Interactivity

Show HN: I built whatstype.org – a free personality test site

Hey HN,I recently built whatstype.org , a free personality test website that helps people explore their thinking, communication, and relationship patterns.Unlike most MBTI-style sites that only give you a short label, Whatstype digs deeper:The test adapts to your responses dynamicallyResults are structured around reasoning style, emotional pattern, and social interactionEach of the 16 personality types includes detailed analysis, strengths, challenges, and real-life adviceNo login, no tracking —

Show HN: Pure – An interactive satire on the absurdity of 'Terms of Service'

Hi HN,I built this last week after an experience at a bank branch that stuck with me. The rep literally said, “Don’t bother reading it, just scroll to the bottom so the button unlocks.”It hit me how routine and meaningless “consent” has become, not a decision, just a UI step everyone knows they’re supposed to get through.So I made PURE. It looks like a minimal fintech onboarding flow, but the ToS never actually ends. As you scroll, the text starts reacting to you, poking at the whole idea of bli

I built a screen-aware desktop assistant; now it can write and use your computer

I posted Julie here a few days ago as a weekend prototype: an open-source desktop assistant that lives as a tiny overlay and uses your screen as context (instead of copy/paste, tab switching, etc.)Update: I just shipped Julie v1.0, and the big change is that it’s no longer only “answer questions about my screen.” It can now run agents (writing/coding) and a computer-use mode via a CUA toolkit. ((https://tryjulie.vercel.app/))What that means in practice:- General AI assis

If your confidence is at an all-time low in design, try this

How writing can help tackle self-confidence issues in designContinue reading on UX Collective »

Beyond conversations: natural language as interaction influencer

From chat to canvas to control panel: Understanding natural language interaction patternsFor much of the history of software, users had to build a mental model of the system before they could use it effectively. You learned where things lived like which menu contained which action, which screen held which information, how different parts of the interface connected to each other.Interaction followed a structured pattern: navigate screens by clicking buttons, type into fields, scroll through conte

Why is real-world ASR still ~85% when lab models claim >95%?

Curious to hear what approaches people are taking, what the bottlenecks are, and whether anyone here is pushing toward the goal of "AI that understands you, the first time."I've been diving into the gap between benchmark ASR performance and real-world speech. Models like Whisper and Deepgram show impressive >95% accuracy in ideal conditions. But in the wild — accents, noisy environments, emotional speech, code-switching, overlapping speakers — accuracy often drops sharply, ofte

Why you can’t fix your iPhone, and how the entire tech industry learned to profit from it

What General Motors figured out in 1924, Apple perfected it with your smartphoneContinue reading on UX Collective »

Designing for Cognitive Strain: When Friction Improves UX

The next frontier of UX isn’t making everything smoother—it’s making it smarter. Designers who learn to shape friction, not just remove it, will create products that not only work efficiently but also think with us.

What good writing looks like

The essential (micro) copy rules I used at Google.Continue reading on UX Collective »

The Apple-Sony special relationship

Getting to the bottom of why Apple products pair so naturally with SonyContinue reading on UX Collective »

How the tools we use change the products we design

“The medium is the message” — Marshall McLuhanBackground art by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1876.Every era of product design on the web brings with it new design tools, these tools change how we design websites and also influences the next generation of design tools to come.I know it seems like a novel idea for some of you reading this, you might think you design the websites you want to design and you’re only limited by your imagination, but you’re only half-right.That’s somewhat true but also you’r

Algorithmic atelier, escaping AI sludge, vibe code for PMs, 10 UX shifts for 2026

Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.“To understand this moment, we must contextualise AI within the history of artistic tools and conceptual shifts, while simultaneously confronting the very real socio-economic and ethical challenges it poses to the creative ecosystem.”The algorithmic atelier →By Joshua LeighLearn to Vibe Code in 2026 →[Sponsored] AI tools are changing what it means to be a builder. In this hands-on workshop series, designers and PMs learn to prototype a

Positive Friction: How You Can Use It to Create Better Experiences

While friction in UX is typically something you want to minimize, adding friction can improve the user experience and contribute to good design in many situations. Researchers at UCL define positive friction as friction that “can disrupt mindless automatic interactions, prompting moments of reflection and more mindful interaction.” Sounds like a mouthful? Don’t worry; we’ll lay it all out for you.What Is Friction?Friction refers to points during an interaction that makes it more difficult for a

Truth and certainty

Kierkegaard on how fa*th becomes a bad word.Kierkegaard — Image created using AIYou can tell something isn’t true the moment its certainty becomes mandatory.I’m Nate Sowder, and this is unquoted, installment 15. Kierkegaard.Martinus Rorbye painting of the city jail next to Copenhagen town hall and courthouse (1831)Designed certaintyFor Kierkegaard, Christianity wasn’t a choice so much as the background noise of Copenhagen. In the early 1800s, belief didn’t require conviction, it required attenda

Escaping AI sludge: why MVPs should be delightful

Function is the floor, not the ceiling. It’s time to raise the bar and prove that the most viable products are the ones that feel human.Escaping the AI SludgeAI is now omnipresent in our workflows, but it's come at a cost: a sea of sameness. Lately, products have begun to look and feel homogeneous & indistinguishable, leading to diluted brands and increasingly sterile interactions. Big tech paves the way for others to follow; It’s time to stop settling for “good enough” and blindly follo

A Nano Banana with color theory

Using Google Gemini to build an Accessible Perceptual Uniform TriadContinue reading on UX Collective »

10 UX design shifts you can’t ignore in 2026

Another year, another wave of “What to expect in 2026” guides. I’m sure you’ve already scrolled through a few.In this article, the first one I’ll be publishing this year, I won’t make bold predictions. Instead, I’m sharing what I’m observing firsthand while collaborating with enterprise design teams, and from all the news, conversations, and insights I’ve gathered at the many conferences I’ve attended in the past months.These are my top 10 UX design shifts I’m seeing for 2026, with AI (surprise!

Show HN: Zen Moment – A Developer-Friendly Breathing and Meditation Platform

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

Launch HN: Onyx (YC W24) – Open-source chat UI

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

Show HN: Skedular, a Smart Booking and Workspace Management Platform

Hi HNI have been working on Skedular a platform that helps organizations councils co working spaces and local businesses manage bookings shared spaces and multi location operations in a simple modern wayWhat Skedular does - Manage rooms desks studios sports facilities meeting spaces and any kind of bookable asset - Handle multi location multi team scenarios - Provide public booking pages for venues - Offer a clean dashboard for operators to manage availability payments customers and sched