Aarav Sareen

product design + engineering · building @runicdesign

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

22.1.26

2 months into building a design tool from scratch

[Murat Alpay @imuratalpay]

after 11 years working in product design,
this might honestly be my last month in the industry.

i didn’t want to write a post like this, but the last 6 months have been extremely difficult both financially and mentally.

i lost clients to AI.
potential freelance leads ghosted me.
a client scammed me out of $6,000 and mocked my work afterward.
i spent months building an app for Apple, and just when things started going well, my developer account was terminated after a small mistake and a complaint. the revenue inside the account was locked as well.

despite all of this, i didn’t stop working.
i kept learning, building, experimenting with AI products, coding, motion, and trying to adapt to where the industry is heading.

but the reality is: i haven’t been able to secure a new client for months.

if i can’t find a new opportunity within the next couple of weeks, i may have to leave the design industry entirely and start over in a different field.

so if you know anyone hiring for product design, AI product work, creative direction, or vibe coding related roles, i’d genuinely appreciate a referral or even just a repost.

thank you for reading 🤍

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@felipedotdesign that's what i'm building @runicdesign

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@samgrosss @runicdesign thanks Sam!

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

toolbar for @runicdesign

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@mehmetozsoyart @runicdesign made in code

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@aaronmahlke @1000kilobytes upgrade to sequoia

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@CharlesPattson let me inn

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@Spritual_vision @runicdesign — its a design tool i'm building

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

new: margins let you fine-tune spacing without needing spacers & wrappers

much less layer bloat, and closer to how spacing works in CSS

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@Iroshandezilva yep

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@darylginn a design tool
https://t.co/mAXulX4MXj

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

22.1.26

2 months into building a design tool from scratch

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@aaronmahlke check DMs

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

new: radial and angular gradients

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@wshxnv appreciate the interest! it's not open source, atleast for now

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

working on Runic has given me such an appreciation for the hundreds of tiny UX details you only notice if they're missing

my goal is to have an environment where I can test ideas end-to-end — things like design-to-code, generative AI, etc — without being limited by another tool’s abstractions

still early, will keep sharing updates 🫡

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

22.1.26

2 months into building a design tool from scratch

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@jordienr oh no

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@naymur_dev html canvas, nothing off the shelf

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

22.1.26

2 months into building a design tool from scratch

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@atlayeredtime canvas, no libraries whatsoever

[Aarav Sareen @arvsrn]

@christophzimn was underground for a while :)