Visual Devs

In our latest edition of Founder Stories, we dive into the inspiring journey of Victor Giron, a senior product designer based in Cali, Colombia.

Most of us dream, but few take the steps required to take action. This is a tale of a Columbian Visual Developer who took matters into his own hands and built a future for himself where he is in charge and lives life on his terms.

Victor Giron is a visual developer from Cali, Colombia. Like most others, he has worked a nine-to-five job, and despite his success, he had a nagging feeling of unfulfilled potential that lingered in the back of his mind. 

He wanted something different - in terms of projects, creative freedom, innovation, and work-life flexibility. He wanted to build a skill that gave him just that, but he knew the transition wouldn’t be easy. Victor has freelanced for several years and is used to the uncertainty of getting clients and the constant grind of building a business. 

Victor wants a lifestyle where his work isn’t limited to being in a specific location. He aims to make himself replaceable to reduce his need to be in a specific timezone or location. This need for flexibility led him to explore the world of web development. 

Last year, Victor took a giant leap to start his agency, Visual Devs, a choice he thinks will bring him closer to his dream of more flexibility. 

It’s not easy to build anything from scratch, and Victor has been trying to build an agency for years without success. You need to build a constant flow of clients, which is one of his most complex challenges. 

No-Code offers a unique opportunity.

Initially, Victor dabbled in traditional programming, but he quickly realized his true passion lay in a more visual, design-oriented approach. Code is modular, and he needed a holistic view of the product he was used to as a designer. 

His discovery of no-code tools was a pivotal moment. It was the perfect blend of his skills and interests, a realm where design and functionality meet without the barriers of traditional coding. It gave him superpowers. Rather than handing over a design to a developer and compromising on his designs, he could now build anything. Or so it seemed. 

His journey started with Bubble, a popular no-code platform, where he learned to translate his designs into functional applications. The more he built, the more he wanted to see how deep the rabbit hole went. As he honed his visual developer skills, he realized that no-code software had limitations. 

• Limited Design Flexibility: The tools aren’t as easy to use as design tools like Figma, often resulting in unwanted compromises.
• Complexity in Advanced Features: The effort needed to implement and maintain complex web apps made custom code more attractive.
• Performance Issues: Most apps loaded slowly and were not an experience he’d want for his clients.
• Integration Limitations: It is hard to integrate with unsupported tools, which is necessary for most projects.
• Scalability Concerns: As his projects grew in size and complexity, he found that the platform didn’t scale as efficiently as needed.

He couldn’t risk his reputation and started searching for other tools. He’s gone through many builders; some come close and get him excited, but most just miss the mark.

A game-changer for Victor's vision

His journey took a turn when he discovered Toddle. Here was a platform that spoke directly to his needs - a tool that offered ease of use and the freedom to create without limits. 

It was just like Figma, but with the ability to bring my designs to life. -Victor G.  

In toddle, Victor found a platform that resonated with his values - freedom and control. He loves how toddle gives him full command over his creations, from the visuals to the intricate functionalities. 

• Visual Design Freedom: Victor uses toddle to create beautiful, highly functional designs. 
• Customizable Functionality: Beyond aesthetics, Victor can now build intricate, user-friendly interfaces packed with features without writing a single line of code.
• Integration Capabilities: Victor now integrates APIs and external services to create comprehensive solutions for his clients.
• Responsive Design: Every design is responsive and adaptable across different devices and scales to millions.

Freedom is the word Victor uses to describe toddle. The web app development platform empowers him to design and bring his ideas to life exactly as he envisions them. With this new skill, Victor is prepared to take a career-defining step and start the no-code agency he has tried many times to get the flexibility he wants. 

Building a Community and a Brand

For Victor, the journey isn't just about building apps; it's about creating a brand and a community. 

A big part of Victor’s success is his constant focus on sharing his work. He takes #buildinpublic to another level. He’s found that sharing his work and experiences allows him to connect with new prospects and build connections with like-minded individuals. The social media platform X has been crucial for his growth. He’s amassed almost 30k followers who follow his incredible journey from UX designer to Visual developer.

With this acquisition channel, it’s easier for him to build a sales pipeline and execute the work needed to grow the agency. 

What’s his secret sauce?

Victor delivers fast output because he works smart. The first thing he does before every project is to find or create a design system or UI kit. It’s a set of elements like buttons, modals, input fields, etc., that all have the same style and are reusable. This helps Victor copy/paste items in as he builds and is one of the secrets that helps him deliver great work lightning-fast. 

He chooses tools that give him the flexibility he needs to build pixel-perfect web apps and allow him to automate as much as possible. He can’t afford to replicate elements repeatedly and needs a system where he can reuse elements from other projects. 

Toddle is great for agencies.

According to Victor, the vital factor for an agency is collaborative work. You need a system where you don’t create bottlenecks and where you can easily share different versions of your work with clients.   

An excellent design system is key to limiting repetitive work, and you need it built into any project you work on. Toddle allows him to change all the colors, shapes, and elements in one place, which is very helpful for him as he builds. 

It’s easy to create reusable elements that you can use across multiple projects, limiting the time he has to build a web component with a similar functionality. The reusable components can be copied to any project he works on. Let’s say he has to build a booking platform for two clients; he simply duplicates a previous project and limits his work to tweaks in his design system and minor modifications the client may want. 

Agencies need a system that allows their teams to work independently of each other, and this is where branching comes in. On one project, Victor worked with another developer. The developer was working on logic for a component while Victor needed to work on the responsivity of the web app. Rather than holding him back, Victor created a new branch, adjusted what he needed to, and pushed the changes to the main environment without impacting the logic work. This is common in web development, where you use custom code and have tools like Git available.

Victor stands on the shoulders of giants. The active toddle community helps him with quick support whenever he needs it. There’s almost always someone who’s come across an issue before, and they are happy to help whenever he needs it. He has a direct line to toddle, but you often get community help in real-time.

Victor works on cool projects.

He’s not many months in but has already built a series of cool projects. His first project was his UI kit. 

He also built a SaaS dashboard that others can reuse as a shell for their SaaS project. It’s an outstanding shell to build upon with all the necessary elements and even a direct implementation of Charts from chart.js.

While Victor works on a series of other projects, he also has the time for hobby projects. He is attempting to build a fully-blown PIM (Product Inventory Management) software. He has a background in logistics, and this was a standard application that never worked as intended. He’s building one on his own; perhaps we’ll see it live soon.

The Future of Visual Devs

As Victor looks to the future, his goals are clear: He wants to build a team, expand his agency, and continue to leverage the power of visual development tools like toddle to transform ideas into reality. His story is a testament to the potential visual development in empowering designers and entrepreneurs. Victor's vision extends beyond digital products. He's deeply invested in his community. When he shares his journey and the intricacies of his work with Toddle, he's promoting his agency and inspiring a new generation of visual developers.

Victor's agency, Visual Devs, is a beacon in the visual development community; he continues to innovate and inspire. He now focuses on larger-scale projects and leverages the full potential of toddle to create solutions for more complex problems. The projects showcase the agency's technical prowess and commitment to making technology accessible and user-friendly.

It’s fun to follow his journey and see how he’s developed from a designer to a leader and mentor, guiding his team, community, and clients through the intricacies of visual development. He always focuses on collaboration and learning, fostering an environment where ideas flourish. That’s why his clients and partners come back repeatedly, and we can’t wait to see what he builds next.

Visual Devs is a gold partner agency, and we are proud to have Victor and the team as part of our community.