7 things better designers do differently
In today's newsletter, I've got a lot of great content for you, including:
- The micro-details that make UI feel better
- Strategy is the skill AI can't absorb
- Your logo looked fine until it didn't
- And 7 more
Most Interesting
Why Designing in Code Makes You a Better Designer
Adam Silver makes the case that designing in code forces better decisions , fewer assumptions, tighter constraints, and even better, less back-and-forth with developers.
Design + Development
Details That Make Interfaces Feel Better
Jakub Krehel walks through small UI details , text-wrap: balance, matched border radii, interruptible transitions, staggered animations, subtle exits, optical alignment , that quietly separate interfaces that feel right from ones that don't.
Durable Patterns in AI Product Design
LukeW draws on building AI-native products to argue for suggested questions, shortcut-selectable recommendations, and images or diagrams to break up the walls of text LLMs tend to produce. Symbl Drop an SVG or PNG into Symbl and it previews your symbol mark across real-world contexts before you ship. Good for catching the marks that look fine in Figma but fall apart everywhere else.
Tech + Innovation
Terry Godier writes about a $12 Casio. It tells time, then leaves you alone. The $400 Apple Watch needs constant updates, fixes, and attention. At some point, products stopped being finished things and became dependents.
A CLI for coordinating AI coding agents , Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode , through a composable token syntax. Define sequential passes, review loops, parallel branches, or task-list progressions. Install via npm or drop it in as a Claude Code skill.
A really cool browser-based particle animation tool. Tweak color, speed, density, and mouse interaction, then drop the output into any web project.
Work + Mindset
strips note-taking down to tagging, search, and sharing , nothing more. For anyone who finds tools like Notion overkill for a quick thought.
Human Strategy in an AI-accelerated Workflow
As AI takes over production work, UX designers are being pushed up the stack, toward strategy, ethics, and judgment calls machines can't make. Smashing Magazine lays out what that shift looks like in practice.
merritt k makes the case for owning your own corner of the web because platforms can rewrite the rules or kill your account with no warning and no appeal.
10 things reshaping how designers work
Edition #144
