Redesign
Audit-first. For a site that already works but looks templated or dated, this finds what is wrong, decides what to keep, and ships a committed new identity, without throwing away working structure.
When to use
- An existing site (Webflow, WordPress, an old React app) needs to look current.
- A client hands you a live URL and wants it modernized.
- A redesign that must preserve content, SEO, and routes.
The workflow
- Audit. Run the
fluiddetector on the codebase (or read the live DOM and CSS). Catalogue the generic-look tells: fonts, palette, spacing, shadows, the slop list. Note what is genuinely good and worth keeping. - Draw the keep/change line. Preserve: content, information architecture, routes, anything that converts. Change: the identity (palette, type, surface, motion), the layout repetition, the bans.
- Generate the new identity with the
design-systemskill. Brief it from the brand, pick fromdata/, commit. Two redesigns in the same sector get different palettes. - Map old to new. A token migration: old hardcoded values become new CSS variables, component by component. Keep a small table so nothing is missed.
- Re-skin, do not rebuild. Keep the markup and structure, swap the look: tokens, type, motion. Add
fluidmotion where it earns its place. - Pre-flight. Run the detector again, check
design-system/reference/rules.md(locks, hero discipline, bans). Produce a before/after so the value is visible.
Rules
- Preserve what converts. A redesign that drops content or breaks routes is a rewrite, not a redesign.
- One identity, committed. Never half-redesign (new colors on old fonts).
- Show the before and after.
Pairs with: design-system (the new identity), fluid (the motion and the detector audit).


