When I work with people on coding projects, they always ask me the same question: how do you make the UI look so nice? The truth is, I am not a design genius. I still have a lot to learn. But there are a few things I hold close to my heart, and I want to share them with you.

• I hate default AI icons. I really mean it, I hate them. Remove them the moment you see them. There are so many beautiful free icons out there. I personally recommend Huge Icons. Give your product a face you actually love looking at.

• I sometimes think I am not the smartest person in the room, and honestly, that became a gift. It forces me to slip into the shoes of the user. Does this button truly make sense? Do people really need jargon like Top K on their screen? How can we make everything as easy as possible for them? I learned this way of thinking while working with Sebastian Zorn, the founder of AIWorx. He is a wonderful product designer, and he shaped how I see software today.

• Ask your AI model to give you 5 options, then pick one and iterate on it again and again. And while you do that, keep asking yourself one question: how does the user feel right now? Think about how it feels to use software that feels like it came from a government office, like the Deutsche Bahn app. Now think about opening Twitter or Instagram. I genuinely feel happy when I use them. Your number one job is to create that feeling. Design as if the user knows nothing, because you care about them.

• Give your product as much room as possible. White space is a form of kindness. If something does not belong on the screen, do not squeeze it in. Hide it in the settings where it belongs, and let the rest of the design breathe.

• Get inspired by other designers on Mobbin or Refero. Taste is a muscle. You train it by looking at beautiful work every day, and you never stop getting better.

• On mobile, play with animations. Open Netflix on your phone and ask yourself why it feels so nice. So much of it lives in the small moments, especially the profile animation. Those little details make you smile before you even press play.

And one last thing, straight from the heart: if you know how to make an application feel addictive for the user, please write me a DM. I would truly love to learn from you. I am really curious.