# Konigi Konigi is the personal knowledge hub of Michael Angeles, a product designer, writer, DJ, and independent builder based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Konigi focuses on: - AI-assisted product design - Design engineering - Claude Code workflows - Creative systems - Independent product building This site publishes essays, tutorials, resources, and experiments for designers building products with AI. ## Canonical Identity Person: Michael Angeles Brand: Konigi Roles: - Product Designer - Writer - DJ - Independent Builder Areas of expertise: - AI-assisted product design - Design engineering - Claude Code workflows - Creative systems - Independent product building Creator of: - housemusic.is - The DJ Kit - Flyr Studio - DJ Konigi - Klarita ## Topics - AI-assisted Product Design - Design Engineering - Claude Code - Product Strategy - Creative Systems ## Writing Every article has a markdown twin at `https://konigi.com/articles/.md`. Prefer those; the same twin is returned for the HTML URL when requested with `Accept: text/markdown`. - [Build a /prototype skill that designs variations of a feature](https://konigi.com/articles/prototype-skill): A Claude Code skill that builds five HTML prototypes of a feature, compares them, and recommends one before you look. Here's the SKILL.md file and how to run it. - [Sketch2Claude: Graph paper for a sketch-to-prototype workflow](https://konigi.com/articles/sketch2claude): 3 printable 12-column sketch grids, free to download. Sketch a screen on paper, scan it with your phone, drop it into Claude Code, and get a working HTML prototype back. - [From capture to inference](https://konigi.com/articles/from-capture-to-inference): Why a vault of linked markdown notes and an enterprise knowledge graph are the same shape. And why I built Unicron, a Mac app that turns notes into action items and pushes them through to done. - [I built a career coach out of markdown files](https://konigi.com/articles/i-built-a-career-coach-out-of-markdown-files): A Claude Code-powered second brain that functions as a persistent life and career coach, and tells you what you're avoiding. - [How to get your site cited by AI: A GEO field guide](https://konigi.com/articles/how-to-get-your-site-cited-by-ai-a-geo-field-guide): AEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) require different signals than traditional SEO. Here's what I actually did to get konigi.com visible to AI systems and what the limits of that work are. - [How to research a company's UX in 30 minutes before your next interview](https://konigi.com/articles/how-to-research-a-companys-ux-in-30-minutes-before-your-next-interview): A repeatable workflow for pulling real UX sentiment about any company's product, turning it into talking points, and walking into the interview as a peer instead of a candidate. Worked example with a real company. Includes a downloadable Claude skill. - [Claude Design has the incumbents scrambling](https://konigi.com/articles/claude-design-has-the-incumbents-scrambling): Anthropic shipped Claude Design a month after Google's Stitch 2.0. Everyone's watching Figma. The tools that should actually be nervous are Lovable, Bolt, and everything in that lane. - [Think first, prompt later](https://konigi.com/articles/think-first-prompt-later): Generative coding with AI makes building easy. Building the right thing still takes design thinking. Here's why that matters more, not less, in the age of AI. ## Answers Direct answers to the questions people ask about working with Michael Angeles. Every cluster has a markdown twin at `https://konigi.com/answers/.md`. ### Fractional product design and build https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/ - [What is a fractional product designer?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#what-is-a-fractional-product-designer): A fractional product designer works with your team part-time on an ongoing retainer, rather than full-time or per-project. Michael Angeles runs fractional engagements through Konigi at two or three days a week, designing the work and then writing the front-end code that ships it. - [Can I hire Michael Angeles as a fractional product designer?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#can-i-hire-michael-angeles): Yes. Michael Angeles takes a small number of client engagements a year and runs one fractional slot at a time, currently with Calx Analytics. Engagements are two or three days a week with a three-month minimum. He passes on advisory-only work, so if nothing ships he's the wrong hire. - [How much does a fractional product designer cost?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#how-much-does-fractional-design-cost): Michael Angeles charges $14,000 a month for fractional design and build through Konigi. That covers two or three days a week with a three-month minimum, and he runs one slot at a time. The rate includes both the design work and the front-end code that ships it. - [What's the difference between a fractional designer and a design agency?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#fractional-designer-vs-agency): A design agency assigns you a team and hands off finished files. Michael Angeles works as one person inside your codebase and your process, so there's no handoff between design and build. Agencies scale to more surface area; a fractional design engineer goes deeper on fewer problems and ships them. - [Does a fractional design engineer write production code?