On the design process
Working with code as a material, and letting the interface talk back.
Design has changed. Engineering has changed. With AI, the lines are blurred. Before these tools, much of our work happened on a flat canvas in Figma, like painting. Now, it can feel more like sculpting.
Designers can work directly with code as a material. We can shape software by building it, trying it, and responding to what the live system shows us.
I strongly believe that the sooner you can put a live interface in front of people, the better. A static mockup is a protected space. It can look perfect because it doesn’t have to handle edge cases, network latency, layout shifts, or actual user input.
For me, the magic of design happens when you build something, put it out there, and let reality talk back. That’s how you discover what really works. There’s only so much you can learn by thinking through what to build or sketching another version.
Making the process strictly linear can put you in a cage. You hand off your static work to someone else to build, and something of the interface’s original feeling can get lost in translation. Then come the rounds of feedback, trying to recover what you meant.
When you sculpt clay or wood, the material pushes back. Code does too. Generating a working interface gives you something to respond to. You can click the button, watch the layout shift on a real screen, and feel the nuances of the interaction. The system talks back through bugs, speed constraints, and unexpected behavior. It makes you answer design questions you might otherwise leave until later.
Make the process alive. Build, learn, rebuild, learn again. It has never been easier to start.