Frank's workspace · Studio · studio.smartrules.ai · review and proposal
The studio, reorganised around what you want to make
This page answers Frank's request of 03-10-2026:
- review the studio and say how badly it is organised;
- say what the tool is for;
- propose a reorganisation.
What is wrong? It is a pile, not a tool 215 records sorted three ways; half are tool reviews, and the working notes are published beside the rules.
What is it for? Showing what good looks like here When a page, film or speaker is asked for: the best examples, the model to copy, the recipe, the rules.
What to change? Eight doors, one per thing to make Each door shows our best examples first, then how to make one; tools and rules move to shelves behind.
1 · Review: why the studio is almost useless today
I read the live site on 03-10-2026, its catalogue file and its folder. The front door opens on "Your creative library", a search bar and 204 cards, of which 24 show at first. Nothing on it answers the question you arrive with: "I need a presentation, what does a good one look like here?"
| Fault | What I saw |
|---|---|
| Built as a library, not around a job | The cards are sorted by the kind of resource (recipe, tool, reference, principle), not by what you want to make. |
| Half of it is a tool catalogue | 99 of the 215 records are tool reviews: 36 video, 32 voice, 28 image. Interface design, the heart of the studio, has 45. Tools Frank owns already live in the kit. |
| Three sortings that disagree | The sidebar mixes media (UI, Voice, Video, Speakers, Images) with types (Workflows, References, Principles). The sub-pages carry another menu (Documents, Screens, Speakers, Motion, Diagrams, Inspiration, Publishing). The records use 23 different kinds for 215 items. The review of 15-08-2026 found the same fault; it is still there. |
| Two looks | The front door is a grey sidebar application; the sub-pages are serif documents with a top bar. A reader changes site at the first click. |
| The workroom is in the shop window | "The inbox", "Shown log", "Studio tool register", two reviews of the studio itself and 14 notes on online videos and models sit next to the rules, under "Principles". |
| Our best work is not the headline | The pages you approved (the analysis page, the liked models, the space registry form, the globes) are cards among 204, at the same size as a stylesheet file. |
| Sessions do not use the site | 24 skills point at the studio folder; they read its rule files, and only 2 touch the catalogue behind the front door. The site serves you alone, and does not serve you. |
| The folder carries two applications | 77,387 files. A design-system editor (2 gigabytes) and the FossFLOW diagram app (860 megabytes, 75,014 files) are bundled inside the studio and published with it. |
Verdict: the content is often good; the organisation hides it. The studio grew by adding and was sorted three times, each time by the type of document rather than by the job.
2 · Purpose: what I understand the studio is for
The studio is the single home for how things are made to look and sound in your work: pages, presentations, diagrams, films, speakers and voices. It has three readers, in this order:
- You, before a build: you want to see real pictures of what good looks like and pick one, rather than read rules.
- Claude sessions, when you ask for a good page, film or speaker: they need the model to copy, the recipe and the rules that apply, in that order.
- Colleagues: they take a capability away with its skill and use it with their own Claude.
In one line: ask "make me X", and the studio answers "here is what a good X looks like in this house, here is how to make one, here is the tool".
What it is not: a register of every tool tried (that is the kit), a log of the studio's own work, or a shelf of notes on videos watched. Those can stay in the folder; they should not be what a reader meets.
3 · The new shape: eight doors, four parts each
The front door asks one question, "What do you want to make?", and shows eight large tiles. Each tile carries a picture of the best example we have made of that thing.
| # | Door | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A document | Notes, analyses, plans, specifications, teaching pages, manuals |
| 2 | A public page or site | Homepages, landing pages, project sites: the showpieces |
| 3 | A presentation | Decks, talks with a speaker, posters |
| 4 | A diagram or concept picture | Concept drawings, globes, process and architecture diagrams |
| 5 | A form or app screen | Operator forms, citizen screens, mockups |
| 6 | A film or video | Product films, family videos, motion on a page |
| 7 | A speaker | A person who presents the page, from portrait to clip |
| 8 | A voice | Narration, dictation, voice agents |
Every door has the same four parts, in this order:
- Best examples: pictures of what we made and you approved, each opening the real page.
