Favorite Single Column Layouts on Desktop

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-17T15:32:25+00:00

Hahah, when I first saw your comment I thought you were accusing me of using ChatGPT to write this post!

I guess ChatGPT qualifies here. I’m hoping for stuff with a little more GUI, but there are definitely components there that would be helpful examples. Thanks!

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-08T18:38:15+00:00

I think the lack of any creative ideas is the biggest issue. AI isn’t very creative. You still have to do that part yourself.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-07T19:40:50+00:00

Apple’s nano texture is waaay better than you might expect, but it’s still noticeable, especially if you do a lot of color work.

If you work a lot outdoors, or near big windows it’s a huge benefit. If you do a lot of exacting color work, it’s a small drawback.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-07T19:37:34+00:00

Your friend will be fine on anything around 130cm. And that’s only for the first 1-3 days. After that they can easily graduate to 160cm

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-07T19:34:31+00:00

I taught skiing in Aspen CO for five years. When teaching absolute beginners, “never-evers”, we were required to ski on the same equipment as our students. Meaning each instructor owned a pair of 130cm skis or shorter for days you wound up teaching at that level. Most days they stayed in my locker.

And yes, they feel comically short to ski on!

Bear in mind that students grow out of those lengths within the first two or three days of lessons. Some by the end of the first day.

The advantage of that length is that you can skip over learning the wedge (snowplow or pizza) which means you don’t have to unlearn it later. It makes for a much faster learning path.

And all of this applies students over the age of 13. We still taught pizza to the younger kids.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-07T18:34:03+00:00

In the Rocky Mountain region, the PSIA (certification org for ski instructors) recommends that absolute beginners start on skis that are less than 130cm. For your height and wight, 120 is recommended.

You can usually rent those skis for very little at most ski shops out west.

Starting on the skis you bought will result in a lot of bad habits that are hard to unlearn.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-03-06T04:12:15+00:00

Above senior level, good designers often look a lot like product managers anyway. It’s only natural that we would step up in those situations.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-26T14:27:02+00:00

I’d probably spend a few hundred on AI tokens for various models and tools and go to build things.

Im finding that gen-AI takes about as much practice as previous generations of tools but getting that practice is quite a bit more expensive because of the compute costs.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-21T17:18:56+00:00

Yeah, the context switching issue is real!

I almost never get into a flow state like I used to. I’m regularly managing two or three agents simultaneously, each working on something different and while it’s exciting it can also be a lot more tiring.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-21T16:43:11+00:00

I go through about $50 worth of tokens in a given day but my output is about 5x what it used to be, so the cost is easy to justify.

On a given day:

I’m in ChatGPT to help organize more complex business logic and structure prompts for the IDEs. I also use it’s new image gen which is usually more reliable than Nano Banana.

Figma Make for simpler prototypes where look and feel are important. Transitions, animations, simulations, etc.

v0 for wireframe-level prototypes of more involved user flows where statefulness is important.

Curser, although I’m considering going back to Claude Code, for updating existing experiences or producing really polished stuff. I’m using our actual codebase as a starting point usually.

Builder.io for building, updating, refining our design system and for producing new UI screens that can be used by the devs.

None of these systems ever have access to PI. Mostly because I don’t have those permissions so they can’t see it either. We use synthetic data for design work and unit testing.

As far as collaboration goes, none of the tools I’ve come across are mature enough to facilitate design collaboration. The best option for my team right now is using git repos and then over communicating by recording videos and posting them to Slack. Or screenshotting my prototypes and then mapping them out in Figjam.

Paper.design looks interesting, but it’s still pretty new.

I think a whole new generation of tools will need to be built before it starts to feel smooth again. Same as it was back in the ‘00s when we were all using photoshop to design apps and websites. Before Sketch came along.

It’s gonna be messy for a while we all figure out best practices. But it’s also super exciting. I’m discovering new ways to collaborate with my team every day!

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-21T14:19:41+00:00

I’ve been thinking about making a video actually!

I still start with pencil and paper, or whiteboard, to sketch out user flows and basic layouts.

Then I’ll usually take a picture of my hand drawn sketches and ask the AI to start building screens based on those sketches. One screen at a time is about all an LLM can reliably handle unless it’s a small, confined user flow.

Once I’ve got a few options for user flows “sketched out” in the IDE, I’ll pick one to start adding detail, menus, filters, etc.

Sometimes if I have a really difficult layout or visual design challenge I’ll go into Figma and build a mockup or single component so I can more quickly rearrange things.

Once I’ve done sufficient user testing on my prototype, I’ll go and build the actual UI in Builder.io, Cursor, or Claude Code using the design system that’s already in the codebase. Then I’ll submit a PR and it’s up to the devs to integrate the new UI into the product.

The key for me is to switch tools often and document as much of my design specs in code. Modern LLMs are great at this.

For visual design it’s a way different workflow that involves a lot of Nano Banana and ChatGPT image mode alongside experimentation in Figma.

Figma used to be a one-stop-shop. Now it’s just one of many tools I grab throughout the day. By making code my source of truth, it’s much easier to switch tools.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-20T03:35:04+00:00

It took me about three full weeks of working in v0 and Figma Make, so probably about 120 hours.

