Dive Club 🤿

This week’s episode is with Tyler Angert who was the first design hire at Replit. So we get a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like designing for a hyper growth startup. However in early 2024, Tyler left to pursue a startup of his own, so a good chunk of this discussion focuses on his vision for Patina and the future of “spontaneous software”.Some highlights:Why the camera roll is pivotal for AITyler’s advice to his 23 year old selfTactics for learning to code with ClaudeWhat it takes to design complex systemsThe skills that will be most valuable in 2025The biggest design challenges for AI productsStrategies for learning more technical skillsetsHow to succeed as a young designer at a startupTyler’s Freezeframe app with Jason YuanGenesis physics announcementGranola meeting recordingsDaylight computer

I’m designing a new product and a few months ago I would’ve confidently said it’s not an AI product. But I was wrong.This new technology creates endless opportunities… we just have to be able to see what AI makes possible. And that’s what this episode is all about.Maggie Appleton (former design lead at Elicit)Joel Lewenstein (head of product design at Anthropic)George Kedenburg III (designer at Humane)Michael Wandelmaier (designer at Dropbox)

I’ve followed Mike Smith ever since he designed the Perplexity brand identity and quickly realized he’s one of the most creative designers I’ve ever seen. Turns out his wife Chara is a positioning mastermind too so it makes sense why Smith & Diction is one of the hottest agencies in the game today.So this week’s episode is a deep dive into brand strategy and what it takes to stand out in 2025 and beyond. We get into:What it takes to stand out in an AI worldTheir hacks for cracking a brand strategyWhy the best brands have lots of “moves”Mike’s #1 piece of advice for younger designersWhat people really mean when they say “timeless”Their experience using Visual Electric in brand designPositioning Smith & Diction in today’s agency landscapea lot moreWe talk about how they used Visual Electric for their latest project (Alma Food). ⭐ Don’t forget you can use the code DIVECLUB to get your first month free.You can also check out the episode with Colin Dunn (CEO of Visual Electric)Mike says to make sure you watch the episode with Phi from PerplexityWe talk about Topo, Cotopaxi and Steady bags

Being able to think like an engineer helps you collaborate with developers more effectively, design UIs that make sense, and empowers you to build your ideas with AI tools like v0, Claude, etc.So this video is going to break down a few traits of designers who I believe are already doing this at a high level.It includes insights from:Mariana Castilho (designer at Vercel/Pierre)Julius Tarng (prev engineering at Linear)Meng To (Founder of Design+Code)

We've heard a lot on this show about designers becoming builders using tools like v0 and today we get to do a deep dive with Pranathi Peri who is leading the design of v0 at Vercel. We discuss:Growing your taste and intuition quicklyHow Pran thinks about the design language of v0Pran’s personal experiments using 3D and physicsWhy Pran wants to bring “onboarding roulette” to v0How Pran showed potential without having extensive experienceWhat it’s like collaborating with engineers like ShadCN and Raunoa lot moreManuel is the VP of Design at VercelWe discuss what it’s like collaborating with Shadcn

Craft is so much more than a shimmering landing page or micro animation…It’s sweating all of the tiny details and having a thorough understanding of the edge cases in your product.But there’s one detail most designers miss… 👀So this episode highlights one of my favorite ideas ever shared on the show from Raphael Schaad (founder of Cron and now the Head of Calendar at Notion).It’s a fantastic example of what it looks like to obsess over the craft of your productYou can find his full episode here — https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/raphael-schaadAnd this episode also pulls in part of my conversation with Julius Tarng about his time at Linear — https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/julius-tarng

This week's episode is with Sam Peitz who quickly became one of my favorite designers to follow in 2024.He regularly shares experiments like TextOS, his scribble running app, and assorted letter prototypes. So this conversation is a deep dive into his creative process and how he’s redefined his career path over the past ~10 months. We go deep into:Sam’s go-to source of design inspirationThe power of setting the right constraintsWhat Sam has learned about building with v0How to think creatively and design out of the boxHow to position yourself for the type of work you want to doa lot moreKoto branding studio is where Sam worked previouslySam likes Arena for design inspirationWe talked about the episode with Dennis from Amie

