Dive Club

Our reading — their words are on the recording

2:15
Our reading
Hiring managers can ask for a "design engineer" and mean two very different people: a designer who knows how to use Claude Code, or someone trained as an engineer who can design for themselves.
Their wordsThe way I kind of simplified my mind is like do you want a designer that knows how to use claw code because there's plenty of those or you want somebody who trained as an engineer, has background as an engineer that can design for themselves. Those are two very different profiles, but the same nomenclature gets used to like identify them.
Anthropic design hiring management
2:45
Our reading
The general theme from hiring managers is that they want a tinkerer who uses the latest tools and is reimagining what it means to be a designer.
Their wordsI think the the general theme that comes back is I want someone that is a tinkerer, you know, is using the latest tools, is reimagining what it means to be a designer.
design hiring management
8:38
Our reading
Many roles that used to be two or three different people are now being hired as one, whether or not that is right.
Their wordsA lot of the roles that used to be two to three different people, people are going for one. Whether that's right or whether that's wrong, it's happening, right?
team size
9:03
Our reading
You can expect one person to have much more leverage than before, because the tools turn work that took days into hours.
Their wordsyou can expect the one person to have way more leverage than before just because they've got access to all these tools that before I I think that that is definitely something even when I look at my my own day-to-day things that used to take me days now take me hours
agency
12:10
Our reading
Being ex-FAANG used to carry a lot more weight; it is still some signal that you can interview well.
Their wordsI think there was a world before where you know being exfang being it had a lot more weight to it. I'm not saying it's not important at all anymore because it's I guess still some signal that you can interview well
hiring
12:32
Our reading
Hiring managers' bias is to doubt that someone who spent five to ten years at FAANG has really been at the forefront, pushing and tinkering.
Their wordsI think people's biases go towards like hey you know if they've been at fang for like 5 10 years then have they really been at the forefront have they really been pushing have they really been tinkering
hiring management

Geoff TeehanNavigating change as a designerChief Design Officer at Lightspark, and co-founder of the design firm Teehan+Lax, which Meta/Facebook acquired in 2015.23 Sept 2026 · 51m · 15 korrentsOn software quality

Geoff Teehan - Navigating change as a designer

Geoff Teehan

Our reading — their words are on the recording

17:09
Our reading
Some of the software problems perceived as boring are critical, useful and impactful.
Their wordsI think that like some of the more perceived boring things are just so critical. And I think it's and and so useful and so impactful.
software quality
17:35
Our reading
B2B systems are used by human beings, and if one is designed really well they will use it more, think more positively about it, trust it more and become its advocate.
Their wordsThese are still human beings that are ultimately using the system and if it's designed really well they'll use it more. They'll they'll they'll use it more efficiently. They'll think more positively about it. They'll trust it more and they'll become your advocate.
design
24:08
Our reading
Good teams keep asking what could make something better and how it could be different, but not just for difference's sake.
Their wordsit's questioning those things like what could make this better? How could this be different but not just for a different sake? And I think we ask that question all the time.
curiosity
24:22
Our reading
With abundance, you no longer have to debate and prioritize an idea and get approval just to learn whether it is any good; you build it and then you decide.
Their wordsYou don't have to debate an idea. prioritize it, get approval, assign a team just to learn if your idea is any good. You build it and then you decide.
product management
25:37
Our reading
Cheap building will not mean making the same amount of software faster; it will mean making way more software.
Their wordsI don't think it means that we're going to make the same amount of software faster. I think what it really means is we're just going to make way more software.
developer tools
26:18
Our reading
Making something and making something permanent are two really different decisions, and with abundance we need to figure out what lasts.
Their wordsjust making something and then making something permanent are two really different decisions. I think that like that's just a big distinction is that we're just going to have we have this abundance. We need to figure out what what lasts.
design

Nev FlynnBringing artful expression into enterprise designHead of Design at ElevenLabs, previously Head of Product at Evervault.15 Sept 2026 · 49m · 20 korrentsOn coding agents, creativity and Google

Nev Flynn - Bringing artful expression into enterprise design

Nev Flynn

Our reading — their words are on the recording

1:42
Our reading
Pairing a creative director with a top WebGL specialist leaves zero technical or creative limit to what can be done.
Their wordsI often say like if you work with him in like a kind of a creative director WebGL person pairing there's like zero technical or creative limit to what can be done.
creativity design
2:37
Our reading
It is worth lobbying and making the case for hiring specialists rather than another generalist, because specialists can do marvelous things.
Their wordspeople maybe think we should hire another generalist, you know, because it's obvious, but I think worth lobbying and worth making the case for these types of people because you can do just you can do marvelous things.
hiring
15:04
Our reading
Early-stage companies often lose their expressive, artful work as they grow into enterprises, and if you can keep it, you should.
Their wordsI think we oftentimes see really early stage companies that do incredible expressive artful things and they kind of grow into like bigger enterprise companies and they maybe lose a little bit of that but I never really want us to lose any of that and I think if you can then then you should
creativity
22:27
Our reading
To get people to understand that artful work is worth doing, you need to do it and have it work: showing, not telling.
Their wordsYou need to do that and have it work in order for people to understand that it's worth doing. So kind of showing not not telling
24:17
Our reading
As a small design team, you should not stand in the way of engineers designing with coding agents but find ways to support them.
Their wordsI think as a small team, we definitely don't want to be the people that stand in the way of progress there, but rather find ways to support them
coding agents design
25:36
Our reading
Cutting a design system down, for example fewer size variants of a button, makes it more tightly scoped, which is a good thing when the consumer is an agent.
Their wordsagent optimization lands that's just like one more variant to kind of get wrong. So I think if you can apply that principle to the whole system, you can make it much more tightly scoped which is which is a good thing.
design

Ed BayesDesigning 6 months into the future at OpenAIMember of Design Staff at OpenAI, where he works on coding agents and leads design for Codex and ChatGPT Work.9 Sept 2026 · 47m · 18 korrentsOn LLMs, agency and coding agents

Ed Bayes - Designing 6 months into the future at OpenAI

Ed Bayes

Our reading — their words are on the recording

1:44
Our reading
A good framework for designing products is to design for six months out: presume model capabilities will get better and build for the world you would then be in.
Their wordsOne of the the key kind of frameworks I use here is like designing for 6 months out. So if you just presume that model capabilities are going to get better and you think about where we might be in six months and you kind of start to build products for that world that's kind of a good framework to to use
LLMs design
5:18
Our reading
Making coding-agent interfaces more accessible expands the power of coding agents to more people, which developers got early and everyone else is now getting to know.
Their wordscreating these like really accessible interfaces just really expands the access of the power of coding agents to more and more people, which developers kind of got early and now I think rest of folks are kind of uh getting to know as well.
coding agents developer tools
8:50
Our reading
A key challenge as agent products become more accessible is bringing safety thinking along and keeping people in control, so that, for example, a connected Gmail does not send emails without approval.
Their wordsone of the key challenges now as we as we move into this this world where we're making these products way more accessible is also bringing a lot of that safety thinking and you know keeping people in control. So for example, say you connect your your Gmail, right? You know, it shouldn't just send emails for you every time you have to approve things.
design AI agents
10:00
Our reading
The final patterns for agent interfaces are not locked down at all.
Their wordsSo, no, I I don't think we're locked down at all um in terms of kind of the final patterns and and I think you're starting to see that now.
coding agents design
11:29
Our reading
Design teams work better structured around giving designers broad scope than around features and narrow parts of the pie.
Their wordsthe way I like to structure teams is actually kind of less around features and you know kind of like narrow parts of the pie and trying to give designers like a broad scope
design management
11:38
Our reading
Design can add value across the whole range of the product development life cycle; it is not last-mile polish but a lot of early product thinking and exploration.
Their wordsmy just like general philosophy is design can add value, you know, across the whole range of the product development life cycle. It's not this kind of last mile polish. It's it's a lot of like early product thinking explorations.
design