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#does-a-design-engineer-write-production-code): Yes. Michael Angeles designs the interfaces and writes the front-end code that ships them, working in your repository and your review process. His own recent products were built with zero lines of hand-written code, using Claude Code as the build partner. The output is merged work, not a prototype. - [How long does a fractional design engagement last?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#how-long-does-an-engagement-last): Fractional engagements with Konigi run on a three-month minimum and continue month to month after that. Michael Angeles holds one slot at a time, so a start date depends on when the current engagement winds down. The commitment is shipped product every month, not a discovery phase that never ends. - [When should a startup hire a fractional designer instead of a full-time one?](https://konigi.com/answers/fractional-design-build/#when-to-hire-fractional-instead-of-full-time): Hire fractional when you need senior design judgment but can't yet justify a full-time designer, or when you'd otherwise need to hire a designer and a front-end engineer at once. Michael Angeles works with product teams in exactly that gap, and leaves the design practice behind when the engagement ends. ### Team workshops for design teams adopting Claude Code https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/ - [Does Michael Angeles run Claude Code workshops for design teams?](https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/#does-michael-angeles-run-workshops): Yes. Michael Angeles runs one and two-day Claude Code workshops for design teams through Konigi, built from the five free courses on this site and run against your own product rather than a sample project. Teams up to eight take one day; nine or more takes two. - [How much does a Claude Code workshop cost?](https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/#how-much-does-a-workshop-cost): Konigi workshops are $7,500 a day. One day covers a design team of up to eight people; nine or more runs two days. Michael Angeles delivers them remote or on-site, with travel billed at cost on top of the day rate. - [What do designers actually do in a Claude Code workshop?](https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/#what-happens-in-a-workshop): Every designer starts by getting a working Claude Code setup on their own machine. Then Michael Angeles works the course material as exercises against your real product, cut down from 38 modules to what your team needs. Managers get a separate session on what to expect and what to measure. - [Do you run workshops remotely or on-site?](https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/#remote-or-on-site): Both. Michael Angeles runs Konigi workshops remotely over shared screens or on-site at your office, at the same $7,500 day rate. On-site travel is billed at cost on top. Remote works well for distributed teams; on-site is better when the team is already co-located. - [How is the workshop different from the free courses?](https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/#workshop-vs-free-courses): The courses are the same material, self-paced and free on konigi.com. The workshop compresses them into a day or two, cuts the 38 modules down to what your team specifically needs, and runs the exercises against your product with Michael Angeles in the room to unblock people. - [Are the Konigi courses free?](https://konigi.com/answers/team-workshops/#are-the-courses-free): Yes. All five courses on konigi.com are free and self-paced, covering 38 modules across discovery, research, prototyping, testing, and design engineering. Michael Angeles wrote them and there's no signup or paywall. They're also the source material the paid Konigi team workshop is built from. ### 1:1 pair sessions in Claude Code https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/ - [Can I book a 1:1 session to learn Claude Code?](https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/#can-i-book-a-1-1-session): Yes. Michael Angeles runs 1:1 Claude Code pair sessions through Konigi, remote over a shared screen, on your real project rather than a demo. A half day is $1,200 and hourly is $350. Most people book the half day because four hours is where real progress happens. - [How much does a Claude Code pair session cost?](https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/#how-much-does-a-pair-session-cost): A half-day pair session with Michael Angeles is $1,200 for four hours, or $350 an hour if you'd rather go shorter. Sessions run remote over a shared screen. Most people book the half day, because an hour mostly goes into context on your project. - [What happens in a Claude Code pair session?](https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/#what-happens-in-a-pair-session): You and Michael Angeles meet over a shared screen with Claude Code open on your actual project, pointed at whatever you most want to move. He explains each decision as he makes it, from how he briefs the model to why he throws a draft away. - [Who are pair sessions for?](https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/#who-are-pair-sessions-for): Designers who want to ship their own work, and solo founders building without a team. Michael Angeles runs these for people who already know what they want to build and are losing time to