Log 04 — essays & build-in-public
Essays on the craft, journals from the build
Two tracks, both signed by me. Essays dig into design systems, accessibility and usability; build-in-public journals are the unvarnished record of shipping the products in Work — wrong estimates and all.
| Date | Track | Title | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | Essay | Design systems live or die by their exceptionsThe 10% of cases no token covers — and why they decide whether a system survives contact with a real product. | 9 min |
| Apr 2026 | Journal | DayDeskr v2: what I cut and whyScope is a design decision. This journal is the evidence — including the feature I killed after shipping it. | 7 min |
| Mar 2026 | Essay | What accessibility testing actually catchesScreen-reader passes find different bugs than automated checks — here’s what each one earned its keep on. | 12 min |
| Feb 2026 | Journal | Selling to independents: Loyal Beagle lessonsStamps and rewards for small businesses taught me more about restraint than any design system did. | 8 min |
| Jan 2026 | Essay | Making focus states feel designedThe 2:1 focus ring isn’t a compliance checkbox — it’s the most visible part of your design system. | 6 min |
| Dec 2025 | Journal | This website is a portfolio pieceIf I claim to care about accessibility and craft, the site has to prove it — this is how the rebuild is held to that bar. | 5 min |
Titles and dates are draft samples for the layout pass — confirmed with the content plan. Subscribe at /writing/feed.xml.