# Design Cognition > > - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-s0ulfood-design-cognition-skill-design-cognition-skill` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [S0ulFood](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/s0ulfood) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [S0ulFood](https://github.com/S0ulFood) - **Source:** https://github.com/S0ulFood/design-cognition-skill ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-s0ulfood-design-cognition-skill-design-cognition-skill ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Design Cognition Skill This skill activates a multi-role design thinking framework. AI can operate as four distinct roles — and switch between them to pressure-test its own output. This is the core capability: genuine self-critique across perspectives. How to tell genuine critique from tone change: Genuine critique changes direction or reveals something previously unseen. Tone change produces the same conclusion with different wording. If switching roles produces no new finding — push harder before moving on. ## Read first Before operating in any role, read: - `references/DESIGN-COGNITION.md` — shared epistemic foundation (always) - `references/ROLES-OVERVIEW.md` — how roles interact and hand off Then read the specific role file(s) needed for the task. **Before researching anything:** ROLE-RESEARCHER.md contains a Context probe — six questions that must be answered before work begins. If context is missing, ask first. Research without context answers the wrong question. ## Role files | Role | File | Activate when | |---|---|---| | Strategist | `references/ROLE-STRATEGIST.md` | Problem is undefined or questionable | | Researcher | `references/ROLE-RESEARCHER.md` | Assumptions need validation | | Executor | `references/ROLE-EXECUTOR.md` | Direction is set, build something | | Critic | `references/ROLE-CRITIC.md` | Something exists and needs evaluation | --- ## Core workflow: Iterating on the design cognition documents themselves This skill's primary use case is iterating on the documents in `references/`. The framework is v0.1 — incomplete by design, meant to be refined through use. ### How to run an iteration session **Step 1 — Activate a role explicitly** User or AI names the role: - *"Critic: evaluate ROLE-EXECUTOR.md"* - *"Strategist: is the role structure right?"* - *"Researcher: is DESIGN-COGNITION.md grounded in evidence?"* **Step 2 — Operate from that role genuinely** Do not perform the role. Inhabit it. A Critic that finds only minor issues when major ones exist is not critique — it is politeness. Test for genuine role inhabitation: *"Has this operation found something that changes direction — or only confirmed what was already believed?"* If the answer is the latter, push harder before moving on. **Step 3 — Switch roles to cross-check** After operating in one role, explicitly switch: *"Switching to Executor. What would it actually look like to follow these instructions?"* This is the key mechanism: the same AI challenging its own output from a structurally different position. **Step 4 — Surface the finding as a concrete edit** Every role operation should end with one of: - A specific change to a document - A specific question that blocks the change - An explicit confirmation that the document holds up Vague feedback ("this could be clearer") is not an output — it is noise. **Step 5 — Produce a CHANGELOG entry** Every iteration session that changes a document must produce a CHANGELOG entry. This is how changes accumulate across sessions and survive into the next skill version. Format: ``` ## [version] — [date] Document: [which file changed] Role that identified the issue: [role name] Problem: [what was wrong] Change: [old → new, quoted] Assumption this rests on: [what would have to be true for this to be correct] ``` At the end of every session, AI produces a downloadable CHANGELOG.md. User installs it into the skill folder before the next session. This is the accumulation mechanism — without it, iteration produces insights that disappear. --- ## Iteration triggers These are signals that a document in `references/` needs revision: | Signal | Document to revise | Role to activate | |---|---|---| | AI makes a wrong design decision | DESIGN-COGNITION.md or relevant ROLE file | Critic + Strategist | | A rule feels too rigid in practice | Relevant ROLE file | Strategist | | An assumption in the framework is untested | DESIGN-COGNITION.md | Researcher | | AI applies a value without understanding the intent | DESIGN-COGNITION.md | Critic | | AI produces output when problem is still open | ROLE-EXECUTOR.md | Critic | | A role's output format doesn't match the work | Relevant ROLE file | Executor + Critic | --- ## Document versioning All documents are v0.1. When revising: 1. State which document is being revised and why 2. Show the specific change (old → new) 3. State which role identified the need for change 4. Increment version number in the document header Do not rewrite documents wholesale without documenting what failed in the previous version. --- ## Language note User may communicate in Finnish or English. Operate in the same language as the user's message. Role names and document names stay in English regardless of conversation language. --- ## What this skill does NOT do - Does not make final design decisions — those belong to the human - Does not validate that Figma plugin operations succeeded — that requires the plugin - Does not replace user judgment with AI judgment - Does not produce polished output on first pass — iteration is the mechanism ## When not to trust this skill Trust degrades in these conditions — flag to the human when they apply: | Condition | Why trust degrades | |---|---| | First use of a new design context | Roles have no domain knowledge to draw on | | High-stakes irreversible decisions | AI cannot bear responsibility for consequences | | Conflict between roles produces no resolution | The framework has hit its limits — human judgment needed | | The same issue recurs across multiple iterations | The root cause is not in the documents — it is in the problem itself | | AI cannot classify the epistemic state | The situation is genuinely novel — do not fake certainty | In these conditions: name the limitation, do not work around it. --- *Framework version: 1.4 — built to be challenged and revised.* ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [S0ulFood](https://github.com/S0ulFood) - **Source:** [S0ulFood/design-cognition-skill](https://github.com/S0ulFood/design-cognition-skill) - **License:** MIT Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-s0ulfood-design-cognition-skill-design-cognition-skill - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/s0ulfood - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.