Layers Surface

This is the final layer in the design layers framework, where conceptual models and interaction flows become actual interface elements people touch, read, or hear. It's a library of auditing techniques to check whether your surface honors what's been decided below: vocabulary checks against your ubiquitous language, object consistency passes to catch shapeshifters, completeness checks in both directions between breadboard and UI, feedback inventories, hierarchy reviews, accessibility passes. The core discipline is knowing when something is a surface fix versus a symptom of a deeper model or flow problem that needs to be routed back down. Use it when you're producing or auditing an interface and need to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks between layers.

skills.sh installs: 2K
GitHub stars: 314
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

View on GitHub

Install

$ npx -y skills add jamiemill/layers-skills --skill layers-surface --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

/layers-surface

Assumes /layers-intro has been loaded. This skill is a library of techniques, not a script — see "How to use these skills" there.

The surface layer is where everything decided below becomes something a person actually encounters: words, sounds, visuals, physical affordances, motion, feedback. It's the most medium-specific layer, but the decisions that matter most first are universal — they hold whether the surface is a screen, voice interface, physical device, or service touchpoint.

Surface problems are often symptoms of deeper ones. The central discipline here is telling apart issues you can fix at the surface from issues that need a lower layer revisited.

The decisions this layer makes

Whether the surface honours the vocabulary and objects from the conceptual model
Whether every affordance from the breadboard is present — and whether any surface element has no model behind it
Whether the emotional register fits the jobs users are doing
How the user knows what happened, what's in progress, and what went wrong
What's most prominent, and whether it should be
Whether everything is accessible to the users who need it

SKILL.md on GitHub