The Day I Stopped Moving Pixels

Early in my career, I focused on screens. I designed flows, interactions, and interfaces.

But I was always drawn to what existed beneath them: the concepts, relationships, and rules that shape how a product works.

When I was introduced to Object-Oriented UX (OOUX) in 2020 and Sophia Prater's approach to modeling complex domains, I finally found a framework that helped me work with that complexity in a structured way.

I learned to start with objects, relationships, concepts, and rules. It also gave me the confidence and vocabulary to contribute much earlier in the product lifecycle, from Information Architecture and UX strategy to feature definition and decision-making.

Today, the tools have changed. We have Claude, AI agents, code generation, and builder platforms capable of producing interfaces in minutes.

Yet the underlying challenge remains exactly the same.

AI can generate screens.

It cannot automatically create a clear mental model.

It cannot decide which concepts belong together, which relationships matter, or what users actually need to understand in order to succeed.

That's why OOUX remains relevant.

Whether I'm working on healthcare products, AI builder platforms, financial systems, or enterprise workflows, the process is remarkably similar:

Understand the domain.

Identify the core objects.

Map the relationships.

Clarify the rules.

Then design.

Technology changes. Human understanding doesn't.

The better I understand the system, the faster I can make sense of almost any product I encounter.