- Models to copy: the outside sites and liked models that set the look, with their pictures.
- How to make one: the skill to give Claude, the one sentence to say, and the steps.
- Rules and tools: only the rules that apply to this thing, and the tool comparison for it, with measured facts read from the kit.
Behind the eight doors, three shelves only, and search over everything:
- Rules: the twelve principles, the Kennedy shelf, taste.
- Tools: the four comparisons for video, voice, image and interface.
- Inspiration: galleries and liked models.
For Claude sessions: one map, read by the front door and by the skills alike. Each record says which door it serves and which of the four parts it is, replacing the 23 kinds. A session asked for a presentation reads the presentation door in order.
One menu and one look on every page: the eight doors and the three shelves, in the document look the sub-pages already use.
4 · What moves where
| Today | Goes to | How |
|---|---|---|
| Cards recipes, templates, examples (about 45) | Their door, parts 1 to 3 | Re-tagged in the catalogue; pictures kept |
| Tool reviews (99) | Tools shelf and part 4 of their door | Off the front door; measured facts point to the kit |
| Principles, Kennedy, taste, documentation design | Rules shelf | Each door links only the rules it needs |
| Galleries, liked models, benches | Inspiration shelf and part 2 of each door | Liked models tagged by door |
| Inbox, shown log, tool register, studio reviews, video notes | A working folder, not published | Stay on disk for sessions; leave the site |
| Design-system editor and FossFLOW apps | Their own project folders | Moved out of the studio; a link and a picture stay |
| The long guide file at the top of the folder | A short map for sessions | Twelve principles, the eight doors, where each part lives |
Nothing is deleted. Every page keeps its address or gets a redirect; only its place in the menus changes.
5 · Plan
Step 1 Agree the shape Your answers to the decisions below. People: you, one reading of this page
Step 2 Mockup first The new front door and one complete door (a document), clickable, with real pictures, for your verdict. Agent: about 1 session (estimate) · People: your verdict
Step 3 Re-tag and clear out 215 records given a door and a part; workroom files out of the site; the two applications moved. Agent: about 1 session (estimate)
Step 4 Build the eight doors All doors and the three shelves, one menu, one look; old addresses redirected. Agent: about 2 sessions (estimate) · People: a look at each door
Step 5 Point the skills at the doors The skills that ask for a good page, film or speaker read their door first. Agent: about 1 session (estimate)
What "working" means: you open the studio, click what you want to make, and see three good examples of it within five seconds; a session asked for that thing names the door it read and the example it copied.
6 · Decisions
- ?1 Organise the studio by what you want to make, with a front door of large tiles? (Yes/no. I would say yes, because it answers the question you arrive with, which no sorting by type does.)
- ?2 Which list of doors? (Pick one: the eight above, recommended · six, with speaker and voice inside film · your own list) Speaker and voice have enough approved work and tools to stand alone.
- ?3 Take the working notes (inbox, logs, registers, studio reviews, video notes) off the published site? (Yes/no. I would say yes, because sessions read them on disk and no reader needs them.)
- ?4 Move the design-system editor and FossFLOW out of the studio folder into their own project folders? (Yes/no. I would say yes, because they are 2.9 gigabytes of applications, not studio content.)
- ?5 Start with the mockup of the front door and the document door before touching the live site? (Yes/no. I would say yes, because the shape is judged on pictures before anything moves.)
Sources
- studio.smartrules.ai, front door and sub-pages, read and captured on 03-10-2026
- The studio folder in the workspace (System, ui-ux): README, catalogue file of 5 September 2026 (215 records, 99 tools), folder sizes and file counts, 03-10-2026
- The earlier review of 15-08-2026, "The new shape of the studio", in the studio's review folder
- The skills folder: which skills point at the studio and its catalogue
- Not seen: visit statistics for the site, so I cannot say which pages are used; whether FossFLOW and the design-system editor are still in use.
Claude, for Frank Updated · 03-10-2026 · 23:42