design-components
Designs components and sections within an existing design system. Creates 3 composition variations that use the project's actual tokens, colors, typography, and component primitives. Use when user says "design a component", "component variations", "design a card", "design a hero", "design a section", "component options", "design within our system", "new component", "component concept", or wants to explore how a component could look using their existing design system. Also use when designing larger composed sections (dashboards, settings pages, feature panels) that build on existing primitives. Do NOT use when the project has no design system yet (use design-system-init), or when exploring entirely new visual directions (use design-concepts).
design-concepts
Creates conceptual designs that illustrate design strategy and approach. Use when user says "mockup", "wireframe", "concept", "mood board", "visual direction", "design options", "explore designs", "UI design", "prototype", "design this", "show me designs", "create a design", "look and feel", or "design variations". Leverages research insights and design briefs to develop UI concepts, mood boards, and interactive prototypes. Do NOT use when user needs to understand users first (use design-research), or is writing code.
design-research
Conducts user experience research and analysis to inform design decisions. Use when user says "user research", "persona", "personas", "who are our users", "target audience", "customer segments", "design principles", "user needs", "pain points", "jobs to be done", "JTBD", "user interviews", "discussion guide", "research plan", "competitive analysis", "understand the users", "user data", "analytics review", "component research", "pattern audit", "accessibility requirements for [component]", or "how do others design [component type]". Reviews first-party and third-party user data, analyzes industry trends from UX and visual design perspectives, and plans user research studies. Also conducts component-level research: auditing existing patterns, accessibility requirements, interaction best practices, and content structure analysis to inform component design within an existing design system. Creates personas, customer segments, design principles, design roadmaps, research discussion guides, and component research audits. Do NOT use when already have approved personas, in implementation/coding phase, need visual mockups (use design-concepts), or designing components (use design-components).