What is the critique-information-density skill?
The critique-information-density skill is a SKILL.md in the visual-critique plugin of Owl-Listener's designer-skills pack. It makes an AI coding agent evaluate how much information a rendered screen holds, whether it is the right information and whether it matches how users scan, with a fix for each failure.
The critique-information-density skill is a SKILL.md in the visual-critique plugin of the designer-skills repository. It critiques a rendered screen's density: cognitive load, content prioritization, scanning patterns and progressive disclosure. Use it when a screen feels overwhelming.
The agent acts as an expert in information architecture and cognitive load management in UI design. It evaluates how much information is on screen, whether it is the right information and whether it is organized to match how users scan.
The four dimensions
- Cognitive load: how many decisions or pieces of information a user must process to complete the primary task.
- Content priority: whether the most important content is the most visible and supporting information stays subordinate.
- Scanning pattern: whether the layout fits F-pattern or Z-pattern reading and breaks into scannable chunks.
- Progressive disclosure: whether complexity is revealed step by step, with advanced options separated from the primary flow.
Who the critique-information-density skill is for
Best for
- Reviewing a dashboard, detail page, table, form or onboarding screen that feels overwhelming.
- Deciding which content belongs above the fold and which belongs in a detail view.
- Checking that expandable sections, tabs and modals hide genuinely secondary content, not primary actions.
Not for
- The underlying choice-count principle, which the hicks-law skill in the interaction-design plugin covers.
- Emphasis and eye flow, which critique-visual-hierarchy reviews.
Failure patterns it flags
- Dashboard screens that show every available metric instead of the most actionable ones.
- Detail pages that inline all related objects instead of linking to them.
- Tables with 10 or more columns where 3 columns do 90% of the user's work.
- Forms that show all fields at once when a multi-step flow would reduce perceived complexity.
- Content-heavy onboarding that front-loads explanation before the user has done anything.
How to install Critique Information Density Skill: Fix Overloaded Screens
/plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skills
/plugin install visual-critique@designer-skills/visual-critique:critique-screen, which runs all seven visual critiques on a screen and outputs a prioritized fix list.Add the marketplace
Run
/plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skillsin your AI coding agent. This only tells the agent where the skills live and installs nothing yet.Install the visual-critique plugin
Run
/plugin install visual-critique@designer-skills. The critique-information-density skill ships inside this plugin. You can also type/plugin, open the Discover tab, tick the plugin with space and press enter.Using Gemini CLI instead
Each plugin is also a Gemini CLI extension. Clone the repository, create
.gemini/extensionsin your project root and copy the cloned.gemini/extensionscontents into it.Ask for the skill by task
Attach a screenshot or describe the screen. For example: critique the information density of this admin table and say what to defer to a detail view.
Check that it loaded
Give the agent a rendered screen. Expect an observation, a problem and a fix for each dimension, and a rating of pass, minor issue or major issue. The four dimensions should be Cognitive Load, Content Priority, Scanning Pattern and Progressive Disclosure.
Key features
- Decision countAsks how many distinct decisions or pieces of information a user must process to complete the primary task.
- Competing elementsFlags unrelated elements competing for attention, pages serving several user goals at once and elements that do not serve the current task, such as decoration, secondary data or metadata noise.
- Primary information firstChecks that the information a user needs to act on is above the fold and that supporting context stays visually subordinate.
- Equal weight, unequal importanceLooks for content elements with equal visual weight that do not have equal user importance, and for critical information buried in tooltips, collapsed sections or low-contrast text.
- F and Z patternsChecks whether content structure matches an F-pattern for lists and tables or a Z-pattern for hero and CTA layouts, depending on context.
- Aligned dataAsks whether labels are left-aligned and consistent, and whether numbers, dates and status values are aligned and formatted consistently in lists and tables.
- Scannable chunksLooks for short paragraphs, headers and bullets in place of dense prose.
- Progressive disclosureAsks whether detail is deferred to a detail view and whether advanced options and edge-case content are separated from the primary flow.
- Clear starting pointChecks that the screen presents a clear entry path instead of showing so much at once that the start is ambiguous.
- Structured findingsEach dimension gets an observation, a problem and a fix, plus a rating of pass, minor issue or major issue.
Frequently asked questions
What is the critique-information-density skill?
It is a SKILL.md in the visual-critique plugin of the Owl-Listener/designer-skills repository. It has an AI coding agent critique a rendered screen's density, covering cognitive load, content priority, scanning patterns and progressive disclosure, and it proposes a specific fix for each failure.
How do I install critique-information-density?
Run /plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skills, then /plugin install visual-critique@designer-skills. The first command only registers where the skills live. You can also type /plugin, open the Discover tab, tick the plugin with space and press enter. Gemini CLI users copy the plugin's extension folder instead.
What does critique-information-density check?
It checks four dimensions. Cognitive load asks how much a user must hold in working memory. Content priority asks whether the most important content is most visible. Scanning pattern asks whether the layout supports how users read. Progressive disclosure asks whether complexity is revealed step by step.
When should I use critique-information-density?
Use it when a screen feels overwhelming and you are reviewing an existing, rendered design. For the underlying choice-count principle, the skill points to hicks-law in the interaction-design plugin. This skill gives a screen-level verdict with fixes instead of explaining the principle.
What does the critique-information-density output look like?
For each of the four dimensions, Cognitive Load, Content Priority, Scanning Pattern and Progressive Disclosure, the agent gives an observation, a problem and a fix. The observation is neutral and factual, the problem says what is broken and why it matters, and the fix is a specific, actionable change. It then rates the dimension pass, minor issue or major issue.
Which density failures does critique-information-density flag?
It flags dashboards that show every metric instead of the most actionable ones, detail pages that inline all related objects, tables with 10 or more columns where 3 do 90% of the work, forms that show all fields at once, and onboarding that front-loads explanation.
Which AI coding agents can use critique-information-density?
The designer-skills pack is written for Claude Code and Gemini CLI. In Claude Code you add the marketplace and install the visual-critique plugin by name. Each plugin is also a Gemini CLI extension, which you copy into a .gemini/extensions folder in your project.
What license does critique-information-density use?
It is MIT licensed. The Owl-Listener/designer-skills repository declares the MIT license on GitHub, and the visual-critique plugin ships from that repository. The critique-information-density skill is installed with that plugin through the designer-skills marketplace, as the install steps above describe.