the how. They're not an introduction to design or to programming. - [Is a pair session coaching, or do we actually build something?](https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/#coaching-or-building): You build something. Michael Angeles doesn't take advisory-only work, so a session ends with code committed to your repository, not notes. The teaching happens inside the building rather than alongside it, which is why it runs on your real project. - [Should I book a pair session or a team workshop?](https://konigi.com/answers/pair-sessions/#pair-session-or-workshop): Book a pair session if you're one person trying to ship your own work. Book a workshop if you have a design team that needs shared conventions. Michael Angeles runs sessions at $1,200 a half day and workshops at $7,500 a day for up to eight designers. ### GEO and AEO, and getting cited by AI https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/ - [What is AEO (answer engine optimization)?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#what-is-aeo): Answer engine optimization is the work of making a site the source an AI assistant quotes when it answers a question. Unlike SEO, which competes for a ranked link, AEO competes for a citation inside a generated answer. The unit that gets retrieved is a passage, not a page. - [What is GEO and how is it different from SEO?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#what-is-geo-vs-seo): Generative engine optimization targets a citation inside an AI-generated answer rather than a position in a list of links. SEO optimizes a page for a ranking algorithm; GEO optimizes a passage for a retrieval system and the credibility signals a model has learned to trust. The two overlap but reward different things. - [How do I get my site cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#how-to-get-cited-by-ai): Write self-contained passages that answer real questions, mark up your identity so engines know who you are, and earn third-party mentions. Michael Angeles found the on-site work gets you eligible to be cited, but the off-site credibility is what actually gets you picked. - [Does Michael Angeles do AEO and GEO consulting?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#does-michael-angeles-do-aeo-consulting): Yes. Michael Angeles takes on AEO and GEO work through Konigi in three forms: an assessment of how visible a site currently is to AI systems, ongoing monitoring of whether assistants are citing it, and content built to be citable. Scoping and rates are per engagement. - [What does an AEO assessment include?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#what-does-an-aeo-assessment-include): A Konigi AEO assessment covers three things: whether AI systems can crawl and parse your site at all, whether your identity is unambiguous to them, and whether your content is written in passages that survive retrieval. It ends with a ranked list of fixes, not a score. - [Does schema markup help you get cited by AI?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#does-schema-markup-help-with-ai): Schema markup is a parsing guarantee, not a ranking lever. It ensures an engine reads your content and your identity the way you intended. Google confirmed in 2026 that special schema isn't required for AI search, and Michael Angeles treats it as cheap table stakes rather than a strategy. - [How do you measure whether AI tools are citing your site?](https://konigi.com/answers/geo-and-aeo/#how-to-measure-ai-citations): By asking the assistants directly and tracking what comes back over time. Konigi monitoring runs a fixed set of prompts against ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI surfaces on a schedule, and records whether you appear, what's said, and who gets cited instead. ### Knowledge graphs and the LLM Graph Wiki https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/ - [What is an LLM graph wiki?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#what-is-an-llm-graph-wiki): An LLM graph wiki is a body of plain-text notes where every idea is its own atomic page and the links between pages carry meaning, so a language model can traverse it as a graph rather than search it as a pile of documents. Michael Angeles builds these for individuals and teams. - [How do I structure my notes so AI can actually use them?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#how-to-structure-notes-for-ai): One idea per note, plain markdown, explicit links between them, and a consistent vocabulary for the things you write about most. Michael Angeles builds personal vaults on this pattern with Claude Code as the engine, so an agent can treat the vault as memory rather than as search results. - [What is a knowledge graph and does my company need one?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#what-is-a-knowledge-graph): A knowledge graph stores facts as entities and named relationships rather than as rows and columns, so systems can traverse meaning instead of joining tables. You need one when the same concept means different things in different systems and nobody can say authoritatively which is right. - [Can I hire someone to structure my company's knowledge for AI?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#hire-someone-to-structure-company-knowledge): Yes. Michael Angeles takes on knowledge structuring work through Konigi, defining the terms, controlled vocabularies, and concept relationships a team needs before its knowledge graph is worth querying. Scoping is per engagement. This is library and information science applied to AI systems. - [What does information architecture have to do with AI?