Design

Nino Yuniardi · Designer & builder · Seattle

A thousand options in seconds. Knowing which one matters takes years.

I’m happiest at the start of something, when the problem is still a little messy. AI helps me explore more directions, but choosing well comes from years of practice. The best part is learning together, with the tools and with people from different backgrounds and disciplines, and discovering something about the tools and ourselves along the way.

See the work Start a conversation

A note before you look around

Thank you for stopping by.

You’re probably here because you’re working on something: a product that needs shaping, a team that could use another eye, or an idea that hasn’t found its form yet. Whatever brought you, I’m glad you came.

From here, there are three good ways this can go.

01Work with meIf what you see here fits what you need, let’s talk it through.
02Work with someone elseSometimes another person is the better fit, and that’s a good outcome too.
03Do nothing at allNot every problem needs a hire. Sometimes the right move is to wait.

What I hope for is that you find the right answer to your problem. That starts with understanding it together. So as you look through this work, ask how it could serve you.

Design philosophy

Good work starts with people, not tools. The rest is taste: knowing what’s worth making, and refining it until it feels intentional.

Taste is the brief. Choosing what to make is the job.
Fundamentals first. Type, color, composition and hierarchy still do the heavy lifting.
Be willing to be wrong. A failed experiment teaches faster than a safe guess.
Keep it human. Clear over clever, warm over loud.

Working together

I work the way I teach: understand the problem first, make it clear what good looks like, then make it safe to experiment.

Understand first. Listen before designing anything.
Make room for messy. Protect rough ideas early.
Honest about the work. Kind to people, direct about pixels.
Build alongside you. Hands-on from the first sketch to the last detail.

Workflow

How an idea becomes something real

Five steps I come back to on every project, whatever the tools. Speed helps, but the outcome comes from listening, judgment and care.

01FrameWrite the briefWho it’s for, how it should feel, what it must not be.
02GenerateExplore wideSketch, prototype and try many directions before settling on one.
03CurateChoose with tasteMost of the work is knowing what to cut.
04RefineMake it intentionalType, spacing, color and tone until it feels considered.
05ShipPut it in real handsLaunch, listen, iterate.

Featured builds · 2026

Things I’ve made lately

Past auctions · pieces released so far — 1 of 4

01 · Collecting site · Live

Collect

A home for the people who collect my work. It does two things: it’s where my originals are released at auction, and where every piece I’ve sold is recorded once it finds a home.

AuctionOne original at a time, with an open bid ledger and a countdown. Bidders join with an email, and I follow up with the winner myself.
RegistryEvery sold piece gets an ID and its own page. Collectors can track their collection, print a certificate of authenticity, and pass a piece on with its history intact.

My roleDefined the product, the bidding and registry flows, and the visual language. Built it in Base44 with help from AI.

Visit collect.nino.studio →

Home · two doors in — 1 of 5

02 · Shopify storefront · Redesigned 2026

Studio

My home online, where people collect original paintings, join a workshop or the Spice Art Club, and get a little art in the mail each month.

I redesigned it around one line—a little more art in your life—so collectors and makers each find their way in within a scroll.

Two doors inExplore the art, or make art with me.
Art firstPaintings in full color, prices stated plainly.
Easy ways to startMonthly clubs from $10, and auctions for collectors.
Real proofWhere the work lives, from Dubai to Bellevue.

My roleSet the structure, copy and visual system, then built it on Shopify.

Visit nino.studio →

03 · iOS app · Launching soon

Quiet Studio

A calm art app for making something without the pressure of making something good. Fourteen small activities, from watercolor bleeds to night-sky constellations, each a few quiet minutes of play.

Play, not perfectionNo grades, no feed. Every sheet is kept.
Made for the handTouch, hold, tilt and even your breath shape the marks.
Draw togetherUp to six people on one sheet. No chat, no likes.

My roleConcept, interaction design and visuals. Prototyped in Claude Design, with each activity running live on touch and tilt.

Bleed

Touch to drop color into wet paper. Hold still and it blooms. Tilt and it runs.

tilt

Try it: draw on the screen, press the tilt circle, or tap Together to draw with friends. Bleed, Rubbing and Dust are free in the app.

nino.studio/pages/artcuterie

The Artcuterie page, scrolled from the hero through the menu, pricing and booking form

Scroll inside the screen to explore the whole page.

04 · Experience & small business · Seattle

Artcuterie

Artcuterie was an idea before it was a website: what if making art felt like a charcuterie board? A table of materials laid out like a menu, two hours, and nothing to copy. People pick what draws them in, loosen up, and make something of their own.