Evil RabbitThe story of Evil Rabbit and designing VercelFounding designer at Vercel, where he leads the creative and brand team.2 Sept 2026 · 51m · 15 korrentsOn agency, creativity and developer tools

Evil Rabbit - The story of Evil Rabbit and designing Vercel

Evil Rabbit

Our reading — their words are on the recording

12:53
Our reading
Everybody moving to sidebars is not something to be happy about; there are other ways to make it work.
Their wordsBut you know, everybody is now moving to cybars. Not that happy. You know, I feel that there are other ways that we can make it work.
design
17:58
Our reading
One of the hardest things is to say no to incredible ideas and incredible products.
Their wordsone of the hardest things and I and I I saw this recently is actually to say no to these incredible ideas, to these incredible products, you know.
product management
19:57
Our reading
You should not need to read the name Vercel to feel that a website, landing page or billboard is Vercel's.
Their wordsYou don't need to read Versel to actually feel Versel, to actually see that that piece, that website, that landing page, that billboard is from Versel.
design
20:58
Our reading
A product that feels neutral enough becomes transparent: it helps you go from zero to one without being in your face.
Their wordswhen you create a product that feels neutral enough it is transparent it's there it helps you to go from zero to one, but you don't see it. It's not in your face.
design
22:40
Our reading
What Vercel's brand got right was keeping everything super minimal, simple and easy to digest.
Their wordsThe things that we did right was, you know, keeping everything super super minimal, you know, um, simple and and and easy to digest
design
25:47
Our reading
A design team needs three pillars: design engineering, product, and creative or brand.
Their wordsI think we need three pillars here. We need to we need the design engineering pillar, we need product and we need creative or creative/brand.
design

John BaiThe Grok Bot design journeyDesigner at SpaceXAI in New York working on Grok Bot, and the first New York design hire at Cursor.25 Aug 2026 · 48m · 20 korrentsOn product management

John Bai - The Grok Bot design journey

John Bai

Our reading — their words are on the recording

8:12
Our reading
Designing today means testing a concept, fleshing it out if it has legs, and scrapping it altogether if it doesn't rather than wasting time.
Their wordsI think that's kind of the way that we design these days which is you test out a concept and if it feels like it has legs you should flesh it out further but you know if it doesn't then maybe scrap it all together and and don't waste your time
design
9:26
Our reading
Before starting in Cursor there is still a need to visualise an idea, to know how to communicate the concept back to Cursor.
Their wordsSo, I wouldn't say I start with cursor immediately. I think there still is the need for me to visualize it so that I know how in turn to communicate the concept back to cursor.
coding agents
11:20
Our reading
Figma is still the appropriate place to build visual conviction around an idea before committing to prototyping it.
Their wordsI think Figma is still the appropriate place to generate and build some visual conviction around an idea before you start committing to actually prototyping it.
design
13:12
Our reading
Despite the push to move away from chat interfaces, chat is still the right way to interact with a fleet of agents carrying out tasks defined ahead of time.
Their wordsThere's a lot of discourse online these days about like we need to move away from the the chat interface and you know even if I complain about the three column approach to it. I think as I was using it it became clear this is still the right way for us to interact with a fleet of what are essentially agents carrying out tasks that are defined to them ahead of time.
chat interfaces
13:47
Our reading
Part of the game with prototyping quickly is that you learn lessons early and use them to inform the next step.
Their wordsPart of the the game with prototyping quickly is that you learn these lessons early and you use that to inform the next step.
design
18:28
Our reading
When the audience is engineers who pay for something specific, the exploratory phase is the chance to try throwaway concepts, expecting to throw them away, and have fun with it.
Their wordswhen your target audience is engineers that expect something, they pay for something very specific. The exploratory phase becomes the opportunity for a designer to try out some of these more throwaway concepts. And I think you need to go into it expecting to fully throw them away, but to try it and to have fun with it.
design

Patrick MorganBuilding a custom prototyping playgroundProduct designer at Sublime Security, the email security company, and writer of the Unknown Arts newsletter.18 Aug 2026 · 54m · 15 korrentsOn coding agents and developer tools

Patrick Morgan - Building a custom prototyping playground

Patrick Morgan

Our reading — their words are on the recording

6:50
Our reading
Design principles that are lightweight and high level, kept in the repo beside the prototypes, can be used by an agent as a tool for design.
Their wordsThey're pretty lightweight. They're not super specific in terms of like exact execution or anything. They're higher level principles. But because these live in the repo here alongside the prototypes, the agent can reference them in this way to be able to use them as a tool for design
design
10:47
Our reading
Moving from static design tools to prototypes in code has helped systems-level design work, because you cannot easily grasp the many combinations of states until you have something in some form of code.
Their wordsdoing that kind of work in like a static environment detached from the code was always way harder than it probably needed to be because you're think trying to think through like a ton of different combinations of states that are just hard to gro until you actually get something in some form of code to be able to understand whether your your idea even makes any sense at all
design
15:09
Our reading
Before an agent generates any UI for an exploration, have it describe the approaches in text, which is quicker to judge as directionally right or wrong.
Their wordsI would be probably having it before it actually generates any UI here at all. I would just have it describe these potential approaches to me in text and I would review it that way because it would be quicker for me to gro like that seems directionally right, that seems directionally wrong
coding agents design
16:48
Our reading
Prototypes that look almost production-fidelity but are not quite right mislead people and open a communication gap.
Their wordsI didn't want to mislead people by creating something that was like almost production fidelity but not actually production fidelity. and then I end up with this big communication gap of like people looking at something very high fidelity but it's not quite right and so they misinterpret
21:45
Our reading
Agentic coding harnesses letting you give specific feedback directly on elements was a huge unlock for design workflows.
Their wordseven my workflow has changed so much just since the agentic coding harnesses released this ability to just directly give specific feedback on elements. That was a huge unlock
coding agents design
24:03
Our reading
In a design tool built for agents, you cannot assume the human user will do any of it; the agent always acts on their behalf.
Their wordsI cannot assume that the human user will be doing any of it. it's always the agent doing stuff on their behalf
design

Kyle ZantosOur AI design workflows have changed (again)Product designer and builder of AI tools and workflows, including a content system for Dive Club; Dive Club's first three-time guest.11 Aug 2026 · 51m · 12 korrentsOn developer tools

Kyle Zantos - Our AI design workflows have changed (again)

Kyle Zantos

All 12 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

3:42
Our reading
Visualising everything your agents produce has been huge.
Their wordsSo just visualizing everything from your agents has been huge.
AI agents
4:26
Our reading
Ask agents for the closest possible representation of a thing, so an idea is approved on more than a best guess.
Their wordsmy directive is always give me the closest possible representation of the thing so that when I say, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Implement that." I'm doing it from a not best guess, but like I can tell that this is the direction we want to do.
LLMs
21:16
Our reading
An agent should reach a solid bar on its own, so the designer works from what they like and don't like rather than correcting obvious poor visual design like an intern's.
Their wordsI didn't want to keep telling it to fix stuff like you would tell like an intern. Let's hit the bar of solid and then I'm working from what I like and don't like, not just like this is an obvious poor visual design decision.
design
24:40
Our reading
Seeing each version an agent pipeline produces, instead of a black box, shows where the process is too weak.
Their wordsinstead of having the black box of like I told you to go through all these iterations now I see V3, but I don't know what happened along the way. And seeing it visually like this, especially while I'm developing this pipeline, lets me find like, man, review between one and two, the review is too weak.
26:20
Our reading
A visual eval lets designers who are not in the code build complex tooling and autonomous runs they can still shape and control the way they are used to.
Their wordsI'm just thinking differently of like yeah it's like an eval. It's like a visual eval that us not being in the code, we can make more complex tooling and flows like this and autonomous runs that we still get to manifest and tweak and control basically the same way that we're used to.
design
31:03
Our reading
Giving agents something they can touch, together with your spoken description of it, is a recurring theme in the AI design tooling being built now.
Their wordsWe're continuously trying to describe and like put something into the agents hands quote unquote or or make it something they can touch so that the touch identifier of exactly this thing and you can see all the code and what it is that I'm talking about and my talking about it that combo is seems like a theme in a lot of the stuff we've been building.
design

