design-directionlisted

# Design Direction Generic output happens when implementation starts before intent exists. This skill forces the intent step: a short, written design philosophy that commits to one aesthetic point of view — and names what it is *not* — before a single pixel exists. ## Workflow 1. **Interrogate the brief** — answer the five questions in [references/interrogation.md](references/interrogation.md). If the user's request doesn't answer them, infer defensible answers from context and state your assumptions; do not stall on questions when the user isn't available. 2. **Write the philosophy** — a named direction plus 4–6 tight paragraphs, using the format in [references/philosophy-format.md](references/philosophy-format.md). Write it into the project (e.g. `DESIGN.md`) or state it in full before implementing. 3. **Pick a point of view** — choose or blend a direction from [references/aesthetic-vocabularies.md](references/aesthetic-vocabularies.md), and check the result against [references/anti-generic.md](references/anti-generic.md) (the catalog of default-AI tells to avoid). 4. **Then implement** — loading the other Atelier skills (`color`, `typography-and-layout`, `motion`) as the work requires them. 5. **Render, critique, iterate** — never ship a visual without rendering the real result and running the `critique` skill on it. ## Which reference to load | Situation | Load | |---|---| | Starting any visual work | `references/interrogation.md` then `