Disclosed herein are clutch and boom features that can enable the manipulation of user interface elements when using a touch-sensitive component to build or otherwise design a graphical display, such as a website, video game, magazine layout, etc. Upon touching user interface element to be manipulated, the user interface element can be targeted for manipulation. In response to a clutch user interface element being engaged, the targeted user interface element can be enabled for manipulation (e.g., colored, rotated, moved, etc.) by the user, while the non-targeted user elements are protected from manipulation. Boom is an example of manipulation functionality provided by some embodiments, which can be configured to move the targeted user interface element a precise amount (e.g., pixel-by-pixel).