AI Builder: Stop Settling for Generic Design! Start With an Image

Jacob Miller turned his AI coding workspace into something out of Warcraft III, complete with wrought-iron panels and lighting that follows the cursor. His starting point was an image. In this episode, Michael sits down with Jacob, creator of DiffUI, to walk through how he designs with image models before handing the results to a coding agent. They explore why AI-generated apps can look generic, how to give them a distinct visual style, and how to keep that style consistent beyond the first screen. In this episode: • A walkthrough of Jacob’s Warcraft-inspired BB workspace • Why Jacob starts with images before generating code • Using DiffUI to explore designs and pass visual references to a coding agent • Keeping settings pages and other screens consistent with the rest of an app • Building tools around your own repeated tasks • Experiments with AI-generated game characters and worlds • Jacob’s one-month filter for deciding which new AI tools are worth learning Jacob’s approach gives the coding agent a clearer picture of what to build: explore the look, design the related screens, then hand over the visual context. About Already Here: Michael meets people already living with personal AI in everyday life. We look at the tools, but the real story is what changes in how people work, make decisions, and direct their attention. Subscribe for more conversations with people already living with personal AI. Then comment: what would you redesign if your software could look and work exactly how you wanted? Links mentioned in this episode: DiffUI: https://diffui.ai/ BB: https://getbb.app/ Follow Jacob Miller on X: https://x.com/pwnies