Nate ParrottHow a Side Project Became Claude DesignDesigner at Anthropic who started Claude Design; earlier a founding designer at The Browser Company.4 Aug 2026 · 52m · 19 korrentsOn Anthropic, LLMs and creativity

Nate Parrott - How a Side Project Became Claude Design

Nate Parrott

Our reading — their words are on the recording

1:44
Our reading
Models are getting better at design but are still really far from having good taste, so the designer makes up for that by asking for sheer volume of options.
Their wordsthe models are getting better and better at design, but they're still really really far from being good and really really far from having good taste. And so typically what I will do is I will just you know ask them to make up for that in terms of sheer volume.
creativity design taste
2:45
Our reading
Treat the model a little like a junior designer: let it mock things up fast and give it feedback with your own taste.
Their wordsI'll treat it as like a little bit of a junior designer and I'll say, "Let me give you feedback. Let me use my taste alongside your ability to mock things really really fast.
design taste
8:03
Our reading
Instead of making only a deck, a prototype or an animation, you can make something in the middle between them.
Their wordsyou can exist in the middle ground. Like you can make a deck or you can make a prototype or you can make an animation, but you can also just make something that's right in the middle between all of this.
creativity
16:32
Our reading
Every designer should use Claude Code if part of the team's end product is code, because it beats going back and forth with an engineer.
Their wordsevery designer should be using cloud code if part of your team's end product is coding if only because it's so much easier than going back and forth with an engineer and like bugging them to make changes and hoping they have the patience to wait and get it right.
coding agents Anthropic design
16:50
Our reading
As building software gets easier, the differentiator becomes design, ideas, positioning and creativity.
Their wordsAs it becomes easier and easier to build software, the question of what you build becomes more and more important. design becomes really really valuable when the engineering becomes compressed and I don't want to say commoditized but like a little bit of like now everybody has a baseline level of really good software engineering available to them and so of course the differentiator is going to be your design and your ideas and your positioning and your creativity
creativity design ideas vs execution
18:06
Our reading
There is no be-all end-all design tool: the new tools are early, and polished ones like Figma, After Effects and Origami are still very useful.
Their wordsI don't think there's any beall end all design tool out there. We're still in a world where, you know, everything is fairly rough. There's a lot of new possibilities that you can unlock with tools like clut design or paper, but they're all pretty early. Really polished tools like Figma and After Effects and Origami are still super super useful.
design

Charlie DeetsDesigning the internet computerDesigner at The Browser Company working on Dia, previously on the Human Interface Design team at Apple and the fourth designer at WhatsApp.29 Jul 2026 · 54m · 18 korrentsOn simplicity, agency and creativity

Charlie Deets - Designing the internet computer

Charlie Deets

Our reading — their words are on the recording

12:20
Our reading
In utility-style apps especially, practical decisions sometimes end up being the most valuable and the least disruptive for people coming from something else.
Their wordsBut when working on utility style apps especially, sometimes the practical decisions end up being the most valuable and cause the least interruption of like user experiences if they're coming from something else.
design
12:45
Our reading
Simple, practical decisions executed at a really high level often give a feeling of confidence in the experience.
Their wordsif you have these simple practical decisions that are executed at a really high level, I think it gives you a feeling of confidence often with like the experience you're interacting with.
design simplicity ideas vs execution
13:14
Our reading
It is really important that people have a framework of thinking of their own for what they want to do with design, because tools are changing rapidly and it is easy to be pulled into a tool that then guides your path.
Their wordsit's really important that people have like a framework of thinking for themselves defining what they want to be doing with design because like as you know tools are changing rapidly around us and it's very easy to get pulled into the tool and the tool guides your path of like what you're doing more
agency design
14:14
Our reading
Holding a framework of your own becomes thematic across your work, so people know what you want to do and you get the kind of work you want.
Their wordsI do really think over the course of a lot of different work that you make if you really have something like that, it starts to be thematic through your work and then like people know what you want to do and you'll get the type of work that you want to be doing.
agency
15:47
Our reading
A designer's edge now is pulling things back, making them simpler and more understandable, because everyone can kind of execute right now.
Their wordsI I can pull things back. I can make it simpler. I can make it more understandable for the user. And yes, I care about making sure that button works exactly right or whatever. And I could have went in in there and fixed it. But if I keep staying like on this end of the equation where I'm thinking in this realm, I'm more novel over there than I am in the execution realm cuz like everyone can kind of execute right now.
design simplicity ideas vs execution
18:46
Our reading
Communication is also a skill of design, more than anything: being able to communicate quickly and set the boundaries of what is being done, what is not, and how far to take it.
Their wordsCommunication is also a skill of design more than anything. And being able to communicate quickly, get it through, like set the boundaries of what we're doing, what we're not doing, like how far to take it.
design

Pablo StanleyProtecting your creativity in an AI worldDesigner and builder on the creative team at Vercel, working on v0, and co-founder of Lummi, the AI image platform Udemy acquired in 2025.21 Jul 2026 · 51m · 16 korrentsOn LLMs, creativity and curiosity

Pablo Stanley - Protecting your creativity in an AI world

Pablo Stanley

All 16 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

9:08
Our reading
An LLM works far more easily on a canvas built in basic HTML, the language it actually understands.
Their wordsI'm just going to do it everything from scratch but now with actual basic HTML. And then that's when I jumped into this. And then it was magic. Then it was so easy because then suddenly the LM was using the actual in the canvas the actual language that it understands.
LLMs
9:33
Our reading
Going down a rabbit hole has a limit: there has to be a moment where you say this is dumb and stop, rather than keep pushing whenever things get hard.
Their wordsyou need to know when to stop and when to say like okay this is dumb this is not working the usual commentary and the usual belief is like you have to keep pushing man you have to whenever things get hard you just have to keep pushing and it's like no no no hold there has to be a moment where you say like no this is dumb
discipline
18:45
Our reading
Success is probably measured wrongly when it is judged by the amount of output or the quality of that output.
Their wordswe measure I think wrongly we measure or value or success or I don't know by the amount of output or the quality of that output.
benchmarks
20:01
Our reading
Directing agents is a different way of creating that requires a different part of the brain, and it could be argued to be less creative than making by hand.
Their wordsI feel it's a different way of creating it. It requires I think a different part of your brain, you know, and you could argue that managing directing is not as creative.
creativity design
27:52
Our reading
Delegating to LLMs instead of to junior designers means the knowledge and judgment of experienced designers no longer reaches juniors.
Their wordsBut all that knowledge that you might have and all that judgment and filtering that you will do as a potentially a more a designer that has had some years under your belt is not going to a junior designer anymore. It's just going to another model.
LLMs AI and jobs design
28:26
Our reading
Those who prevail will probably be those who do not delegate everything to the tool but come with curiosity and use it to transform and amplify ideas.
Their wordsthat's where I think we're going where those who are going to prevail are are going to be those who just like use the tool in a way that transforms new creations and that don't just delegate everything to the tool but actually come with curiosity
LLMs curiosity creativity

Jason YuanDesigning 99 "No"s for a single "Yes"Designer and founder of Hivemind, a social AI that talks one-on-one with many people at once, and earlier co-founder of New Computer, maker of the Dot assistant.15 Jul 2026 · 57m · 18 korrentsOn taste, creativity and simplicity

Jason Yuan - Designing 99 "No"s for a single "Yes"

