Gesture Patternsby Owl-Listener

Gesture Patterns Skill.

Design what happens before, during, and after a gesture—not just the final swipe action.

UX
Design Guidance

Source Review · Gesture PatternsSKILL.md

Task UX Produces • A gesture and visible-affordance specification • Activation, progress, completion and cancellation behavior • Conflict rules and accessible alternatives Before You Start An agent that can read the interaction brief, the target platforms, and the actions available through buttons or menus.

Editorial summary · source reviewed 2026-10-07 · not a generated example

01 What It Does

Gesture Patterns: Make Gestures Discoverable

Specify how users discover, perform, complete and cancel gestures, including accessible alternatives.

Source-based workflowNot an execution benchmark

The Working Approach

Gesture Patterns covers taps, long presses, swipes, drags, pinches, rotation, and pull interactions. It treats discoverability and feedback as part of the gesture rather than assuming users will know a hidden shortcut.

The source also addresses conflicts: scrolling versus swiping, tapping versus holding, and application gestures versus operating-system behavior. Every gesture needs an alternative, and destructive actions need a recovery path. Suggested distances or delays are starting values to test on the target device.

Expected Deliverables

A gesture and visible-affordance specification
Activation, progress, completion and cancellation behavior
Conflict rules and accessible alternatives

See the Example Brief

From Brief to Review

01
Choose the Gesture
Match the action to a familiar input pattern and show an affordance.
02
Define the Transition
Specify activation threshold, progress feedback, completion, and cancellation.
03
Resolve Conflicts
Check scrolling and system gestures, then provide a button or menu route to the same action.

02 When to Use It

When to Use It

Use it to define a touch or pointer gesture whose behavior, feedback and alternatives need to be explicit.

A Good Fit

Touch ReorderingDefine drag initiation, movement feedback, and a way to cancel.
Swipe ActionsMake reveal or dismiss behavior discoverable and recoverable.

Limits to Check

Not an OS Convention ReferencePlatform-specific gesture standards are a separate skill's scope.
No Hidden-Only ActionsThe source requires non-gesture alternatives rather than gesture-exclusive functionality.

Bring These Inputs

Action and ContextState what the gesture does and where it starts.
Device and PlatformIdentify touch, pointer, and system gesture constraints.
Fallback RouteProvide the corresponding menu, button, or accessible control.

03 Decisions That Matter

Decisions That Matter

Conflict Rules
Direction locking and priority decisions prevent one movement from triggering competing actions.
Feedback Across the Gesture
Progress and cancellation cues make the threshold understandable before commitment.

04 Try a Focused Brief

Try a Focused Brief

The example brief below has not been tested. Check the skill’s setup before using it.

Review the Setup

Load this task's SKILL.md from the designer-skills repository in your agent's supported skill location. No universal installer command is established by the entry file.

Upstream Source File

https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/blob/9a6930cf84a822eb458624bd11c61aac5bbdf224/interaction-design/skills/gesture-patterns/SKILL.md

Provide the target devices and surrounding controls. Thresholds and gesture conflicts still need testing on those devices.

Start With One Deliverable

Adapt the scope, source material and constraints in this brief before running the skill.

Example Brief

Use gesture-patterns to specify swipe-to-archive for this mobile list. Include visible discovery, scroll-versus-swipe handling, a cancel region, completion feedback, undo, and a menu alternative. Treat threshold values as test candidates rather than universal constants.

Inspect the Result

Check the actual output against these observable criteria.

The action has a non-gesture path.
Scroll and system gestures retain priority where needed.
Users can cancel or undo the relevant action.

OpenDesign provides a local design workspace for coding agents. This listing does not mean the skill is bundled or that its external tools, credentials and software dependencies are included.

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05 Source and License

Source and License

This page describes the pinned source revision linked below. Upstream behavior and requirements can change.

Source Owner: Owl-Listener
Repository: Owl-Listener/designer-skills
Skill File: interaction-design/skills/gesture-patterns/SKILL.md
License: MIT
Reviewed Snapshot: 2026-10-07 · 9a6930cf84a8

Editorial Source Summary

Specify how users discover, perform, complete and cancel gestures, including accessible alternatives.

Original summary by OpenDesign, based on the linked source. Repository stars are a dated popularity signal, not skill usage or a quality score.

06 Questions Before You Start

Questions Before You Start

Can the action exist only behind a swipe?

The source says every gesture must have a non-gesture alternative.

Are the example thresholds mandatory?

No. They should be tested for the device, movement, and users.

What if a gesture conflicts with the operating system?

The source gives system gestures priority.

OpenDesign

Make Room for the Next Design Iteration.

Keep your brief, source material and design work together in a local workspace. Check the skill’s own setup before adding it to your workflow.

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