How are designers finding UI references these days?
by•
I used to spend a lot of time exploring apps and websites when looking for design references. I'd also browse Pinterest or Mobbin to see how other products handled similar screens and interactions.
I still do that, but lately I've been wondering if there are better ways to find references.
I've tried asking LLMs to find examples based on what I'm working on. The results are usually relevant on the surface, but rarely quite what I'm looking for.
Sometimes I get the same familiar products, or examples that look similar but don't really solve the same problem.
So I often end up going back to browsing actual products myself.
Has anyone found an AI tool or a different workflow that actually works better than browsing references manually?
10 views
Replies
I've had better luck searching by problem than by look. When I need something like a settings screen or an export dialog, I open three or four real apps that handle that same job and note what they had to solve (empty states, edge cases, what's hidden by default) before I look at any styling. LLMs are fine for building the shortlist of apps to check, but I still go look at the actual screens myself.
I'm an engineer, so design isn't where I start, and I learned that the hard way. The biggest jump my business ever had came after I redesigned the site on someone else's advice. For my own apps, I mostly study the tools I've used for years and know where they annoyed me, like Fantastical before I built my own calendar.