design-spec

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## Quick Summary

**Goal:** Create structured UI/UX design specification documents from requirements or PBIs for developer handoff.

**Workflow:**

1. **Read Source** — Extract UI requirements from PBI, story, or Figma URL
2. **Determine Complexity** — Quick Spec (sections 1-4) vs Full Spec (all 7 sections)
3. **Build Component Inventory** — List new vs existing components
4. **Define States & Tokens** — Interactions, design tokens, responsive breakpoints
5. **Save Artifact** — Output to `team-artifacts/design-specs/`

**Key Rules:**

- If Figma URL provided, run `/figma-design` first to extract specs
- Reference existing design system tokens from `docs/design-system/`
- Include accessibility requirements (keyboard nav, ARIA labels, contrast)

# Design Specification

Create structured UI/UX design specification documents from requirements or PBIs for developer handoff.

## When to Use

- A PBI or user story needs a design spec before implementation
- Translating requirements into concrete UI layout, states, and tokens
- Documenting component inventory and interaction patterns
- Creating responsive breakpoint specifications

## When NOT to Use

- Extracting specs from Figma -- use `figma-design` first, then this skill
- Building the actual UI -- use `frontend-design` or `frontend-angular`
- Full UX research and design process -- use `ux-designer`
- Reviewing existing UI code -- use `web-design-guidelines`

## Prerequisites

Read before executing:

- The source PBI, user story, or requirements document
- `docs/design-system/` -- project design tokens (if applicable)
- Existing design specs in `team-artifacts/design-specs/` for format consistency

## Workflow

1. **Read source input**
    - IF Figma URL provided → run `/figma-design` first to extract specs, then continue
    - IF PBI/story → extract acceptance criteria and UI requirements
    - IF verbal requirements → clarify with user before proceeding

2. **Determine spec complexity**

    ```
    IF single form or simple component → Quick Spec (sections 1-4 only)
    IF full page or multi-component view → Full Spec (all 7 sections)
    IF multi-page flow → Full Spec + Flow Diagram
    ```

3. **Build component inventory**
    - List all UI components needed
    - Identify reusable vs feature-specific components
    - Note existing components from shared component library or design system

4. **Define states and interactions**
    - Default, hover, active, disabled, error, loading, empty states
    - User interactions (click, drag, keyboard shortcuts)
    - Transitions and animations

5. **Extract design tokens**
    - Colors, typography, spacing, shadows, border-radius
    - Reference existing design system tokens where possible

6. **Document responsive behavior**
    - Mobile (320-767px), Tablet (768-1023px), Desktop (1024px+)
    - What changes at each breakpoint (layout, visibility, sizing)

7. **Save artifact**
    - Path: `team-artifacts/design-specs/{YYMMDD}-designspec-{feature-slug}.md`

## Output Format

```markdown
# Design Spec: {Feature Name}

**Source:** {PBI/story reference}
**Date:** {YYMMDD}
**Status:** Draft | Review | Approved

## 1. Overview

{1-2 sentence summary of what this UI does}

## 2. Component Inventory

| Component | Type     | Source           | Notes                       |
| --------- | -------- | ---------------- | --------------------------- |
| UserCard  | New      | Feature-specific | Displays user avatar + name |
| DataTable | Existing | shared library   | Reuse with custom columns   |

## 3. Layout

{Description or ASCII wireframe of layout structure}

- Desktop: {layout description}
- Tablet: {layout changes}
- Mobile: {layout changes}

## 4. Design Tokens

| Token      | Value          | Usage                 |
| ---------- | -------------- | --------------------- |
| $primary   | #1976D2        | Action buttons, links |
| $text-body | 14px/1.5 Inter | Body text             |
| $gap-md    | 16px           | Section spacing       |

## 5. States & Interactions

| Element  | Default    | Hover      | Active     | Disabled         | Error |
| -------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------------- | ----- |
| Save btn | Blue/white | Darken 10% | Scale 0.98 | Gray/50% opacity | --    |

## 6. Accessibility

- Keyboard navigation order
- ARIA labels for interactive elements
- Color contrast compliance notes

## 7. Open Questions

- {Any unresolved design decisions}
```

## Examples

### Example 1: Simple form spec

**Input:** "Design spec for employee onboarding form"

**Output:** Quick Spec with sections 1-4 covering form fields (name, email, department dropdown, start date picker), validation rules, submit/cancel actions, and mobile stacking behavior.

### Example 2: Complex dashboard spec

**Input:** "Design spec for recruitment pipeline dashboard with drag-and-drop columns"

**Output:** Full Spec covering Kanban board layout, candidate cards (component inventory), drag-and-drop interactions, column states (empty, populated, over-limit), filter bar, responsive collapse to list view on mobile, and accessibility for keyboard drag operations.

## Related Skills

| Skill                   | When to use instead                               |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| `ux-designer`           | Full UX design process with research              |
| `figma-design`          | Extract specs from Figma designs                  |
| `frontend-design`       | Build the actual UI implementation                |
| `web-design-guidelines` | Review existing UI for compliance                 |
| `frontend-angular`      | Angular 19 components, forms, state, API services |

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**IMPORTANT Task Planning Notes (MUST FOLLOW)**

- Always plan and break work into many small todo tasks
- Always add a final review todo task to verify work quality and identify fixes/enhancements