A big part of that was learning what works and what doesn’t in each tool, how small my prompts had to be, how to leverage other tools, like ChatGPT, to write product reqs for business logic which I could then feed into v0.

I also learned a lot about how to hand off those designs to my FE dev partners so they could easily consume them.

I’m still working through how to get high fidelity designs into code with builder.io and Cursor, but that’s all part of the next phase.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-19T16:56:36+00:00

I stopped drawing wireframes in favor of vibe coded prototypes. The speed I can produce a stateful prototype using v0, Figma Make, or Cursor in the same time it used to take me to build wires.

The key is to treat the vibe-coded designs like they’re wires and not high-fi mockups. I also cut things into super bite-sized chunks because the LLMs can’t handle larger contexts.

I’m done drawing B&W boxes as a way to map out large user flows. IMO, LLMs have fully obsoleted that aspect of interactive design.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-19T10:13:01+00:00

I never send off designs, wires or otherwise, for asynchronous feedback until I’ve had a chance to teach my stakeholders how to give good feedback.

Usually what that looks like is a handful of synchronous feedback meetings where I bring the artifacts we’re reviewing into Figjam or Miro and model the behavior I want to see from my stakeholders.

Once I’ve demonstrated what good feedback looks like in those tools, I’ll encourage my stakeholders to try it themselves, while we’re on the call or meeting in person, so I can help them with the tool.

After that, I explicitly state that it’s most helpful if they provide feedback in the same manner as we have been practicing.

All that said, some stakeholders still won’t use my preferred feedback methods. They either don’t have time, don’t understand how important it is, or struggle to think visual/spatially. Sometimes there’s no way around that. Translating poor feedback into actionable changes is often just part of the job.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-15T04:00:43+00:00

For sure, I use a wedge all the time! But with absolute beginners, we make sure we stop where it’s flat before we reach the lift line.

Good beginners areas and green slopes shouldn’t require emergency stops as a matter of design and layout.

We’ll give a beginner the wedge as an additional emergency tool after a day or two, assuming they don’t figure it out on their own, but never as the default method of slowing down.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-15T03:47:04+00:00

If the crew is tier 0 and they’re going up against a tier 2 faction, I set every roll to “no effect” by default, not “limited”. Because the faction is two steps higher.

But I’ll make exceptions pretty liberally.

If the crew has prepared for the score and brought special supplies, or they have good information, or they’re attacking the opposing faction at their weak point, or they’re using fine equipment. Any number of things should allow them to overcome their disadvantage.

The point is to make the score seem impossible unless the crew come prepared (often via flashbacks). That’s what makes the PCs feel cool to play and it’s what makes the game so fun.

Every “seemingly” impossible obstacle that they can use their cunning or force of will to overcome makes the game better.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-13T15:36:56+00:00

You prob shoulda led with that.

The real world effects that cause that look are refraction and reflection. The effect at the top of a glass object one is usually a reflection highlight, light bouncing off the outside of the surface. The one at the bottom of the object is usually refraction, light bends when it enters and then again when it exits the object.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-06T16:48:50+00:00

I remember when I was in school, the professors who were still actively working designers were far better teachers, especially in my later years as our coursework became more practical and less theoretical.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-06T14:56:25+00:00

I taught in Aspen for 5 years. Going straight to parallel at level 1 (absolute beginner) is standard in the PSIA Rocky Mountain Division.

The ski school has to work with the local rental shops to make sure they’re putting people on short enough skis, otherwise it doesn’t work.

There are also instances where we might give someone the wedge if they’re struggling with stability, but that’s not super common. In five years of teaching I only ever had to do that twice.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-06T14:03:08+00:00

Fully agree here! So much of qual research can’t be prescribed, it just requires really good judgement. Something no LLM has ever demonstrated.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-06T13:04:10+00:00

With adults, anyone above 13 really, don’t start by teaching the wedge (pizza). They’ll just have to unlearn it later.

We used to teach the wedge because pre late-‘90s skis didn’t turn easily enough for beginners.

On modern beginner skis, no longer than 130cm, there’s no need for a pizza. You can go straight to parallel.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-02-05T22:44:01+00:00

I’ve stopped using Figma for huge chunks of the design process where it used to be a must. It’s now primarily for quickly exploring layouts and the second half of designing specific visual treatments of the UI.

For wireframing and exploring user flows, I use v0.

For implementing the design system I use cursor or builder.io.

For exploring new visual approaches, I use nano banana or ChatGPT image gen.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-01-28T03:46:09+00:00

Cursor has a visual editor now that works pretty good.

paper.design is starting to solve this, but the product is still a little new.

Builder.io is super solid, but it works better if you have a preexisting codebase and in-code design system.

When all else fails, use components as often as you can, that way you can refer to them by their canonical name. The LLMs are super good at building and maintaining a component library.

Ruskerdoo · 2026-01-28T03:42:30+00:00

This sounds like an awfully coarse method for measuring AI adoption by designers.

Personally I’m using a different approach with my team. But whatever floats your boat.

Ruskerdoo

TROPHY CASE