frontend-designer

What this skill does

# Frontend Designer

A comprehensive skill for frontend designers and developers to build beautiful, accessible, and performant user interfaces with modern best practices.

## What This Skill Does

Helps frontend designers/developers with:
- **Component Design & Development** - Build reusable, accessible components
- **Design Systems** - Implement tokens, patterns, and documentation
- **Responsive Design** - Mobile-first, fluid layouts
- **Accessibility (WCAG 2.1)** - Inclusive design patterns
- **Modern CSS** - Flexbox, Grid, custom properties
- **Performance Optimization** - Fast, efficient frontends
- **Framework Patterns** - React, Vue, Svelte best practices
- **Design-to-Code** - Figma to production workflows

## Why This Skill Matters

**Without systematic approach:**
- Inconsistent component implementations
- Accessibility issues
- Poor responsive behavior
- Duplicate code and styles
- Hard to maintain
- Performance problems

**With this skill:**
- Consistent, reusable components
- WCAG AA compliant by default
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Design system aligned
- Maintainable codebase
- Fast, optimized delivery

## Core Principles

### 1. Accessibility First
- WCAG 2.1 AA minimum
- Semantic HTML
- Keyboard navigation
- Screen reader support
- Focus management
- Color contrast

### 2. Mobile-First Responsive
- Start with mobile (320px)
- Progressive enhancement
- Fluid typography
- Flexible layouts
- Touch-friendly targets

### 3. Performance by Default
- Minimal CSS/JS
- Lazy loading
- Optimized images
- Critical CSS
- Tree shaking

### 4. Component-Driven
- Atomic design methodology
- Reusable components
- Props-based customization
- Composition over inheritance

### 5. Design System Aligned
- Design tokens
- Consistent spacing
- Typography scale
- Color palette
- Component library

## Component Patterns

### Button Component

**Accessible, flexible button pattern:**

```tsx
// React example
interface ButtonProps {
  variant?: 'primary' | 'secondary' | 'ghost';
  size?: 'sm' | 'md' | 'lg';
  disabled?: boolean;
  loading?: boolean;
  children: React.ReactNode;
  onClick?: () => void;
}

export const Button: React.FC<ButtonProps> = ({
  variant = 'primary',
  size = 'md',
  disabled = false,
  loading = false,
  children,
  onClick,
  ...props
}) => {
  return (
    <button
      className={`btn btn--${variant} btn--${size}`}
      disabled={disabled || loading}
      onClick={onClick}
      aria-busy={loading}
      {...props}
    >
      {loading ? <Spinner /> : children}
    </button>
  );
};
```

**CSS (with design tokens):**

```css
.btn {
  /* Base styles */
  display: inline-flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  gap: var(--space-2);

  font-family: var(--font-sans);
  font-weight: 600;
  text-decoration: none;

  border: none;
  border-radius: var(--radius-md);
  cursor: pointer;

  transition: all 0.2s ease;

  /* Accessibility */
  min-height: 44px; /* WCAG touch target */

  &:focus-visible {
    outline: 2px solid var(--color-focus);
    outline-offset: 2px;
  }

  &:disabled {
    opacity: 0.5;
    cursor: not-allowed;
  }
}

/* Variants */
.btn--primary {
  background: var(--color-primary);
  color: var(--color-on-primary);

  &:hover:not(:disabled) {
    background: var(--color-primary-hover);
  }
}

.btn--secondary {
  background: var(--color-secondary);
  color: var(--color-on-secondary);
}

.btn--ghost {
  background: transparent;
  color: var(--color-primary);
  border: 1px solid currentColor;
}

/* Sizes */
.btn--sm {
  padding: var(--space-2) var(--space-3);
  font-size: var(--text-sm);
}

.btn--md {
  padding: var(--space-3) var(--space-4);
  font-size: var(--text-base);
}

.btn--lg {
  padding: var(--space-4) var(--space-6);
  font-size: var(--text-lg);
}
```

### Card Component

**Flexible, accessible card:**

```tsx
interface CardProps {
  variant?: 'elevated' | 'outlined' | 'filled';
  padding?: 'none' | 'sm' | 'md' | 'lg';
  interactive?: boolean;
  children: React.ReactNode;
}

export const Card: React.FC<CardProps> = ({
  variant = 'elevated',
  padding = 'md',
  interactive = false,
  children,
}) => {
  const Component = interactive ? 'button' : 'div';

  return (
    <Component
      className={`
        card
        card--${variant}
        card--padding-${padding}
        ${interactive ? 'card--interactive' : ''}
      `}
      {...(interactive && { role: 'button', tabIndex: 0 })}
    >
      {children}
    </Component>
  );
};
```