Designers have become servants of “the process” so this episode features stories of people who are breaking the mold in the way they explore and prototype ideas.It includes insights from:Gabe Valdivia (Fractional design leader): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gabe-valdiviaDennis Muller (Designer + founder of Amie):https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/dennis-mullerGavin Nelson (Designing Linear mobile app):https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gavin-nelsonNikolas Klein (Designing Prototyping at Figma):https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/figma-prototypingMichael Wandelmaier (Former Head of Design at Metalab): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/michael-wandelmaierAnd lastly it features insights from Jenny Wen including her original blog post that inspired this episode (definitely bookmark this it’s awesome)👇https://jennywen.substack.com/p/dont-trust-the-design-process

Did you know that the very first interface designer at Adobe was also the first designer to work on Figma? 🤯His name is Andrei Herasimchuk and he knows a lot about design tooling…So this week’s episode is jam-packed with stories about designing the earliest interfaces for Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as what it was like seeing the original seed of an idea that became Figma.Not only that… Andrei gives us a behind-the-scenes of his new design tooling startup and shares his vision for where software creation is headed next 👀Some highlights to expect:How AI fits into his new product strategyThe bizarre story of Andrei’s first day at AdobeThe 3 types of designers that will exist in the futureWhat it was like joining Figma as the first designer in 2012How Andrei defined the initial keyboard shortcuts in design toolsThe #1 trait of designers he’s worked with over the last 3 decadesWhen to break out of the familiar interaction patterns for design toolinga lot moreBryan Lamkin was Andrei’s first manager at AdobeMark Hamburg was who he collaborated with on the original keyboard shortcuts

Many of my favorite episodes are when we get to hear from the earliest designers at companies like Linear, Perplexity, Ramp, Facebook, etc.So this episode pulls out the key insights so you can learn what it takes to thrive as a startup designer:Nate Parrott (Founding designer of Arc): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/nate-parrottAdrien Griveau (Founding designer of Linear): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/adrien-griveauSoleio (2nd designer at Facebook): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/soleio-2Marco Cornacchia (Founding designer at Diagram): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/marco-cornacchiaHenry Modisett (Founding designer at Perplexity): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/henry-modisettHelen Tran(Design leader at AngelList): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/helen-tranDiego Zaks (2nd designer at Ramp): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/diego-zaks

Imagine joining an early stage startup as the first senior designer and within a few years, it becomes the fastest growing company ever.Well… that's the story of Diego Zaks who is now the VP of design at Ramp.This week’s episode is all about how they were able to win with design and what makes their culture so special. We go deep into:Why velocity is the key to qualityThe impact of “truth seeking pods”How Diego creates a culture of collaborationWhat it takes to be a great founding designerThe #1 trait Diego looks for in design candidatesHow Diego has changed the way he gives feedbackHow designers are empowered to make strategic callsa lot more…Want to work with Diego at Ramp? They’re hiring ✌️

Imagine you’re asked to lead the design of a new project. It’s complex, open-ended, and full of interconnected problems…How do you attack that ambiguity and get momentum quickly?This episode is an attempt to answer that question by unpacking tactics used by designers like:Jenny Wen (Original designer of Figjam): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/jenny-wenMichael Wandelmaier (Former head of design at Metalab): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/michael-wandelmaierAlex Cornell (Director of Design at Meta AI): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-cornellRich Arnold (Design leader at Vine, IG, and Coinbase): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/rich-arnoldAndrei Herasimchuk (first designer at Adobe and Figma): Episode coming soonJenny Wen’s Eigenquestions Figjam template

2024 was the year the Perplexity brand took over the design community. And a big reason why is because of Phi Hoang.So this week’s episode is a deep dive into brand experience design and creativity with AI tools. We get an inside look at:Phi’s creative process with MidjourneyWhy Perplexity thinks of the brand in “seasons”Phi’s tool stack for creating marketing videos with AIBehind-the-scenes of how Phi stumped the founder of MidjourneyWhy Perplexity cares about creative consistency > visual consistencya lot morePhi referenced the episode with Henry Modisett the Head of Design at PerplexityMike Smith from Smith & Diction is who Phi collaborated with on the initial brand identityPhi uses Midjourney for image creationHe also mentioned Runway, Luma, and Krea for video work.

