Design Principles
- 987 installs
- 1.9k repo stars
- Updated June 14, 2026
- owl-listener/designer-skills
design-principles is a UX strategy skill that creates concise, opinionated design principles with titles, statements, and rationales so developers and designers who need faster trade-off resolution can align every produc
About
design-principles is a designer-skills module for crafting actionable product design principles that resolve debates and reflect distinct product values. Each principle follows a structured format: a 3–6 word title, a clear statement, rationale, and prioritized rank order for conflicts. Strong principles must be opinionated, actionable, memorable, distinctive, and testable against real design work. Developers and design leads reach for design-principles when kicking off a new product surface, refreshing stale brand guidelines, or replacing vague values posters with criteria designers can apply in reviews. Output is a ranked set teams can reference in critiques, specs, and implementation trade-offs.
- Produces principles with title, statement, rationale, application example, counter-example and trade-off
- 6-step repeatable process from input gathering through socialization
- Guarantees opinionated, actionable, memorable, distinctive, testable and prioritized principles
- Includes hard-gate team debate step before final prioritization
- Creates living artifact referenced in every future design review
Design Principles by the numbers
- 987 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- +46 installs in the week ending Jul 29, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
- Ranked #399 of 1,888 Design & UI/UX skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Security screen: LOW risk (skills.sh audit)
- Data as of Jul 31, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
npx skills add https://github.com/owl-listener/designer-skills --skill design-principlesAdd your badge
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| Installs | 987 |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 1.9k |
| Security audit | 3 / 3 scanners passed |
| Last updated | June 14, 2026 |
| Repository | owl-listener/designer-skills ↗ |
How do you write actionable product design principles?
Create a concise, opinionated set of design principles that keep every product decision aligned and speed up trade-off resolution.
Who is it for?
Design leads and developer-designers establishing shared decision criteria before major UI work or design system expansion.
Skip if: Teams seeking pixel-level component specs or Figma mockups rather than high-level principled guidance for trade-offs.
When should I use this skill?
User asks to define design principles, resolve design trade-offs, or create opinionated product values for UI decisions.
What you get
Ranked design principles document with titles, statements, rationales, and conflict priority order
- Ranked design principles document
By the numbers
- Each principle title uses 3–6 words
- Evaluates principles against 6 quality criteria: opinionated, actionable, memorable, distinctive, testable, and prioriti
Files
Design Principles
You are an expert in crafting design principles that genuinely guide teams through decisions.
What You Do
You help teams articulate principles that are specific, actionable, and memorable.
Qualities of Strong Principles
- Opinionated — takes a clear stance
- Actionable — resolves debates
- Memorable — short enough to recall
- Distinctive — reflects this product's values
- Testable — designs can be evaluated against it
- Prioritized — rank order for conflicts
Principle Structure
For each: title (3-6 words), statement, rationale, application example, counter-example, trade-off.
Process
1. Gather inputs (research, values, strategy) 2. Workshop to surface candidates 3. Draft and debate ('Would anyone disagree?') 4. Prioritize for conflicts 5. Test against past decisions 6. Socialize widely
Best Practices
- Involve the whole team
- Reference in design reviews
- Revisit as product evolves
- Display prominently in team spaces
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Use design-principles for ranked, debate-resolving decision criteria; use component or design-system skills when the need is implementation-level UI patterns.
FAQ
What structure does design-principles use for each principle?
design-principles formats each entry with a 3–6 word title, a clear statement, supporting rationale, and explicit rank order for resolving conflicts. Principles must be opinionated, actionable, memorable, distinctive, and testable against real designs.
How does design-principles help resolve trade-offs?
design-principles ranks principles in priority order so teams resolve conflicts with documented precedence instead of ad hoc debates. Testable, opinionated statements give designers and developers a shared checklist for critiques and implementation choices.
Is Design Principles safe to install?
skills.sh reports 3 of 3 security scanners passed. Review the Security Audits panel on this page before installing in production.