Design Audit Orchestration

Guidance for orchestrating comprehensive design audits across multiple dimensions and synthesizing findings into actionable reports.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Aggregating findings from multiple analysis dimensions (heuristics, accessibility, visual, components)
• Deduplicating and cross-referencing related findings
• Prioritizing findings by severity and impact
• Creating executive summaries and remediation roadmaps
• Synthesizing insights that span multiple dimensions

Multi-Dimensional Analysis Framework

Design audits analyze 4 independent dimensions:

1. Usability Heuristics (Nielsen's 10)

• Visibility of system status
• Match between system and real world
• User control and freedom
• Error prevention and recovery
• Recognition vs recall
• Flexibility and efficiency
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help and documentation
• Error messages
• Emergency exits

2. Accessibility Compliance (WCAG)

• Color contrast and visual perception
• Keyboard navigation and focus management
• Semantic HTML and heading hierarchy
• ARIA patterns and landmarks
• Form accessibility and error handling
• Motion and animation preferences
• Text alternatives and captions

3. Visual Consistency (Design Tokens)

• Color palette usage and deviations
• Typography consistency (fonts, sizes, weights)
• Spacing patterns (margins, padding, gaps)
• Shape and border radius consistency
• Shadow and elevation patterns
• Motion and transition properties

4. Component Reusability (Design System)

• Component duplication and near-duplicates
• Composition patterns and nesting depth
• API/prop consistency across similar components
• Naming conventions and clarity
• Documentation completeness

Finding Aggregation Patterns

Deduplication Strategy

Same issue found by multiple dimensions:

• Heuristic + Accessibility: "Error message not visible" (heuristic: error prevention) + "error message lacks color contrast" (accessibility: WCAG 1.4.3)
• Visual + Component: "Button color inconsistent" (visual: color token) + "button component has multiple implementations" (component: duplication)

Action: Merge into single finding with cross-dimensional impact

Cross-Referencing Strategy

Finding in one dimension affects another:

• Accessibility finding: "Form labels not associated" → impacts Heuristic: "Recognition vs recall" (users can't remember what field is what)
• Component finding: "Button component duplicated" → impacts Visual: "Inconsistent button colors" (each implementation uses different color)

Action: Link findings and explain cascading impact

Severity Calculation

Combine severity from multiple dimensions:

• Critical: Blocks user task completion (accessibility + heuristic)
• High: Significantly impacts user experience (visual + component)
• Medium: Noticeable but workaround exists (single dimension)
• Low: Polish/refinement (minor inconsistency)

Synthesis Patterns

Executive Summary Structure

1. Overall Health Score (0-100)

   • Weighted average across dimensions
   • Heuristics: 30% (user experience)
   • Accessibility: 40% (compliance + inclusion)
   • Visual: 15% (consistency)
   • Components: 15% (maintainability)

2. Critical Issues (top 3-5)

   • Issues blocking user tasks
   • Compliance violations
   • High-impact duplications

3. Dimension Breakdown

   • Summary for each dimension
   • Key findings per dimension
   • Dimension-specific recommendations

4. Remediation Roadmap

   • Phase 1: Critical (accessibility, blocking issues)
   • Phase 2: High (visual consistency, component consolidation)
   • Phase 3: Medium (heuristics refinement)
   • Phase 4: Low (polish)

Remediation Roadmap Template

Phase 1: Critical (Week 1-2)
- [Finding 1]: [Remediation] - Effort: [hours]
- [Finding 2]: [Remediation] - Effort: [hours]

Phase 2: High (Week 3-4)
- [Finding 3]: [Remediation] - Effort: [hours]

Phase 3: Medium (Week 5-6)
- [Finding 4]: [Remediation] - Effort: [hours]

Phase 4: Low (Ongoing)
- [Finding 5]: [Remediation] - Effort: [hours]

Output Structure

{
  "audit_summary": {
    "overall_health_score": 72,
    "total_findings": 24,
    "critical_count": 3,
    "high_count": 8,
    "medium_count": 10,
    "low_count": 3
  },
  "dimension_summaries": {
    "heuristics": {
      "score": 68,
      "key_findings": [...],
      "recommendations": [...]
    },
    "accessibility": {
      "score": 65,
      "key_findings": [...],
      "recommendations": [...]
    },
    "visual_consistency": {
      "score": 82,
      "key_findings": [...],
      "recommendations": [...]
    },
    "components": {
      "score": 75,
      "key_findings": [...],
      "recommendations": [...]
    }
  },
  "cross_dimensional_insights": [
    {
      "title": "Error handling affects both heuristics and accessibility",
      "findings": ["heuristic-5", "accessibility-3"],
      "impact": "Users cannot recover from errors effectively"
    }
  ],
  "remediation_roadmap": [
    {
      "phase": 1,
      "priority": "critical",
      "items": [...]
    }
  ]
}