---
type: "newsletter"
title: "Pixel & Grid"
handle: "pixel-and-grid"
owner: "Yuki Tanaka (@yukitanaka)"
canonical_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid"
markdown_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid.md"
archive_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/archive"
chat_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/chat"
website: "https://pixelandgrid.design"
articles_total: 4
articles_listed: 4
---

# Pixel & Grid

A newsletter about **product design and the craft behind good interfaces**. Teardowns, opinions, and the occasional rant about modals.

## Recent articles

The 4 most recent of 4 published articles. Full index: https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/archive.md

- 2026-08-23 - [Stop designing empty states last](https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/a/stop-designing-empty-states-last) - The first thing a new user sees is the screen with no data. So why is it always the last thing we design?
- 2026-08-15 - [The modal is usually a cop-out](https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/a/the-modal-is-a-cop-out) - Reaching for a modal often means you couldn't figure out where the thing actually belongs.
- 2026-08-04 - [Microcopy does the heavy lifting](https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/a/microcopy-does-the-heavy-lifting) - The difference between a confusing interface and an obvious one is often twelve words.
- 2026-07-18 - [Consistency is a feature, not a constraint](https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/pixel-and-grid/a/consistency-is-a-feature) - Every time you make the button behave differently 'just here', you spend the user's trust.