, AI / chat / agent surfaces.

---

Lyra + Ordis (Security Architect)

When designing secure interfaces:

• lyra/ux-designer/visual-design-foundations (secure feedback, error states)
• ordis/security-architect/threat-modeling (authentication UX threats)

Example: "Design login with MFA" → Load interaction-patterns + threat-modeling

---

Decision Tree

User Request
    |
    ├─ "What is...?" / "Explain..." → ux-fundamentals
    |
    ├─ "Review this design"
    |   ├─ General → visual-design + IA + accessibility
    |   └─ Specific concern → Relevant competency skill
    |       └─ Add platform extension if platform-specific
    |
    ├─ "Design a [feature]"
    |   ├─ Research phase? → user-research-and-validation first
    |   └─ Design phase
    |       ├─ Identify competencies needed (visual, IA, interaction)
    |       ├─ Detect platform (mobile, web, desktop, game)
    |       └─ Load competency + platform extension
    |
    └─ Specific domain
        ├─ Visual → visual-design-foundations
        ├─ Navigation → information-architecture
        ├─ Interaction → interaction-design-patterns
        ├─ Accessibility → accessibility-and-inclusive-design
        ├─ AI / chatbot / agent / RAG / streaming → ai-experience-patterns
        └─ Research → user-research-and-validation

---

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: "I need general UX advice"

Load: ux-fundamentals.md (teaches principles)

Pattern 2: "Critique my [platform] design"

Load: visual-design + IA + accessibility + [platform-extension]

Pattern 3: "Design [feature] for [platform]"

Load: Relevant competencies + [platform-extension]

Pattern 4: "Is this accessible?"

Load: accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md (primary) Reference: visual-design (contrast), interaction-design (keyboard nav)

Pattern 5: "How do users navigate this?"

Load: information-architecture.md (primary) Add: user-research-and-validation (if testing/validation needed)

---

Benefits of Routing

Focused expertise: Load only what's needed for the task Clear boundaries: Each skill has distinct responsibility Composable: Combine skills for complex scenarios Efficient: Avoid loading all 11 specialist sheets at once Explicit: User sees which skills are active

---

UX Designer Specialist Skills Catalog

After routing, load the appropriate specialist skill for detailed guidance:

1. ux-fundamentals.md - Core UX principles, teaching foundational concepts, design thinking
2. visual-design-foundations.md - Color theory, typography, visual hierarchy, layout, contrast
3. information-architecture.md - Navigation systems, content organization, findability, menu structure
4. interaction-design-patterns.md - Button states, feedback patterns, micro-interactions, touch targets
5. accessibility-and-inclusive-design.md - WCAG compliance, inclusive design, colorblind-safe, screen readers, keyboard navigation
6. user-research-and-validation.md - User interviews, usability testing, mental models, journey mapping, research methods
7. mobile-design-patterns.md - iOS/Android patterns, touch gestures, platform conventions, thumb zones
8. web-application-design.md - Responsive design, dashboards, data visualization, SaaS patterns, keyboard shortcuts
9. desktop-software-design.md - Multi-window management, keyboard-first workflows, power-user features, workspace customization
10. game-ui-design.md - HUD design, diegetic UI, controller navigation, immersion vs visibility
11. ai-experience-patterns.md - Conversational assistants, agent loops, RAG UIs, streaming output, citation/grounding, refusal UX, calibrated confidence, preview-then-confirm for tool actions

Cross-faction:

• muna/technical-writer/* - Documentation UX and microcopy
• ordis/security-architect/* - Security-aware interface design