Design Critique Skill (UH Mānoa brand-anchored)

Critique a branded artifact against this repo's brand system and flag the generic patterns that make materials look machine-made rather than institutionally on-brand. Advisory only — you report and prioritize; the user applies the fixes.

Brand anchor (the ground truth)

Read docs/_branding/design.json for the full token set; use docs/_branding/design-system.html as the visual reference. If creating rather than critiquing, defer to the brand-guidelines skill. Load-bearing values (from CLAUDE.md → verify against design.json, which wins on conflict):

• Primary: UH Green #024731 — logos, headings, accents.
• Secondary: Black #000000 — body text, borders.
• Typography: Open Sans (Bold headings, Regular body); Avenir for print.
• Accessibility: ADA-compliant contrast ratios required; minimum 10pt body text.

Input modes (auto-detect from the argument shape)

• File mode — a path to an .html, .md, or an unpacked/described Office artifact. Read it directly; for .pptx/.docx/.pdf use the pptx/docx/pdf skills to extract structure and text.
• Live mode — a http(s):// or localhost: URL. Fetch and inspect the rendered page.

Scoring — five UH-anchored dimensions (0–5 each)

Dimension	What earns a high score
Brand fidelity	Uses #024731 UH Green and the correct type families where the tokens prescribe; no off-palette accent colors
Contrast & accessibility	Text/background pairs meet ADA contrast; body text ≥ 10pt; not relying on color alone to convey meaning
Hierarchy & restraint	Clear heading levels; whitespace used deliberately; not every element competing for attention
Voice & specificity	Concrete, figure-cited copy (the writing-style convention: lead with a tight executive summary, active voice); not vague filler
Institutional fit	Reads as a Shidler / UH Mānoa course artifact, not a generic template

AI-slop / off-brand flags (call each one that fires, with location)

• Off-palette accents — purples, gradients, or neon not in design.json (a classic generated-template tell).
• Emoji-as-hierarchy — 🚀/✨/🔥 substituting for real heading structure.
• Center-everything — every block centered, no left-anchored reading rhythm.
• Contrast failures — light-gray body text on white, green text on green.
• Sub-10pt body text — violates the accessibility floor.
• Vague booster copy — "cutting-edge," "seamless," "unlock your potential" with no specifics.
• Wrong type families — a system font stack where Open Sans / Avenir is prescribed.
• Logo misuse — UH logo recolored, stretched, or on insufficient-contrast background.

Output

Emit a report (to chat, or write to a *-design-critique.md next to the artifact if the user asks). Order fixes by a simple impact rank: accessibility/contrast failures first (they can block ADA compliance), then brand-fidelity breaks, then polish. For each fix: the flag, the file:line or element, and the specific correction (cite the token, e.g. "use #024731 per design.json § color.primary").

End with one terminal line:
Design critique: <highest-impact fix>; <N> slop/off-brand flags; scores B<fidelity>/A<access>/H<hierarchy>/V<voice>/F<fit>.

Boundaries

• Don't apply fixes — this skill critiques; the user (or a follow-up brand-guidelines pass) applies.
• design.json wins over the CLAUDE.md summary if they ever disagree — flag the disagreement.
• Keep critique proportional to the artifact — a one-page handout doesn't need a full audit.