Code Is a Craft Material

A designer's reflections on prototyping in code, and why fundamentals matter more than ever

Somewhere along the way, code stopped being the thing that happens after design and became one of its materials, like paper or clay.

When the cost of a working prototype drops to an afternoon, the question changes from “can we build it?” to “should this exist at all?” That is a design question.

Prototypes as sketches

We now ask every designer on the team to make one thing a quarter that runs. Not because we want them to ship code, but because touching the material changes what you draw.

The fastest way to find out a layout is wrong is to scroll it with your own thumb.

Taste is the bottleneck

Fundamentals — hierarchy, rhythm, restraint — matter more when anything can be generated. Taste is the bottleneck now.