https://www.jamesdarin.com Work and writing from James Darin Jackson, a designer who builds. en-us https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/shop-by-truck https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/shop-by-truck Work A concept for Excelerator: pick your truck, get a 3D model of it, and shop by clicking the part. No part numbers and no catalog tree. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/ahead https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/ahead Work What matters, three times a day: your calendar, your reminders and how you slept, put together on your iPhone. Version 2.0 is out now. It's free, has no account, and nothing leaves your phone. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/loops https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/loops Work A notebook for problems you need to think through. No AI, no reminders, no streaks. On the App Store. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/designing-for-trust https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/designing-for-trust Writing E-commerce isn't only about conversion. People have to believe what the page is telling them first. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/learning-a-domain https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/learning-a-domain Writing Gaming, automotive, e-commerce, finance. How I get useful quickly in an industry I don't know yet. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/fleet-management https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/fleet-management Work My Garage went from 5% of customers to 100% overnight, and it was never designed for the other 95%. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/this-site https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/this-site Writing The ring, the nav, the work and writing switch, the eclipse, the Pokédex. Everything you can play with on this site, what's under it, and what was hard. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/password-requirements https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/password-requirements Work A security review asked for stricter password rules. My work was what the review didn't cover: which error shows when, what to do about short names, and staying compatible with other connected Daimler sites. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/the-widget-that-knows-when-its-lying https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/the-widget-that-knows-when-its-lying Writing Home Screen widgets can't call APIs, can't run in the background, and can't even render glass. How I designed Ahead's widget around all three. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/email-notifications https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/email-notifications Work Dealer admins were frustrated managing notifications one location at a time. We gave them the power to do more. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/building-an-app-that-wont-talk-back https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/building-an-app-that-wont-talk-back Writing Loops is a notes app with friction on purpose. It holds your thinking and doesn't try to help. I built it over a few weeks of conversation with an AI. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/the-listening-tour https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/the-listening-tour Writing Nine conversations in three months, and what I actually did with the notes. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/purchase-coverage-fleet https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/purchase-coverage-fleet Work Fleet customers were buying coverage one truck at a time. They already had a list of their trucks, so I built the flow around the list. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/requirements-as-prompts https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/requirements-as-prompts Writing An experiment with Figma Make: take a real requirements doc and see how close it gets to something you could publish. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/design-process https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/design-process Work We were losing time to design changes late in projects. The fix was knowing who signs off on what, not a better design. https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/xbox-remote-tools https://www.jamesdarin.com/log/xbox-remote-tools Work Game developers need to test on real hardware. They shouldn't have to sit next to it. https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/copilot-game-studios https://www.jamesdarin.com/writing/copilot-game-studios Writing What if a studio could pull player highlights, with consent, and turn them into community posts?