Lab
AI tools, creative workflows, developer deep-dives, and behind-the-scenes from RAXXO Studios.
46 articles
Why I Standardized on Phosphor Icons Across 15 Repos (And Cut 60% of Icon Bundle Size)
Five icon systems across 15 repos created visual drift and 84KB bundles in the worst Next.js app. Phosphor ships six weights from one designer, so...
View Transitions API: 5 Patterns I Use Across RAXXO Sites in 2026
Same-document transitions wrap state changes like filter chips and tab switches in a single startViewTransition call. Shared-element morphs use view-transition-name to animate a product card...
Designing AI Thumbnails: 6 Layout Rules That Survive 1024x576 Crops
AI image models love the center, so design your thumbnails around that bias instead of fighting it Two focal subjects max, anything more turns into...
Motion Design Tokens That Actually Compose: Durations, Easings, Choreography
Three-tier motion tokens: primitives like --ms-200 and --ease-out-expo feed semantic and component layers, never the other way around Stagger groups with --stagger-step calc() unlock orchestrated...
OKLCH-First Color Systems: 5 Patterns and the Wide-Gamut Wins
OKLCH gives you perceptual uniformity, so a 5% lightness change reads as a 5% lightness change at any hue One base color generates a full...
5 Type Scales I Use in 2026 (And the One I Quietly Dropped)
Major-third 1.250 stays my default for product UI because it scales without drama Perfect-fourth 1.333 carries marketing pages where the headline must do real work...
Magnific vs Topaz vs Krea: Which AI Upscaler Actually Works
Topaz wins on photo fidelity for portraits, product shots, and any source where the original detail must survive Magnific wins on creative invention, where you...
Freepik Just Rebranded as Magnific: What Changes for Solo Creators
Freepik renamed itself to Magnific on April 28, 2026, unifying its asset library, upscaler, and 40+ AI models under one brand The company hit 230M...
CSS Anchor Positioning Is Production-Ready: 5 Patterns
5 production CSS Anchor Positioning patterns: tooltips, dropdowns, inline edit popovers, context menus, follow-cursor labels. When to pick it over Floating UI.
CSS Subgrid Made My Dashboard Layouts Trivial: 5 Patterns
5 production CSS Subgrid patterns for dashboards, forms, articles, and tables. When to reach for Subgrid vs grid-template-areas vs flex.
Tailwind v4 Theme: Design Tokens That Actually Scale
Tailwind v4 ships a native @theme directive that replaces tailwind.config.js and makes design tokens first-class CSS. Tokens live in one file, ship as CSS custom...
5 Figma Plugins AI Still Cannot Replace in 2026
Five Figma plugins that still beat AI in 2026: Stark, Tokens Studio, Autoflow, Design Lint, Figmotion. A craft argument from a 20-year visual designer.