Requirements-first design

Before Figma.Before code.First.

The requirements layer missing from every design workflow. Brief it, style it, build it — in the right order, every time.

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Free to start · No card required · Loved by design teams
Brief Quality
73%Solid foundation
◈
✓
Problem statementDouble Diamond
✓
Primary userEmpathy
✓
Desired outcomeOutcome > Output
Primary taskTask Analysis
Edge casesDefensive Design
💡 Add detail on your primary task — what exact steps does the user take?
IBM Carbon
MUI
Custom
"The most expensive interface
is the one built without a brief."

Most software fails before anyone opens Figma. It fails in a meeting where a feature gets approved without a problem statement. First. puts the design thinking back where it belongs — at the very start.

How it works

Three steps.
One deliberate order.

01

Write your brief

Define the problem, the user, and the outcome you're chasing. First. coaches you with design thinking principles woven in — not a checklist, but a thinking aid that improves the quality of what gets built.

02

Configure your system

Choose IBM Carbon, Material UI, or paste your own token JSON. Set brand colours, button shapes, input style. Lock the design decisions that should be locked.

03

Build with purpose

Generate components that know who they're for and what problem they solve. Not generic AI output — requirement-grounded UI, built to your exact system, every time.

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Design thinking

First. champions the thinking behind the building.

These aren't principles written for a pitch deck. They're baked into every interaction — the hints, the scoring, the order of operations, the copy.

Read our manifesto ↗
01
Empathise before you execute
The fastest path to the wrong solution is skipping research. Even 20 minutes with a real user surfaces assumptions that invalidate weeks of work.
02
Requirements are a design artefact
A well-written brief isn't a constraint on creativity — it's the foundation that makes creativity defensible.
03
Define success before you define features
If you can't state a 10% improvement in plain numbers, you don't have a requirement. You have a preference.
04
The edge case is the real case
Error states and empty states are often the first thing new users see. Design them with the same rigour as the happy path.
05
Scope is a design decision
Every feature you add is a feature your user must understand. Subtraction is the hardest and most valuable design skill.
Built for the design market

Everything a design team needs.
Nothing they don't.

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Your design system, not ours

IBM Carbon and Material UI built in. Bring your own tokens via JSON. Every generated component is faithful to your system — no invented values.

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Persistent shell templates

Lock in your header and left nav. Focus entirely on the content area. Four shells — App, Analytics, Admin, Data — so you're never designing in a vacuum.

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Brief-grounded generation

Every component knows the user, the problem, the outcome, and the constraints. The AI doesn't guess — it reasons from requirements you've already written.

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Designed for designers

We read NN/g so you don't have to re-explain it to your PM. First. assumes you're a professional. No patronising tour. No tooltips explaining what a button is.

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"This is the missing conversation between why and what. We've shipped better work since we started with First."
Senior Product Designer · UK Fintech

Start with First.

Free to start. No credit card required.
For design teams who think before they build.

Write your first brief →Sign in