Interactivity
The User Research Round-Up: CW41
Every researcher has that one tool they swear they’ll try “next project.”And then next project turns into six months of juggling spreadsheets, chasing no-shows, and trying to make sense of messy transcripts at 2am.That’s exactly why I built this bundle. Paid subscribers get all Substack content and you get handed the tools that cut out half the stress:User Interviews → 5 participants without the ghosting circusAskable → a full month of Industry Stream (recruit
Nostalgia as product strategy
The emotional design behind the latest AI marketing campaigns.illustration by authorIf you haven’t seen them yet, OpenAI’s launched new ad campaign of short 30 seconds videos that embed AI into an idealised, warmly analog, version of the past. They’re quite visually pleasing, to be honest, with a slight VHS grain and muted colours, and depict very relatable everyday scenarios like wanting to impress a girl or getting fitter. They lean hard on 80s soundtracks and cheesy movie vibes.https://medium
Is It Time to Kill the Sidebar?
Are sidebars the cargo shorts of web design—full of pockets no one uses? In an era of scroll-first UX and ruthless minimalism, it might be time to finally pull the plug. Here’s why killing your sidebar could actually save your site.
AI interface: When intelligence outgrows its container
How AI redefines user interfaces, and why the chat box gets it wrongImage source: Kokonaut Labs / Recreated by authorIn 1989, Alan Kay published User Interface: A Personal View, building on Marshall McLuhan’s idea that “the medium is the message.” A medium doesn’t just carry information, it reshapes how we think. To make sense of it, we first internalize the medium.An interface, then, is a cognitive framework.Today, AI interfaces are shifting fast: from chat to voice, from canvases to agent-driv
How to approach privacy in the age of smart glasses
Smart glasses present new opportunities for scammers, perverts, and cheaters.Continue reading on UX Collective »
How I learned to stop worrying and love the difficult operational problems
A journey through the messiest, most rewarding research challenges that taught me everything I know about making the impossible inevitablePicture this: It’s 2 PM on a Tuesday, and I’m staring at a survey dashboard that’s basically mocking me. The response rate was low, as expected, but the data quality was questionable at best. My carefully crafted mobile survey, designed for Uber drivers in India, was failing spectacularly.But here’s the thing — I wasn’t just dealing with low response rates. I
The best way to tackle design uncertainty? Focus on what hasn’t changed
How to best use your time in an uncertain design marketContinue reading on UX Collective »
The novelty and acceptance of Conversational AI
Exploring psychological factors of Conversational Design, like trust and social influence, that can impact user adoption beyond initial novelty.Colibri1968 via Wikimedia Commons, Public DomainLike many others right now, I find myself racing to define a Conversational Design practice. On one hand, I see consistent research, data, and opinions that almost everyone despises chatbots. On the other hand, we’re experiencing an advent of conversational experiences that appear to be increasing in occurr
Nobody Cares About Your 67-Page Slide Deck
UnsplashYou’ve spent weeks conducting interviews, analyzing data, and crafting insights that you believe could change the trajectory of your product. But when you share your findings, the response is… underwhelming. People nod politely, maybe ask a few questions, and then go back to business as usual. It’s frustrating, but it’s not uncommon.The problem … Read more
Design Dialects: Breaking the Rules, Not the System
"Language is not merely a set of unrelated sounds, clauses, rules, and meanings; it is a totally coherent system bound to context and behavior." — Kenneth L. PikeThe web has accents. So should our design systems.Design Systems as Living LanguagesDesign systems aren't component libraries—they’re living languages. Tokens are phonemes, components are words, patterns are phrases, layouts are sentences. The conversations we build with users become the stories our products tell.But here’s what we've f
Smashing Animations Part 5: Building Adaptive SVGs With `<symbol>`, `<use>`, And CSS Media Queries
I’ve written quite a lot recently about how I prepare and optimise SVG code to use as static graphics or in animations. I love working with SVG, but there’s always been something about them that bugs me.To illustrate how I build adaptive SVGs, I’ve selected an episode of The Quick Draw McGraw Show called “Bow Wow Bandit,” first broadcast in 1959.In it, Quick Draw McGraw enlists his bloodhound Snuffles to rescue his sidekick Baba Looey. Like most Hanna-Barbera title cards of the period, the artwo
The Designer-Developer Handoff Is Still Broken — why?
Designers think the mockup is the product. Developers know the product lives in code. Until we kill the fantasy of the “handoff” and start building together from day one, we’re just shipping prettier silos with more emojis.
Negotiating truth
Search engines used to help us find what to believe. Now they tell us.Harold Innis.University of Toronto Archives / The Canadian EncyclopediaThere was a time (not so long ago…) when researching something meant sitting down and figuring it out.You’d open a few tabs, compare headlines and try to piece together what seemed credible.It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. You weren’t just searching for information, you were learning how to judge it.Now the answer shows up at the top.We don’t navigate info
The world is more complex than ever.
Making life less complex should be every designer’s mantra for the next decade.Continue reading on UX Collective »
Management values I didn’t expect to learn
Design management is harder (and better) than I thoughtI’ve been a design manager since 2022. Like many others in this role, I’ve been slowly shaping and reshaping my management values. This is where I’m at now. I’ll likely update this over time, or do a part 2.I was an individual contributor (IC) for over 20 years before moving into management. Even then, I was reluctant to take the job because I enjoyed doing the work so much. So I’m familiar with ICs, how they think, and what sorts of things
How Starbucks destroyed the “Third Place” and replaced it with protein powder
Starbucks removed the chairs, added protein drinks, and called it innovation. Here’s what they actually sacrificed.Continue reading on UX Collective »
The path fixation trap, nihilism in design, Labubu obsession, filter UX
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.“Could BlackBerry have remained the best-selling mobile phone brand if its leaders, including cofounder Mike Lazaridis, had rethought their strategy to adapt to the smartphone revolution? Can we design another breakthrough moment — like the first iPod click wheel or the simplicity of Google’s search box — by rethinking what meaningful interaction really means?”When innovation gets stuck: Apple, Tesla, and the path fixation trap →By Ian
Show HN: Spaced Repetition for LeetCode – Stop Forgetting Problems You've Solved
Hi HN,I built a spaced repetition system for Leetcode after realizing I'd "solved" 150+ problems but couldn't recall the patterns when faced with new questions in actual interviews.The problem: Solving problems once creates the illusion of learning without actual retention. Your brain discards solutions as "one-time knowledge" unless you review them at spaced intervals.What it does:
- Automatically schedules problem reviews (1 day → 3 days → 1 week → 2 weeks → 1 mon
Pixels of the Week – October 5, 2025
👉🏻 Curated weekly UX Research, Design & Tech resources: OKLCH gradients, screen readers and AI ethics, UX maturity regression, smart defaults in Borderlands 4, boring LLMs are they way to go, the history of pumpkin spice latte, mobile web inspiration, European product alternatives, brutalita font editor, generative design gallery, accessible flip card tutorial, design system accessibility audit
Are Closed Ecosystems Like Apple’s a Necessary Evil?
Closed ecosystems like Apple’s are sleek, secure, and utterly addictive—but once you're in, escaping feels impossible. They promise a seamless experience while quietly locking you into a world where Apple decides what you can use, buy, and access, leaving innovation and competition struggling to break through.