UI design revamp — distinctive visual identity #52

Filed 2026-07-16: the current UI is deliberately plain (utilitarian MVP CSS, one stylesheet, no component library). It works, but it feels mild — revamp once the feature surface stabilizes.

Intent

A distinctive, intentional design pass over the whole SPA — not a component-library reskin. Direction to explore with the owner before building:

• Identity: Cluckwork is a farm tool — warm, earthy, confident; not a generic admin dashboard. Current palette (cream bg, amber accent) is a seed, not a decision.
• Typography: real typographic scale + a characterful display face for headings; system stack is fine for body.
• Layout: the topbar + single-column content pattern is at its limit (8 nav links). Consider sidebar or grouped nav as screens grow.
• Data display: tables everywhere today; dashboard/reports deserve real visual hierarchy (stat tiles, deltas, sparklines when reports land).
• Component consistency: buttons/badges/forms/empty-states as a small documented system instead of ad-hoc classes.
• Dark mode: cheap to do during a revamp, expensive after.

Constraints

• Keep the responsive behavior from F9: Responsive/mobile pass — usable on phones and tablets #49 (phone-first daily entry, no horizontal page scroll, 44px targets).
• No functional changes in the same PR(s) — design only, screen by screen is fine.
• Idempotency/UX contracts (key scoping, error surfacing) unchanged.

Timing

After the Phase 1.1 feature surface settles (dashboard + reports especially — they anchor the visual language). Revisit scope then; likely split into slices (shell/nav, forms/capture, data/dashboard).