Jason Yuan

Our reading — their words are on the recording

11:41
Our reading
Everything shipped is the distillation of the 99 nos that preceded it.
Their wordsEvery single thing we shipped is the distillation of a 99 nose that preceded it.
ideas vs execution
12:36
Our reading
Slop and random gradients cannot just be shipped; random gradients feel so 2016.
Their wordsWe can't just like ship slop. We can't just have like have random gradients. Like that's so 2016.
design taste
16:30
Our reading
People are probably not that busy in general; most people do not need a personal assistant to manage their life, unlike people in tech.
Their wordspeople are not that busy. Like people in tech are busy. People in Silicon Valley and students and we are busy, but a soccer mom in the Midwest with one PTA meeting a week is not going to need a personal assistant to manage their life.
America
18:15
Our reading
Everything is art when done well; at the highest levels of any craft, whether design, research or engineering, the work looks more like art.
Their wordslooks more like art. I would say like Ilas Kever is one of the greatest artist of our generation even though people consider him a researcher. I think everything is art when you do it well.
design taste
20:05
Our reading
All great stories are true stories, even if they are fiction.
Their wordsAll great stories are true stories, even if they're fiction is is what I believe.
taste
22:10
Our reading
Work should live in the same space as the office; surrounding yourself with it maximizes exposure to the work and the ability to connect the dots.
Their wordsyou have to just let the work live in the same space as you know your office and like doing the work. you just surround yourself with the work and that that sort of maximizes your exposure to to the work and your ability to connect the dots so to speak.
creativity

Meaghan ChoiDesigning Claude Code (and what's coming next)Design Lead for Claude Code at Anthropic.8 Jul 2026 · 53m · 20 korrentsOn simplicity, developer tools and product management

Meaghan Choi - Designing Claude Code (and what's coming next)

Meaghan Choi

Our reading — their words are on the recording

3:38
Our reading
The invisible thinking behind a product, the mental model, the interaction model and the base primitives, has long been the unsung hero of product designers.
Their wordsthe invisible thinking that goes behind building a product. That's one that I think I expect and hire for at Anthropic and I think has been the long unsung hero of product designers everywhere is like the mental model, the interaction model, like the base primitives that compose how you think about what you're interacting with.
design
5:03
Our reading
Developers expect a CLI to be extraordinarily information dense, showing more than a graphical interface would, because a CLI has no progressive disclosure.
Their wordsBecause you're serving developers, they have very specific expectations with the CLI actually that you want it to be extraordinarily information dense. Like you would show more in a CLI than you would ever probably show in like a guey, like a graphical interface, because there's no such thing as progressive disclosure.
developer tools
5:27
Our reading
In a terminal, keyboard shortcuts are massive, because they are the primary way of interacting.
Their wordskeyboard shortcuts are massive. I would say like there are power tools like Figma and other places where they do consider keyboard heavier but like the primary way you interact with a terminal is keyboard shortcuts.
developer tools
9:18
Our reading
It is really important that people feel a little bit of warmth from AI tools, and they should not be super detached from them.
Their wordsI think it's really important that you feel a little bit of warmth from these tools. You don't want to be super super detached from them.
empathy design
13:47
Our reading
The aim is to avoid inventing new UI and to make a tool feel so natural that it becomes part of the workflow.
Their wordsThe UI part of itself is extremely simple because in my goal, we're trying not to invent new UI. We want it to feel so natural that it just becomes intrinsically part of your workflow.
design simplicity
33:37
Our reading
Work on the user model, relationship and behavior is the really important design thinking, while design polish pieces are really easy to offload.
Their wordsThose are the really important pieces that we spend a lot of time thinking on that we won't offload because it's about the user model relationship and behavior and like these design polish pieces or some of these updated ones are like really easy ones to offload.
design

Meng ToCodex superpowers for designersDesigner and founder of Design+Code, which teaches designers code and developers design, and builder of the apps Aura and DreamCut.30 Jun 2026 · 35m · 18 korrentsOn LLMs, AI slop and coding agents

Meng To - Codex superpowers for designers

Meng To

Our reading — their words are on the recording

7:08
Our reading
Designers have to build their own tools, because the tools that exist are never good enough.
Their wordsI think designers have to build their own tools because the tools that we have are never good enough.
design
10:22
Our reading
Agents working locally can be far more powerful than any private walled garden that exists out there in the cloud.
Their wordsbecause Codex works really well locally and agents can do it far more powerful than any private walled garden that exists out there in the cloud
LLMs coding agents the cloud
10:43
Our reading
When you work solo, discovering as you work rather than planning all the ideas in advance is a superpower and the way to move away faster than anyone else.
Their wordsI don't plan things. I don't like have a giant blueprint where I just plan all the ideas in advance uh because when when you work solo, this is your superpower like this is how you move away faster than anyone else.
agency
12:46
Our reading
A skill is basically a prompt, sometimes a large one, more like a style guide: the best practice for taste, which font to use, and how to guide AI not to create AI slop.
Their wordsA skill is is basically a prompt, sometimes a large prompt. You can think about what is the best like what is the best practice. It's more like a style guide. What is the best practice for taste, which font to use, you know, how do you guide AI to not create AI slop. So, the skill would be great for that.
LLMs taste AI slop
13:03
Our reading
If you always chase the trends you will become AI slop very soon, so always be a step ahead of the baseline, like playing chess.
Their wordsThe thing is that if you always chase the trends, you will become AI slop very soon. So, my suggestion to you is always be a step ahead. It's like playing chess. You have to be always a step ahead of what is the baseline.
creativity AI slop
13:47
Our reading
The only way to stay ahead of the baseline is to spend that last 10%.
Their wordsSo you have to always be ahead. And the only way you can be ahead is just to to to spend that last 10%.
ambition

Loredana CrisanFigma's big bets for the future of AI designChief Design Officer at Figma, who also leads product alongside design.24 Jun 2026 · 50m · 22 korrentsOn taste and creativity

Loredana Crisan - Figma's big bets for the future of AI design

Loredana Crisan

All 22 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

7:19
Our reading
Really good performance expertise requires time; even people with great aptitude still need to put in the work to become an incredible designer.
Their wordsReally good performance expertise requires time. Nobody, even somebody with like incredible aptitude or, you know, biological, uh, you know, aptitude towards a task still needs to put in the work to get to the NBA, to be a brilliant pianist, to like be an incredible designer.
design
7:38
Our reading
The idea that people with taste were miraculously born with it is very much not true.
Their wordsAnd taste is a shorthand for like this person has it and they're miraculously somehow were born with it. It's very very much not true.
taste
8:12
Our reading
Taste equals care; the experiences recognized as tasteful or good are the ones that are very intentional.
Their wordsAnd so for me taste equals care from that perspective and the experiences that we recognize as tasteful, things that we recognize as good, they actually are experiences that are just very very intentional.
taste
8:50
Our reading
Care is taking the time to anticipate and consider how other people might feel; what gets called taste is, at the end, just hard work.
Their wordsAll of that stuff is care. It's taking the time to anticipate, to simulate, to consider how other people might feel, to put yourself in other people's shoes. And yes, like we say it's taste at the end, but it's just hard work.
taste
9:49
Our reading
When everyone has the power to build, the need to stand out is elevated.
Their wordsI actually think that what happens when everyone has the power to build is is actually it elevates the need to stand out.
10:48
Our reading
AI works as a tool that helps create what is in your head, not as the output; when people realize something was created only by AI, they disengage.
Their wordsAI is a tool in the process to help you create what's in your head very much a fan of. AI is the output very much kind of down on. So when people realize that what's being put in front of them is inauthentic and it's just created by AI, they disengage.

