A grid you can hand over
Design systems fail at the handover, not the drawing. Here's the smallest set of rules that survives contact with a team.
Issue 14 · Notes on making things
Write it
Write it
plainly.
A publication about craft, tools and the unglamorous parts of finishing work. Long reads on Thursdays, short notes whenever something is worth saying.
Feature · 11 min read
The draft is not the product
Most work stalls in the gap between "it exists" and "it is finished." This piece is about closing that gap on purpose: what to cut, what to keep rough, and how to tell the difference before anyone else sees it.
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On finishing the inside
The parts nobody inspects are the parts that decide whether a thing lasts. A short argument for invisible quality.
Fewer tools, used harder
Every new tool is a tax on attention. What actually earns a place in a working setup, and what quietly doesn't.
Two weights are enough
A practical case for restraint: how a single family at two weights outperforms a pairing nobody can maintain.
Estimating in public
What happens when you publish the schedule before you're sure of it — and why the work gets better anyway.
Against the second draft
Sometimes the fix is not another pass. A note on when to stop editing and start over from a blank page.
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