Blogs
Notes on design, systems, and craft.
12 UX Laws Every Designer Should Know
The psychology behind good interfaces, distilled into practical principles you can apply on your next design.
5 min read
Form Design Rules That Reduce Errors and Drop-off
Forms are where users give you something. Every unnecessary field, unclear label, or confusing error costs you completions.
5 min read
Naming Things: Design Tokens That Survive Growth
The hardest part of a design system isn't the components. It's deciding what to call everything so it still makes sense in two years.
6 min read
How to Write a UX Case Study for Your Portfolio
Hiring managers don't want to see pretty screens. They want to see how you think. A good case study shows both.
6 min read
Button Design Rules: Hierarchy, Size, and States
Buttons are where intent becomes action. Small decisions about them have outsized effects on usability.
5 min read
Checkout UX Best Practices That Reduce Cart Abandonment
Checkout is where intent turns into revenue. Small sources of friction add up to abandoned carts.
6 min read
Accessibility as a Default, Not a Ticket
When accessibility is a task at the end of a project, it gets cut. When it's built into the system, it just happens.
6 min read
Color in UI Design: Rules for Palettes and Contrast
Color is the fastest way to communicate meaning in an interface — and the fastest way to create noise.
5 min read
Redesigning a Website Without Losing What Worked
Every redesign starts with excitement about what's new. The good ones start with respect for what's already working.
6 min read
Notification Design: Push, In-App, and Email Without the Noise
Notifications are the product reaching into someone's day. Earn that interruption, or lose the permission to make it.
6 min read
Typography Rules for UI Design
Most of an interface is text. Get typography right and everything else gets easier.
5 min read
Brand and Product Are the Same System
The logo gets the launch party. The product does the daily work of telling people who you are.
6 min read
Search UX Best Practices: From Search Box to Results
People who search know what they want. Good search design gets out of their way and gets them there fast.
6 min read
Designing for a Driver With One Free Hand
Mobility apps aren't used at a desk. They're used in a hurry, outdoors, with a bag in one hand and a ticking meter.
7 min read
The 8-Point Grid: Spacing Rules for UI Design
Consistent spacing is the fastest way to make an interface feel professional. The 8-point grid makes it almost automatic.
5 min read
Making DeFi Legible to Humans
Decentralized finance asks people to make irreversible decisions with unfamiliar words. Design's job is to close that gap.
7 min read
How to Organize Figma Files So Anyone Can Find Anything
A messy Figma file slows everyone down. A simple structure for pages, frames, and naming fixes most of it.
5 min read
Modals, Dialogs, and Drawers: When to Use Each
Overlays interrupt people. Use them when interruption helps, and choose the right type when you do.
6 min read
Where AI Fits in My Design Process (and Where It Doesn't)
AI tools have changed how I work. They haven't changed what the work is for.
7 min read
UI Animation Rules: Duration, Easing, and Purpose
Good motion explains what's happening. Bad motion just makes people wait. These rules help you tell the difference.
6 min read
The Screens Nobody Mocks Up
Empty, loading, error, partial. The states we skip are the ones users remember.
7 min read
Visual Hierarchy: How to Guide the Eye in UI Design
Every screen has an order in which people read it. Visual hierarchy is how you decide that order on purpose.
6 min read
Figma Variables and Modes: A Practical Guide
Variables turn a Figma file into a themeable system. Here's how to set them up without creating a mess.
5 min read
The Double Diamond, Minus the Ceremony
Every agency deck has the diagram. Very few teams actually use it. Here's the stripped-down version I rely on every week.
7 min read
Figma Components and Variants: Rules That Scale
A component library is only as good as the rules behind it. Here's how to build components people actually want to use.
5 min read
Figma Prototyping: Interactions, Smart Animate, and Flows
A good prototype answers a question. Here's how to build Figma prototypes that are realistic enough to test and simple enough to maintain.
6 min read
Handoffs Developers Actually Read
A Figma link is not a handoff. Here's what I send instead, and why it saves weeks of back-and-forth.
8 min read
Wireframing: When to Use Low and High Fidelity
Fidelity is a tool. Choosing the right level at the right moment saves time and gets better feedback.
6 min read
Information Architecture and Card Sorting for Designers
If people can't find it, it doesn't exist. Information architecture is how you make sure they can.
6 min read
12 Auto Layout Rules for Cleaner Figma Files
Auto layout is the difference between a mockup and a system. These are the rules I follow on every frame.
5 min read
What Physics Taught Me About Design Systems
Before I ever opened Figma, I was solving for invariants. Turns out that habit never left.
7 min read
User Interviews: How to Ask Questions That Get Real Answers
The quality of research depends on the quality of your questions. Here's how to plan, ask, and learn from user interviews.
6 min read
How to Run a Usability Test: A Step-by-Step Guide
You don't need a lab or a big budget. Five participants, good tasks, and careful observation reveal most usability problems.
6 min read
Responsive Design: Breakpoints, Grids, and Layout Rules
Responsive design isn't designing three screen sizes. It's designing layouts that adapt sensibly to any width.
6 min read
Dark Mode Design: A Practical Guide for UI Designers
Dark mode isn't inverted light mode. It needs its own decisions about surfaces, elevation, color, and contrast.
6 min read
Icon Design Rules for User Interfaces
Icons are tiny, but inconsistent ones make an entire interface feel unpolished. Here's how to design and use them well.
6 min read
UX Writing Rules: Microcopy That Helps People Act
The words in an interface are part of the design. A few rules make microcopy clearer, shorter, and more helpful.
6 min read
Designing for Trust in Fintech, One Screen at a Time
Trust isn't a brand value you bolt on at the end. It's a sequence of small, specific decisions.
7 min read
Onboarding UX: Getting Users to Value Faster
Good onboarding isn't a tour of features. It's the shortest path from sign-up to the first moment the product proves its worth.
6 min read
How to Design Data Tables People Can Actually Use
Tables are the workhorse of B2B products. A few rules turn them from a spreadsheet dump into a fast, usable tool.
6 min read
Mobile Navigation Patterns: When to Use Each One
Tab bars, drawers, top tabs, and gestures each solve a different problem. Picking the wrong one hides your product from its users.
6 min read
Dashboard Design Rules for Data-Dense Interfaces
A dashboard isn't a wall of charts. It's an answer to a question someone asks every morning.
7 min read
The Quiet Complexity of Healthcare UX
The hardest interfaces to design are the ones nobody chose to use.
6 min read