Behind “Fluid Motion”: A Retrospective

Run ID: 2026-01-13_001

The Concept

Liquid, flowing forms that suggest continuous movement

We set out to create something that felt dynamic, flowing, organic, alive, mesmerizing - an experience that would captivate visitors and demonstrate the possibilities of AI-assisted web development.

The color palette drew from: #0066FF, #00D4FF, #FF6B6B

How It Was Built

This experience was generated using an automated pipeline that combines:

fal.ai for image generation
Astro for static site generation
Cloudflare Pages for deployment
Playwright for visual testing

The entire process is orchestrated by a state machine that tracks obligations through a “beads” system - ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

Results

Validation Score: 64.6% (D)

The experience passed 10 of 0 acceptance criteria.

Budget

Spent: $0.034
Limit: $2.00
Efficiency: 1.7% of budget used

What Worked Well

Efficient budget utilization

Areas for Improvement

2 tests failed
1 unresolved blockers

Patterns Worth Replicating

Beads Obligation Tracking

Using typed beads to track cross-phase obligations

Outcome: 23 beads tracked across all phases

Budget-Aware Generation

Checking budget before each image generation

Outcome: Stayed within budget limits while generating quality imagery

Theme-Driven Design System

Generating design tokens from selected theme

Outcome: Consistent visual language throughout experience

Progressive Enhancement

Building animations that gracefully degrade

Outcome: Experience works without JS, respects user preferences

Automated Visual QA

Screenshot capture across viewports and motion preferences

Outcome: Visual baseline established for regression testing

Recommendations for Future Runs

Consider A/B testing different visual themes
Explore more advanced animation techniques
Add more comprehensive accessibility testing
Document design decisions more thoroughly

Conclusion

This run demonstrates that AI-assisted generation can produce quality experiential websites while staying within budget constraints. The beads system proved valuable for maintaining state across phases and ensuring all obligations were met.

Explore the experience

This retrospective was automatically generated as part of run 2026-01-13_001.