Design Engineering Principles
A comprehensive guide for building polished, accessible web interfaces based on Emil Kowalski's design engineering practices and ibelick's ui-skills.
Quick Reference
| Category | When to Use |
|---|---|
| Stack Constraints | Tooling, libraries, Tailwind conventions |
| Animations | Enter/exit transitions, easing, springs, performance |
| UI Polish | Typography, visual design, layout, colors |
| Forms & Controls | Inputs, buttons, form submission |
| Touch & Accessibility | Mobile, touch devices, keyboard nav, a11y |
| Component Design | Compound components, composition, props API |
| Marketing | Landing pages, blogs, docs sites |
| Performance | Virtualization, preloading, optimization |
Core Principles
1. No Layout Shift
Dynamic elements should cause no layout shift. Use hardcoded dimensions, font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums for changing numbers, and avoid font weight changes on hover/selected states.
2. Touch-First, Hover-Enhanced
Design for touch first, then add hover enhancements. Disable hover effects on touch devices. Ensure 44px minimum tap targets. Never rely on hover for core functionality.
3. Keyboard Navigation
Tabbing should work consistently. Only allow tabbing through visible elements. Ensure keyboard navigation scrolls elements into view with scrollIntoView().
4. Accessibility by Default
Every animation needs prefers-reduced-motion support. Every icon button needs an aria label. Every interactive element needs proper focus states.
5. Speed Over Delight
Product UI should be fast and purposeful. Skip animations for frequently-used interactions. Marketing pages can be more elaborate.
Decision Flowcharts
Should I Animate This?
Will users see this 100+ times daily?
├── Yes → Don't animate
└── No
├── Is this user-initiated?
│ └── Yes → Animate with ease-out (150-250ms)
└── Is this a page transition?
└── Yes → Animate (300-400ms max)
What Easing Should I Use?
Is the element entering or exiting?
├── Yes → ease-out
└── No
├── Is it moving on screen?
│ └── Yes → ease-in-out
└── Is it a hover/color change?
├── Yes → ease
└── Default → ease-out
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
transition: all | Specify exact properties |
| Hover effects on touch | Use @media (hover: hover) |
| Font weight change on hover | Use consistent weights |
Animating height/width | Use transform and opacity only |
| No reduced motion support | Add prefers-reduced-motion query |
| z-index: 9999 | Use fixed scale or isolation: isolate |
| Custom page scrollbars | Only customize scrollbars in small elements |
Review Checklist
When reviewing UI code, check:
- • No layout shift on dynamic content
- • Animations have reduced motion support
- • Touch targets are 44px minimum
- • Hover effects disabled on touch devices
- • Keyboard navigation works properly
- • Icon buttons have aria labels
- • Forms submit with Enter/Cmd+Enter
- • Inputs are 16px+ to prevent iOS zoom
- • No
transition: all - • z-index uses fixed scale
Reference Files
For detailed guidance on specific topics:
- •stack-constraints.md - Tooling, libraries, Tailwind conventions
- •animations.md - Easing, timing, springs, performance
- •ui-polish.md - Typography, shadows, gradients, scrollbars
- •forms-controls.md - Inputs, buttons, form patterns
- •touch-accessibility.md - Touch devices, keyboard nav, a11y
- •component-design.md - Compound components, composition, props API
- •marketing.md - Landing pages, blogs, docs
- •performance.md - Virtualization, preloading, optimization
- •stack-constraints.md - Tooling, libraries, conventions
- •accessability.md - WCAG checks, visual design review