--- name: bolder description: Amplify safe or boring designs to make them more visually interesting and stimulating. Increases impact while maintaining usability. Use when the user says the design looks bland, generic, too safe, lacks personality, or wants more visual impact and character. user-invocable: true argument-hint: "[target]" --- Increase visual impact and personality in designs that are too safe, generic, or visually underwhelming, creating more engaging and memorable experiences. ## MANDATORY PREPARATION Invoke /impeccable — it contains design principles, anti-patterns, and the **Context Gathering Protocol**. Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no design context exists yet, you MUST run /impeccable teach first. --- ## Assess Current State Analyze what makes the design feel too safe or boring: 1. **Identify weakness sources**: - **Generic choices**: System fonts, basic colors, standard layouts - **Timid scale**: Everything is medium-sized with no drama - **Low contrast**: Everything has similar visual weight - **Static**: No motion, no energy, no life - **Predictable**: Standard patterns with no surprises - **Flat hierarchy**: Nothing stands out or commands attention 2. **Understand the context**: - What's the brand personality? (How far can we push?) - What's the purpose? (Marketing can be bolder than financial dashboards) - Who's the audience? (What will resonate?) - What are the constraints? (Brand guidelines, accessibility, performance) If any of these are unclear from the codebase, ask the user directly to clarify what you cannot infer. **CRITICAL**: "Bolder" doesn't mean chaotic or garish. It means distinctive, memorable, and confident. Think intentional drama, not random chaos. **WARNING - AI SLOP TRAP**: When making things "bolder," AI defaults to the same tired tricks: cyan/purple gradients, glassmorphism, neon accents on dark backgrounds, gradient text on metrics. These are the OPPOSITE of bold—they're generic. Review ALL the DON'T guidelines in the impeccable skill before proceeding. Bold means distinctive, not "more effects." ## Plan Amplification Create a strategy to increase impact while maintaining coherence: - **Focal point**: What should be the hero moment? (Pick ONE, make it amazing) - **Personality direction**: Maximalist chaos? Elegant drama? Playful energy? Dark moody? Choose a lane. - **Risk budget**: How experimental can we be? Push boundaries within constraints. - **Hierarchy amplification**: Make big things BIGGER, small things smaller (increase contrast) **IMPORTANT**: Bold design must still be usable. Impact without function is just decoration. ## Amplify the Design Systematically increase impact across these dimensions: ### Typography Amplification - **Replace generic fonts**: Swap system fonts for distinctive choices (see impeccable skill for inspiration) - **Extreme scale**: Create dramatic size jumps (3x-5x differences, not 1.5x) - **Weight contrast**: Pair 900 weights with 200 weights, not 600 with 400 - **Unexpected choices**: Variable fonts, display fonts for headlines, condensed/extended widths, monospace as intentional accent (not as lazy "dev tool" default) ### Color Intensification - **Increase saturation**: Shift to more vibrant, energetic colors (but not neon) - **Bold palette**: Introduce unexpected color combinations—avoid the purple-blue gradient AI slop - **Dominant color strategy**: Let one bold color own 60% of the design - **Sharp accents**: High-contrast accent colors that pop - **Tinted neutrals**: Replace pure grays with tinted grays that harmonize with your palette - **Rich gradients**: Intentional multi-stop gradients (not generic purple-to-blue) ### Spatial Drama - **Extreme scale jumps**: Make important elements 3-5x larger than surroundings - **Break the grid**: Let hero elements escape containers and cross boundaries - **Asymmetric layouts**: Replace centered, balanced layouts with tension-filled asymmetry - **Generous space**: Use white space dramatically (100-200px gaps, not 20-40px) - **Overlap**: Layer elements intentionally for depth ### Visual Effects - **Dramatic shadows**: Large, soft shadows for elevation (but not generic drop shadows on rounded rectangles) - **Background treatments**: Mesh patterns, noise textures, geometric patterns, intentional gradients (not purple-to-blue) - **Texture & depth**: Grain, halftone, duotone, layered elements—NOT glassmorphism (it's overused AI slop) - **Borders & frames**: Thick borders, decorative frames, custom shapes (not rounded rectangles with colored border on one side) - **Custom elements**: Illustrative elements, custom icons, decorative details that reinforce brand ### Motion & Animation - **Entrance choreography**: Staggered, dramatic page load animations with 50-100ms delays - **Scroll effects**: Parallax, reveal animations, scroll-triggered sequences - **Micro-interactions**: Satisfying hover effects, click feedback, state changes - **Transitions**: Smooth, noticeable transitions using ease-out-quart/quint/expo (not bounce or elastic—they cheapen the effect) ### Composition Boldness - **Hero moments**: Create clear focal points with dramatic treatment - **Diagonal flows**: Escape horizontal/vertical rigidity with diagonal arrangements - **Full-bleed elements**: Use full viewport width/height for impact - **Unexpected proportions**: Golden ratio? Throw it out. Try 70/30, 80/20 splits **NEVER**: - Add effects randomly without purpose (chaos ≠ bold) - Sacrifice readability for aesthetics (body text must be readable) - Make everything bold (then nothing is bold - need contrast) - Ignore accessibility (bold design must still meet WCAG standards) - Overwhelm with motion (animation fatigue is real) - Copy trendy aesthetics blindly (bold means distinctive, not derivative) ## Verify Quality Ensure amplification maintains usability and coherence: - **NOT AI slop**: Does this look like every other AI-generated "bold" design? If yes, start over. - **Still functional**: Can users accomplish tasks without distraction? - **Coherent**: Does everything feel intentional and unified? - **Memorable**: Will users remember this experience? - **Performant**: Do all these effects run smoothly? - **Accessible**: Does it still meet accessibility standards? **The test**: If you showed this to someone and said "AI made this bolder," would they believe you immediately? If yes, you've failed. Bold means distinctive, not "more AI effects." Remember: Bold design is confident design. It takes risks, makes statements, and creates memorable experiences. But bold without strategy is just loud. Be intentional, be dramatic, be unforgettable. --- Source attribution: growupanand Original project: https://github.com/growupanand/ConvoForm/blob/71b43c34fd73e3bb58123d255ee18e123ebea4b1/.agents/skills/bolder/SKILL.md License: Apache-2.0 License information: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI. ## Upstream license notice Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004 http://www.apache.org/licenses/ TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION 1. Definitions. "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction, and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document. "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by the copyright owner that is granting the License. "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common control with that entity. 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See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. # Dave AI resource metadata Creator / publisher: growupanand Original project: https://github.com/growupanand/ConvoForm/blob/71b43c34fd73e3bb58123d255ee18e123ebea4b1/.agents/skills/bolder/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Design Roles: Graphic Designer, Product Designer, UX Designer Specialties: Design Tools: Tool not specified Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: da65481bfe0075ad75277ac93c8dd05109811205c516e2325cf1b86c20c57adc