Brett WilliamsHow a Visual Designer Became a BuilderFounder of Designjoy, the one-person subscription design studio.16 Jun 2026 · 50m · 16 korrentsOn LLMs, Anthropic and taste

Brett Williams - How a Visual Designer Became a Builder

Brett Williams

All 16 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

9:12
Our reading
Writing one sweeping prompt to do everything leaves a lot to tweak, troubleshoot and debug afterwards.
Their wordsI don't like to just create one sweeping prompt to do everything cuz then I have to go back and tweak it and troubleshoot and debug it and all that sort of stuff.
9:56
Our reading
The last 20% of building an app with AI is like 80% of the time.
Their wordsit's like the last 20% of building an app with AI is like 80% of your time.
LLMs code generation
14:06
Our reading
To get what you want from Claude you have to know what you should do and be able to describe how; it rarely gets it right the first time, so it takes many iterations.
Their wordsyou have to know what you should do, right? And then you have to be able to describe how you should do it. You go through many iterations, of course. Like it rarely gets it right the first time.
Anthropic
14:29
Our reading
You can tell Claude exactly what you want as long as you know how to describe it, and it will eventually get there, though perhaps not on the first, second or third try.
Their wordsI could tell Claude exactly what I want as long as I know how to describe it and it'll actually output that. It may not output it the first time or the second time or the third time, but it'll eventually get there.
LLMs Anthropic
19:41
Our reading
It is much easier to copy a tool one-for-one than to start from a blank slate and think through all the edge cases.
Their wordsI feel like it's much easier to copy a tool one-for-one than like start with a blank slate, you know, from scratch and then like have to think through all these edge cases
code generation
21:52
Our reading
Some knowledge is needed to get over the obstacles AI tools run into.
Their wordsSo, there it's like you do have to have some knowledge in order to get over some of those obstacles.
LLMs

Ron GoldinBuilding your ideas as a design leaderDesign leader who has led design at Google, Shopify and Uber Eats, and co-founded the brand-partnerships product MTCHMKR.9 Jun 2026 · 54m · 19 korrentsOn management, courage and product management

Ron Goldin - Building your ideas as a design leader

Ron Goldin

Our reading — their words are on the recording

17:17
Our reading
A player coach manages a smaller team while building together with it, rather than sitting in an ivory tower doing performance reviews and alignment meetings.
Their wordsYou're managing the team, but you're also with the team. Like you're building things together. you know, you're kind of not in this ivory tower just doing performance reviews and alignment meetings while the IC's are doing the things the IC's do
AI alignment management
18:07
Our reading
Prototypes win arguments: moving from slide decks and PRDs to something people can feel and react to gets them psyched.
Their wordsprototypes win arguments, right? Prototypes get people psyched. like you know moving away from slide decks, moving away from PRDs, moving into like something that people can actually feel and react to
JavaScript design
19:04
Our reading
Managers who are curious and crafty can do a lot more with their 40 hours, because prototyping is now about a hundredth of the effort it used to be.
Their wordsyou can do that in like 100th of the speed. And so I think for managers who are curious and crafty, they can do a lot more with their day with the 40 hours that they have
management
25:41
Our reading
Managers having the courage to push on AI tools and dogfood them, instead of sending them to the team and hoping they work, matters.
Their wordsthat courage of like being able to sort of push on these tools A and B dog fooding tools instead of just like sending them over to your team and hoping that they work
courage management
27:48
Our reading
Some of the best design leaders are people who have spent some time being entrepreneurs or working in early stage companies, because of the ownership.
Their wordssome of the best design leaders are people that have spent some amount of time being entrepreneurs or working in early stage companies again because of that ownership thing
design
28:26
Our reading
More companies look at things built outside of work not as extra credit but as possible reasons to hire, in addition to or even over traditional work experience.
Their wordsI'm definitely seeing more companies that are looking at things that you built outside of work, not as extra credit, but as possibly reasons to get jobs in addition to or even over traditional work experience
hiring

Andy MadrickWhy AI changed design handoff foreverProduct designer who led the design of Notion's meeting notes as of May 2026, previously at Tome and Mercury.26 May 2026 · 52m · 20 korrentsOn coding agents, vibe coding and agency

Andy Madrick - Why AI changed design handoff forever

Andy Madrick

Our reading — their words are on the recording

9:45
Our reading
Coding tools are very good at executing motion design, but you have to be very descriptive about what you want, otherwise you will be fighting them for hours.
Their wordsI think with a lot of this motion design stuff, coding tools are so good at executing it, but you have to be very, very descriptive about what you want, otherwise you're going to be fighting these things for like hours.
coding agents design vibe coding
15:02
Our reading
Figma is still really helpful for a smaller thing like a modal or visual polish.
Their wordsBut if it's a smaller thing, like a modal or polish, visual polish, something like that, I find Figma to still be really helpful.
design
15:47
Our reading
You have to work out how the people you collaborate with want to work with you, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer.
Their wordsYou really have to suss out what the people you're working with, like how they want to work with you. And there's no one-size-fits-all answer.
agency
18:29
Our reading
The artifact users actually see is what to obsess over, and Figma and mocks are just reference tools at the end of the day.
Their wordsyou just have to be cool with you know, looking at the thing that users are going to actually see and obsessing over that artifact and making sure whatever form of like iteration on that takes, like make sure that is going to be 100% right? And then like Figma and these mocks, they're just reference tools at the end of the day.
design
20:23
Our reading
LLMs are not very good at the last mile of design, and that last mile needs to remain designers' superpower.
Their wordsThese LLMs are not very good at the last mile of design. And that's still like our superpower and needs to be our superpower.
LLMs design
20:49
Our reading
Designers have no excuse anymore to not be responsible for the changes they want to see.
Their wordsIf it's not going to get done, then someone else someone has to do it, right? And I think we have no excuse anymore to not be responsible for those changes that we want to see.
agency design

Tommy GeocoThe state of the design industry right nowProduct designer, founder and host of UX Tools, the design-tools newsletter, annual survey and podcast.19 May 2026 · 1h 00m · 21 korrentsOn LLMs, agency and innovation

Tommy Geoco - The state of the design industry right now

Tommy Geoco

All 21 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

0:13:28
Our reading
Judging one model worse than another from a one-shot, probabilistic output on a given day is not a good way to evaluate it.
Their wordswhen I hear people say GPT 5.5 is worse than Opus 4.7 and I'm like, what does that mean? You know, like what are you comparing? Are you just saying like you one shotted a thing and that probabilistic output that you got from one verse the other on that given day was better or worse? Cuz that's not a very good way to evaluate it.
LLMs
0:15:29
Our reading
A briefcase of context, carried from one tool to the next, will replace re-teaching intent in each tool.
Their wordsI don't think there's the future where we're going from tool to tool and reinventing that over and over. All the hours spent just like screwing in our intent the correct way is going to become just a briefcase you carry from one tool to the other.
LLMs MCP design
0:18:33
Our reading
A general-purpose AI design tool might have a place eventually, but it is probably not the right answer right now.
Their wordsI think the general purpose tool might have a place eventually. I don't think that's the right answer right now. Maybe I won't just like outright say it's not the right answer, but it's not interesting to me.
design
0:22:18
Our reading
Canvases are always going to have a place in the AI design workflow.
Their wordsif you think like sort of primitives, you have canvas, I canvases I think are always going to have a place in this workflow.
design
0:24:00
Our reading
A design team needs an interface surface, a surface where the work lives, a canvas for more deterministic work, and an agent interface for coding for more probabilistic work.
Their wordsSo, so you need like an interface surface area. You need where the work lives surface area. You need a canvas for more deterministic work. And you need your agent or your like interface for coding for more probabilistic work.
design
0:24:18
Our reading
Even forward-thinking agentic teams still use Figma a lot, so it is still in the game.
Their wordsI still think Figma is in the game. A lot of even a lot of these like agentic teams that are like super forward-thinking, like they're using Figma a lot still.

