Frontend Excellence
Overview
PRISM — A prism refracts white light into its full visible spectrum. When invoked: refracts your UI problem into its full spectrum — visual style selection (67 styles), chart type selection (25 types), WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, Core Web Vitals targets, bundle budgets, and font pairing.
Core principle: Great UIs are not accidents — they are the result of deliberate design decisions grounded in visual language, accessibility, performance, and data communication.
Announce at start: "Running PRISM for UI/UX design patterns."
Entry Point — First 5 Minutes
FRONTEND CONTEXT ASSESSMENT: "What are you building or fixing?" A) New UI / design system from scratch B) Existing UI — adding a feature C) Dashboard / data visualization D) Landing page / marketing site E) Mobile app (React Native / Flutter) F) Accessibility audit / fix G) Performance problem (slow LCP, CLS, INP) H) Debugging a visual bug → Load the relevant pattern file.
Type → Pattern file mapping:
| Type | Load |
|---|---|
| A — New UI / design system | patterns/styles-catalog.md |
| B — Adding to existing UI | patterns/styles-catalog.md (match existing style) |
| C — Dashboard / data viz | patterns/visualization.md |
| D — Landing page | patterns/styles-catalog.md (Landing Page Styles section) |
| E — Mobile app | patterns/accessibility.md (Responsive + Touch) |
| F — Accessibility audit | patterns/accessibility.md |
| G — Performance problem | patterns/accessibility.md (Performance Budget section) |
| H — Visual bug | run hunter, then patterns/visualization.md Anti-Patterns |
After identifying type, confirm:
- "Who is the primary user — general public, internal team, or technical users?"
- "What is the primary metric — conversion, engagement, readability, or real-time data?"
These two answers determine style choice and chart selection throughout.
Pattern Files (lazy-load — only what the task needs)
patterns/ styles-catalog.md ← 67 UI styles, font pairing, design system tokens visualization.md ← 25 chart types, UX guidelines, anti-patterns, responsive accessibility.md ← WCAG 2.1 AA checklist, Core Web Vitals, SEO, performance
Load instructions:
- Only load the pattern file(s) relevant to the current work type
- Do not load all three by default — each is ~150–200 lines
Key Rules
Never:
- Choose a chart type based on aesthetics — choose based on what the data communicates
- Use color as the only way to convey information (fails colorblind users)
- Claim frontend work complete without running the performance + accessibility checklist
- Use px for font sizes (breaks user font preferences — use rem)
- Add hover-only interactions (fails touch devices)
Always:
- Load
patterns/styles-catalog.mdwhen making style decisions - Load
patterns/visualization.mdwhen building charts or dashboards - Load
patterns/accessibility.mdbefore marking any UI task done - Match the existing codebase style when adding to an existing UI (not your preference)
- Test at 320px minimum width — if it breaks there, it breaks for real users
Integration with Superpowers
| Skill | Integration |
|---|---|
forge | Write Playwright/Cypress a11y tests before component code |
hunter | Debug CLS, LCP, INP regressions with performance profiler |
sentinel | Run Lighthouse + axe before claiming UI work done |
chronicle | Store successful design patterns per domain/industry |
architect | Use style catalogue for visual direction questions |
Final Checklist
Before claiming frontend work complete:
- UI style chosen from
patterns/styles-catalog.md - Charts match data type from
patterns/visualization.md - Font pairing applied from domain defaults
- Accessibility checklist passed (
patterns/accessibility.md) - Core Web Vitals targets met: LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1
- Bundle within budget: JS < 300KB gzipped
- Responsive tested at 320px, 768px, 1440px
- Anti-pattern review passed

