desire pathDesign system 1.0
Route
A park lawn seen from above: a grid of paved walkways, and one worn path of bare earth cutting diagonally across it

Route

The paved way goes round the grid. People cut across it. Flip Route and every route, mark, cap and figure in the system follows.

Display, Wix Madefor Display 400

Cut across to working software.

Text, Wix Madefor Text 400

We take an idea to software people can use in six weeks, by building the route they already walk first, then paving it.

Chips and captions, DM Mono 400

MethodIdeasWork

A desire path is the line people tread when the paved route takes too long.


Paper

#E8EAE0

Moss

#2B3222

Ink

#1F2419

Ink 2

#5B6450

Chalk

#F4F3EA

Black

#0C0D09

Lichen

#DCE2B4

Earth

#9C5D3C

Sage

#AEB79E

Bramble

#9E3B2C


A hillside meadow with a footpath of bare earth running straight up it
OverlandOpen ground and the line worn across it. Photographed flat and hazy, printed in grain, with room for a route.
An oil painting of a green valley with surveyor's stakes, a tripod and a tent beside a footpath
Painted valleyThe same valley in oil, one stage of the work per canvas, with a calm centre for the black card.
Fishing boats moored at a quay in the haze of early morning
FieldworkWhere the software ends up: the quay, the clinic table, the terraces. Shot like documentary film, never as a screen.

See the paths we have walkedPrototype in testingLive on your domain
To a first real user6 weeks

Buttons

Every action is a chip: mono, square-ish, 8 px round. The primary one carries its own cap, and the cap's arrow takes whatever route the system is on.

Go, the primary action

Book a working session

Ink, for paper and sage

Chips and caps

Over a photograph

How we workWorkOr write to us

Text links

Read how an idea becomes a path, or see what shipped for a ferry line in five weeks.

Replay

Links are paved: a dashed line under the words. Hover or focus and a worn line runs straight through it.

Fields

A raised box on a firm edge, rounded like the chips. The square beside the label fills while you are in the field; a bramble edge says what to change.

Selection

Options are rows on hairlines, picked with a filled square. A ticked box carries the mark's own diagonal. The range is a paved line; the stretch you have walked turns to earth.

Who walks it every day

It has to

Segmented and range

8 weeks4 weeks16 weeks

Tabs and table

Tabs are days on a line: the bar under the chosen one draws across. The index dims every row but the one under the pointer, and shows a grainy print of the place.

Stage tabs

The shortest route, sketched as a clickable prototype and tested with five people who will use it.

Figures that follow the Route

First real user
Day 5
Meetings before code
2
In use by
Week 6

Path index

  • 2026Tidewater FerriesBooking and boarding for a three-island ferry lineFirst release in 5 weeks
  • 2026Hollis Vet GroupOffline field notes and prescriptions for farm vetsFirst release in 6 weeks
  • 2025Commons Co-opWeekly orders between 140 growers and 30 kitchensFirst release in 4 weeks

Stage table

Stages of a project, with a fixed price for each
StageWhat you getDaysFixed price
WalkA map of the route people take today1–3£4,800
StakeA clickable prototype, tested with five users4–5£6,400
BuildWorking software every Friday, on real data6–35£38,000
PaveLaunch, hand-over and a codebase your team runs36–42£7,200

Example figures for a fictional studio.

Status and progress

A filled square is done, an empty one is waiting, the walker's lichen dot is live. Bramble is the only colour that means stop.

Tags

DeployedTesting with five usersWaiting for accessBlocked by the payment provider

Weeks and the Route plan

Tidewater Ferries5 weeks
To a first real user6 weeks across

Loader

Day 1Printing the meadowReplay

Notes

Friday demo

Boarding passes work offline

Tested on the quay with the crew this morning. Two screens changed; the route stayed the same.

Steps, a real sequence

  1. WalkDays 1–3
  2. StakeDays 4–5
  3. BuildWeeks 2–5
  4. PaveWeek 6

Cards and plates

Pictures are printed in live grain: a lens lifts it under the pointer and plates dissolve grain by grain. On a phone the grain holds still.

Black card over the painted valley

An oil painting of a green valley with a thin footpath winding toward the mountainsThe same valley with surveyor's stakes, a tripod and a tentThe same valley with a stone bridge being built over the riverThe same valley with a paved path over the finished bridge to a pavilion

How an idea becomes a path

WalkDays 1–3

We watch where people actually go.

Interviews, the tools your team already hacks together, the spreadsheet everyone quietly relies on.

Idea plate: a cloud, a sketch, the interface

Tickets for a ferry lineDay 42

Print with a lens, and a panel

A hillside meadow with a footpath of bare earth running straight up it

Six weeks, start to ship

  • A prototype by day fiveIn the hands of five real users
  • Live by week sixDeployed on your domain

Seam: idea on the left of the line, software on the right

The park from above, the grid of walkways crossed by a worn path
Fixed price per stage
You know the cost of each step before it starts.
A demo every Friday
Working software, never slides about software.
You own the code
Your repository, your cloud, from the first commit.

Answers

What happens in the working session?

Two engineers ask who uses the idea and what they do today. You leave with a route, a timeline and a fixed price for the first stage.

Do we own the code?

From the first commit. It lives in your repository and runs in your cloud account.

What if the idea changes halfway?

It usually does. Each stage is priced on its own, so we re-stake the route before the next one starts.

Caption

A desire path is the line people tread when the paved route takes too long. Captions sit under figures in mono, as in a field notebook.

Dialogs and toasts

The dialog is the black card brought forward. A toast stays while a walker crosses its track; hover it and the walker waits.

Try them

Toast

Session booked

Thursday, 09:00. The invite is in your inbox.

Dialog, over the veil

Working session30 min

Book Thursday at 09:00?

Two engineers, a route and a fixed price for the first stage.

Working session30 min

Book Thursday at 09:00?

Two engineers will ask who uses the idea and what they do today. You leave with a route, a timeline and a fixed price for the first stage.

Navigation

A row of chips inside a framed viewport. Below 1024 px the links fold into a sage menu; switch the width to try it. The chapter and the motion switch sit at the foot.

Bar, frame and chapter over a print

desire path

Bristol and Lisbon, hello@desirepath.studio