From Prompt to Polish

The design sequel: redesign a working app with AI — kill the template look, build a token design system, and treat four surfaces as four UX disciplines (phone, kiosk, wall TV, pro tool). Ten parts, real before/after screenshots, every AI design mistake kept in.

10 parts · ~69 min of reading, in order, nothing assumed.

Start with Part 1

📦 Same repo, season two — tags polish-02…09

From Prompt to Polish · Part 1

AI UI Design Without the Slop: Four Directions and a Choice

AI design output converges on the same purple-gradient look — unless you make it propose distinct directions and pick one. ClinicLive's redesign begins with the before photos. Aug 13, 2026 8 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 2

Foundations: Design Tokens, Dark Mode — and Killing Bootstrap

Every color a token, dark mode by redefining tokens, and Bootstrap deleted while every page keeps compiling — the class-vocabulary trick that makes a redesign incremental. Aug 13, 2026 8 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 3

The Screenshot Loop: Letting the AI See Its Own Work

AI can read screenshots, so screenshots become the design test suite. One Playwright command photographs every surface — and catches bugs code review missed. Aug 13, 2026 7 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 4

Phone UX: The Booking Flow and the Ticket

One hand, small screen, sick kid on the other arm: grouped slot chips, honest microcopy, phone keyboards — and a confirmation redesigned as a ticket worth screenshotting. Aug 13, 2026 7 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 5

Touch UX: A Kiosk for Strangers

A kiosk is used standing up by people who've never seen it: giant code entry, a full-screen success celebration, gentle errors — and an auto-reset for the next patient. Aug 13, 2026 6 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 6

Signage UX: The Board Is Not a Web Page

A TV on a wall gets its own permanent dark palette, vmin sizing that scales with the screen, a real clock — and status only when something's wrong. Aug 13, 2026 7 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 7

Pro-Tool UX: Density with Dignity

Staff pages follow the opposite rules from public ones: live stat headers, a WAITED column that turns red at 20 minutes, chat bubbles — numbers people act on, first. Aug 13, 2026 6 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 8

The Accessibility Pass: Announce, Don't Just Paint

A live board that updates silently is invisible to a screen reader. aria-live regions, landmarks, a skip link and a contrast audit — with AI as the auditor. Aug 13, 2026 7 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 9

Micro-Interactions: Motion That Explains Change

Three rules — motion explains change, nothing over 400ms, reduced-motion kills it all — plus the Blazor @key trick that makes CSS entry animations your update cue. Aug 13, 2026 6 min read

From Prompt to Polish · Part 10

The Polish Retro: What a Redesign Really Costs

The full before/after gallery, the meter with its methodology shown, every AI design mistake from ten parts — and where human taste stayed irreplaceable. Aug 13, 2026 7 min read