It doesn’t matter how good your designs are if they never get built. So this episode breaks down specific tactics you can use to become a better storyteller and get people excited to build your ideas. Michael Wandelmaier (former Head of Design at Metalab): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/michael-wandelmaier Gavin Nelson (designing the Linear mobile app): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gavin-nelson Ian Wharton (storytelling coach): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/ian-wharton Kathy Zheng (head of design at Optimism): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/kathy-zheng Yuan Wang (head of design at Maven): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/yuan-wang Alex Cornell (design lead for Gen AI at Meta): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-cornell Noam Segal (senior research leader): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/noam-segal Femke (design lead at Gusto): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/femke Gabe Valdivia (independent designer): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gabe-valdivia Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.club 🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub

A little over a year ago, Joey Banks and I were DM’ing each other in Slack about leaving our W-2 jobs and going independent.So this week’s episode is a reflection on his journey working for himself and it’s as human and relatable as any conversation I’ve ever had on this show. We go deep into:Managing your pipeline of clientsCreating a personal knowledge system in NotionFinding companionship as an independent designerStructuring your schedule and maintaining momentumCommunicating your services and pricing yourself effectivelyDealing with uncertainty and all of the unknowns in your first yeara lot moreGet a special offer on Joey’s “Level Up with Figma” courseJoey’s Baseline website and newsletterPaul Millerd’s “Pathless Path” book and his episode on Lenny’s podcastJoey mentioned Oliur’s episode as one of his favorite YouTube creatorsHe also mentioned Stephen Robles YouTube channel

The pendulum has swung too far with design systems. Somehow they’ve become synonymous with scale. But I believe they’re the perfect first step for startups. So this episode looks at stories from Perplexity and Cron to reframe design systems as the key to speed in the early days.Henry Modisett (Head of Design at Perplexity): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/henry-modisettRaphael Schaad (founder of Cron / Notion Calendar): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/raphael-schaadBrad Frost (author of Atomic Design): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/brad-frost

After writing a viral article called “The Missing Tool” I was fortunate to meet Gab and Nim who are the co-founders of a startup called Dessn.Dessn is a new way to ship design changes without having to write code. Their extension overlays a Figma-like interface on your live web app so designers can easily make changes. Their AI then writes the code and pushes it to your Github. That means designers can now contribute directly to production.Over the last few months we’ve had regular jam sessions about the future of design tooling, how AI impacts software creation, and everything in between…These jam sessions have been some of the most inspiring conversations I’ve had this year. So this week’s episode is a way to loop you in on some of those conversations. We go deep into:The future of design systems with AICrafting a product strategy in today’s landscapeNavigating the idea maze as an early stage founderWhat it means to have an “AI native” product strategyHow the flattening of the talent stack impacts designersWhy Nim was so inspired by the head of design at UnsplashWhat “taste” looks like when operating as a creative directora lot moreCheck out the Dessn websiteNim mentioned V0.dev as a way to create software (also might like Meng To’s recent episode)The short story Library of BabelStudio Ghibli animation studiosGraza olive oil as an example of what a strong brand looks like in a commoditized product line

Over the last few months, I’ve interviewed the people designing cutting edge AI products like Perplexity, Claude, Dot, Humane, Visual Electric, and more…During that time I’ve created a running list of all the metaphors and mental models they’ve used to explain what it’s like.So this episode breaks down 7 mental models for designing AI products.Maggie Appleton (Design engineer at Normally): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/maggie-appletonHenry Modisett (Head of Design at Perplexity): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/henry-modisett Joel Lewenstein (Head of Product Design at Anthropic): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/joel-lewenstein George Kedenburg III (Designer at Humane): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/george-kedenburg-iii Colin Dunn (Co-founder of Visual Electric): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/colin-dunn Jason Yuan (Co-founder of Dot): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/jason-yuanChapters 0:00 AI as an organism we grew 1:49 AI as the middle of a field 6:24 AI as a chef in a kitchen 7:37 AI as a new child 8:42 AI as a new material 10:20 AI as the meat of our design deliverable 12:11 AI as electricity