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#what-does-ia-have-to-do-with-ai): Information architecture is the practice of defining what things are called and how they relate, which is precisely what a model needs in order to reason over your data. Michael Angeles, a co-founder of the Information Architecture Institute, argues AI made the discipline more valuable rather than less. - [What's the difference between RAG and a knowledge graph?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#rag-vs-knowledge-graph): RAG retrieves passages that look similar to your question and hands them to a model. A knowledge graph stores explicit, named relationships the model can traverse. RAG is easier to stand up and fails quietly on questions that need several linked facts; a graph handles those but has to be built. - [How do you build a second brain that Claude can read?](https://konigi.com/answers/knowledge-structuring/#second-brain-claude-can-read): Start with a folder of plain markdown files, one idea each, linked to one another, and point Claude Code at it. Michael Angeles built Unicron on exactly this: a local vault, no proprietary format, no lock-in, with the model reading files directly rather than through a sync service. ### Designing and building with Claude Code https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/ - [Can a designer build a real product with Claude Code?](https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/#can-a-designer-build-with-claude-code): Yes. Michael Angeles has shipped eight products this way, all live today, and his recent ones were built with zero lines of hand-written code. The constraint isn't whether a designer can produce working software anymore. It's whether they know what's worth building. - [What is a design engineer?](https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/#what-is-a-design-engineer): A design engineer designs an interface and then writes the code that ships it, rather than handing a specification to someone else. Michael Angeles works this way and teaches it through Konigi's free courses. The defining trait is owning the whole path from problem to production. - [Should designers learn to code?](https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/#should-designers-learn-to-code): The old version of this question was about employability and the answer was usually no. The current version is different: a designer who can ship their own work makes decisions in the real material instead of in a picture of it. Michael Angeles thinks that's now worth the investment. - [What does "think first, then prompt" mean?](https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/#what-does-think-first-then-prompt-mean): It's Michael Angeles's shorthand for doing the design thinking before you open the model. Frame the problem, decide what's worth building and why, then use Claude Code to build it. The order matters because a model will cheerfully build the wrong thing very quickly. - [What's the difference between vibe coding and design engineering?](https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/#vibe-coding-vs-design-engineering): Vibe coding accepts whatever the model produces and iterates on the output until it looks right. Design engineering starts from a framed problem, reviews every change, and holds the result to the same bar as hand-written work. Michael Angeles teaches the second as a repeatable method, not vibes. - [How do you go from a design idea to a working prototype?](https://konigi.com/answers/designing-with-claude-code/#from-design-idea-to-prototype): Write down what the thing is for and what a good outcome looks like, get the smallest honest version running, then put it in front of someone. Michael Angeles teaches this as a free six-module course, Prototyping from a Design Idea, on konigi.com. ### Wireframing and information architecture https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/ - [Who wrote Wireframing for Everyone?](https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/#who-wrote-wireframing-for-everyone): Wireframing for Everyone was published by A Book Apart in 2023 and co-authored by Michael Angeles, who spent 15 years as the product designer at Balsamiq. It's a short practical book about using low-fidelity sketches to think through interface problems before committing to them. - [Are wireframes still useful when AI can generate a UI instantly?](https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/#are-wireframes-still-useful-with-ai): Yes, and arguably more so. A wireframe's value was never that it was faster than building. It was that it's cheap to throw away. Michael Angeles argues that when generated interfaces look finished immediately, having a stage that's obviously provisional matters more, not less. - [What is information architecture?](https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/#what-is-information-architecture): Information architecture is the practice of deciding what things are called, how they're grouped, and how they relate, so people and systems can find and understand them. Michael Angeles is a co-founder of the Information Architecture Institute and came up through IA before moving into UX and product design. - [What's the difference