Overview
design-is is an open-source design skill for Claude Code and compatible agents, published by thedotmack. Its author describes it as: “Audit a design against Dieter Rams' ten "Good design is..." principles, then hand off a /make-plan prompt for one of three outcomes — new design, refine design, or redesign. Use when the user says "audit this design",…”. The project has 94k stars on GitHub and is available under the Apache-2.0 license. Add it to your setup with `/plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-mem`.
What design-is does
- Routine UI code reviews → use `/review` - Pure copy edits → use a separate copy pass - Pre-design ideation with no artifact yet → start with `/make-plan` directly
Best for
What’s inside
The SKILL.md for design-is is organised into these sections:
- Do not use for
- The Ten Principles (Dieter Rams)
- Delegation Model
- Subagent Reporting Contract (MANDATORY)
- Output Artifacts
- Phases
- Phase 0: Scope Lock (ALWAYS FIRST)
- Phase 1: Evidence Gathering (FAN OUT)
- Phase 2: Scorecard (ORCHESTRATOR)
- Phase 3: Verdict (ORCHESTRATOR)
- Phase 4: /make-plan Handoff
- Key Principles (for the auditor)
Installation
Add design-is to your agent with:
/plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-memReview a skill’s source before installing it — skills can instruct your agent to run commands. This command comes from the skill’s public repository, which is the source of truth for setup steps. New to skills? Read how to install Claude Code skills.
Supported agents
- Claude Code — ships a claude code plugin marketplace
License
design-is is published under the Apache-2.0 license.
Strengths
- Clear Apache-2.0 license — safe to read and adapt within its terms
- Ships in thedotmack/claude-mem, an established project with 94,378 GitHub stars
- Works with Claude Code
- Actively maintained — repository updated in the last 30 days
- Its repository gained 5,269 GitHub stars over the last 52 days
Author
Topics
Frequently asked questions
- What does design-is do?
- Audit a design against Dieter Rams' ten "Good design is..." principles, then hand off a /make-plan prompt for one of three outcomes — new design, refine design, or redesign. Use when the user says "audit this design", "design review", "check this UI against Rams", "is this UI good", "critique this design", "design audit", or asks for a critique that should lead to a plan.
- How do I install design-is?
- Run /plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-mem in your agent, then reload your skills. Review the source at https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem before installing.
- Is design-is free to use?
- Yes. design-is is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license, so you can read, run, and adapt it within that license's terms.
- Which agents does design-is work with?
- design-is lists Claude Code — named in its SKILL.md, its plugin marketplace or its repository topics. Skills use the portable SKILL.md format, so other agents that read that format may load it too.
- Where does design-is come from?
- design-is ships inside thedotmack/claude-mem, a repository that contains 25 catalogued skills in total. The repository's 94,378 GitHub stars apply to that whole collection, not to this skill on its own.
