Modern UI design is torn between two opposing forces: clarity and density. Minimalism promised calm, but often hides complexity—while dense interfaces like Figma or Notion prove chaos can be "beautifully organized". This piece dives into the uncomfortable truth every designer faces: when does clarity stop helping and start dumbing things down?
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.“This is simply a mismatch between how UI is generated in AI tools and how products are actually built. So instead of avoiding constraints such as branding and data, they need to be integrated into the generation process. This way, the UI becomes more valuable and can be used to continue to iterate past a demo or proof of concept (POC) phase.”What makes generated UI worth keeping? →By Allie PaschalEditor picksWhat if AI lies about you?
On stepping away and leaning in.My daughter and dog, enjoying a moment of mid-winter sun in our living room while I write thisWe don’t talk enough about how we feel about creating in the age of AI. I feel a lot, as a writer by profession and heart.I’ve gone through the seven stages of grief with AI a couple of times.Shock. It can write better than many.Denial. It’s not going to affect me.Anger. When my first clients started using it instead of paying me to write.Guilt. When I started using it my
In 2026, I’m predicting that designing for intent, Machine Experience (MX) design, designing better prompts, and AI generated Design…Continue reading on UX Collective »
At some point, someone with a big personality took the stage, spoke confidently, made jokes, and walked away with applause. You watched from your seat and thought, “I could never do that.” Long before that, back in school, the same people always volunteered to speak: The ones who seemed to enjoy the attention. You decided that because you don’t enjoy being watched, presenting wasn’t for you. That’s where your story took a wrong turn. And it’s the turn that might be holding you back from the care
Hey HN, Chris and Yuhong here from Onyx (https://github.com/onyx-dot-app/onyx). We’re building an open-source chat that works with any LLM (proprietary + open weight) and gives these LLMs the tools they need to be useful (RAG, web search, MCP, deep research, memory, etc.).Demo: https://youtu.be/2g4BxTZ9ztgTwo years ago, Yuhong and I had the same recurring problem. We were on growing teams and it was ridiculously difficult to find the right information across ou
Backstory: As a developer who spent years in front of screens dealing with stress and focus issues, I found most meditation apps either too childish or too commercial. I wanted to create a minimalist, developer-oriented tool that treats meditation as a productivity and mental health necessity rather than a trendy accessory. After optimizing the neumorphic design, SEO performance, and curating a library of natural soundscapes, I'm excited to share this with the HN community. What ma
This week we explore the new confusing macOS icons, why humanity over automation is a competition advantage, and red flags for soul-crushing jobs. Plus, death to scroll fade animations, a giant BIC lamp, a fun LinkedIn job title maxximizer, etc.
Hey HN — I’m building an app where users upload “real life” clothing photos (ex. a wrinkly shirt folded on the floor). The goal is to transform that single photo into a clean, ecommerce-style image of the garment.One key UX requirement: the output needs to be a PNG with transparency (alpha) so we can consistently crop/composite the garment into an on-rails UI (cards, outfit layouts, etc.). Think “subject cutout that drops cleanly into templates.”My current pipeline looks like: 1. User-uploa
Hey HN!I built UseWhisper.dev — an AI code reviewer that analyzes your code diffs, PRs, or snippets and returns review feedback instantly. It runs in the browser with no signup required, and is meant to give developers quick second opinions on logic, style, security, and best practices.https://usewhisper.devWhat it does:Paste a diff, GitHub PR link, or code snippetGet line-by-line intelligent feedbackSuggestions on readability, errors, anti-patternsNo login, minimal UI, fast responsesW
I built Audit8n (https://audit8n.com) to solve a problem I kept running into: n8n workflows that looked fine on the surface but had hidden security vulnerabilities, performance bottlenecks, and reliability issues.The tool runs 100+ checks across three categories:• Security: hardcoded secrets, public webhooks without auth, RCE via Execute Command nodes • Performance: aggressive polling intervals, AI token bloat, N+1 SQL patterns • Reliability: fragile loops without error handling, block
Hi HN,I’ve been working across multiple frontend stacks over the past few years (React, Vue, Angular, etc.), and one recurring frustration kept coming up:Core UI components like selects and toast notifications get rewritten every time the framework changes.Even when the behavior and UX are essentially the same, the implementation is tightly coupled to the framework, which makes long-lived UI logic surprisingly fragile.So I decided to experiment with a different approach: building UI primitives a
I built Z-Image, a free, fast, and creator-focused AI image generator designed for artists, game developers, designers, and anyone who needs high-quality visuals without the usual friction or cost.Try it here (free): https://aiocmaker.com/z-imageWhy I built itMost AI image tools fall into two categories:Great quality but expensive, slow, or require subscriptions.Free tools but low quality, restrictive, or overloaded.As a builder working in the game/anime space, I needed a gen
Typography can make or break the success of a site or app. It’s a cornerstone of UX design; more than 90% of online information is in text form. But the design discipline of typography is so much more than choosing an attractive font for your website or app. There are a number of elements to consider when practicing typography. Here is a list of terms and a set of typography principles that will help you to become more proficient in this discipline so that you can create user-friendly designs. B
# TelUITelUI is a Electron-based UI framework that packages a handful of reusable front-end primitives—color utilities, typography helpers, and basic structural styles—so you can prototype simple desktop UI ideas with minimal setup.## Features - Bundled Electron runner (`npm start`) that serves `index.html` for instant desktop previews. - Tokenized styling layers: `color.css`, `font.css`, `header.css`, and `align.css` keep presentation rules isolated and easy to remix. - Micro-interaction helper
# TelUITelUI is a Electron-based UI framework that packages a handful of reusable front-end primitives—color utilities, typography helpers, and basic structural styles—so you can prototype simple desktop UI ideas with minimal setup.## Features - Bundled Electron runner (`npm start`) that serves `index.html` for instant desktop previews. - Tokenized styling layers: `color.css`, `font.css`, `header.css`, and `align.css` keep presentation rules isolated and easy to remix. - Micro-interaction helper
We’re building Tikpal, an AI voice productivity tool based on a simple principle: Human creativity should remain the core engine. AI should be an accelerator, not the protagonist.The goal is to reduce screen dependency and cognitive fragmentation, and let people work in a more natural “voice-first” flow. Instead of clicking through interfaces and context-switching between apps, you talk to Tikpal, and it helps you think, structure ideas, and execute tasks.Three layers we are focusing on:FOCUS —
Using AI in UX design, Interactions, Motion, & Marketing.Recently top companies have publicly come out to share their processes implemented by senior designers and entire creative teams. Some notable companies like Meta and Atlassian stood out. Not only are these companies building their own AI workflows, but they are spending millions of dollars to train their employees on them. From watching interviews to reading lengthy articles, here is what I’ve learnt about their carefully crafted AI w
From a designer who started using the CLI instead of traditional design toolsContinue reading on UX Collective »
What it really takes to build a product inside ChatGPT while the ecosystem is still forming (and without an engineering team)Building in a space that doesn’t exist yetA ChatGPT app isn’t an app in the way we’ve learned to think about software.It doesn’t ship with a standalone interface or a familiar navigation model. It lives inside a conversational surface, where language, intent, and orchestration shape how a product is experienced just as much as UI does. Still, companies are moving quickly t