Thinking, in public
Field notes on design, engineering and growth — written by the people who ship the work. No thought leadership, just lessons with receipts.
Subscription UX that retains without trapping
Ethical subscription design — skip-and-pause controls, dosage guidance, honest renewal reminders, dignified cancellation — and the LTV case against traps.
Picking a brand palette is strategy wearing paint
A brand palette is a strategic decision before it is an aesthetic one. How we map competitors, treat accessibility as a creative constraint, and pick ownable colour.
Refresh or rebrand? A decision tree for tired identities
Is it the logo or the product? Diagnostics that route a tired identity to refresh, evolution or full rebrand — with the cost and risk curves for each path.
The compounding returns of refreshing old content
Old content decays silently. Here's our refresh system: decay detection in Search Console, refresh-vs-rewrite rules, redirect discipline, and a cadence that compounds.
Feature parity: deciding what mobile doesn't get
A decision framework for mobile/web feature parity: the task-context matrix, honest de-scoping documents, 'desktop-only' messaging with dignity, and cross-device handoff.
The motion layer of brand identity
Easing is a signature, transitions are grammar. Building a kinetic identity system, exporting it as motion tokens engineers use, surviving prefers-reduced-motion.
Choosing an agency: signals over showreels
How to evaluate a studio beyond the deck: process evidence, who does the work, reference questions that reveal truth, and red flags in pricing.
Digital merchandising: shelves, not search results
Collection pages are shelving decisions wearing a UI. Sequencing strategy, badges with meaning, photography rhythm, facets that match mental models.
Onboarding checklists without the nag
Checklists can activate users or train them to ignore your UI. Sequencing by value, dismissible design and honest progress — lessons from shipped onboarding work.
Navigation that survives the 375px test
Hamburger alternatives for content-heavy sites: visible-priority nav, hybrid patterns, light mega menus, breadcrumbs as wayfinding, and measuring findability properly.
Edge rendering: an honest guide for content sites
What edge rendering actually buys a content site, what it quietly costs, and the decision framework we run before moving a single route to the edge.
Micro-interactions: the fine layer that makes interfaces feel expensive
Hover, pressed and focus states are where interface quality hides. Our working rules for micro-interactions: durations, material honesty, and when to cut motion.