My process
Every tool exists to close one gap
design philosophyMy process is built around closing the gap between a vague idea and something that actually works. I don't protect one direction early, I generate several and pull the strongest parts into one. The tools change from project to project. What stays the same is the pace between having a thought and testing it.
The tools, rhythm, and principles behind how I work
Click on any tool to see when and how it fits.
Primary tools
Claude
Core workflowPerplexity
ResearchFigma
Design + prototyping
Lovable
Functional buildsGoogle Stitch
Early UXGPT/Gemini
VisualsThe rest of my stack
Lovable
Midjourney
Adobe PhotoshopHow a project takes shape
The stages that show up on every project, in order.
Research & context
How I approach this depends entirely on the project, not a single method applied every time. One project called for tearing apart competitors screen by screen, figuring out what held up and what was worth borrowing. Another meant going straight to the audience, running a survey to understand who'd actually use the product and what they needed.
Concept to final design
Concepts don't start in Figma. They take shape first in Nano Banana, Google Stitch, ChatGPT, or Lovable, depending on what the task calls for. From there, work continues inside Figma with AI still in the loop — Figma Make and Figma Agent for generating directly in the file, Figma MCP when Claude needs to work on it directly.
Image & visual content
Midjourney, ChatGPT Images, and Nano Banana get used interchangeably for the same three things: references, concepts, and finished visuals that go straight onto the site. Canva comes in for quick formatting when a visual needs to be adapted rather than generated. If a project needs an image, it gets made, not sourced.
How I think about work
Guidelines I work by and my non-negotiables.
Start in the LLM, not the canvas
I draft a quick brief through AI before opening Figma or any visual tool, to get the intent clear first.
Systems grow as the work does
Components and patterns don't get built ahead of time. They get organized as they show up in the work, then cleaned up once they're actually needed.
Validation is velocity, not a gate
Testing and feedback are there to help me move faster and adjust direction, not a formality that slows things down.
Design for the default, encode the complexity
The everyday path stays simple, even when the logic behind it isn't. Complexity lives under the hood, not in the user's way.
Share what you learn
Findings, prompts, and patterns don't stay with me. If something worked, it's worth passing on.
Final call is mine to make, when it's mine to make
As the sole designer or lead on a project, the last word on a direction is mine. In a team setting, that call isn't mine alone to own.
