Is Craft Still a Necessity?

Why Craft Still Matters

In this time and age where anyone can generate designs and interfaces with a single prompt, is craft really still a necessity? Personally craft is something I keep going back to, as a kind of grounding, when things start to feel overwhelming. Nothing beats spending time building a design from scratch, the thinking, the development. I love that process.

A Daily Ritual

Well since 2024, I've made a small, consistent habit of spending an hour a day to study interfaces. It started as a way to sharpen my eye and hard skills by rebuilding interface designs from scratch.

Study: Coinbase

I first started with the Coinbase mobile application for iOS (v12.21.7). Coinbase, as one of the largest crypto exchanges, was a great place to understand how it's interfaces balances trust, clarity and performance. My study covered the basic functions of the app, from logging in to purchasing your first crypto asset. Studying how users move through the application. Along the way, I learned how to handle complex prototypes in Figma, using variables to simulate data and behaviors. But I also noticed the tool's limitations, especially when it came to deeper interactivity. Another thing that stood out was documentation. Good documentation is part of design, not an afterthought.

Coinbase Study 1.0.0

Study: Final Fantasy XVI

From there, I moved into an action RPG video game, Final Fantasy XVI. Diving into the game's combat interface system and interaction design. I studied how the health bars, buttons and icons were presented and how they moved with the player, creating an immersive experience. Some things couldn't be replicated perfectly, like tap and hold actions. But that made me think deeply about about how subtle interactions could create an imersive atmosphere without sacrificing functionality.

Final Fantasy XVI Combat UI Study

Study In Progress: Aave

More recently, I've been studying Aave's website. A clean, layered experience that mixes interaction design with motion and trust. Through this study, I've been learning about motion hierarchy, how small transitions and easing choices subtly affects how people feel as they navigate a site.

The Payoff

Since starting these studies, I've found myself working faster, making decisions with more clarity, and designing with a stronger sense of intuition. Craft, for me, will always be a necessity. Output aside, there's something endlessly rewarding about spending time coming up with ideas and developing them into something tangible.

These days, I don't study daily anymore. It's every 2 days now. I plan to keep on keeping on, building these studies into a small library, part reflection, part documentation, part craft log.

Craft as Practice, Not Destination

There's always something to learn from the way things are crafted. How they work, how they're perceived and how they make us feel. Craft was never about the tools, tools come and go. What lasts is using your understanding of craft to collaborate, create and build something meaningful with others. That, I think, will always matter.