Karl Koch

There is a failure mode that only exists if you both design and build. It is the most enjoyable mistake in the job, which is exactly why it is dangerous. You build something lovely. A transition that springs just right. A loading state that feels alive. Then, quietly, you start working backwards. You go looking for the reason to ship it. Not because the reason came first, but because the alternative is deleting work you enjoyed making. This is where you often end up in the trap.

People keep asking how I work. The honest answer is it depends. I have three tools I reach for and I pick whichever one fits the job in front of me. No loyalty to any of them. No workflow that I force every project into. Just whatever makes sense right now. Here is what I actually do. Figma, sometimes Figma is where I mess around. I throw shapes around. I try a layout in ten seconds that would take me ten minutes in code. I move things on a canvas and look at them.

Design engineering First published: 20 Mar 2026 • Last updated: 25 Mar 2026 • 3 min read Or subscribe via RSS feed (opens in new tab) design engineering 24 Feb 2026 Built a vinyl-style music shelf with spring physics, deflection, hover layers and velocity gating; reduces motion to grid/mobile design engineering 10 Feb 2026 Another video of me talking about Design Engineering design engineering 06 Mar 2026 Card stack uses CSS perspective and translateZ for 3D depth.