Digital products ·
Keep one error as one task
A practical AI debugging workflow: reproduce one error, share safe evidence, test a hypothesis, review a small change and repeat the failing scenario.
Apocrypha
I write about how a Concept moves from lived experience and its first inner impulse towards precise form.
Architectural thinking connects space, object, production and digital product. Each entry examines the choice of medium, the logic of a decision and what the form must preserve through execution.
Topics
- Digital products · 54
- Business · 21
- Practice · 7
- Spaces · 4
- Objects · 26
Articles
Essays on digital products, business and working with AI.
Digital products ·
A subscription promises work beyond the first payment
Decide whether your website needs subscriptions: recurring value, platform or custom development, renewals, cancellation and control of customer access.
Digital products ·
Access begins at the boundary of someone else’s work
Define application roles and permissions through actions, data boundaries, invitations, role changes and tests that verify denied access before launch.
Digital products ·
A website should leave people a path to action
A practical introduction to website accessibility for owners: keyboard navigation, clear form fields, text resizing and testing a complete enquiry journey.
Digital products ·
A notification should arrive for the next action
Decide whether business push notifications are useful by defining the event, expiry, channel, user preferences and the action that follows the message.
Business ·
Rehearse before moving the database
Prepare a CRM data migration by selecting records, mapping fields and relationships, checking repeat imports and agreeing on the final cutover.
Digital products ·
Site search should recognise the visitor’s task
Plan catalogue site search around names, product codes, synonyms, filters and empty results, then test it against meaningful visitor tasks.
Digital products ·
A second website language begins with a promise to respond
Decide whether a multilingual website fits your business, which pages need translating and who maintains services, enquiries and links between versions.
Digital products ·
A working copy becomes a safeguard after a recovery rehearsal
Test a backup of an AI-built website: distinguish source, release files and data, preserve a known working version and restore it in a separate environment.
Digital products ·
A website calculator should explain a price, not impersonate a quote
How to plan an online calculator for a website: choose useful inputs, distinguish a firm price from an estimate, maintain the rules and hand the result to a sales team.
Digital products ·
A retail app begins with the second purchase
Decide whether an online store needs a mobile app by examining repeat orders, account features, loyalty, the mobile website, maintenance and actual customer behaviour.
Digital products ·
Build a construction firm's website from the project to the client's decision
A practical brief for a construction company website: services, project records, evidence, estimate enquiries, form inputs and a test of the first customer journey.
Digital products ·
A website starts selling after its first promise
What makes a website useful for sales: a clear offer, evidence, an appropriate next step, reliable enquiry delivery and a testable journey without conversion guarantees.
Digital products ·
An online school needs a continuous learner journey
Choose an online school website, hosted platform or custom system by mapping course discovery, payment, access, lessons, support and data ownership.
Digital products ·
A creator's website sells the next step in a conversation
Design a creator website for courses, guides and other digital products: a clear offer, choice, payment, access delivery and buyer support.
Digital products ·
MVP and SaaS answer different questions
An MVP tests a product assumption; SaaS describes how software is delivered and operated. Learn how the ideas overlap, what a first version must prove and how to brief the work.
Digital products ·
Your first website becomes real when its address works
Publish a website built with AI: identify the build, choose hosting and a domain, test forms and mobile screens, and plan fixes and updates.
Digital products ·
A wholesale website begins with deal terms, not a cart
Choose a wholesale website format around catalogue enquiries, customer-specific prices, stock, orders, documents and accounting-system integration.
Digital products ·
A website needs an admin panel when someone owns publishing
What a website admin panel should do for a team: content types, roles, preview, publishing, change history and support.
Digital products ·
Test an employee app over one actual shift
How to design a mobile app for employees away from a desk: assign tasks, capture field results, plan offline sync, control access and test one shift.
Digital products ·
Online booking sells time the business can actually provide
How to build a website with online booking: test service duration, staff availability, rescheduling and notifications, then choose a widget or custom development.
Digital products ·
A Pay button must end in a confirmed order
How to add payments to a website: choose an integration, connect payments to orders, confirm server-side status, and handle retries, cancellations and refunds.
Business ·
Payment is where the order's work begins
How to automate order processing after payment: ownership, states, exceptions, partial fulfilment, customer updates and a practical pilot.
Business ·
Document approval begins with the right to send it back
How to choose a document approval system by testing routes, roles, versions, deadlines, exceptions and the limits of an existing platform.
