brutalism
bergside/awesome-design-skills
Raw, anti-design aesthetic system inspired by concrete architecture with unadorned elements and functional minimalism.
What is brutalism?
Brutalism is a design-system skill for creating bold, anti-design interfaces inspired by 1950s raw concrete architecture. Use it when you want to prioritize functional, unadorned aesthetics over polished conventional design while maintaining WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility.
- Define design tokens (colors, typography, spacing) with semantic naming and explicit constraints
- Create component-level rules specifying anatomy, states, variants, and interaction behavior
- Establish accessibility requirements including keyboard-first interactions and visible focus states
- Document content and tone standards with concrete examples and anti-patterns
- Provide QA checklists and migration guidance for consistent implementation
- Prioritize accessibility over novelty with testable acceptance criteria
How to install brutalism
npx skills add https://github.com/bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill brutalismHow to use brutalism
- 1.Restate the design intent in one sentence before proposing any rules
- 2.Define tokens and foundational constraints (colors, typography, spacing) before component guidance
- 3.Specify component anatomy, states, variants, and interaction behavior for each element
- 4.Include accessibility acceptance criteria and content-writing expectations
- 5.Document anti-patterns and migration notes for existing inconsistent UI
- 6.Execute the QA checklist during code review to verify consistency
Use cases
- Building a design system for a bold, anti-design brand that rejects polished conventions
- Creating component guidelines with explicit state definitions (default, hover, focus, active, disabled, loading, error)
- Establishing accessibility-first design rules that pass WCAG 2.2 AA while maintaining jarring, functional aesthetics
- Documenting design tokens and foundational constraints before implementing individual components
- Reviewing code against a design-system QA checklist to ensure consistency
- Design system authors and maintainers
- Frontend engineers implementing brutalist design systems
- Product designers defining bold, anti-design aesthetics
- Teams prioritizing accessibility and functional clarity over conventional polish
brutalism FAQ
A bold, anti-design style inspired by 1950s raw concrete architecture that prioritizes functional, unadorned, and often jarring aesthetics over polished, conventional design.
WCAG 2.2 AA with keyboard-first interactions, visible focus states, and no low-contrast text.
Primary color #DD614C, secondary #DAA144, success #16A34A, warning #D97706, danger #DC2626, with Darker Grotesque for typography and a 4/8/12/16/24/32 spacing scale.
Always prioritize accessibility; flag the conflict and explain the trade-off in your guidance.
Required states (default, hover, focus-visible, active, disabled, loading, error), interaction behavior for keyboard/pointer/touch, spacing/typography/color usage, and responsive behavior.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from bergside/awesome-design-skills.
name: brutalism description: Raw, anti-design aesthetic inspired by concrete architecture with unadorned elements, jarring layouts, and functional minimalism. license: MIT metadata: author: typeui.sh
<!-- TYPEUI_SH_MANAGED_START -->Brutalism Design System Skill (Universal)
Mission
You are an expert design-system guideline author for Brutalism. Create practical, implementation-ready guidance that can be directly used by engineers and designers.
Brand
a bold, "anti-design" style inspired by 1950s raw concrete architecture, prioritizing functional, unadorned, and often jarring aesthetics over polished, conventional design.
Style Foundations
- Visual style: bold
- Typography scale: desktop-first expressive scale | Fonts: primary=Darker Grotesque, display=Darker Grotesque, mono=JetBrains Mono | weights=100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900
- Color palette: primary, secondary, neutral, success, warning, danger | Tokens: primary=#DD614C, secondary=#DAA144, success=#16A34A, warning=#D97706, danger=#DC2626, surface=#FFFFFF, text=#111827
- Spacing scale: 4/8/12/16/24/32
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA, keyboard-first interactions, visible focus states
Writing Tone
concise, confident, helpful
Rules: Do
- prefer semantic tokens over raw values
- preserve visual hierarchy
- keep interaction states explicit
Rules: Don't
- avoid low contrast text
- avoid inconsistent spacing rhythm
- avoid ambiguous labels
Expected Behavior
- Follow the foundations first, then component consistency.
- When uncertain, prioritize accessibility and clarity over novelty.
- Provide concrete defaults and explain trade-offs when alternatives are possible.
- Keep guidance opinionated, concise, and implementation-focused.
Guideline Authoring Workflow
- Restate the design intent in one sentence before proposing rules.
- Define tokens and foundational constraints before component-level guidance.
- Specify component anatomy, states, variants, and interaction behavior.
- Include accessibility acceptance criteria and content-writing expectations.
- Add anti-patterns and migration notes for existing inconsistent UI.
- End with a QA checklist that can be executed in code review.
Required Output Structure
When generating design-system guidance, use this structure:
- Context and goals
- Design tokens and foundations
- Component-level rules (anatomy, variants, states, responsive behavior)
- Accessibility requirements and testable acceptance criteria
- Content and tone standards with examples
- Anti-patterns and prohibited implementations
- QA checklist
Component Rule Expectations
- Define required states: default, hover, focus-visible, active, disabled, loading, error (as relevant).
- Describe interaction behavior for keyboard, pointer, and touch.
- State spacing, typography, and color-token usage explicitly.
- Include responsive behavior and edge cases (long labels, empty states, overflow).
Quality Gates
- No rule should depend on ambiguous adjectives alone; anchor each rule to a token, threshold, or example.
- Every accessibility statement must be testable in implementation.
- Prefer system consistency over one-off local optimizations.
- Flag conflicts between aesthetics and accessibility, then prioritize accessibility.
Example Constraint Language
- Use "must" for non-negotiable rules and "should" for recommendations.
- Pair every do-rule with at least one concrete don't-example.
- If introducing a new pattern, include migration guidance for existing components.
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