---
name: bolder
description: Amplify safe or boring designs to make them more visually interesting and stimulating. Increases impact while maintaining usability.
user-invokable: true
args:
  - name: target
    description: The feature or component to make bolder (optional)
    required: false
author: "@firdausmntp"
---

## Intent Primacy

Read the user's request before applying this command's defaults.

1. **Exact target**: Identify the specific feature, file, or area named. If none is named, ask before acting broadly.
2. **Stated scope wins**: "/bolder just the header" means only the header. Do not expand scope.
3. **User's choices bind you**: If the user specifies a framework, style, or approach, follow it even if this skill would suggest otherwise. Warn once, then comply.
4. **Proportional output**: A narrow request gets a targeted answer with only the relevant sections from this skill. A broad request gets the full protocol.
5. **No unrequested work**: Do not refactor, rename, add tests, or generate documentation the user did not ask for.
6. **Hard gates only for safety**: Accessibility AA floor and security checks override user intent. Aesthetic or stylistic preferences do not.
7. **Ask only when it matters**: Ambiguity on scope or destructive action (data loss, breaking change, deleting files) — ask once with specific options. Ambiguity on cosmetic defaults — state assumption and proceed. Never stack questions. Never ask what you can read yourself. STOP and call the `question` tool to clarify.

---

Increase visual impact and personality in designs that are too safe, generic, or visually underwhelming, creating more engaging and memorable experiences.

## MANDATORY PREPARATION

Use the frontend-design skill — 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 teach-impeccable 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, STOP and call the `question` tool to clarify.

**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 frontend-design 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 frontend-design 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."

## Before / After

Bold is not "more effects." Bold is one committed decision pushed further than the safe version dared. These pairs show the difference.

### 1. Typography — safe medium to committed display

The "safe" version is indistinguishable from a thousand landing pages. The bold version makes a size decision and commits to it.

```css
/* before — timid, no opinion, reads as a template */
.hero-title {
  font-size: 2rem;
  font-weight: 600;
  line-height: 1.3;
  letter-spacing: normal;
  font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;
}
```

```css
/* after — display scale, tight tracking, opinionated weight */
.hero-title {
  font-size: clamp(3rem, 8vw, 6rem);
  font-weight: 800;
  line-height: 0.95;
  letter-spacing: -0.04em;
  font-family: "Fraunces", "Söhne Breit", serif;
  text-wrap: balance;
}
```

### 2. Color — desaturated gray to dominant hue

A slate palette is safe because it refuses to take a position. Pick a hue and let it own the composition.

```css
/* before — generic tech gray, indistinguishable from the next dashboard */
:root {
  --bg:      #f8fafc;
  --surface: #ffffff;
  --fg:      #0f172a;
  --accent:  #64748b; /* slate, no personality */
}
```

```css
/* after — committed hue, dominant across the UI */
:root {
  --bg:      oklch(97% 0.03 25);      /* warm blush background */
  --surface: oklch(99% 0.01 25);
  --fg:      oklch(22% 0.05 25);
  --accent:  oklch(65% 0.24 25);      /* saturated terracotta owns 60% of the design */
  --accent-ink: oklch(35% 0.18 25);
}

body {
  background: var(--bg);
  color: var(--fg);
}
```

### 3. Composition — centered grid to asymmetric broken layout

Centered everything is the default. Break the grid on purpose and the page remembers you.

```tsx
{/* before — safe, centered, perfectly balanced, forgettable */}
<section className="max-w-4xl mx-auto px-6 py-24 text-center">
  <h1 className="text-5xl font-bold mb-6">Build faster</h1>
  <p className="text-xl text-gray-600 mb-8 max-w-2xl mx-auto">
    The platform for teams that ship.
  </p>
  <button className="px-6 py-3 bg-violet-600 text-white rounded-lg">
    Get started
  </button>
</section>
```

```tsx
{/* after — asymmetric, overlapping, tilted, room to breathe */}
<section className="relative min-h-screen overflow-hidden">
  <h1
    className="absolute left-[4vw] top-[18vh] text-[clamp(5rem,14vw,14rem)] font-black leading-[0.85] tracking-[-0.05em]"
    style={{ transform: "rotate(-2deg)" }}
  >
    Build
    <br />
    <span className="italic text-[--accent]">faster.</span>
  </h1>

  <p className="absolute right-[6vw] top-[55vh] max-w-xs text-lg leading-snug border-l-4 border-[--accent] pl-4">
    The platform for teams that ship.
  </p>

  <a
    href="/start"
    className="absolute bottom-[12vh] right-[8vw] text-2xl font-bold underline decoration-4 underline-offset-8 decoration-[--accent]"
  >
    Start building →
  </a>

  <div
    aria-hidden
    className="absolute -left-20 bottom-0 w-[40vw] h-[40vw] rounded-full bg-[--accent] opacity-20 blur-3xl"
  />
</section>
```

### 4. The rule — intentional maximalism, not random overdrive

```
BOLD:                                      SLOP:
- One committed hue dominates 60%+         - Random cyan/purple gradient
- Display-scale type (clamp to 6rem+)      - Four decorative effects stacked
- Tight tracking, heavy weight             - Glassmorphism on every card
- Broken grid with intent (rotation,       - Bounce easing on every animation
  overlap, asymmetry)                      - Gradient text on every heading
- Generous negative space around           - "More" as a substitute for
  the one hero moment                        "stronger"
```

**Test**: remove every effect except the single strongest decision. If the design still feels bold, you chose right. If it collapses, you were stacking effects to hide a lack of commitment.

---

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.