Tile Alchemy
ABOUT
See It LiveOverview
This project was an exercise in idea to product as fast as possible. Inspired by one of my favorite sites with textures that was taken down (subtle patterns). I challenged myself not to design it out and to just get better at prompting. It's really definitely a different process than design, but helps you validate an idea very quickly. It felt like paper prototyping on steroids.
AI agents & autonomy
building Tile Alchemy with AI agents in mind was important. You can install Tile Alchemy locally and have an agent like OpenClaw generate entire pattern libraries for you autonomously, text them to you, or hand them off to a sub agent that folds them directly into a website it is building. It was one of the first times I designed something not just for a human user, but for another piece of software to use, I don't know if you would call that UX though. It's definitely a new and interesting problem to solve and I am glad I tried to tackle it.
Mobile-first
Mobile first is a constraint that changes how you work. The UI doesn't just reflow for a smaller screen, it has to be fundamentally rethought. Attention on mobile is fragmented and fleeting, which means actions need to be faster, hierarchies need to be sharper. Buttons need weight and response you can feel. Designing for the device in someone's hand is a completely different problem than designing for a screen they are sitting in front of. I didn't have much time, but I had a clear idea of what I wanted. Quick textures when I'm on the go.
