TWIN STAR’s Shackleton Sprint: Cold Patio, Hot Design
George, Andy, and I gathered on my backyard patio in Berkeley to bravely face the elements like Shackleton heading for the North Pole.
It was 60 degrees. There was light drizzle.
We did the unthinkable: we moved inside.
Once safely indoors, we returned to our ongoing double mission:
A. Make Something Fancy Now (for investors).
B. Quietly Build the World Champion Comics App. (We will have a championship belt.)
TL;DR
We’re this close to a fully clickable user flow. I think we’ll nail the November 14 deadline. (The flow: Storefront → Search → Title Page → Collection View → Reading List → Purchase.)
We had a Sunday work session and crusssshhhhed it, despite the tragic lack of baked goods.
We’re beginning to block out the Reader! Woot!
Our Color Scientist / Robot Whisperer
Andy’s cooking up a real design system. We started with eight “why did Mark pick these” brand colors and now have a full multi-value palette with range and restraint. Watching him use Claude AI to ideate at light speed is wild—like watching Da Vinci pilot a forklift. He keeps the artistry and lets the bots haul the bricks.
Streamlining the Cash Moment
George took on one of the most crucial moments: purchase. Instead of another boring checkout page, he’s building a clean dropdown that keeps readers in the flow. His aesthetic is sliding into TWIN STAR like it was always meant to be there: sharp, functional, and cool.
My Brain in the Jar
Notion has become the control room. I built out efficiency metrics so we can see how every hour connects to actual value. It keeps me from vanishing down creative rabbit holes.
Last week I worked less but output was 25 percent more valuable. That’s the dream. Notion makes me feel like Tony Stark doing bookkeeping.
Our Frenemy Figma
Figma, we love you. We also want to meet you in a Hell in a Cell dressed as The Undertaker. Twenty-five percent of our session was troubleshooting nonsense that shouldn’t exist. The other seventy-five percent reminded us why we’d never use anything else. Do better, Figma. We believe in you!
Annnnnnd…
We miss you, Holly!!!