Katarina BatinaMaking big bets with designDesign Director for the Shop app at Shopify.12 May 2026 · 55m · 20 korrentsOn management and product management

Katarina Batina - Making big bets with design

Katarina Batina

Our reading — their words are on the recording

13:30
Our reading
Any redesign of an incumbent product, such as an onboarding flow, almost always loses at first; it takes the confidence and agreement to begin below the status quo baseline in order to beat the incumbent.
Their wordsAny team who's had to optimize an onboarding flow and that one time you decided to redesign it, like it almost always loses, right? But it's having the confidence and the agreement to begin, like we're actually going out to beat the incumbent and we're going to reset a baseline that inherently might be a little lower than what status quo is today.
courage design product management
14:31
Our reading
Teams need to create the grounds to take some risk, committing as much iteration to the new thing as was put into the incumbent product.
Their wordsyou need to create the grounds to take some risk knowing that you're going to commit just as much iteration into the next thing as you did the the the incumbent product.
design
26:28
Our reading
Designers should focus on what differentiates them, which is designing what is desirable, and pick the tools that render the idea in the most believable way rather than worrying about feasibility.
Their wordsrefocus on what makes you as a designer differentiated which is designing what's desirable. Don't worry about feasibility. Pick the tools that are going to allow you to render the idea in the most believable way.
design
26:51
Our reading
Not being able to ship a prototype to production does not mean a designer has failed.
Their wordsThe fact that you can't ship it to production doesn't mean that you've failed.
design
27:58
Our reading
When prototyping a full feature, a designer should render the whole idea and use that as the thing to talk to engineering with, rather than aiming to ship it end to end to production.
Their wordsIf you're trying to prototype a full feature, don't go for the moonshot of end to ending this and shipping it to production. Just render the whole idea and then use that as the thing you talk to engineering with.
design
31:44
Our reading
Design should be the tip of the spear for desirability, and taste, editing and deciding what matters are skills that have long had their home in design practice.
Their wordsdesign should be the tip of the spear for desiraability. And I think that's probably the genesis of like if you extrapolate that comment out to like taste, editing, deciding what actually matters, that's a skill set that has been naturally a home in the design practice since before computers were invented.
design taste

Rafa CondeMake your designs memorableDesign engineer at Retro, the private social network for friends and family, and maker of the Hand Mirror menu bar camera app.5 May 2026 · 59m · 17 korrentsOn behavioural science

Rafa Conde - Make your designs memorable

Rafa Conde

All 17 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

12:28
Our reading
Generalizing a design to suit every kind of user makes it harder to make targeted experiences.
Their wordsBut at the same time, if you try to generalize so much, then it's harder to do those more like targeted experiences, if you will.
design
16:46
Our reading
Big companies can probably less afford the bigger design risks than they once did, so such work shows up more in small indie shops.
Their wordsbefore we would see more of like big companies doing these risks and now the big companies cannot afford to make these bigger risks and that's why we see it in the in smaller indie shops smaller devs that can make the risks
design
18:30
Our reading
People are more used to computers than old design assumptions allow, and testing often shows they know how to scroll.
Their wordsAt the same time, people are they're more used to computers, like new users as they were 20 years ago. Some of these things I I've been trying to, like you said, like unlearn cuz like, oh no, people have to swipe horizontally. They don't know how we have to put pagionation or whatever. And then you test it if you want and then you realize, oh no, no, people are people know how to scroll. They'll scroll.
design
32:50
Our reading
A static mockup leaves a lot missing when an idea is passed to someone else; a short video with motion carries more of it.
Their wordsCuz like if I just do a static mockup, here's a picture, there's a lot missing that might not make the transfer, right? You know what I mean? Uh if it's like a little video, there's motion, there's like a little prototype. All right, now we're you're communicating more.
design
33:44
Our reading
A video sharing a work idea should run under ten minutes, ideally five, because people will not sit through a 30-minute video on Slack.
Their wordsIt has to be like under 10 minutes. That's a rule cuz people are not going to sit down and like watch a 30 minute video on Slack. Under 10, ideally five.
34:13
Our reading
A light upbeat soundtrack keeps a talking video interesting, and changing it between points tells the viewer a new thing has started.
Their wordsif you add a little soundtrack upbeat thing, it keeps it interesting. And also, if you're like, say that you're talking about one point and then you move to another point, you do a little soundtrack change and now the person just feels like, okay, now it's a new thing.

Polly D'ArcyGoing from IC to VP of Design at WealthsimpleVP of Design at Wealthsimple.28 Apr 2026 · 55m · 24 korrentsOn management and friendship

Polly D'Arcy - Going from IC to VP of Design at Wealthsimple

Polly D'Arcy

All 24 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

2:28
Our reading
When potential is seen in people on a team, they need to be given opportunities, supported and helped to grow.
Their wordswhen you see potential in people on your team, you need to give them opportunities and and support them and and help them grow.
management
4:28
Our reading
If the people building a product would not use it with their own money, it is not good enough.
Their wordsI really believe that if you as someone who is a sort of maker and owner of the company building this product do not want to use it with your own money, it's not good enough.
design
5:43
Our reading
Using a product with your own money, rather than testing it in staging, lets you very deeply feel its pain points, friction and frustration.
Their wordsit's one thing to like test something in staging and it's another thing to actually like use a product with your own money because you just you like are going to like very deeply feel the the pain points and the friction and and the frustration.
design
10:03
Our reading
It is really dangerous when design operates in a silo outside of product and engineering, as if it had a different goal and did not need to work with those two groups to be successful.
Their wordsIt's really dangerous when design operates in a silo outside of product and engineering and they feel like they have a different goal and they don't need to work with those two groups to be successful.
design
11:01
Our reading
Designers on a large team have to collaborate, share and build on one another's work rather than going off into their own silos, because that is how the org chart gets shipped.
Their wordsthey have to be collaborating and sharing and trying to sort of build on what one another is doing and not feel like they are like going off into their own silos and doing their own stuff cuz that's how you ship the org chart.
design
13:00
Our reading
Teams can't be debating in pixels in Figma; most often it is better to bias towards building something to make sure it works.
Their wordswe can't be debating in pixels in Figma, which already I know seemed like pretty archaic given everyone's clouding everything. Everyone has like their fleet of cloud interns. We really like want to I think most often like bias towards building something so that we can just make sure it works
design

Brandon JacobySeeing Taste vs. Creating Taste as a designerDesigner who has worked at Cash App, Capital and X, and now runs an independent design practice.21 Apr 2026 · 52m · 20 korrentsOn taste and agency

Brandon Jacoby - Seeing Taste vs. Creating Taste as a designer

Brandon Jacoby

Our reading — their words are on the recording

3:00
Our reading
The hardest part about big companies is not that nothing gets done, but that everything takes a long time to get done or to find out whether it can.
Their wordsthe hardest part about big companies is not like that you can't get anything done, it's just that everything takes a long time to get done or it takes a long time before you find out if it can get done.
management
4:48
Our reading
Decisiveness is a really, really big deal for this year and beyond, in a world where more ideas and more room for micro decisions exist.
Their wordsa world where we can get more ideas and create more real estate for these micro decisions to exist, decisiveness actually is a really, really big deal for this year and beyond.
agency
9:04
Our reading
Patterns that work show up in 90% of products, and they are there for a reason, yet a lot of designers reinvent the wheel.
Their wordsthere are patterns that work that show up in 90% of the products out there. Those patterns are there for a reason and like a lot of designers, and I'm guilty of this myself, reinvent the wheel.
design
9:43
Our reading
Knowing when to reinvent the wheel and when to follow patterns is the number one trait a junior designer can have right now and will let them go very far.
Their wordsknow when to reinvent the wheel, know when to follow patterns. And I think that that skill of knowing when to do either of those is like the number one trait that any, especially junior designer, can have right now that I think will let them go very far.
design
13:51
Our reading
Great design has always been great design regardless of the tools; design has always been about decisiveness and judgment.
Their wordsgreat design has always been great design agnostic of the tools. And like sure the tools that are popular at any give one given time are help guide and shape especially like aesthetics that are kind of in trend at any given moment. But, design has always been about decisiveness and judgment.
design taste
16:31
Our reading
The limit of technology to create the tooling needed to make the things one sees in one's head is gone.
Their wordsthe limit of technology to create the tooling that we need to like create the things that we see in our head that we think are that are great, that limit's gone.
innovation

