Blog
Design dense dashboards around a real question
Organize dense dashboards around a concrete decision, with clear metric definitions, useful tables, and honest unavailable-data states.
10/27/2026Use interface motion to explain change
Use motion to explain a specific change, preserve orientation, and keep the same information available with reduced motion.
10/27/2026Turn a UI idea into a testable product hypothesis
Connect a UI change to a clear hypothesis, a stable treatment, and an event that measures completed work rather than clicks alone.
10/27/2026A practical keyboard review for product designers
Review focus order, dialogs, feedback, and return paths with a real keyboard task, then document behavior that can be checked.
10/27/2026Make subscription changes easy to understand
Make upgrades, temporary discounts, cancellations, and resulting access understandable across the whole account journey.
10/27/2026Design forms for correction, not just completion
Design validation, server errors, and retries as a complete correction loop that preserves the work someone has already entered.
10/27/2026Empty states that explain what happens next
Distinguish a new account, an unsuccessful search, and a failed request, then give each empty state an honest and useful next step.
10/27/2026Design navigation around the user's next decision
A practical way to connect navigation labels, meaningful links, and return paths to the decisions people actually need to make.
10/27/2026A design handoff that explains behavior, not just screens
Connect screens to data, permissions, state transitions, and acceptance scenarios for a handoff engineers can implement.
10/27/2026Extract a design system from references without copying a brand
Use reference flows to develop your own tokens, component rules, and system decisions without copying another brand.
10/27/2026Design the interface states your happy path leaves out
Design loading, empty, error, and partial-success states with clear recovery paths and concrete transition rules.
10/27/2026Compare iOS, Android, and web references without mixing their assumptions
Compare iOS, Android, and web flows through shared user tasks while keeping platform context and unknown behavior visible.
10/27/2026Bring a web reference into Figma without losing the question
Install Refcat Web to Figma, choose the right capture mode, and turn editable imports into focused design research.
10/27/2026Review a checkout flow beyond the payment button
Review pricing promises, temporary discounts, payment failures, and confirmation as one connected checkout experience.
10/27/2026Audit an onboarding flow before you redesign it
Map the journey to a first useful outcome, identify unnecessary requests, and choose an onboarding change worth testing.
10/27/2026How to turn UI references into design decisions
A practical workflow for turning UI inspiration into explicit decisions, contrasting examples, and testable proposals.
10/27/2026