Digital products ·
A report should come from the work, not Friday's spreadsheet
A practical guide to management reporting automation: define the decision, reconcile sources, document metrics, monitor refreshes and test exceptions before building a dashboard.
Business ·
A website and 1C must agree on ownership, not just file formats
A practical guide to website and 1C integration: ownership of prices and stock, order identifiers, retries, reconciliation and pre-launch tests.
Digital products ·
An online store begins where a product page becomes a promise
What online store development involves: catalogue, stock, prices, checkout, payment, delivery, integrations and choosing between a platform and a custom system.
Business ·
RAG is less about an AI's memory than its right to cite a source
A plain-language guide to RAG: finding documents before an AI answers, source ownership, access control, quality checks and when a simpler search will do.
Practice ·
A website move begins with a list of old URLs
A practical website migration sequence: map old and new URLs, configure redirects, update internal links and sitemaps, and check errors after launch.
Business ·
Complex sales do not automatically call for a custom CRM
When custom CRM development makes sense and when an existing platform is enough: processes, data, integrations, ownership costs and a practical decision test.
Business ·
A webhook is an event someone must own
A practical explanation of webhooks: events, receiver URLs, authenticity checks, retries and result tracking when business systems exchange data.
Digital products ·
A corporate website explains the company before the first conversation
When a business needs a corporate website, how it differs from a landing page and an internal portal, and which pages, evidence and operating rules to plan.
Digital products ·
No-code saves code, but it does not remove product design
What no-code development means, where it works for websites and internal tools, and how to assess limits in data, integrations, ownership and growth.
Digital products ·
The customer journey chooses the website format
How to choose between a landing page and a multi-page website using goals, product complexity, traffic, trust, content, search and future growth.
Business ·
An AI presentation begins with sources, not slides
A practical process for creating a presentation with AI: gather sources, build the argument, map the slides, verify facts and shape the final deck.
Digital products ·
A website redesign begins with deciding what to keep
When a website needs a redesign and when it needs a rebuild: audit goals, content, analytics, technology and migration risks before production.
Digital products ·
A design system begins with a repeated decision
How to create a design system for a website or digital product: audit the interface, define rules, build components and connect design with code.
Digital products ·
A sales dashboard should show where a decision became stuck
Which metrics a sales dashboard needs: funnel, conversion, speed, plan, forecast, data quality and the manager’s next action.
Practice ·
After launch, a website becomes an obligation
What website support includes after launch: monitoring, backups, updates, repairs, content operations and planned development.
Practice ·
A website audit begins with what a person needs to accomplish
What a technical website audit covers: indexing, performance, mobile experience, forms, security, analytics and a prioritised repair plan.
Business ·
A chatbot answers. An assistant helps. An agent acts within boundaries
How chatbots, AI assistants and AI agents differ, which tasks suit each model and how to choose a controlled form of business automation.
Digital products ·
A website structure is a sequence of decisions, not a list of pages
A practical method for planning a website structure: define visitor tasks, inventory content, shape pages and navigation, then test the scheme before design.
Business ·
A knowledge base works when every piece of knowledge has an owner
How to build a company knowledge base: organise sources, owners and access, add search and prepare reliable knowledge for AI.
Digital products ·
An app’s cost is defined by the system around its screens
What mobile app development costs include: scenarios, iOS and Android, backend, integrations, store release and support.
Digital products ·
Test the app before the store reviews the build
How to test a mobile app before launch across journeys, devices, networks, permissions, data, purchases, accessibility, analytics and beta release.
Digital products ·
An API integration begins with a contract between systems
A plain-language guide to API integration: data, authentication, exchange flows, failures, retries, security and observable outcomes.
Digital products ·
The price of a website begins with responsibility, not page count
What website development costs include, which decisions change the estimate and how to compare proposals from different teams.
Digital products ·
A website explains. A web service takes on the work
When a business needs a web service rather than a conventional website: recurring actions, roles, data, integrations, the first release and ownership cost.
Digital products ·
A PWA becomes an app where the browser journey is no longer enough
What a progressive web app is, how it differs from a website and a native app, when it fits a business and which platform constraints to test first.
Digital products ·
Test a prototype with questions that are still inexpensive to answer
How to test a website or app prototype: define the risk, choose participants, write tasks, observe behaviour, group findings and decide what to change.
Digital products ·
A corporate portal is useful when work gets lost between channels
How to decide whether a company needs an internal portal: roles, documents, workflows, access, integrations, first release and platform choice.
Digital products ·
A customer journey map reveals the work between screens
How to create a customer journey map for a website or digital product: goals, stages, actions, channels, obstacles and product decisions.
