Interactivity
Smashing Animations Part 6: Magnificent SVGs With `<use>` And CSS Custom Properties
I explained recently how I use <symbol>, <use>, and CSS Media Queries to develop what I call adaptive SVGs. Symbols let us define an element once and then use it again and again, making SVG animations easier to maintain, more efficient, and lightweight.Since I wrote that explanation, I’ve designed and implemented new Magnificent 7 animated graphics across my website. They play on the web design pioneer theme, featuring seven magnificent Old West characters.<symbol> and <use&
How AI Video Is Taking Over the Internet
AI video isn’t the future—it’s already eating the internet alive. From fake influencers and auto-generated TikToks to corporate “spokespeople” who don’t exist, the flood of synthetic content is rewriting what’s real online. The question is: when everything can be faked, will *real* video become the rarest thing left?
Material 3 Expressive: Building on the failures of flat design
The newest changes to Google’s influential design system are reviving some very old lessons.A whimsical cloud of Expressive buttons. (Google Design, 2025)“Life is too short to click on things you don’t understand.” — Jakob NielsenOn May 13, 2025 Google unveiled “Material 3 Expressive” (M3E), a refresh to its Material Design (MD) design system built on top of the last big update, Material 3 (M3).Chock full of big buttons, stylised text, and passionate colour, M3E is, at first glance, an update pr
We wanted Superman-level AI. Instead, we got Bizarro.
The illusion of intelligence is the new frontier of deception.Image source: dcau.fandom.com/wiki/BizarroI was a huge Superman fan as a kid. In fact, my first tattoo was of the Superman symbol — I know, cheesy. But there was something about that idea of strength guided by purpose that stuck with me. However, one character that truly captured my imagination — the one who explained the gap between ideal and reality — was Superman’s failed copy — Bizarro.Bizarro is a botched experiment by the genius
Is Figma in its accessibility era?
Figma’s inclusive design updatesDesigners are expected (sometimes legally required) to create accessible products. But many tools we rely on are inaccessible themselves.Imagine trying to use Adobe Illustrator using only your keyboard… yes, you could navigate the toolbar and open menus, but you really couldn’t use any of the core features (vector drawing or creating shapes).Most of these design tools weren’t built for users with disabilities. And products like Adobe would require massive retrofit
The User Research Round-Up: CW45
The UXR Tools Bundle is designed to take the chaos out of research. Paid subscribers to The User Research Strategist get free premium access to four top platforms that make research actually run smoothly:User Interviews → 5 participant credits, no ghosting, no chasingAskable → 1 month of Industry Stream, recruitment on autopilotLyssna → 6 months of quick-turn usability testingCondens → 6 months of a real repository (not 47 Google Docs)That’s roughly $1,200 worth of
Show HN: Roundtable MCP Server to Use Claude, Cursor, Codex, Gemini from One UI
Hey HN, Last week, I spent 40 minutes debugging a production issue that should have taken 5. Not because the bug was complex, but because I kept switching between Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and
Gemini - copying context, losing thread, starting over.
The workflow was painful:
1. Claude Code couldn't reproduce a React rendering bug
2. Copy-pasted 200 lines to Cursor - different answer, still wrong
3. Tried Codex - needed to re-explain the database schema
4. Finally Gemini spot
A Practical Guide To UX Strategy
For years, “UX strategy” felt like a confusing, ambiguous, and overloaded term to me. To me, it was some sort of a roadmap or a “grand vision”, with a few business decisions attached to it. And looking back now, I realize that I was wrong all along.UX Strategy isn’t a goal; it’s a journey towards that goal. A journey connecting where UX is today with a desired future state of UX. And as such, it guides our actions and decisions, things we do and don’t do. And its goal is very simple: to maximize
Brutalism in the AI Era: Why Ugly Might Be the Only Honest Aesthetic Left
AI is turning the web into one big pastel gradient with rounded corners. Brutalism is the middle finger we need — raw, jarring, and impossible to fake. In a sea of safe, AI-generated beauty, ugly might be the only honest aesthetic left.
Shifting within: creating change inside a corrupt system without losing ourselves
This post explores living in the contradiction: working to change harmful systems while knowing that those same systems help pay our bills.I dream of a future where everyone has what they need and where design supports human and planetary flourishing. This vision fills me with hope while also making me acutely aware of the reality many designers face today. Our work is done within the dominant capitalist framework that prioritizes financial growth above all else, often at the expense of true flo
RITE testing: how to test AI-driven products in a meaningful way
One of the best ways to go back to scrappy user testing in the AI eraContinue reading on UX Collective »
How To Leverage Component Variants In Penpot
This article is a sponsored by PenpotSince Brad Frost popularized the use of design systems in digital design way back in 2013, they’ve become an invaluable resource for organizations — and even individuals — that want to craft reusable design patterns that look and feel consistent.But Brad didn’t just popularize design systems; he also gave us a framework for structuring them, and while we don’t have to follow that framework exactly (most people adapt it to their needs), a particularly importan
“Great Insights!” Isn’t a Metric
Hi, I’m Nikki. I run Drop In Research, where I help teams stop launching “meh” and start shipping what customers fight for. I write about the conversations that change a roadmap, the questions that shake loose real insight, and the moves that get leadership leaning in. Bring me to your team.Paid subscribers get the power tools: the UXR Tools Bundle with a full year of four top platforms free, plus all my Substack content, and a bangin’ Slack community where you can ask qu
How AI writing tools fail to speak to writers
Seven design insights from taking Grammarly ads (too) seriously.Writing your way or moving writing out of the way? Image by the author.Three weeks ago, YouTube finally decided that I must be interested in writing. Fair enough: I’m a Human-Computer Interaction professor researching writing tools and the impact of AI. Soon, my feed filled with Grammarly ads — and I started reflecing on their curious messages.What if we took AI writing tool ads seriously?Ads may seem an odd source for design reflec
A Hippocratic Oath for tech… with teeth
From Frankenstein’s dilemma to the Greek agora, history offers blueprints for building tech industry legitimacy.Endpaper illustration for the 1983 Marvel Comics adaptation of Frankenstein, by Bernie Wrightson.I was reading Frankenstein to my son last week (as one does in the days leading up to Halloween). As he fell asleep, I was struck by a thought. The “move fast and break things” ethos of the last two decades in tech is remarkably similar to the core themes of the 200+ y/o Shelley classic. Th
Micro-interactions in UX and why they exist
Have you ever scrolled through an endless list of years just to find your birth year?
Micro-Interactions: The Joyful Touches That Enhance Your Software Experience!
Never forget that software is about humans
Dark Mode Is the New Comic Sans (And You Know It)
Dark mode is the Comic Sans of our time—born useful, hijacked by aesthetics, and now forced on users. It’s not kinder to your eyes, often wrecks accessibility, and turns UX into a design monoculture. Looking “premium” on Dribbble doesn’t make it good design.
AI gardens, Sora icon, Claude Code & Figma MCP, error handling UX
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.“The 1930s were ripe for innovation, during the thick of the Second Industrial Revolution. Designers were captivated by the new technology of plywood bending, which allowed previously impossible forms to emerge.”How Estonia, AI gardens, and plywood make designers prolific →By Darren YeoNew report: How AI will transform the research tech stack in 2026 →[Sponsored] AI is transforming research — but automation alone isn’t enough. Learn ho
How grocery store layouts manipulate your shopping behavior
If you overspend, you’re shopping exactly as designedContinue reading on UX Collective »