Descript's UI design system. Use when building interfaces inspired by Descript's aesthetic - dark mode, Inter font, 4px grid.
Resources
1Install
npx skillscat add ihlamury/design-skills/descript-ui-skills Install via the SkillsCat registry.
We need to produce a 2-3 sentence plain-text summary, objective, factual, no marketing language, no superlatives, no calls to action. Must be natural prose, no bullet points, no headings, no markdown formatting. At most 60 words. Must not wrap answer in quotes. So just output the summary text. We need to explain what the skill does, what problem it solves, when to use it. Let's craft: "The skill provides a set of design constraints and semantic tokens for creating user interfaces that follow Descript's aesthetic, including dark mode, Inter font, and a 4px grid.
Descript UI Skills
Opinionated constraints for building Descript-style interfaces with AI agents.
When to Apply
Reference these guidelines when:
- Building dark-mode interfaces
- Creating Descript-inspired design systems
- Implementing UIs with Inter font and 4px grid
Colors
- MUST use dark backgrounds (lightness < 20) for primary surfaces - detected lightness: 10
- MUST use
#2C0814as page background (surface-base) - SHOULD reduce color palette (currently 17 colors detected)
- MUST maintain text contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for accessibility
Semantic Tokens
| Token | HEX | RGB | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
surface-base |
#2C0814 | rgb(44,8,20) | Page background |
surface-raised |
#F9F6F3 | rgb(249,246,243) | Cards, modals, raised surfaces |
surface-overlay |
#F2212E | rgb(242,33,46) | Overlays, tooltips, dropdowns |
text-primary |
#484543 | rgb(72,69,67) | Headings, body text |
text-secondary |
#747474 | rgb(116,116,116) | Secondary, muted text |
text-tertiary |
#F4A9AF | rgb(244,169,175) | Additional text |
border-default |
#ECE3E4 | rgb(236,227,228) | Subtle borders, dividers |
destructive |
#F2212E | rgb(242,33,46) | Error states, delete actions |
warning |
#F9F6F3 | rgb(249,246,243) | Warning states, cautions |
Typography
- MUST use
Interas primary font family - SHOULD use single font family for consistency
- MUST use
79px/700for primary headings - MUST use
18px/400for body text - MUST limit font weights to: regular, bold, medium
- MUST use
text-balancefor headings andtext-prettyfor body text - SHOULD use
tabular-numsfor numeric data - NEVER modify letter-spacing unless explicitly requested
Text Styles
| Style | Font | Size | Weight | Color | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
heading-1 |
Inter | 79px | 700 | #F1E6E3 | 1 |
body |
Inter | 18px | 400 | #BEBEBE | 1 |
body-secondary |
Inter | 17px | 500 | #3E3337 | 1 |
body-secondary |
Inter | 16px | 400 | #C6ACB4 | 1 |
body-secondary |
Inter | 16px | 400 | #3E3236 | 1 |
caption |
Inter | 15px | 500 | #484543 | 1 |
label |
Inter | 15px | 400 | #A52335 | 1 |
label |
Inter | 15px | 400 | #413438 | 1 |
label |
Inter | 14px | 400 | #747474 | 1 |
label |
Inter | 14px | 400 | #F4A9AF | 1 |
Typography Reference
Font Families:
Inter(used 15x)
Font Sizes: 13px, 14px, 15px, 16px, 17px, 18px, 79px
Spacing
- MUST use 4px grid for spacing
- SHOULD use spacing from scale: 1px, 5px, 6px, 12px, 30px, 31px, 57px, 68px
- SHOULD use 6px as default gap between elements
- NEVER use arbitrary spacing values (use design scale)
- SHOULD maintain consistent padding within containers
Borders
- MUST use border-radius from scale: 3px, 6px, 7px, 9px, 13px
- SHOULD limit border widths to: 1px, 3px, 4px
- SHOULD use 6px as default border-radius
- NEVER use arbitrary border-radius values (use design scale)
- SHOULD use subtle borders (1px) for element separation
Border Radius Reference
Scale: 3px, 6px, 7px, 9px, 13px
Layout
- MUST design for 1920px base viewport width
- SHOULD use consistent element widths: 8px, 621px, 620px, 9px, 68px
- SHOULD maintain text-heavy layout with clear hierarchy
- NEVER use
h-screen, useh-dvhfor full viewport height - MUST respect
safe-area-insetfor fixed elements - SHOULD use
size-*for square elements instead ofw-*+h-*
Detected Layout Patterns
- Main Content: width: 1920px, height: 1080px
- Main Content: width: 1920px, height: 920px
Components
Buttons
| Variant | Background | Text | Border | Height | Radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost | transparent | #F4A9AF | none | - | - |
Interactive States
Focus
- MUST use
2pxoutline with accent color (#5E6AD2) - MUST use
2pxoutline-offset - NEVER remove focus indicators
Hover
- Buttons (primary): lighten background by 10%
- Buttons (secondary): use
#F9F6F3background - List items: use
#F9F6F3background
Disabled
- MUST use
opacity: 0.5 - MUST use
cursor: not-allowed
Interaction
- MUST use an
AlertDialogfor destructive or irreversible actions - SHOULD use structural skeletons for loading states
- MUST show errors next to where the action happens
- NEVER block paste in
inputortextareaelements - MUST add an
aria-labelto icon-only buttons
Animation
- NEVER add animation unless it is explicitly requested
- MUST animate only compositor props (
transform,opacity) - NEVER animate layout properties (
width,height,top,left,margin,padding) - SHOULD use
ease-outon entrance animations - NEVER exceed
200msfor interaction feedback - SHOULD respect
prefers-reduced-motion
Performance
- NEVER animate large
blur()orbackdrop-filtersurfaces - NEVER apply
will-changeoutside an active animation - NEVER use
useEffectfor anything that can be expressed as render logic