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What if the features inside our apps had lives of their own?
As a Product Designer, I spend a lot of time designing screens, thinking about how users interact with buttons, notifications, loading states, and all those tiny elements we barely notice.
But one day, I started wondering: what if these interface elements were actually alive? What if the features inside our apps had lives of their own?
Imagine a notification bell carrying the weight of 99 unread messages because nobody has opened them. Or a loading spinner running endlessly, exhausted, because a page just won't load. Imagine a password gatekeeper holding onto a heavy lock every time someone enters the wrong password, or a Cookie Merchant desperately trying to convince you to click "Accept All."
And then there's Terms & Conditions, probably the most relaxed character of them all, enjoying a peaceful vacation because almost nobody bothers to read it. 😂
That curiosity became The People Behind the Pixels.
Inspired by Utagawa Kuniyoshi's nineteenth-century Japanese woodblock illustrations, particularly his playful depictions of cats behaving like humans, I used Recraft V4 Styles to reimagine familiar digital experiences through expressive characters, storytelling, and a vibrant modern colour palette.
Meet The People Behind the Pixels: eight illustrations exploring the secret lives, emotions, and struggles of the little features we interact with every day.
Built with Recraft for the Contra × Recraft Archive Style Challenge.
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[ 🕰️ Relics Of Time ] - bringing the past into the present
before wristwatches became a part of everyday life, pocket watches were one of the most popular ways people carried time with them. but what always fascinated me was that they were more than just timekeeping objects. their beautifully crafted cases, intricate engravings, ornamental patterns and little details made each piece feel like a work of art.
i've always been drawn to objects that carry a sense of history and craftsmanship, so i wanted to explore what would happen if those details found their way into the watches we wear today.
for this project, i explored historical references from the met museum collection, including antique jewellery, pocket watches and decorative objects. i was particularly inspired by their rich textures, colourful patterns, gold detailing and handcrafted elements. instead of simply recreating historical pocket watches, i wanted to take the essence of their design and reinterpret it through contemporary wristwatches.
using these references, i created a custom style in recraft and experimented with bringing antique textures, engraved surfaces, ornamental patterns and vintage colour palettes into modern watch cases, dials and straps.
the collection explores different interpretations of this idea, from rectangular dials with colourful beaded straps to ornate gold cases, detailed engravings, roman numerals and decorative metalwork. each design has its own character, but they all share the same inspiration: the beauty of old-world craftsmanship.
the thought behind this project was simple: what if the artistry of antique pocket watches had evolved alongside modern watchmaking? i wanted to create something that feels nostalgic yet contemporary, as if a little piece of history had found its way into the present.
references: the metropolitan museum of art
#recraftstyleschallenge #recraftai #productdesign #vintageinspired #designexploration #horology #18thcenturydesign
Kalighat 2026: The Machines Are the New Babus
Kalighat paintings were cheap bazaar watercolours sold in 1880s Calcutta, and they were satire: they mocked the city's new rich, dandies who aped their British masters and lounged while servants fanned them.
I trained a Recraft V4 Style on five anonymous Kalighat sheets from the Cleveland Museum of Art and Wellcome Collection, keeping the bold single outline, flat colour and empty paper ground.
Then I turned the satire on 2026: the machines are the new babus. Phones smoke hookahs on velvet chairs, robot vacuums ride in palanquins, and humans fan, carry and groom their devices. Same masters, new hardware.
Social post: https://lnkd.in/p/gXJn_FQQ
The Future, as They Imagined It
I used this historical furniture illustration because I loved how people and animals became the furniture itself, supporting tables or shaping entire pieces. I paired it with this image, whose visual style caught my eye. Both references come from the Wellcome Collection. That made me wonder: what would furniture look like if the designers of that time had known about laptops, headphones, drones and the other gadgets we use today? I explored that question through a custom Recraft Style and a collection of eight furniture designs, each presented with a graphite sketch.
FOLD · Writing desk
A folding laptop becomes a writing desk. Its opening movement translates into folded supports and a curved privacy panel, finished in forest green, brick red and ochre.
LOOP · Lounge chair
Over-ear headphones become a lounge chair, with circular cushioned armrests and a curved frame wrapping around the seat. Brick-red upholstery and an ochre cushion sit inside a forest-green structure.
KEY · Sideboard
Keyboard keys become six sculpted drawer fronts, arranged in two rows. Their concave surfaces and rounded edges carry over into a cobalt-blue cabinet with blush-pink and cream drawers.
FOCUS · Floor lamp
A webcam becomes an adjustable reading lamp. Its capsule-shaped head and circular lens turn into a pivoting light, combining lavender, petrol green and butter yellow.
PLAY · Sofa
A game controller becomes a two-seat sofa. Rounded grips shape the armrests, while thumbsticks inspire the circular back cushions, in burnt orange, petrol blue and blush pink.
TRACE · Bookcase
A circuit board becomes a storage system. Its pathways translate into shelves and dividers, with enclosed compartments recalling electronic components, in sage green, burgundy and pale yellow.
HOVER · Coffee table
A drone becomes a coffee table. Four branching arms support circular surfaces at different heights, combining powder blue, coral and cream.
SOUND · Bedside cabinet
A portable speaker becomes a bedside cabinet. Its circular driver becomes a drawer, while its carrying loop becomes a sculptural frame, finished in plum, peach and mint green.
The final room illustration brings all eight pieces together, showing how this imagined collection could live in a contemporary home.
another one
