Blog
Ideas & reflections
Thoughts on UX, DesignOps, leadership, and the craft of building digital products.
What I learned building my first Figma plugin with AI
This isn't a story about how AI built a plugin for me. It's about how a simple Figma problem forced me to make real product decisions — and what happened when I used AI as a technical co-pilot to ship it.
Building a portfolio with AI: what I learned (and unlearned)
A reflection on building andresballen.com using Claude Code — from the research docs that defined everything to the DNS records that almost broke it all.
Affordance — or: the damn red button at the agency
How a red button with a "Do not press" sign taught me everything about affordance — and why what users do is always different from what they say.
The User-Centered Design (UCD) Process Map
A complete map of UCD processes and tasks — how to plan, select your team, and execute a human-centered design project from start to finish.
Design and User Research
Why user research is not optional in the design process — and the methods that actually work to understand behavior, not just opinions.
Introduction to Usability and UX
Usability is not just about making things easy — it is about understanding people. An introduction to the UX Honeycomb and the disciplines that build great user experiences.
Diary of a Usability Study: Day 1
An early and continuous focus on users and their tasks — how to define user profiles, red routes, and the path from individual behavior to social design strategy.