Designer reacts to your INSANE side projects

By Designer Tom

Categories: Design, Product

Summary

A designer who built a $2,000 side project by treating a 'vibecoded' tool like a physics problem, discovered the need to obsessively fine-tune the flow, drip, and viscosity of his digital paint markers to achieve realistic results.

Key Takeaways

1. Treat 'vibecoded' tools like physics problems, obsessively fine-tuning properties like flow, drip, and viscosity to achieve realistic results.
2. Combine inspiration from diverse sources (e.g. Banksy documentary, previous podcast) to spark unique side projects.
3. Don't stop iterating just because a prototype has 'issues' or 'feels broken' - push through to achieve the desired level of realism.
4. Build a 'loop' of prototyping in vibecoded tools, capturing what works, then iterating in Figma before going back to the tool.
5. Experiment with different material properties (e.g. metallic ink) and be prepared for spectacular failures as you pursue realism.
6. Focus on the 'match between system and real world' when building vibecoded tools, striving for a sense of realism that goes beyond initial demos.

Topics

• Side Projects
• Prototyping
• Physics-based Design
• Realistic Simulation
• Iterative Development

Transcript Excerpt

That is not Procreate. That is not Illustrator. That is a vibecoded tool in the browser. I racked up a $2,000 bill with Cursor trying to build a tabletop gaming app. In fact, I generated more slop code in a single month than I have in my entire career, just because I could. It was actually quite easy. And somewhere in that process, as I was all tabbing between Figma, Cursor, and a turn-based game that I play while I wait for my responses, I started revisiting a question that I had answered years...