The Design Journal
Occasional bad takes, mostly good banter, and a few UX/UI opinions worth keeping.
Latest Job Search Burnout: How to Keep Going When You're Drained
Month four of my job search, I hit a wall. 241 applications, 12 interviews, 156 companies never responded. Here's what job search rejection does to your brain and how to keep going when you're drained.
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I Lost 70% of My Eyesight From Stress. Here's What I Do Differently Now.
Summer 2023. I woke up and couldn't see out of my left eye. A burnout physical symptom I never saw coming. The doctor said stress. Then I got laid off from the recruiting job I hated. My body sent a message my brain refused to read.
I Thought My Career Was Broken. Turns Out I'm a Spiral.
Sociology degree. Government PM. Technical recruiter. Product designer. It looked like I couldn't hold down a story. Turns out I'm a spiral career type.
Config in San Francisco: A Designer's Guide to What's Actually Worth Your Time
You're at Config in San Francisco for three days. Here's where to eat, what to walk, and how to find side events that aren't gatekept, from a designer who's done it twice.
Figma Icon Library: From 786 Scattered SVGs to 240 Design System Components
I found 786 icons with no index, no naming system, and 80 duplicates. Eight weeks later they were 240 named components in 23 categories. Here's the audit and the ratio that made it work.
I Built the Onboarding Flow. Eight Users Told Me the Order Was Wrong.
I built an onboarding flow that asked new users to add items right away. Eight interviews later, every single person did the opposite: skip items, build structure first.
Why I Code My Prototypes With Claude Instead of Faking Them
I build prototypes as real, running apps. Claude makes that fast enough for a designer to iterate. Here's why coded beats fake for the questions I need to answer.