Design Eval Rubric

Design Quality (weight: 0.35)

• Typographic hierarchy: clear, balanced, inviting
• Whitespace: generous, purposeful, not empty
• Reading comfort: no eye strain, good line length & spacing
• Cohesion: all elements feel part of one system
• Dark mode: equally polished as light

Originality (weight: 0.30)

• Distinctive character beyond default templates
• Creative solutions for reading UI (TOC, progress, search)
• Unique micro-interactions that surprise pleasantly
• Not copying Substack/Mirror/Medium — has its own feel

Craft (weight: 0.25)

• CSS: clean, no redundancy, logical cascade
• JS: modular, performant, no memory leaks
• Transitions/animations: intentional, not gratuitous
• Responsive: every breakpoint looks considered
• Accessibility: keyboard nav, screen reader support, contrast

Functionality (weight: 0.10)

• All interactive features work correctly
• No JS errors in console
• Dark/light mode persists and flashes correctly
• Search returns relevant results
• Code copy, lightbox, TOC all function

Scoring

• 10: World-class — publishable as a design case study
• 8-9: Excellent — minor polish needed
• 6-7: Good — solid but room for improvement
• 4-5: Average — functional but uninspired
• 0-3: Needs significant rework

Pass Threshold

• Weighted score >= 7.5 / 10 to pass
• Max 10 iterations