It started as two-hour sessions people booked on their own. Watching strangers relax and talk around the same table showed me what it really was, a way to bring people together, so I reshaped it into private events: birthdays, team offsites, book clubs and showers for 8 to 20 people at my studio in Pioneer Square.

The ideaAn art buffet, not a class. No step-by-step painting, no right answer.
The experienceA menu of six stations, from the Juicy Wash Bar to the Dough Lab, set up so anyone can start.
The businessPricing for friends and for companies, deposits, headcounts and invoicing.
The websiteA page that sells the feeling first, then answers every practical question.

My roleNamed it, shaped the offer and pricing, wrote the menu, and designed and built the page on Shopify.

Visit Artcuterie →

The Spice Art Club landing page, scrolling from the hero down to membership

Scroll inside the screen to explore the landing page.

05 · Online community · Since 2021

Spice Art Club

Spice was an idea before it was a club: how do you bring artists together and help them build a creative life that’s actually sustainable? Not a course you finish, but a place you keep coming back to.

I started it during Covid in 2021, and more than 480 artists have been through it since. Every Wednesday we meet on Zoom for an hour or two. Some weeks it’s a mini workshop, some weeks we just make whatever and check in on each other.

WednesdaysLive on Zoom: hanging out, mini workshops, open making.
Self-pacedWorkshops and the Spice Art Path, to go at your own speed.
Every monthAn art challenge with a fresh theme to keep things moving.
This siteThe landing page that shares the feeling and opens the waitlist.

My roleDesigned the program, its weekly rituals and the landing page, and built it on Shopify.

Visit Spice Art Club →

In the sketchbook

Systems and ideas I’m shaping

Not everything starts as an app. Some of my favorite work is designing how people learn, gather and give.

Cover · SPICE brand voice — 1 of 6

Learning system

Spice Brand Voice

The name came from the kitchen. A pinch of spice changes a whole dish, and different ingredients make it richer together. Adding your own takes a little courage. So the brand became a vessel: we hold the space, and members fill it.

The mark is a bowl with one grain chipped from its rim, like a dish that’s already been passed around the table. The guide gives everyone writing as Spice one voice: who we talk to, how we sound, the words we use and avoid, and merch to fill, wear and keep.

How we sound

Warmnot sentimental
Supportive · Kindnot cheerleading, not soft on honesty
Smart · Simplenot academic, not plain
Sophisticated · Humannot exclusive, not over-polished

Five principles

01Leave room.
02Invite, never push.
03Speak to one person.
04Be honest, gently.
05Lift others first.

Come as you are. Grow together.

App concept · Prototype

Fear Journal

Most of the time, what keeps an artist from the page isn’t time or skill. It’s fear: not good enough, I’ll ruin it, everyone’s better. Fear Journal turns that feeling into a quick daily check-in. Name what’s in the way, read one honest reframe, and take a small creative dare.

Finish the dare and your tree grows. There’s no streak to protect and nothing to lose, just an easy win that makes the next day a little lighter. It’s meant to be fun and sophisticated, never childlike.

Name itSwipe through seven common fears and pick the one in the way today.
Reframe itOne honest line and a small fact that makes it lighter.
DareA five-minute creative prompt, with a timer that fills with color.
GrowEach finished dare waters a tree. Leaves fill in and birds arrive.

My roleDesigned the flow, copy and visuals as a clickable prototype, so I can learn whether people use it before building more.

Name it · what’s in the way today? — 1 of 4

Foundation · 2011–2025

Where my eye was trained

Fifteen years of shipping products used by millions, at a level of craft where every pixel was argued over. That training is what I bring to every project, whatever the tools.

OracleComponent showcase, recruitment website, HR page explorations

AmazonEcho Show and Echo Spot UX & visual design, Alexa app, Fire Phone, Fire OS 5, Echo packaging, typography poster series

MicrosoftZune, Xbox One concepts, OneNote explorations

StudioPainter and teacher since 2019; Sweet & Spicy Art Book

Browse the archive →

About

Hi, I’m Nino Yuniardi.

I’m a designer, painter and teacher in Seattle. I’ve designed products since 2011, for teams at Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle. Since 2019 I’ve also been painting and teaching, and today I run Nino Studio, a gallery and working studio in Pioneer Square.

In 2021 I started Spice Art Club, an online community that more than 480 artists have been part of. Most of my work lives where those worlds meet: making things that help people feel a little more alive, and a little braver about making something of their own.