9 min read
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
The Lab · Written in the open · Tagged Design
Lab.
Working notes from the studio. The tools I build, the workflows I keep, the mistakes I paid for.
76 entries · latest 2026-10-13
10 min read
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…
11 min read
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…
11 min read
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…
11 min read
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.
8 min read
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…
8 min read
The CSS :has() Patterns That Changed How I Write UI
Six concrete CSS :has() patterns that replaced roughly 400 lines of JavaScript across raxxo.shop.
8 min read
The 4-Tier Dark Mode Color System I Use on Every Project
Dark mode breaks when you use pure black #000 and pure white #fff, so I build every UI…
8 min read
CSS Cascade Layers Finally Made My Design System Predictable
CSS Cascade Layers (@layer) let you control the order of style precedence without specificity wars or !important tags
10 min read
Merch Design That Actually Sells: 5 Case Studies
The best-selling RAXXO merch designs all share three traits: specific audience, one clear message, high-contrast typography
8 min read
Claude Design vs Figma: What It Means for Designers
Claude Design is a draft generator, Figma is a production tool, they cover different parts of the same…
8 min read
How to Use Claude Design: From Prompt to Production
Setup takes five minutes: open Claude, find Claude Design in the sidebar, optionally grant design system access