Interactivity

Are we performing ourselves into exhaustion?

On self-surveillance, professional performance, and the cost of forgetting that we built the cage.Is this one me? (All conceptual images in this article were generated by the author using AI.)As designers, we live this performance twice over: as users who perform constantly, and as the creators of the systems that encourage that performance. This article is about the first, but it inevitably speaks to the second.I spent forty minutes choosing a profile picture. Forty minutes taking selfies, test

OpenAI: from ads to content

The future of digital advertising should feel less like a distraction and more like recommendations from a friend.High relevance ads could enhance the quality of the content.I’m a product designer and for the last four years I have been working in digital advertising for tech. I wouldn’t have imagined building part of my career in advertising, but here I am, and I have found myself honestly enjoying the challenge. Through this experience, I have learned that healthy and fair advertising is actua

Designing A Streak System: The UX And Psychology Of Streaks

I’m sure you’ve heard of streaks or used an app with one. But ever wondered why streaks are so popular and powerful? Well, there is the obvious one that apps want as much of your attention as possible, but aside from that, did you know that when the popular learning app Duolingo introduced iOS widgets to display streaks, user commitment surged by 60%. Sixty percent is a massive shift in behaviour and demonstrates how “streak” patterns can be used to increase engagement and drive usage.At its mos

5 Reasons why AR glasses are inevitable

AI-generated image based on the original from this article https://www.queppelin.com/ar-glasses-for-navigation/When I talk about AR glasses, I don’t mean bulky headsets. I mean devices that look like regular eyewear capable of whispering information into your ear and displaying 3D content or flat panels overlaid on the real world.This article is neither a validation of the technology nor a criticism, it is an objective personal look at what I see coming. Here are five reasons why I believe AR gl

Bad (model) behaviour by design

AI doesn’t just reflect human bias. It amplifies it through everyday use, quietly shaping judgement, trust, and decisions.Image generated by authorYou’re halfway through a stack of job applications, AI assistant humming along beside you, flagging promising candidates like an eager intern. It disagrees with your gut feeling about one applicant. You pause. Reconsider. A few screens later, it disagrees again. You change your mind once more. By the end of the session, you’ve deferred to its judgment

The problem with best practices in the age of AI

When AI executes your playbook better than you do, critical thinking becomes the only edge left.Continue reading on UX Collective »

Dinosaurs and designers are underrated

A myth from paleontology explains almost everything that hurts.Continue reading on UX Collective »

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: 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

Instagram Video Downloader: How SSSInstagram Helps Save Videos Easily

What Makes SSSInstagram Different?SSSInstagram is an online service designed specifically for downloading Instagram videos without any technical knowledge. Unlike many apps that require installation or registration, SSSInstagram works directly in your browser and is completely free.The tool supports all major Instagram content types and works equally well on desktop and mobile devices.What Can You Download with SSSInstagram?SSSInstagram allows users to download:- Instagram videos- Reels- Stories

Show HN: ViewLint – Lint UI, Not Code

I noticed that AI tends to be really good at writing functional code, but not so good at making UI. It turns out that AI has a closed feedback loop in coding with linters and unit testing, but nothing strong for UI. Screenshots and DOM snapshots just don't provide actionable enough feedback for LLMs. To solve this, I made ViewLint: an easily extensible and customizable linter that finds issues with your UI with rules that actually validate and interact with your rendered UI. From testing it

Launch HN: Omnara (YC S25) – Run Claude Code and Codex from anywhere

Hey y’all, Kartik, Ishaan, and Christian from Omnara (https://www.omnara.com/) here. We’re building a web and mobile agentic IDE for Claude Code and Codex that lets you run and interact with coding agents from anywhere. Omnara lets you run Claude Code and Codex sessions on your own machine, and exposes those sessions through a web and mobile interface so you can stay involved even when you’re away from your desk. Think of it like Claude Code Desktop or Conductor, except you can co

Why code is not the source of truth

And why AI just made it urgent.Continue reading on UX Collective »

How user segmentation, rather than personas, helps you get design buy-in

Businesses need to know who their user is, and how many there areContinue reading on UX Collective »

Getting carried away: When intelligence is replaced by compliance

Exploring navigation as something bigger than moving through physical and digital spaces — as a fundamental cognitive actShipping the package that’s yourself (Image generated using Procreate and Nanobanana)A few weeks ago, I read an article — A new navigation paradigm — that felt relatable, yet unsettling in a way I couldn’t fully articulate. I eventually stopped thinking about it, but the ideas lingered in the background. They then surfaced in the most mundane and seemingly unrelated places.A f

The hidden cost of AI prototypes that are made to die

How product teams should evaluate AI-generated UIAI app-building tools have made it inconsequential and mundane to turn an idea into a working prototype. You only need a couple prompts, a design file, or even a sketch to quickly generate something that looks (even behaves) like a real product. For product teams, this speed has changed expectations in the design and development process.Prototypes are no longer as special as they once were. They’re now the bare minimum.But this speed comes with li

Escaping the ennui in UI

How “vibedesign” created a vicious slope of AI slop (and how to get out).Continue reading on UX Collective »

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

Show HN: Synesthetic Computation

"When perception shifts, and the feeling of control takes over")I wrote up a deep dive into a security issue in OpenClaw that escalates from a seemingly small UX/trust boundary problem into full remote code execution via a single malicious link.The article walks through the full exploit chain from a systems perspective rather than just a CVE summary. The key theme is what I call “synesthetic computation”: when subjective context, UI state, agent memory, and system permissions get

How “Liquid Design” Broke the iPhone and Forced Apple’s Great Reset

Apple’s "Liquid Glass" experiment has officially shattered, proving that obsession with aesthetics over usability is a billion-dollar mistake. As iOS 26 drains batteries and kills accessibility, a massive internal "Solid Design" rescue mission is underway to save the iPhone from its own ego.