A developer found that overly prescriptive instructions for Claude Code lead to generic UI output. The AI defaults to safe, pattern-matched designs it was trained on, limiting creativity and information architecture. This results in similar-looking dashboards and interfaces regardless of specific requests.

The solution came from analyzing Anthropic's own frontend-design skill. It uses principle-based, evocative prompts that force the model to explore the problem domain deeply before generating visuals. This approach balances creative freedom with structural consistency, avoiding the trap of rigid style rules.

The author built a new skill, interface-design, to complement Anthropic's tool. It focuses on systematic consistency for functional interfaces like dashboards and web apps, where design decisions must persist across sessions. The project is available on GitHub for others to adapt and improve.