Digital products ·
A client portal belongs where the customer returns
When a business needs a client portal, what the first version should include and how to design access, data and support.
Business ·
Data cannot be protected after it has already reached the model
How to protect business data in AI workflows through classification, access, contracts, minimisation, logs and employee controls.
Business ·
The cost of AI implementation begins with the cost of an error
What determines the cost of AI implementation: process research, data, integrations, model usage, controls, pilot and ongoing support.
Digital products ·
After launch, a website begins to answer with data
How to set up website analytics after launch by defining questions, events and goals, validating data, building a funnel and making decisions.
Digital products ·
One codebase does not make two platforms identical
How to choose native or cross-platform app development by comparing the workflow, interface, device features, team, release time and maintenance.
Digital products ·
Architecture begins when a prototype has to keep living
How a web application connects its interface, server, data and integrations, and which architectural decisions matter before a prototype grows.
Business ·
Parsing turns a source into data that can be used
A plain-language guide to data parsing: how it works, how it differs from collection and APIs, where businesses use it and which constraints matter.
Digital products ·
An MCP server gives AI working context and tools
A plain-language guide to MCP servers: how they connect AI to data and tools, where they are useful and which access boundaries need to be designed.
Business ·
An enquiry must reach a decision, not merely the CRM
How to automate enquiry processing with AI by connecting channels, extracting data, configuring CRM states, adding human review and measuring a pilot.
Digital products ·
A ready-made service accelerates the start. A custom tool preserves the difference
How to choose between SaaS, a configured platform and custom development by comparing the process, data, integrations, cost of change and validation path.
Business ·
A document becomes data only after verification
How to implement AI document processing by selecting a workflow, extracting data, verifying results, protecting access and running a pilot.
Practice ·
Website handover begins before the final commit
What a website handover should include: domain, hosting, access, code, content, analytics, deployment, recovery and support boundaries.
Digital products ·
Website or app: the recurring action chooses the form
How to choose between a website, mobile app and internal tool by examining the user journey, frequency, device capabilities, cost and future development.
Business ·
AI knows only what a company can name
How to connect AI to company data by defining a task, establishing sources of truth, assigning owners, limiting access and verifying answers.
Digital products ·
A business dashboard: from data to decision
How to build a business dashboard by defining the management question, agreeing on metrics, connecting data sources and turning the screen into a decision tool.
Business ·
An AI agent needs a role, boundaries and permission to stop
What an AI agent for business is, how it differs from a chatbot, and how to define its task, data, authority, controls and handoff to a person.
Business ·
AI enters a business through one process
Where to start AI implementation in a business: choosing the first process, defining an outcome, running a pilot and avoiding an expensive demonstration.
Digital products ·
To begin vibe coding is to learn how to verify
How to start vibe coding with a small task, work productively with AI, verify the result and move from a prototype towards a dependable digital product.
Business ·
AI implementation is measured by a change in work
How to measure an AI implementation by recording a baseline, selecting time and quality metrics, accounting for review and deciding whether to scale.
Practice ·
Accept an AI-built website by testing what can go wrong
How to review an AI-built website across user journeys, responsive layouts, forms, SEO, security, accessibility and project handover.
Digital products ·
An AI-assisted brief does not begin with a prompt
How to prepare a website or app brief with AI by defining the problem, user journeys, data, constraints and acceptance criteria.
Practice ·
If AI wrote the code, where is the author?
Where authorship resides when AI writes code: the chosen problem, architecture, constraints, quality criteria and responsibility for the finished product.
Digital products ·
A prototype can promise. A product must answer
A prototype, an MVP and a finished digital product serve different purposes. This is where a convincing demonstration becomes a system people can trust.
Business ·
See the work first: why a digital product begins before the interface
A practical starting point for AI workflow automation: examine one real task, find where attention is lost, and only then choose a website, app or agent.
Digital products ·
How to build an app with AI without losing the Concept
A path from the task and user journey to a prototype, verification and a working digital product.
Digital products ·
What I mean by vibe coding, and where the magic of a prompt ends
Why dialogue with AI shortens the path to a prototype but cannot replace Concept, system architecture or responsibility.
Practice
My projects: spaces, objects, clothing and digital tools.
Spaces ·
NOIR: dark matter and natural light
NOIR, a 66.17 m² apartment design at SOYUZ in Moscow: materials, light, an interactive 3D model, room visualisations and elevations. Design in progress.