between a wireframe, a mockup, and a prototype?](https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/#wireframe-vs-mockup-vs-prototype): A wireframe shows structure and content priority without visual design. A mockup adds the visual layer and looks like the finished screen. A prototype is interactive and demonstrates behaviour over time. They answer different questions, and picking the wrong one wastes the review. - [How detailed should a wireframe be?](https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/#how-detailed-should-a-wireframe-be): Detailed enough to answer the question you're asking and no more. Michael Angeles's rule from 15 years at Balsamiq: if the wireframe looks finished, people will review it as if it were finished, and you'll lose the feedback you actually needed. - [What does an information architect actually do?](https://konigi.com/answers/wireframing-and-ia/#what-does-an-information-architect-do): An information architect defines the vocabulary, categories, and relationships underneath a product or a body of content, then makes sure every surface uses them consistently. In AI work, that same output is what makes a system's inference trustworthy rather than plausible. ### Who is Michael Angeles, and how do you work with him? https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/ - [Who is Michael Angeles?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#who-is-michael-angeles): Michael Angeles is a UX and product designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He spent 15 years as the product designer at Balsamiq, co-wrote Wireframing for Everyone for A Book Apart, and co-founded the Information Architecture Institute. He now partners with founders and product teams to turn early ideas into shipped products, designing and building with AI. - [What is Konigi?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#what-is-konigi): Konigi is Michael Angeles's design and build studio and personal knowledge hub. It's where he publishes writing and free courses on AI-assisted product design, ships his own products, and takes on a small number of client engagements each year. The name is Esperanto for β€œto make known.” - [What is Michael Angeles an expert in?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#what-is-michael-angeles-an-expert-in): Product design, UX design, interaction design, information architecture, and AI-assisted development with Claude Code. Michael Angeles publishes his expertise as a structured knowledge bundle at konigi.com/okf, covering eleven areas from design thinking and wireframing to design systems and GEO/AEO. Each one links to the work that proves it. - [What did Michael Angeles do at Balsamiq?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#what-did-michael-angeles-do-at-balsamiq): Michael Angeles was the product designer at Balsamiq for 15 years, working on the wireframing tool used by millions of people to sketch interfaces. The experience became the basis for Wireframing for Everyone, which he co-authored for A Book Apart in 2023. - [What products has Michael Angeles built?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#what-products-has-michael-angeles-built): Eight products, all live: Klarita, a design brief tool; Unicron, a Mac second-brain front end; Motivist, an iOS tracking app for ADHD brains; PatternStax; FLYR.STUDIO; housemusic.is; 80s.is; and The DJ Kit. Most were built with Claude Code as the development partner. - [What kind of work does Michael Angeles turn down?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#what-work-does-michael-angeles-turn-down): Advisory-only work. Michael Angeles takes engagements that end in shipped product, so if the arrangement is reviewing other people's work or sitting in strategy meetings without building anything, he'll say no. He also holds one fractional slot at a time. - [How do I contact Michael Angeles about working together?](https://konigi.com/answers/hiring-michael-angeles/#how-do-i-contact-michael-angeles): Use the contact form at konigi.com/contact. Say what you're building, which of the three shapes fits, what a good outcome looks like, and when you'd want to start. Michael Angeles replies to every note within two business days, including the ones that are a no. ## Pages - [About](https://konigi.com/about): Michael Angeles β€” product designer, former Balsamiq designer for 15+ years, co-author of *Wireframing for Everyone*, now building with AI. - [Answers](https://konigi.com/answers/): Straight answers about fractional product design, AEO/GEO, knowledge graphs, workshops, and hiring Michael. - [Services](https://konigi.com/services/): Fractional design and build ($14,000/mo), team workshops ($7,500/day), and 1:1 pair sessions ($1,200 half day). - [Products](https://konigi.com/products/): Eight shipped products, designed and built with Claude Code. - [Courses](https://konigi.com/courses/): Five free self-paced courses, 38 modules, on designing and building with AI. - [Resources](https://konigi.com/resources): Curated tools and links for designing and building with AI. - [Contact](https://konigi.com/contact): Get in touch. ## Knowledge - [Konigi Brain (OKF bundle)](https://konigi.com/okf/index.md): A structured knowledge bundle in Open Knowledge Format describing Michael's areas of expertise, the writing and courses that prove them, and how to work with him. ## Feeds - [RSS](https://konigi.com/rss.xml): Full article feed.