Give Claude your taste.
Six steps, six prompts to copy and one file to fill in. Set it up once, and every design after starts from your taste, not the average.
Posted byZee @zeeuiuxDesign · Claude skill
Slide 02 of 10AI isn’t bad. It’s average.
- 01.I gave Claude the same design prompt in 4 fresh chats. All 4 came back with the same cover: near-black, one orange accent, an arrow button bottom right.
- 02.“Safe design choices – those that work universally and offend no one – dominate web training data. Without direction, Claude samples from this high-probability center.” Anthropic, Improving frontend design through Skills, 2025.
- 03.The fix is direction. Yours.
Slide 04 of 10Send references. Not adjectives.
‘Premium’ is a guess. References are a brief. Pick 3 to 5 that differ: a typeface, a palette, a layout, a piece of motion, a texture. Drop them into the chat.
Here are my references. For each one, tell me in one line what to take and what to ignore.
Slide 05 of 10Ban defaults. By name.
First see what Claude does with no direction. Then ban each default by name, and give every ‘never’ an ‘instead’.
Make 3 quick drafts with no direction. List every default you chose: font, colour, layout, words.
| Never | Instead |
|---|---|
| Inter, Poppins, any ‘safe’ sans | One typeface you chose, at one weight |
| Purple and blue gradients | One accent, about 10% of the frame |
| Everything centred | A left grid. One hero per frame |
| Emoji as icons | One icon style, one stroke width |
| ‘Unleash your potential’ | A plain claim and one payoff line |
| Glass, chrome, 3D blobs | Real UI, real people, real texture |
| Random fades on everything | One easing, one timing, on purpose |
Slide 06 of 10Numbers. Not vibes.
‘Bold’ is a vibe. 220 px is a decision. Turn every adjective in your rules into a number Claude can hit.
Turn my rules into numbers: sizes, tracking, line height, colour ratio, easing, timing.
| Mine | |
|---|---|
| Type | Google Sans 400 · 220 px · −0.052em · 0.87 |
| Colour | 65 ink · 25 bone · 10 orange |
| Motion | cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1) · 700 ms · 70 ms stagger |
Slide 07 of 10One file. Every chat.
Put it all in one file, so you never explain your taste twice. Save it as a Skill, in a Claude Project, or as your design system in Claude Design.
Write this as a SKILL.md: when to use it, the rules, the never list, a final self-check.
Slide 08 of 10Ask for five. Keep one.
Taste is mostly saying no. Let Claude make the options. You make the call, and say why you picked it.
Give me 5 directions that follow the file. Each changes one big decision. Name each in 2 words.
Slide 09 of 10One note. One reason.
‘Make it pop’ teaches nothing. Send one change per message, with the reason. The reason is what Claude learns from.
Change one thing: note. Why: reason. Keep everything else exactly as it is.
Check it. Before you ship.
- Nothing from never.md made it in.
- Every size, colour and timing comes from numbers.md.
- One idea per frame. You can say it in six words.
- One hero. Everything else steps back.
- One accent colour, used on purpose.
- Real proof. Anything staged is labelled.
- It still reads at thumbnail size.
- It looks like you made it, not the average.
Your file. Fill the blanks.
Copy this into SKILL.md, in a folder named after you. Keep references/, never.md, numbers.md, voice.md and checks.md next to it.
---
name: your-name-taste
description: Use for anything I design for me / my brand.
---
Before you design
1. Read references/. Say what you take from each.
2. never.md wins over every other rule.
Type
font weight · headlines px · tracking em · line height
Colour
% ink · % paper · % accent. Accent never on text under px.
Layout
grid · margins px · one hero per frame.
Motion
easing cubic-bezier · ms · stagger ms.
Voice
Use: words. Never: words.
Process
1. Show 5 directions. One big change each, named in 2 words.
2. Build the one I pick.
3. Run checks.md before you show me anything.
Starters. Steal these.
Keep references/, never.md, numbers.md, voice.md and checks.md next to SKILL.md. numbers.md is mine, as an example. Put the checks list in checks.md and tell Claude to run it before it shows you anything.
Never → Instead
- Inter, Poppins, any ‘safe’ sans → One typeface you chose, at one weight
- Purple and blue gradients → One accent, about 10% of the frame
- Everything centred → A left grid. One hero per frame
- Emoji as icons → One icon style, one stroke width
- ‘Unleash your potential’ → A plain claim and one payoff line
- Glass, chrome, 3D blobs → Real UI, real people, real texture
- Random fades on everything → One easing, one timing, on purpose
Type
Google Sans 400 · 220 px · −0.052em · 0.87
Colour
65 ink · 25 bone · 10 orange
Motion
cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1) · 700 ms · 70 ms stagger
Use: plain claims, real numbers, ‘you’. Never: unleash, elevate, seamless, game-changer.
- Nothing from never.md made it in.
- Every size, colour and timing comes from numbers.md.
- One idea per frame. You can say it in six words.
- One hero. Everything else steps back.
- One accent colour, used on purpose.
- Real proof. Anything staged is labelled.
- It still reads at thumbnail size.
- It looks like you made it, not the average.
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