Spaces ·
A space we can discuss
A real office concept showing how AI supported SketchUp modelling, materials, seven visualisations, dimensioned plans and an interactive client presentation.
Digital products ·
Impulse: one question in the menu bar
A case study of Impulse, a compact macOS widget showing remaining Codex usage, the next refresh time and an available reset action.
Spaces ·
NDA design studio interior practice: space as a system
How scenario, zoning, light and bespoke objects shape offices and fitness clubs.
Practice ·
My path: from engraving to architecture and digital products
How illustration, clothing, production and architecture became the foundation of my personal and digital practice.
Objects ·
Concept: a concrete Nike × A-COLD-WALL* custom
An unofficial authorial experiment with the Nike Zoom Vomero 5, clothing as architecture and concrete.
Objects ·
A modular rack for cryptocurrency mining hardware
Adjustable shelves for differently sized units, built around a single type of bolted connection.
Objects ·
A concrete logo for Conceptual Vandalism
Turning an anonymous street artist’s mark into material objects through several production techniques.
Objects ·
A stainless-steel mirror for Symbol flat
A mirror with point LED lighting for an apartment designed by Manu bureau.
Objects ·
Concrete sinks for a private interior
Producing concrete basins and their steel support frames for a large apartment.
Objects ·
A worktable for architect Ilya Eliseev’s office
Preparing the working drawings and producing the steel frame for an architectural practice.
Objects ·
FABERGE: a sheet-steel coffee table
A compact table for COLLIDER bar, cut from six-millimetre steel with an industrial laser.
Objects ·
B3 LOFT: a chair for the Bauhaus centenary
An authorial reinterpretation of Marcel Breuer’s chair in steel profile and cast concrete panels.
Objects ·
A concrete planter with four faces
One of the first realised objects for HARDKEA: vibration casting, varied wall thicknesses and a weight of 40 kilograms.
Objects ·
the ARK: an asymmetric concrete coffee table
A reinterpretation of the oval coffee table, designed for HARDKEA and COLLIDER bar.
Objects ·
ÖmankÖ table: concrete, light and wireless charging
A coffee table for the fashion publication, with a relief mark, cantilevered corner and integrated electronics.
Objects ·
BLACK PHILLIP: a steel table for COLLIDER
A 100-kilogram worktable built from a six-millimetre steel top, a trapezoidal outline and a concealed structural frame.
Objects ·
MODUL: three concrete storage systems
A rectangular block, the Square Colosseum and a cubic module develop one idea of stackable furniture.
Objects ·
Storage 001: a concrete bin as small architecture
A thick-walled outdoor module with chamfered corners and a steel ring securing the liner.
Objects ·
Cache-pot 001: a designer concrete planter
A concept for a rectangular planter whose divided parts visually reunite from two viewpoints.
Objects ·
Concrete ashtrays with cross-shaped geometry
A new batch based on another version of the Gleb Kostin Solutions logo.
Objects ·
Coloured concrete ashtrays
An edition shaped after the Gleb Kostin Solutions logo and coloured through the concrete mass.
Spaces ·
Concrete steps and reception for the Little Big office
Producing concrete office elements for a project by My Moon Design.
Objects ·
A modular concrete vase for Perque Studio
A human-bone-shaped object for a flower and an incense stick.
Objects ·
Concrete DAZED magazines for Eric Musin
Translating the image of a printed magazine into a weighty collectible object.
Objects ·
Concrete ashtrays and a dish for LAST SEEN
Two types of objects that continue the brand’s graphic language in concrete.
Objects ·
Concrete jewellery boxes for BOGEMA Leningrad
A small edition with magnetic lids and the jewellery brand’s mark in relief.
Objects ·
Concrete holders for MOSS Boutique Hotel
How open pores and irregularities gave concrete a texture close to natural stone.
Objects ·
EYE STAR table
A collectible table at the intersection of object design, image and myth-making.
Objects ·
The steel ART’em chair
Architectural construction, reflective fabric and three points of support in one object.
Objects ·
A rain poncho for RocketShop
How function, membrane fabric and testing shaped a piece of bank merchandise.
Objects ·
The PROSHAR technical jacket
From research and sketches to patterns, prototypes and a final sample.
Business ·
Why I started my own production workshop
How NDA manufactory connected Concept, design and execution in one process.
Knowledge
Reading notes, methods and guides.
Digital products ·
The way of code and the author’s work
A brief summary of Rick Rubin’s The Way of Code, followed by Gleb Kirenkov’s commentary on making digital products, with a link to the original work.