Open Source

Design Skills for Claude Code

Give Claude the design knowledge it's missing. Heuristics, research methods, systems thinking, and real frameworks — not vibes.

View on GitHub
8 skills
94 files
34,000+ lines

Skills

UX Research

From interview scripts and deep listening to usability tests and workshop facilitation. Includes 20+ methods with expanded card sorting analysis, SUS scoring, behavioral audience segments, and Opportunity Solution Trees for continuous discovery.

14 files · ~3,800 lines

Design Critique & Evaluation

A 9-step critique framework covering Nielsen's heuristics, 27 UX laws, 50+ interaction patterns, information architecture evaluation, and UX writing review. Specific, not subjective.

10 files · ~3,100 lines

Accessibility Audit

Five audit layers — automated, keyboard, screen reader, visual, and flow — against WCAG 2.2 at A, AA, and AAA. Flags issues, rates severity, suggests code fixes, and generates reports.

8 files · 2,175 lines

Journey Mapping

Seven diagram types — journey maps, service blueprints, experience maps, empathy maps, user story maps, and more. Covers service ecology, strategic diagram use, current vs. future state mapping, alignment workshops, and JJG's Visual Vocabulary for flow diagramming.

11 files · ~3,600 lines

Design Systems

The full lifecycle — from interface inventory through token architecture, component specs, pattern documentation, and governance. Covers Atomic Design, Kholmatova's pattern approach, and the W3C token format.

13 files · ~4,500 lines

UX Strategy

Where design meets business — and responsibility. Opportunity Solution Trees, Jobs to Be Done, competitive analysis, HEART metrics, hypothesis-driven validation, and ethical strategy with shared value creation.

14 files · ~6,000 lines

Interaction Design

How things should behave, not just how they look. Microinteraction specs, narrative arc and storymapping, state machines, product postures, motion timing, and a 6-level error prevention hierarchy.

12 files · ~5,500 lines

Design Ops & Handoff

The operational side of design work. Five-day design sprints, handoff checklists, critique facilitation, documentation standards, visual QA, and scaled-down methods for solo designers and lean teams.

12 files · ~6,000 lines

Installation

All skills

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/cuellarfr/design-skills.git

# Copy all skills to Claude Code
cp -r design-skills/*/ ~/.claude/skills/

Single skill

# Example: install only design critique
cp -r design-skills/design-critique \
  ~/.claude/skills/

How skills are structured

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md              # Main file — works standalone
│
├── references/           # Deep reference material
│   ├── topic-a.md
│   └── topic-b.md
│
├── templates/            # Fillable deliverable templates
│   └── report-template.md
│
└── examples/             # End-to-end walkthroughs
    └── walkthrough.md
  • Opinionated Specific numbers and rubrics, not "consider..." language
  • Actionable Every principle comes with a concrete recommendation
  • Show, don't tell Before/after examples with scoring throughout
  • Depth on demand Start with the main file. Pull in references when you need more
  • Real sources 25 books, 11 frameworks, 6 standards. Nothing made up

Sources

Books

  • About Face — Alan Cooper
  • Atomic Design — Brad Frost
  • Blue Ocean Strategy — Kim & Mauborgne
  • Card Sorting — Donna Spencer
  • Continuous Discovery Habits — Teresa Torres
  • Design for the Real World — Victor Papanek
  • Design Systems — Alla Kholmatova
  • Don't Make Me Think — Steve Krug
  • Information Architecture — Rosenfeld, Morville & Arango
  • A Visual Vocabulary for IA — Jesse James Garrett
  • Jobs to Be Done — Jim Kalbach
  • Lean UX — Gothelf & Seiden
  • Mapping Experiences — Jim Kalbach
  • Microinteractions — Dan Saffer
  • Modular Web Design — Nathan Curtis
  • Outcome-Driven Innovation — Tony Ulwick
  • Practical Empathy — Indi Young
  • Service Design — Polaine, Løvlie & Reason
  • Sprint — Knapp, Zeratsky & Kowitz
  • The Innovator's Dilemma — Clayton Christensen
  • The User Experience Team of One — Leah Buley
  • The User's Journey — Donna Lichaw
  • User Story Mapping — Jeff Patton
  • UX Strategy — Jaime Levy
  • Writing Is Designing — Metts & Welfle

Frameworks & Standards

  • Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics
  • Laws of UX (lawsofux.com)
  • System Usability Scale (SUS)
  • HEART Framework (Google)
  • WCAG 2.2 Guidelines
  • W3C Design Tokens Community Group
  • Disney's 12 Principles of Animation
  • Harel Statecharts
  • Four Forces of Switching — Bob Moesta
  • LUMA Institute Methods
  • Material Design 3 · Apple HIG
  • Polaris · Carbon · Spectrum · Lightning
  • WebAIM
  • SERVQUAL / RATER Framework
  • Bauhaus · Swiss Design