Brian LovinHow to level up with AI as a designerProduct designer at Notion working on AI products, and maker of the read-it-later app Shiori.14 Apr 2026 · 55m · 20 korrentsOn LLMs, agency and developer tools

Brian Lovin - How to level up with AI as a designer

Brian Lovin

Our reading — their words are on the recording

8:54
Our reading
As soon as you realize you can't design half of this stuff in Figma, what you are really designing is the harness for the agent to do longer things and verify its own work.
Their wordsLike as soon as you realize you can't design half of this stuff in Figma, what you're really designing is the harness for the agent to do longer things and verify its own work. And a lot of that means using AI in your day-to-day work and just getting like a feel.
design AI agents
9:33
Our reading
Designers should be designing right at the boundary of the current model, hoping the next one solves it; understanding what is possible and pushing the edges even if you get stuck is probably a good place to be right now.
Their wordsI think where designers need to be designing right now is like right at the the boundary of the next the current model, like hoping that the next one solves it, right? Like we're all shipping shitty vibe-coded slop just hoping like, "Ah, the next model's definitely going to clean this up, right?" And I think that's probably a good a good place to be right now as a designer is really understanding what's possible, trying to push the edges even if it sucks and you get stuck
LLMs design vibe coding
10:54
Our reading
People trying to use AI to automate knowledge work or simplify their job are very early adopters, and their tolerance for sub-par experiences is quite high.
Their wordsif you're really trying to use AI right now to automate knowledge work or simplify your job or like remove a process at your company, you're a very early adopter and the tolerance for those people for like kind of sub-par experiences is actually quite high.
LLMs
11:42
Our reading
Roughly every six months, everything done before becomes more or less irrelevant.
Their wordsis every 6 months everything that we did before becomes more or less irrelevant.
Silicon Valley
15:36
Our reading
Depending on the work it is totally fine to design predominantly in Figma, but the barrier to trying making something in code is so low that everybody has probably dabbled with it.
Their wordsI think it's totally fine depending on what you're working on, but I would say the barrier to entry to try making something in code is so low that I I think everybody has dabbled with it.
design
17:28
Our reading
Collaboration moves from sharing a Figma URL to sharing a deploy preview; what matters is the artifact the team points at and tries together.
Their wordsI think it just moves from, "Hey, check out this Figma URL." to, "Hey, check out this deploy preview." I think that's pretty much it. Like what what's the artifact that we're going to point at together and try together and moving that from one domain URL to another, right?
developer tools

Ian SilberWhat it's like designing at OpenAIDesigner who led product design at OpenAI, including ChatGPT and Codex; previously at Artifact and, for eight years, Instagram.8 Apr 2026 · 45m · 17 korrentsOn LLMs, curiosity and product management

Ian Silber - What it's like designing at OpenAI

Ian Silber

All 17 from this episode, along the running time →

Our reading — their words are on the recording

8:38
Our reading
Working at OpenAI as a designer does not require being technical, but it does require being really curious and interested in how somebody might actually use the product.
Their wordsyou don't have to be like technical to work here, but I think you have to be really curious and really interested to see like how might somebody actually use this
OpenAI curiosity design
9:06
Our reading
In AI products, much can often be done with the model directly in the conversation rather than through new bespoke UI, though there is a balance.
Their wordsWhat can we do this without pixels? Can we do this with tokens? Can we do this with the model itself?" And always trying to push to to do more of that. What can happen directly in the conversation and and in the flow of of how you're using the experience versus trying to think about what new kind of bespoke UI to do we need for this
LLMs design
11:45
Our reading
Designers working on AI products should hopefully spend a lot less time drawing pixels and more time on how people interact with the model, which is the core product.
Their wordsdesigners working on this are hopefully spending a lot less time in Figma or whatever like tool you use to draw pixels and more time really thinking about how you interact with this thing and the fact that the model really is like the core product
LLMs design
15:21
Our reading
The best systems thinkers think not just about their feature but about how it extends the system.
Their wordsthe best systems thinkers are thinking not just about their feature but how does this feature like extend the system
design product management
21:45
Our reading
Sometimes a whiteboard, a paper sketch, a wireframe, Figma or a live prototype is the right tool, and the best designers will intuit which to go to.
Their wordssometimes you want a whiteboard, sometimes you want a a paper sketch, sometimes you want a wireframe, sometimes you want Figma, and sometimes you want these live prototypes. And I think that the best designers I think will understand and intuit when to go to to which one
design
22:18
Our reading
It is easy to get obsessed with a single prototype whose idea might be way off, so you do not want to take just one.
Their wordsCuz you don't want to like just take one prototype. And you can it's pretty easy to kind of like get obsessed with that and just be like, how do we like, okay, I want to refine this. And your idea might be way off
design

Marvin SchwaiboldInside Shopify's New Product Design StudioLeads the Product Design Studio at Shopify; co-founder of the design agency Molly, which Shopify acquired in 2025.2 Apr 2026 · 54m · 20 korrentsOn creativity, agency and management

Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studio

Marvin Schwaibold

Our reading — their words are on the recording

13:18
Our reading
People are more inclined to listen to you and follow your ideas when you entertain them than when you educate them, which can often come across as more patronizing.
Their wordsWhen you're entertaining I think people are more inclined to listen to you and to and to follow your ideas versus educating clients or peers or colleagues can often come come across as maybe more patronizing.
behavioural science
14:03
Our reading
If you are not having fun with the people you are working with, that seldom produces very good creative output.
Their wordsIf you're not having fun with the people that you're working, then I think that seldom produces very good creative output.
creativity
19:26
Our reading
Everyone's genius sits right next to their dysfunction, and a job in tech is to create an environment where everybody can thrive at the thing that makes them really good; that is how a team gets really good output.
Their wordseveryone's genius is like right next to their dysfunction and everybody's good at one thing and our job in the studio and and and our job in in in tech and at Shopify general is to create an environment where everybody can thrive at the thing that makes them really, really good and that's how we get really good output out out of our team and out of ourselves.
management
21:49
Our reading
There is almost no end state to a project: it has to reach a point where everybody has given as much of what makes them unique to it, and then it is usually in a state it otherwise could not get to.
Their wordsThere is almost no end state to to a project. It has to get to a point where everybody's given as much of what makes them unique in the team to the project and then it'll usually be in a state that you otherwise couldn't get to.
creativity
22:23
Our reading
Motion can hint at the hierarchy of the content you are looking at, for example a sheet overlaying a page tells the user that the content lies on top.
Their wordsI think that motion can hint at the hierarchy of the content that you're that you're looking at right? So we would build a website and you would click on a CTA and a sheet would overlay that sheet quite literally overlays itself over the website and now your mental understanding of where that content lies is oh it lies on top.
design
25:16
Our reading
Being a mile wide and an inch deep with a team loses creativity; the team is better kept together and close, sequencing work more than running it in parallel.
Their wordsYou don't want to be a mile wide and an inch deep with your team. That's how you lose creativity. That's how you lose the environment where somebody with a specific skill set can be successful and can work in. You want to keep the team together. You want to keep the team really close and you want to sequence more than you do parallel.
creativity team size

Flora GuoHow to accelerate your design career with AIFounding design engineer at Paradigm as of March 2026, earlier at Vercel.25 Mar 2026 · 46m · 15 korrentsOn agency and LLMs

