David PaterniDESIGN ENGINEER

Design ⇄ Engineering

The Design
Engineer.

I design interfaces and write the code for them. I get the layout right to the pixel, then ship it as production code. Below are case studies, prototypes and live sites you can try.

Skills/Design and code

What I do

  • Front end

    React with hooks and Server Components, TypeScript, and the Next.js App Router. I style with Tailwind, vanilla-extract or CSS Modules, using modern CSS such as Grid, container queries, :has() and clamp().

  • Design systems in code

    I set up design tokens in Style Dictionary, so one set covers several brands plus light and dark mode, with no flash when the page loads. I build components on Radix and React Aria, document them in Storybook, and version them so other teams can install them.

  • Accessibility

    I build to WCAG 2.2 AA and EN 301 549 from the start, not as a fix at the end. That means correct ARIA, full keyboard use, focus that lands in the right place, and a reduced motion option. I test with NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver and TalkBack.

  • Charts and animation

    I draw charts by hand in SVG, with no chart library. You can move through them with the keyboard, and screen readers read the values out. I animate with the Web Animations API, springs, gestures and drag, and there is always a reduced motion version.

  • Testing and shipping

    Screenshot tests with Chromatic and Playwright. I watch Core Web Vitals and keep pages within a performance budget. I work in Git with pull requests and code review in monorepos, and ship on Vercel and Supabase with static generation.

  • AI products

    Screens where people check an AI's work, see why it did something, watch over agents, and approve what it is allowed to do. I use Cursor, Claude Code and v0 every day.

  • Design

    I work in Figma with variables and libraries. I do interaction design, prototyping and usability testing, and follow the work through to the shipped product.

Projects/Design systems, case studies, prototypes and playbooks

My work

Design Systems 2

Case Studies 9

AI Design Lab 4

Playbooks 2

Contact/Role or project

Hiring, or have a project? Get in touch.

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