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03
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Specs
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9 Sep 2026
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5 min
Redlines versus specs
Why I still annotate screens even when the design system carries the spec.
A design system tells engineers what a button is. It does not tell them why this one is red or why it sits where it sits.
Annotate intent
Pins on the screen say what a part is for and what must not change. The numbers go in a list next to the image.
Annotate edge cases
Empty, loading, error, very long names. Anything that was not in the happy path gets a pin.