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design-handoff-brief

Productivity
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Transform feature briefs into structured design briefs that give designers the context they need before opening Figma. Use when asked to write a design brief, create a design handoff, brief a designer on a new feature, or translate a PRD into design requirements. Produces a brief with user goal, emotional context, success criteria, constraints, edge cases, and out-of-scope boundaries.

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/blob/HEAD/skills/development/unknown-mohitagw15856-pm-claude-skills-82/SKILL.md

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Design Handoff Brief Skill

Produce a design brief that sets designers up for success — grounding them in user context and constraints before they open Figma, not after they've gone in the wrong direction.

Required Inputs

Ask the user for these if not provided:

  • Feature brief or PRD (even rough notes work)
  • Designer's name or team (for personalisation)
  • Technical constraints (any engineering limitations already known)
  • Timeline (when does design need to be done?)

What Designers Actually Need (and PMs Often Skip)

  • The user's goal, not the feature name
  • The emotional state of the user at this moment in the journey
  • What success looks like — how will we know the design worked?
  • Constraints: technical, legal, brand, accessibility
  • Edge cases that must be handled
  • What we're explicitly NOT solving for

Process

  1. Read the feature brief or PRD provided
  2. Extract user goal (reframe from feature language to user outcome language)
  3. Identify constraints — technical limitations, brand guidelines, accessibility requirements
  4. List edge cases the design must handle
  5. Define success criteria the design should be evaluated against
  6. Write a "not in scope" section to prevent scope creep in design
  7. Validate — Confirm every edge case listed is specific enough to design for, and every out-of-scope item is concrete enough to say "no" to

Output Structure

Design Brief: [Feature Name]

User Goal: (in the user's words, not ours) "When I [situation], I want to [motivation] so that I can [outcome]."

Context & Emotional State: [Where is the user in their journey? What are they feeling? What just happened?]

Design Success Criteria:

  • [Criterion 1 — measurable where possible]
  • [Criterion 2]
  • [Criterion 3]

Constraints:

  • Technical: [limitations engineering has flagged]
  • Brand: [relevant brand guidelines]
  • Accessibility: [WCAG level required, any specific requirements]
  • Legal/Compliance: [if applicable]

Edge Cases to Design For:

  • [Edge case 1]
  • [Edge case 2]
  • [Edge case 3]

Explicitly Out of Scope:

  • [What we are NOT solving in this design iteration]

Reference Material:

  • User research: [link]
  • Existing patterns: [Figma component library link]
  • Competitor examples: [links if relevant]

Quality Checks

  • User goal is written in user language (not feature/product language)
  • At least one edge case covers an error or failure state
  • Success criteria are measurable or observable (not "looks good")
  • Out-of-scope section names at least one thing that might seem in scope but isn't
  • Technical constraints are specific enough for an engineer to confirm