Visual Design
Trigger Boundary
- •Use when visual hierarchy, consistency, or brand alignment is unclear.
- •Do not use for interaction flow state logic; use
interaction-design. - •Do not use for accessibility audit execution only; use
accessibility-design.
Goal
Deliver coherent visual language that improves clarity and trust.
Shared Design Contract (Canonical)
- •Use
../design-principles/references/design-governance-contract.mdas the single schema and gate source. - •Track visual specs with
VIS-SPEC-*IDs. - •Run machine validation:
python3 ../design-principles/scripts/validate_design_contract.py --manifest <path/to/manifest.json>.
Inputs
- •Brand direction and product context
- •Existing UI artifacts and inconsistency reports
- •Accessibility contrast and readability constraints
Outputs
- •Visual spec set with
VIS-SPEC-*IDs - •Typography, color, spacing, and hierarchy rules
- •Component-level visual usage guidance
Workflow
- •Define visual hierarchy objectives by task criticality.
- •Build typography and spacing scales.
- •Define color role system and usage constraints.
- •Apply rules to representative screens.
- •Validate readability and contrast compliance.
Quality Gates
- •Visual hierarchy supports task prioritization.
- •Spec set is consistent and reusable.
- •Contrast and legibility pass required thresholds.
- •Visual decisions map to principle and token systems.
Failure Handling
- •Stop when visual rules rely on one-off overrides.
- •Escalate when contrast or readability fails baseline gates.