**CSS:**

```css
.card {
  border-radius: var(--radius-lg);
  background: var(--color-surface);
}

.card--elevated {
  box-shadow: var(--shadow-md);
}

.card--outlined {
  border: 1px solid var(--color-border);
}

.card--filled {
  background: var(--color-surface-variant);
}

.card--interactive {
  cursor: pointer;
  transition: transform 0.2s, box-shadow 0.2s;

  &:hover {
    transform: translateY(-2px);
    box-shadow: var(--shadow-lg);
  }

  &:focus-visible {
    outline: 2px solid var(--color-focus);
    outline-offset: 2px;
  }
}

.card--padding-sm { padding: var(--space-3); }
.card--padding-md { padding: var(--space-4); }
.card--padding-lg { padding: var(--space-6); }
```

### Form Input Component

**Accessible form input:**

```tsx
interface InputProps {
  label: string;
  error?: string;
  hint?: string;
  required?: boolean;
  type?: 'text' | 'email' | 'password' | 'number';
}

export const Input: React.FC<InputProps> = ({
  label,
  error,
  hint,
  required = false,
  type = 'text',
  ...props
}) => {
  const id = useId();
  const hintId = `${id}-hint`;
  const errorId = `${id}-error`;

  return (
    <div className="input-wrapper">
      <label htmlFor={id} className="input-label">
        {label}
        {required && <span aria-label="required">*</span>}
      </label>

      {hint && (
        <p id={hintId} className="input-hint">
          {hint}
        </p>
      )}

      <input
        id={id}
        type={type}
        className={`input ${error ? 'input--error' : ''}`}
        aria-required={required}
        aria-invalid={!!error}
        aria-describedby={error ? errorId : hint ? hintId : undefined}
        {...props}
      />

      {error && (
        <p id={errorId} className="input-error" role="alert">
          {error}
        </p>
      )}
    </div>
  );
};
```

## Design Tokens

**CSS Custom Properties for design system:**

```css
:root {
  /* Colors - Primary */
  --color-primary: #0066FF;
  --color-primary-hover: #0052CC;
  --color-on-primary: #FFFFFF;

  /* Colors - Surface */
  --color-surface: #FFFFFF;
  --color-surface-variant: #F5F5F5;
  --color-on-surface: #1A1A1A;

  /* Colors - Borders */
  --color-border: #E0E0E0;
  --color-border-hover: #BDBDBD;

  /* Colors - Semantic */
  --color-error: #D32F2F;
  --color-success: #388E3C;
  --color-warning: #F57C00;
  --color-info: #1976D2;

  /* Spacing Scale (8px base) */
  --space-1: 0.25rem;  /* 4px */
  --space-2: 0.5rem;   /* 8px */
  --space-3: 0.75rem;  /* 12px */
  --space-4: 1rem;     /* 16px */
  --space-5: 1.5rem;   /* 24px */
  --space-6: 2rem;     /* 32px */
  --space-8: 3rem;     /* 48px */
  --space-10: 4rem;    /* 64px */

  /* Typography Scale */
  --text-xs: 0.75rem;    /* 12px */
  --text-sm: 0.875rem;   /* 14px */
  --text-base: 1rem;     /* 16px */
  --text-lg: 1.125rem;   /* 18px */
  --text-xl: 1.25rem;    /* 20px */
  --text-2xl: 1.5rem;    /* 24px */
  --text-3xl: 1.875rem;  /* 30px */
  --text-4xl: 2.25rem;   /* 36px */

  /* Font Families */
  --font-sans: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, sans-serif;
  --font-mono: "SF Mono", Monaco, "Cascadia Code", monospace;

  /* Line Heights */
  --leading-tight: 1.25;
  --leading-normal: 1.5;
  --leading-relaxed: 1.75;

  /* Border Radius */
  --radius-sm: 0.25rem;  /* 4px */
  --radius-md: 0.5rem;   /* 8px */
  --radius-lg: 1rem;     /* 16px */
  --radius-full: 9999px;

  /* Shadows */
  --shadow-sm: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
  --shadow-md: 0 4px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
  --shado