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design-normalize

Audit and realign UI to match design system standards, spacing, tokens, and patterns. Use when asked about consistency, design drift, mismatched styles, tokens, or bringing a feature back in line with the system.

Analyze and redesign the feature to perfectly match design system standards, aesthetics, and established patterns.

Mandatory Preparation

Invoke /design-frontend โ€” it contains design principles, anti-patterns, and the Context Gathering Protocol. Follow the protocol before proceeding. If no design context exists yet, run /design-context first.


Plan

Before making changes, deeply understand the context:

  1. Discover the design system: Search for design system documentation, UI guidelines, component libraries, or style guides. Study it thoroughly until you understand:

    • Core design principles and aesthetic direction
    • Target audience and personas
    • Component patterns and conventions
    • Design tokens (colors, typography, spacing)

    If something is not clear, ask. Do not guess at design system principles.

  2. Analyze the current feature: Assess what works and what does not:

    • Where does it deviate from design system patterns?
    • Which inconsistencies are cosmetic vs functional?
    • What is the root cause โ€” missing tokens, one-off implementations, or conceptual misalignment?
  3. Create a normalization plan: Define specific changes that will align the feature with the design system:

    • Which components can be replaced with design system equivalents?
    • Which styles need to use design tokens instead of hard-coded values?
    • How can UX patterns match established user flows?

    Great design is effective design. Prioritize UX consistency and usability over visual polish alone.

Execute

Systematically address all inconsistencies across these dimensions:

  • Typography: Use design system fonts, sizes, weights, line heights. Replace hard-coded values with tokens.
  • Color and Theme: Apply design system color tokens. Remove one-off color choices.
  • Spacing and Layout: Use spacing tokens. Align with grid systems.
  • Components: Replace custom implementations with design system components.
  • Motion and Interaction: Match animation timing and easing to other features.
  • Responsive Behavior: Ensure breakpoints align with design system standards.
  • Accessibility: Verify contrast ratios, focus states, ARIA labels.
  • Progressive Disclosure: Match information hierarchy to established patterns.

NEVER:

  • Create new one-off components when design system equivalents exist
  • Hard-code values that should use design tokens
  • Introduce new patterns that diverge from the design system
  • Compromise accessibility for visual consistency

Clean Up

After normalization, ensure code quality:

  • Consolidate reusable components into the design system or shared UI path.
  • Remove orphaned code made obsolete by normalization.
  • Verify quality: lint, type-check, test. Ensure no regressions.
  • Ensure DRYness: consolidate duplication from refactoring.