What is the design critique skill?
The design-critique skill, listed here as owl-design-critique, is a SKILL.md in the design-ops plugin of Owl-Listener's designer-skills repository. It helps an agent facilitate a team critique with framing, feedback rules and actionable outcomes. It is for sessions with people in the room, not solo expert reviews.
The design-critique skill belongs to the design-ops plugin in Owl-Listener's designer-skills repository. This page uses the slug owl-design-critique to tell it apart from other critique tools. The skill itself is named design-critique in its SKILL.md.
Its description limits it to sessions with people in the room. For a solo expert review it names heuristic-evaluation from the prototyping-testing plugin, so the two do not overlap.
The session structure it prescribes
- Before: the designer shares goals, constraints, target audience and stage, and says what feedback is needed.
- Present: five minutes for the designer to walk through the work and goals.
- Clarify: five minutes of questions meant to understand, not judge.
- Feedback rounds, structured by category or priority.
- Discuss the key tensions, then capture decisions and action items.
Feedback phrasing and critique types
Feedback follows four openers: I notice, I wonder, What if, and I think because. The skill also names four formats: desk crit, team crit, cross-team crit and stakeholder review, each with its own purpose.
Who the design critique skill is for
Best for
- Teams that want an agent to structure a critique into before, during and after steps with set ground rules.
- Turning messy opinions into action items with owners and deadlines after a review.
Not for
- Judging a screen by itself. The skill facilitates people and does not inspect pixels or code.
- Solo expert reviews, which the file hands to heuristic-evaluation.
Use it with UiChemy
A critique ends with a list of changes to make. Once the team agrees, apply them in UiChemy Composer, which edits the page visually inside Elementor or Gutenberg, or re-run Figma to WordPress on the revised file. Click Get Started on uichemy.com. Related pages: critique, impeccable-audit and web-design-guidelines.
How to install Design Critique Skill: Run Structured Team Crits
/plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skills
/plugin install design-ops@designer-skillsAdd the marketplace
Run
/plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skillsinside Claude Code. The README says this step only tells the agent where the skills live and installs nothing yet.Install the design-ops plugin
Run
/plugin install design-ops@designer-skills. The design-critique skill ships inside this plugin. You can also type/plugin, open the Discover tab, tick the plugin and press enter.Using Gemini CLI instead
The README says 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
Try a prompt such as: use design-critique to plan a 45 minute team crit for our checkout redesign. Name the work and the attendees.
Check that it loaded
Ask the agent to prepare a team critique for one screen. It should return framing questions, the timed phases, the four feedback openers and action items with owners and deadlines.
Key features
- Context before critiqueThe designer shares goals, constraints, target audience and stage of work, and defines whether layout, flow, copy or everything needs feedback.
- Ground rulesThe session starts with agreed rules that feedback is constructive, specific and actionable.
- Timed phasesPresent for five minutes and clarify for five minutes, followed by feedback rounds, open discussion and a capture step.
- Four feedback openersObservation with I notice, a question with I wonder, an alternative with What if, and an opinion with a stated reason.
- After the critiqueThe designer summarizes takeaways, action items get owners and deadlines, and a follow-up review is scheduled if needed.
- Four critique typesDesk crit is informal and one to one, team crit is scheduled and structured, cross-team crit brings fresh eyes and stakeholder review is decision focused.
- Pitfall listDesign by committee, personal preference over user needs, critiquing too early or too late and leaving no next steps.
- Exploration versus refinementThe skill advises separating exploration critiques from refinement critiques so feedback matches the stage of the work.
- Ritual over eventRotate the facilitator, critique the work and not the person, tie feedback to goals and make critique a regular habit.
Frequently asked questions
What is the design critique skill?
It is a SKILL.md in the design-ops plugin of Owl-Listener's designer-skills repository. It helps an AI coding agent facilitate team design critiques with framing, feedback rules, timed phases and action items. The skill is named design-critique, and this page uses owl-design-critique as its identifier.
How do I install the design-critique skill?
Run /plugin marketplace add Owl-Listener/designer-skills, then /plugin install design-ops@designer-skills. The skill is part of the design-ops plugin, which also holds handoff, sprint and workflow tools. The Discover tab of /plugin offers the same choice.
Does it critique my screenshot?
No. The skill facilitates a session with people in the room. For visual review of a screen, the README points to a visual-critique plugin with its own screen commands. This skill produces framing, feedback rules and action items, not an inspection of the image.
What feedback format does the skill use?
Four openers: I notice for an observation, I wonder for a question, What if for an alternative, and I think because for an opinion with a reason. The aim is feedback that describes and suggests instead of judging the person.
How is it different from a heuristic evaluation?
A team critique involves people giving feedback in a room. A heuristic evaluation is a solo expert review, and the skill's description sends you to heuristic-evaluation in the prototyping-testing plugin for that. Choose by whether the session has a group.
Which AI coding agents can use the skill?
The README says the collection is for Claude Code and Gemini CLI, with each plugin packaged as a Gemini CLI extension too. It does not mention other agents, so use anything else at your own risk.
What license does the skill use?
GitHub lists the Owl-Listener designer-skills repository as MIT. The design-critique folder is inside the design-ops plugin of that repository. Check the repository license before redistributing the folder in your own product.