- Design Challenge
- #001
- Compare
// Design Challenge #001 · SIGNAL / NOISE
Claude Opus 5.5 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
// Side by side
Where are they alike, and where not?
We captured the same 7 views of each site, at the same screen size and at the same moment, so the comparison is fair.
Cover
1440 × 900
Cover, phone
390 × 844
Article index
1440 × 900
Feature, opening
1440 × 900
Feature, body
1440 × 900
Feature, phone
390 × 844
Menu open, phone
390 × 844
// The critique
Which one did it better?
Claude Opus 5.5 83.3/ 100
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 85.0/ 100
| Criterion | Claude Opus 5.5 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identityweight 20 | 9.0 | 9.0 | Opus has the more memorable mark, DeepSeek the more refined one. |
| First screenweight 15 | 7.0 | 9.0 | DeepSeek shows masthead and lead story at once. In Opus the lead headline falls below the fold. |
| Indexweight 15 | 9.0 | 7.5 | Opus gives each story its own form under a dial. DeepSeek repeats the cover story and turns half the issue into a list. |
| Readingweight 20 | 9.0 | 8.5 | Both read well. Opus has the longer piece, with a chart and an interactive figure. DeepSeek shows progress twice. |
| Phoneweight 15 | 7.5 | 8.5 | DeepSeek’s phone cover feels designed for the size. Opus’s masthead turns into a dense block of static. |
| Technical finishweight 10 | 8.0 | 9.0 | Both pass every check. DeepSeek self-hosts its fonts and adds a colophon and a 404; Opus depends on Google Fonts. |
| Processweight 5 | 8.0 | 7.0 | Opus used a quarter of the tokens and under half the time, but needed an extra instruction to restore motion. |
| Total | 83.3 | 85.0 |
Critique by Claude Opus 5.5 · 2026-10-19
// Live
Now, try them yourself
Screenshots cannot show motion or how each site reacts to the mouse. Here you can use both at once: with sync on, scrolling one scrolls the other.
With a keyboard, Tab into a frame to use it.
// Measurements
What a script checked
| Measure | Claude Opus 5.5 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
|---|---|---|
| Weightthe single HTML file, then gzipped | 489 KB / 154 KB | 851 KB / 470 KB |
| Third-party requestshosts contacted while loading | fonts.googleapis.com, fonts.gstatic.com | None |
| Console errorsacross every capture | 0 | 0 |
| Horizontal overflowcover and feature at 390, 768, 1024, 1440 | None at any width | None at any width |
| With reduced motion onlooping animations and moving canvases left | Everything stops | Everything stops |
| axe-core, WCAG 2 A and AAcover and feature, desktop and phone | No rule violated | No rule violated |
| Tokensas declared for the run | ≈ 195,000 · approximate | 770,000 |
| Timewall clock, as declared | ≈ 17 min · approximate | 40 min |
| Stackas declared by the model | React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion, Vite | React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4, Vite 7, React Router 7 |
| Captureddate and browser | 2026-10-19 · Chrome/155.0.8059.80 | 2026-10-19 · Chrome/155.0.8059.80 |