One design element can guide the whole interface

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been working with this contact page design: first exploring AI imagery, then animation.

Now I want to talk about the design itself, and I want to highlight the avatars. These playful, irregular shapes with an organic quality were easily the most interesting thing on the page.

I know that when you’re deep in the details of a design, it’s easy to see each element as its own independent decision. The avatar. The typography. The borders. But step back and look at the whole interface. These aren’t isolated choices. They need to work together as a unified design. What if we let the strongest element set the design direction?

Those organic blobs had a soft, playful quality, but everything around them was rigid and tight. Hard borders, minimal spacing, tiny typography. The whole design could feel more cohesive if we leaned into that softer direction the blobs were suggesting.

The avatar could scale down a bit and get more negative space. Let that fluid quality really shine instead of fighting for room. The typography could be a little more generous: 17-pixel name, 15-pixel supporting text.

The card itself? If we’re embracing this flowing quality, hard borders don’t make sense anymore. Rounded corners. Subtle drop shadow instead of a defined border. Suddenly the card and the avatar are speaking the same visual language.

Same thinking for the navigation. A lighter, more spacious header that flows with the scroll behavior. Everything reinforcing this softer, more approachable aesthetic.

When you spot something with style and personality, zoom in and out. Could this be more than a detail? Could it set the direction for everything else?

When you develop this kind of discernment, you’re not just making things look nice. You’re designing with intention, where every choice builds toward a unified whole.