Flora Guo - How to accelerate your design career with AI

Flora Guo

Our reading — their words are on the recording

7:46
Our reading
In the ways people show up online, the better question is what they can offer someone rather than what they can ask of that person.
Their wordsReally flipping the script of like, instead what can I ask of this person, but like what can I offer them?
agency
9:21
Our reading
For any designer who is building projects, this is an incredible time to share with the internet online.
Their wordsI think any designer who's building projects, it's just such an incredible time that we live in to get to share with the internet online.
optimism design
10:28
Our reading
People can feel the excitement in a project, notes or an event someone hosts, so creating artifacts of what you love and putting them online is worthwhile.
Their wordsPeople can really feel the excitement that you have, whether it's through a project or through notes or something that you're hosting. So just creating things that are artifacts of what you love and what you're passionate about, and putting it online.
motivation
15:54
Our reading
Design engineering goes much deeper than the surface of how something looks; it is having the context and ability to translate an intention into what the user actually experiences.
Their wordsit really shows you that design engineering goes much deeper than the surface of how something looks. It's really having the context and the ability to take an intention and translate it into what the user is actually experiencing.
design
16:36
Our reading
Making for the love of making rather than for a finish line is inspiring, and design is a practice that never ends.
Their wordsI think it's so inspiring to be surrounded by people who make for the love of making, not because you're looking to wrap a specific project or, you know, just get something done because that's the finish line. It's really appreciating design as this journey of this practice that never ends.
design
21:30
Our reading
There is always a minimum viable amount of learning needed to get to the next step, and then you backfill a lot.
Their wordsthere's always a minimum viable amount of learning that you need to get you to the next step, and then you backfill a lot.
agency

Kris PuckettBecoming an AI-native designerDesign manager at Stripe, who previously led design at Mercury and designed for Dropbox and Facebook.19 Mar 2026 · 52m · 20 korrentsOn LLMs, Anthropic and hiring

Kris Puckett - Becoming an AI-native designer

Kris Puckett

Our reading — their words are on the recording

6:34
Our reading
Fleshed-out plans and perfect spec or PRD docs are not needed to get Claude Code started working.
Their wordsI don't need to have fleshed out plans. I don't need to actually have like the perfect spec docs or PRD docs to get Cloud Code to start working
Anthropic
12:27
Our reading
"I don't know" becomes a kind of superpower when you can work with Claude Code to figure things out.
Their wordsI don't know becomes kind of a superpower cuz I'm assuming I could work with Claude code to figure it out
coding agents Anthropic
12:33
Our reading
LLMs are going to hallucinate like crazy and make stuff up.
Their wordsLLMs are going to hallucinate like crazy, going to make stuff up.
LLMs
16:15
Our reading
There are massive unlocks for AI around workflows, content design, organization and analysis, beyond generating a product, app or website.
Their wordsThere are other massive unlocks to me for AI around workflows, around like how whether it's content design, things that you wouldn't see, organization, like analysis. So these Claude code skills, you can I mean you can create anything that's repeatable pattern. You can create a Claude code skill for.
LLMs design
20:28
Our reading
People have more repeatable patterns than they think; they are just not great at identifying them.
Their wordsI think a lot of times we don't think we've got repeatable patterns. We do, we're just not great at identifying them.
20:45
Our reading
Because LLMs are pattern matchers, they are fantastic at quickly spotting patterns that people miss, and can act as a mirror showing what a person is missing about themselves and their work.
Their wordsat their core LLMs are just pattern matching and so they are fantastic at very quickly identifying patterns that even though the human brain is an unbelievable like the greatest pattern matcher in history, we still have these gaps. And so you can use AI to become this mirror that's like reflecting back at you some things that you might be missing about yourself and your work and where you're at.
LLMs

Josh PuckettCrafting interfaces with uncommon careDesigner, advisor and investor; co-founded the design practice Iteration and the apprenticeship studio Upperstudy, after leading design teams at Wealthfront, Dropbox and Groupon.12 Mar 2026 · 53m · 18 korrentsOn agency and LLMs

Josh Puckett - Crafting interfaces with uncommon care

Josh Puckett

Our reading — their words are on the recording

8:02
Our reading
When exploring, you want to feel in reality as quickly as possible what the result of your choices is.
Their wordsthe whole thing here is you want to be able to as quickly as possible feel in reality like what the result is of your choices.
agency
11:50
Our reading
When working with AI, intent and being able to play with the outcome matter more than knowing the technical language.
Their wordsWhat's more important there is like your intent and being able to play with the outcome.
LLMs agency
16:47
Our reading
A great restaurant may be the purest form of design: it solves a problem, feeding people, while wrapping it in an experience that feels unique and differentiated.
Their wordsthat's like really the purest form of of design, where they're solving a problem, which is like, great, you need to eat food, we need to make food for you, and you pay us for that food. But, they're wrapping it in an experience that makes it feel so unique and so differentiated.
design
23:20
Our reading
So much of design is iteration and discovery: stumbling on something better by sticking with an intent for one more iteration.
Their wordsthat's a good example, I think, of so much of design is just iteration and discovery. I might have an intent, but stumbling upon something like this is is just sticking with it, right? And just going like one more iteration.
design
24:12
Our reading
The best use of faster tools is to take the limited scope that is really essential and execute it to a bar people have never seen, instead of creating more scope.
Their wordswhat I think we should all be trying to push towards now that we have tools that help us like go, you know, further, and we can get there faster, and we can explore more surface area. And we should use them for things like this. So, instead of creating more scope, right, how do we take the limited amount of scope that is really essential and just execute it to a bar that, you know, folks maybe haven't have never seen before
24:54
Our reading
Making something as well as you can and as simply as you can sums up much of what great design is.
Their wordsjust make it as well as you can and make it as simple as you can. And I think that sums up so much of what great design is in a lot of ways
design

Luis OuriachHow are design systems changing?Designer Advocate at Figma as of March 2026, helping teams navigate design systems.10 Mar 2026 · 55m · 19 korrentsOn agency, code generation and creativity

Luis Ouriach - How are design systems changing?

Luis Ouriach

Our reading — their words are on the recording

3:16
Our reading
The importance of the docs written for design systems, in whatever form, is going to be the foundation of everyone's workflow going forward, and guidelines are becoming paramount.
Their wordsthe importance of those docs, whatever form that they were in before, is going to be the foundation of everyone's workflow going forward. They might just be written slightly differently and for a different format, for a different output, but guidelines are becoming paramount for everything we need to do
documentation design
3:52
Our reading
The system becomes the centerpiece of all successful engineering work, because the more a tool is relied on to create the code, the more a system is relied on to tell that tool what to code.
Their wordsthe system becomes the centerpiece of all successful engineering work because the more we rely on a tool to create our code, the more we rely on a system to tell that tool what to code. And the less we invest in a system, the more we're going to generate just honestly rubbish into our systems
coding agents code generation
4:05
Our reading
The less is invested in a system, the more rubbish gets generated into it, piling up like a landfill over the next couple of years.
Their wordsthe less we invest in a system, the more we're going to generate just honestly rubbish into our systems that will just pile up like a landfill over the next couple of years
software quality
5:06
Our reading
Each person, team and company has to decide what its roles are now and what the tools take over, as soon as possible, before that decision is made for it.
Their wordswe have to decide as an individual, as a company, or even as a team within a company, what are our roles actually now, and what are the tools taking over, and decide that as soon as we possibly can before that decision is made for us
agency
7:29
Our reading
Maybe higher-fidelity prototypes can be tested and validated much faster and still thrown away, because testing an idea is often the point of a prototype.
Their wordsMaybe we can get higher fidelity prototypes that we can test and validate a lot faster, and still throw them away, because that is the point of prototype a lot of the time, is to just test an idea
design
9:04
Our reading
Teams should hang out together more and build rituals for collaborating, instead of each role owning its own artifact.
Their wordshanging out together as a team more and building rituals that allow you to collaborate synchronously, asynchronously. That is a Slack channel, it's a document, it's a Figma file or other file that you prefer to collaborate in, but doing that as a unit, and not saying, "I'm the product manager, therefore I own the PRD. I'm a designer, therefore I own the design.
agency

Thiago CostaCultivating taste as a designerDesigner and co-founder of Fey, the investing app Wealthsimple acquired in August 2025.21 Feb 2025 · 58m · 26 korrentsOn taste, creativity and curiosity

Thiago Costa - Cultivating taste as a designer

Thiago Costa