design-auditor

Design Auditor

Performs systematic 12-category UI/UX audits, detects AI-generated slop patterns, validates WCAG color contrast, and checks design system token compliance. Produces three independent grades: Design (A-F), AI Slop (A-F), and Accessibility (A-F).

Core Capabilities

• Full design audit — score 12 weighted categories in five passes into a Design grade with prioritized recommendations and baseline comparison.
• AI slop detection — flag visual, copy, and structural slop in HTML/CSS with confidence scores and per-finding remediation.
• Accessibility audit — WCAG color-contrast checking (AA/AAA) with closest-compliant-color suggestions.
• Design-system compliance — detect hardcoded colors, spacing, fonts, radii, shadows, z-indices, and transitions that deviate from tokens; report compliance percentage.
• Three independent grades — Design (weighted aggregate), AI Slop (inverted), Accessibility (WCAG), each A–F.
• Operating system — 10 design principles, fix-session rules with a risk accumulator, and CI/CD gating.

When to Use

• Reviewing a UI/UX design for quality, originality, and accessibility.
• Detecting AI-generated slop patterns in HTML/CSS.
• Validating WCAG color contrast or design-token adherence.
• Gating deployments or PRs on minimum compliance scores.

Clarify First

Before running the audit, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• [ ] Audit type — full design score, AI-slop detection, contrast check, or token compliance (selects design_scorer.py vs ai_slop_detector.py vs color_contrast_checker.py vs design_system_validator.py)
• [ ] Input artifacts — the findings JSON, HTML/CSS, color pairs, or design-token file (the input each tool requires)
• [ ] Conformance level / threshold — WCAG AA vs AAA, slop confidence threshold, and the minimum passing grade (sets --level, --threshold, and the gate)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Tools

| Tool | Purpose | Command |

|------|---------|---------|

| design_scorer.py | Score 12-category audit findings into three grades | python scripts/design_scorer.py --input findings.json --output report.json --verbose |

| ai_slop_detector.py | Detect AI-generated slop in HTML/CSS | python scripts/ai_slop_detector.py --input page.html --css styles.css --threshold 0.6 |

| color_contrast_checker.py | Check WCAG color contrast (single/batch) | python scripts/color_contrast_checker.py --input color-pairs.json --level AA --suggest-fixes |

| design_system_validator.py | Validate CSS against design tokens | python scripts/design_system_validator.py --tokens tokens.json --input src/styles/ |

All tools support --format json|text and --output for file writing.

References

Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

• [references/audit-workflows-and-operations.md](references/audit-workflows-and-operations.md) — quick-start commands, tools-overview table, the three workflows (full audit, slop detection, accessibility/token compliance), grade tables, the 10 design principles, fix-session rules, CI/CD integration, anti-patterns, and troubleshooting. Read when running an audit end to end.
• [references/design_audit_methodology.md](references/design_audit_methodology.md) — systematic audit approach, heuristic evaluation, Gestalt principles, critique frameworks, and anti-patterns. Read when designing the evaluation pass.
• [references/ai_slop_patterns.md](references/ai_slop_patterns.md) — comprehensive catalog of AI-generated UI patterns and remediation guidance. Read when judging originality.
• [references/accessibility_checklist.md](references/accessibility_checklist.md) — full WCAG 2.1 Level A/AA/AAA checklist organized by POUR with testing methodology and fixes. Read when auditing accessibility.

Scope & Limitations

Covers static design quality, AI-slop, WCAG contrast, and design-token compliance auditing for web UI (HTML/CSS). Does not run live browsers, render-test layouts, or replace manual usability research. Accessibility findings are never "Low" priority; WCAG AA is the floor.

Integration Points

| Skill | Integration |

|-------|-------------|

| senior-frontend | Design audit on component library after build |

| senior-qa | Accessibility and design regression in QA pipelines |

| code-reviewer | Attach audit findings to frontend PR reviews |

| senior-devops | Gate deployments on minimum compliance scores |

| product-team/ux-researcher | Feed findings into usability research prioritization |

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Last Updated: June 2026

Version: 2.2.0