Web Design Pipeline (premium sites, fast, with rigor)

The repeatable way to ship awwwards-tier sites without vibe-coding. Design tokens first, components second, motion last. Never one loose HTML file for flagship work.

0. Principle

Separate DESIGN (brand system) from STRUCTURE (layout) from MOTION (animation). Decide each deliberately. Padding/spacing always come from a scale, never by feel. See companion skills: design-mastery, 21st-dev, ui-ux-pro-max, design-system, motion.

1. Design system FIRST

Build one coherent brand before any page:

• Tokens as one source: color, type scale, spacing on a 4/8pt grid, radii, shadows, motion curves. Light + dark.
• Max 2 typefaces (one display, one text). Single accent colour used sparingly. Tabular numbers for figures.
• Options to generate/seed a system:
• A locked internal brand-token set for the target property.
• Claude.ai → Design tab → create a Design System (reusable across pages, decks, motion).
• getdesign.md — free brand kits for 68 major brands (colors, type, icons, buttons, dark mode). Paste a brand's design.md into Claude Design "additional notes" to generate a reusable system in ~5 min. Use for inspiration/structure, never to copy a competitor's identity.

2. Structure from a reference

Pick a proven layout skeleton, then reskin with your design system:

• durable.com (or 21st.dev / awwwards) → screenshot a layout (e.g. "marketing agency website").
• Tell the model: use the design system for branding, use the screenshot only for structure. Same skeleton, your brand's look.

3. Prototype

Claude Design → high fidelity (not wireframe) + select your design system. Generate the multi-page set (home / services / about / case studies / contact). Edit visually: comment+select an element, edit for color/font/size, draw/circle a region to change specifics.

4. Hand off to Claude Code and one-shot

Export → "Handoff to Claude Code". In an empty folder, paste the command + append:

Build this with Next.js, use GSAP for animations wherever appropriate — staggered scroll reveals, count-up numbers, parallax, moving logo strip — stunning but never cheesy. Read claude.md and build it in one go.

Add a claude.md blueprint first (system instructions / "employee manual": stack, tokens, do/don'ts, motion budget). It materially improves one-shot quality.

5. Motion with GSAP

GSAP is the high-end layer plain CSS misses. Patterns: scroll-triggered staggered reveals, count-ups on stat tiles, parallax, pinned sections, marquee logo strip, magnetic buttons. Effect library: demos.greensock.com (copy an effect, ask Claude to add it). Keep within the design-mastery motion budget: purposeful, micro-interactions <200ms, a few high-impact reveals, respect prefers-reduced-motion.

6. Deploy

GitHub (private repo) → Vercel → framework preset Next.js → add a custom domain. Never ship a client a *.vercel.app URL.

7. Verify before shipping

• Real overflow check via in-page scrollWidth vs clientWidth (headless --window-size screenshots are unreliable — they clamp the viewport).
• CSS specificity traps: a class like .wrap on a <header>/<section> beats type-selector padding and silently collapses vertical rhythm. Scope header.wrap / section.wrap.
• Light + dark, desktop + mobile (380px), AA contrast.

Anti-patterns

• One giant hand-coded HTML file for flagship work.
• Spacing by feel; >2 fonts; emoji/code-fonts as UI icons (use monoline SVGs).
• "Not X but Y" / "geen X, geen Y" antithesis copy — write declaratively.
• "As many animations as possible" with no taste budget.
• Inline-transcribing source videos — scrape captions (yt-dlp --write-auto-sub) instead.

Resources

• getdesign.md · durable.com · demos.greensock.com · 21st.dev · awwwards.com
• Source learnings: a Claude Design website-build workflow video — keep private source notes outside public skills.