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WorkflowCraft conventionIntermediate

Design QA

Checking the built thing against the intent, before release rather than after.

Definition

Design QA is a structured review of an implementation against the design intent, covering visual accuracy, interaction behaviour, states, responsiveness and accessibility.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

On this page
  1. Definition
  2. A review pass in order
  3. Continue from here

A review pass in order

  1. 1.Happy path at the default width, checking spacing, type and colour against tokens rather than by eye.
  2. 2.Every state: hover, focus, active, disabled, loading, error, empty.
  3. 3.Keyboard only, from start to finish, with no mouse.
  4. 4.Narrow width and 400 percent zoom.
  5. 5.Long content, empty content and error content.
  6. 6.Dark mode, if supported.
  7. 7.Reduced motion.
  8. 8.One screen reader pass on the primary flow.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Often used with

These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.

Check your work

Review passes that test whether this was done properly.

Short definition

The one-paragraph version, for when that is all you need.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.