March 24, 2026

Issue #736: Modal vs. separate page: UX decision tree

Designing with Claude Code, UI polish skill, Don’t design for average users, Onboarding is a transaction, The product designer's paradox, and more.

Modal vs. separate page: UX decision tree - How to choose between modals and pages, when to avoid modals, and how to determine the right level of interruption or navigation. - Vitaly Friedman
Designing with Claude Code (video) - How I've been using Claude Code as my primary design tool. - Steve Schoger
Emil Kowalski’s UI polish skill - This skill encodes Emil Kowalski's philosophy on UI polish, component design, animation decisions, and the invisible details that make software feel great. - Emil Kowalski

Read all week, picked once. The best design links — every Tuesday.

Don’t design for average users - The average user is a terrible design target for digital products. - Jakob Nielsen
Onboarding is a transaction - Onboarding is one of the few moments where you have a user’s complete attention and their clear intent. - Anton Sten
The product designer's paradox - How UX design’s quest for more influence led to its quiet subordination. - Barry Prendergast

On clip-path animations - WorkCard uses a circular clip-path reveal growing from the trigger button center, not a fade. - Karl Koch
Design engineering 101 - Typeahead like Spotlight and Omnibox. - Florian Schulz
Balancing stability and innovation in design systems - Embrace a model of internal innovation, while not negatively impacting the Design System externally. - Tony Ward

OpenUI - The open standard for Generative UI. - Thesys
Astro 6.0 - Astro 6 introduces a broad set of new capabilities, including a built-in Fonts API, Content Security Policy API, and more. - Matthew Phillips, Emanuele Stoppa, Florian Lefebvre, Matt Kane
Stitch by Google Labs - Meet the new Stitch, your vibe design partner. - Google Labs

The existential designer - Facilitating meaning through interaction. - Dan Saffer