PROCESS A designer's operating system

How I
work.

Brief → Research → Direction → System → Production → Build → Ship.

Read the seven stages Discuss a project

One pipeline, seven nodes.

Each project moves left to right. AI compresses research and scaffolding; typography, hierarchy, and final judgment stay with me.

Brief to first draft in days, not weeks. The saved time goes into craft.

  1. BRIEF Written
  2. RESEARCH Claude AI-compressed stage
  3. DIRECTION ChatGPT + Gemini AI-compressed stage
  4. SYSTEM Stitch + Figma AI-compressed stage
  5. PRODUCTION Adobe suite
  6. BUILD Claude Code AI-compressed stage
  7. SHIP Vercel

AI compresses Judgment stays human

Seven stages. Each one earns its place.

Every stage has three responsibilities: what happens, the decision that gets made, and the output that gets created. If a stage cannot defend all three, it gets cut.

  1. 01 Async, written
    2-3 days

    BRIEF

    WHAT HAPPENS
    A document, not a call. Specificity on success criteria, prior attempts, and ownership. Written down so we can argue with it later.
    DECISION MADE
    Is the problem the brief states the actual problem? If not, reframe before any visual move.
    OUTPUT CREATED
    A single-page brief: goal, audience, constraints, definition of done.
  2. 02 Claude
    Hours, not days

    RESEARCH

    WHAT HAPPENS
    Competitive audit, category conventions, audience signals, constraints. Three days of work compressed into three hours, more systematic, not less.
    DECISION MADE
    Where is the category convention boring, and where is breaking it expensive? Lock the playing field.
    OUTPUT CREATED
    A research note with category map, opportunity gaps, and a shortlist of references.
  3. 03 ChatGPT + Gemini
    1-2 days

    DIRECTION

    WHAT HAPPENS
    Direction boards generated as raw material. 120 candidates, 12 curated, 3 selected. Never shipped directly, but they map the design space fast.
    DECISION MADE
    Which direction is true to brief and survives the longest at production scale?
    OUTPUT CREATED
    Three locked direction boards with a justification line under each.
  4. 04 Google Stitch + Figma
    60-70% of project

    SYSTEM

    WHAT HAPPENS
    Tokens, type scale, spacing, components. Stitch scaffolds from brief; Figma locks the system. Tokens map 1:1 to CSS custom properties.
    DECISION MADE
    What is in the system vs. what is a one-off? If a value appears twice, it becomes a token.
    OUTPUT CREATED
    Token sheet, type scale, component library, documented foundations.
  5. 05 Adobe Creative Suite
    Per-artifact

    PRODUCTION

    WHAT HAPPENS
    Packaging dies, print, motion, retouching. Old tools, sharper, because the upstream pipeline does the thinking.
    DECISION MADE
    Where do physical constraints (paper, ink, finish, size) override the digital spec?
    OUTPUT CREATED
    Print-ready files, motion masters, retouched product imagery.
  6. 06 Cursor + Claude Code
    Select projects

    BUILD

    WHAT HAPPENS
    Production frontend when needed. Astro, React, Tailwind, GSAP. No design-to-code handoff gap because the same person owns both.
    DECISION MADE
    Which components are token-driven vs. one-off? Keep the prop surface narrow.
    OUTPUT CREATED
    Live site, preview deploys, repo with documented tokens.
  7. 07 Vercel + monitoring
    Day of

    SHIP

    WHAT HAPPENS
    Deploy, sanity-check on real devices, smoke-test analytics and forms. Done means live and observable, not merged.
    DECISION MADE
    What is the rollback line? What gets watched in week one?
    OUTPUT CREATED
    Live URL, change log, week-one report.

Pipeline in real engagements.

Each card maps the pipeline to a real project. The numbers are pulled from work I shipped, not estimates.

DATAMOTIVE

Brand, website, and TCO calculator, in-house.

~Rs.3,00,000 external build avoided. TCO calculator built as a lead converter. All digital and print handled by one designer alongside the full-time role.

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ISEQUALTO

10,000+ asset system. 2+ years.

One designer producing institutional-quality assets at scale. Colour, typography, and systems learned on the job.

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CITTA

33+ packaging designs. 5 from scratch to print.

Label layout, type hierarchy, finish specs, gift box packaging, and print-ready files. Ad campaign creatives, marketplace artwork, and an AI product edit workflow.

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AFFINITYX

400+ newspaper ads in 8 months.

UK/US regional print markets. 99%+ SLA compliance. Standardised typography system cut revision loops and kept output consistent across the team.

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CONTACT · FOUR DOORS

Like the pipeline? Let's put it on something.

Same response time as the rest of the site: usually within 48 hours.

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