Introducing PUNCH IT! 🎉 I'm so excited to share my final submission to the #ConfigMakeathon !! The prompt was to create something that improves your life, community or world. As an early career designer heading to Config next week, what I needed to improve was my networking anxiety 😅 So I built PUNCH IT! A digital business card that rewards networking. When someone opens it, they get your contact info, portfolio, and LinkedIn. Then they stamp it...anonymously, or with their own info for a future coffee chat. Every stamp represents a real person you connected with. If you want to be competitive, you can also collect cards from other people and add them to your collection (which is ranked based on number of punches 🫢) The best part is that the app itself is the icebreaker. Asking someone to punch your card is a reason to talk. It reframes networking from something you have to survive into something that actually feels like progress. I started with sketches, built it out in Figma Make with a Supabase backend, and went through 126 versions before landing on the final version. All in time for Config 2026, my first ever design conference! You can make your own card at the live link below or leave a punch on MY card here: https://punch-it.figma.site/c/8arwxh Can't wait to connect with you! ✅ Live link: https://punch-it.figma.site 📲 Social link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maryeclements_configmakeathon-figma-contra-ugcPost-7473027777584267264-WtMW/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAEEfsIIB1ZgbLf3qNeFmUghCBeAvnEOC7dg 🫂 Community link: https://www.figma.com/community/file/1648802520809084837/punch-it-demo 👩‍💻 Working project file: https://www.figma.com/make/bQSiFiqqWslB3ObBKFSaG0/PUNCH-IT--_-Config-Makeathon?t=eQASFnxUZjnnnOli-1 ** Some extra features not mentioned in the walkthrough - only you can edit / delete punches on your own card - As long as you sign in on the same device you made the account with, you'll be signed in automatically! - Designed for mobile, but works on desktop as well

this is so smart!

My full design cycle for an AI startup 💻✨ One of my recent favorite projects was a full design cycle for Telephone AI — brand identity, website, industry pages, and the platform itself. AI integrated into every step of the process.

Case study is still coming 👀

But working on that project reminded me of what I actually love most about early-stage startups: being in on it early.

Researching a new market, figuring out who the real user is, what they need, what they've never had before — and laying the right foundation from day one instead of fixing it later.

Best practices from MVP. Not retrofitted after.

Here's what that process looks like for me now:

↳ Claude Projects — all the context in one place: call transcripts, competitor research, personas, feature priorities for MVP and what-can-wait

↳ Claude Code — structure, interactions, clickable logic tested before Figma even opens. Design system with tokens built from the start.

↳ Figma MCP — moved there for customization and a proper clickable prototype the client can actually walk through

From idea to something real to click — without weeks of "give us time to think."

#ProductDesign #StartupDesign #AIWorkflow #UXDesign #Figma #ClaudeCode

Goated!