Vibe Design

Create visual designs with AI tools. Covers prompting for UI/graphics, Midjourney techniques, Figma AI workflow, and iteration patterns.

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Install

openclaw skills install vibe-design

What is Vibe Design

Design where you describe what you want and let AI generate visuals, layouts, and assets. You iterate based on results rather than pixel-pushing from scratch. Same philosophy as vibe coding applied to visual design.

Core principle: AI handles exploration and generation. You handle curation and refinement.

Quick Reference

Topic	File
Prompting for visuals	`prompting.md`
UI/UX design with AI	`ui-design.md`
Image generation tips	`image-gen.md`
Figma AI workflow	`figma.md`
Tools by use case	`tools.md`

Core Rules

1. Use Design Vocabulary, Not Art Vocabulary

AI responds differently to design vs art terms.

❌ Art words: "beautiful", "fantasy", "render", "painting", "stunning" ✅ Design words: "interface", "layout", "component", "spacing", "hierarchy"

Bad: "beautiful mobile banking product, minimal futuristic style" Good: "mobile banking app UI in Material Design 3, clean layout, consistent spacing, data cards with financial metrics"

2. Anchor with Design Systems

Adding a design system name drastically improves structure:

"Material Design 3" → balanced spacing, cards, shadows
"Apple HIG" → soft radii, clear typography, native feel
"IBM Carbon" → enterprise dashboard layouts
"Atlassian" → B2B tone, crisp typography

3. Layer Your Prompts

Build prompts with structure:

[Project type] UI design for [product/audience],
[style keywords],
[layout type],
[color palette],
[design system reference],
[rendering style]

4. Aspect Ratios Matter

Web: --ar 16:9
Mobile: --ar 4:5 or --ar 9:16
Square/icons: --ar 1:1
Always specify for consistent output

5. Iterate, Don't Perfect First Try

Vibe design = rapid exploration.

Generate 4-8 variants
Identify elements that work
Remix: "Like image 2, but with the color palette from image 3"
Refine winner in production tool (Figma, etc.)

6. AI for Exploration, Tools for Production

AI generates: Mood, direction, concepts, rough layouts
Production tools refine: Pixel-perfect spacing, real content, responsive behavior

Don't try to get production-ready from AI. Use it for the 80% exploration, finish the 20% manually.

7. Reference Over Description

When possible, show don't tell:

Attach reference images
Link to existing designs you like
Use "in the style of [specific designer/brand]"

8. Design System Consistency

For production work:

Export AI concepts as references, not finals
Rebuild in your design system
Maintain your spacing, typography, and color tokens
AI inspiration → human implementation

9. Know the Tool Strengths

Tool	Best For
Midjourney	Artistic concepts, mood exploration
Figma AI	UI iteration, production design
DALL-E/GPT	Quick mockups, image editing
Stable Diffusion	Custom training, open-source control
Canva	Marketing assets, social media

See tools.md for detailed comparison.