My last update was about getting a fancy slider working in Cursor. But honestly, the code was just the catalyst. I took this learning project as an opportunity to completely rework how I present myself to the world.
I've been "slogging away" at refactoring my career narrative. I realized my old portfolio was just a list of "Things I Did," when it needed to be a map of "Value I Deliver."
So, I'm pivoting. I'm moving away from generic Project-Specific pages and building Expertise-Specific panels—using my past work as evidence for the hard skills I offer:
- Technical Design & Handoff: Bridging the gap between Figma variables and production code. 🤝
- Design Systems: Building scalable enterprise UI libraries that prevent debt before it starts. 📐
- The E-Commerce Lab: Wiring up my own brand (Black Cat Cottage) to TikTok & Meta APIs to test automation and unit economics. 🛍️
- Web Architecture: From modernizing legacy infrastructure to designing scalable Open Data tools for civic tech. 🏛️
Now that I've found my flow, the coding isn't the bottleneck anymore. The real grind is the strategic decision-making and the forensic reworking of old artifacts. I've actually been using a Dual-LLM workflow: relying on Gemini as my "Strategic Auditor" to make the tough calls before I let Cursor write a single line of code.
The Audit: Gemini flagged that "Passing Grade" ≠ "Readable." My Neon Green technically passed WCAG AA standards, but my AI auditor warned about a "Halo Effect" on the dark background. We adjusted the saturation because usability beats raw data. 🟢 > 🟣
The Archive: I had to make the tough call to archive some of my favorite "cute" client sites to make room for the serious technical work.
The Ethics: I spent days roleplaying with Gemini to settle the "Password Protection" vs. "Obfuscation" debate for NDA work. We landed on rebuilding high-fidelity wireframes with anonymized data layers. It turns out, stripping away the branding actually puts more focus on the System Logic.
This isn't just a gallery of thumbnails anymore. It's a structured argument for my future value, not just a history of my past projects.
Back to the editor. 👩💻
#DesignEngineering #BuildInPublic #Cursor #Gemini #DesignOps #UXStrategy #AIWorkflow