One of the most impressive things I’ve seen a designer make all year is Meng To’s Dreamcut.It’s the perfect example of what it looks like to transition from traditional designer to builder 💪 So if you’re interested in becoming a designer who ships then this is the episode for you.Meng gives a highly practical breakdown of what it looks like to go from 0 to 50,000+ lines of code as a designer. And Meng is the perfect person to onboard you into tools like Claude and Cursor because he’s spent 10+ years teaching designers how to code through Design+Code. So in this episode we go deep into:Meng’s tech stack and go-to AI toolsHow to fine-tune visual details in codeThe secret to an effective first 10 promptsHow to find the perfect first project to buildHow much code you need to know to build with AIWhat parts were easier/harder than Meng expectedWhy Meng considers Claude the newest design toola lot more…Meng uses Claude + Cursor to build his ideasMeng’s original .svg pattern product that he build to get startedMeng’s new Dream Cut editorMeng previously used Screen Studio (which is awesome), CapCut, and Eleven Labs for videosAI typically uses TailwindCSS (Meng also mentioned the Shadcn component library)Meng also mentioned V0 and Bolt as alternatives to ClaudeScratch is visual programming for kids

Airbnb is making 3 big design investments to bring soul back to the app. So this episode pulls from interviews with their VP of Design, Teo Connor, and prototyping specialist Janum Trivedi. Learn why Airbnb is investing in 3D, motion design, and leaders who still have their hands in the clay.Teo Connor (VP of Design at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/air-bnbAlex Schleifer (former Chief Design Offer at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-schleiferJanum Trivedi (prototyping specialist at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/janum-trivedi

As soon as I finished our original interview, I knew I had to have Soleio on as the first repeat guest. He led early design efforts at Facebook and Dropbox. Now he invests in design-driven startups like Figma, Framer, Vercel, etc.So this week’s episode is all about how designers and startups can succeed in a world where everything is changing. We go deep into:Ideal traits for a founding designerHow startups can strategically attack incumbentsWhy the future belongs to designers who can shipThe backstory behind Soleio’s investment in PerplexityA potential future where one designer can service 5+ startupsWhat you can do to invest in your future founder journey todayHow Soleio approaches the design tooling space as an investorWhy we won’t use smartphones the same way 5 years from nowa lot moreSoleio’s first episodeMeng To’s video editing product (episode coming soon)Granola (Sam and Chris are the founders)Interview with Perplexity’s head of design (Henry Modisett)Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples, JrChapters 0:00 Intro 1:32 Designers who can ship 11:18 Dealing with the velocity of tech as an investor 13:27 The importance of brand for startups 18:00 Why Soleio beleives we won't be using smartphones the same way in 5 years 34:23 Qualities that Soleio looks for in first-time founders 36:58 How to succeed as a founding designer 44:53 Founders living in the future 55:05 How to invest in your future founder journey today

This week’s episode is with Joel Lewenstein who is the Head of Product Design at Anthropic where he works on cutting edge AI products like Claude. After 80+ episodes, I can honestly say this one’s “juice per minute” score is off the charts.Some of my favorite highlights:How the team prototyped Claude ArtifactsNew mental models for designing AI productsThe way designers shape strategy at AnthropicHow to master the dark art of prompting as a designerThe future of language as the dominant interface for AIDesigning for infinite degrees of freedom vs. user journeysHow Joel designed his interview process at Airtable/Anthropica lot more…The CEO of Anthropic (Dario Amodei)’s essay: Machines of Loving GraceA new 3 minute video showing how the team built Claude ArtifactsChad Thornton was the Head of Design at AirtableEverett Katigbak is the Brand Creative Director at AnthropicKim Bost is the design leader Joel collaborates with a lotJoel mentioned Jason Yuan’s interview about designing AI products with soul

Airbnb is one of the truly iconic design-driven companies. They set the bar for design innovation in so many ways. So this week’s episode is a deep dive with their VP of Design, Teo Connor.She gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how design operates at Airbnb including:How Airbnb is bringing vitality to the visual languageHow Airbnb is empowering designers to be designersHow to succeed in a design review with Brian CheskyWhy it’s not enough to think in terms of flows and screensWhy Airbnb is updating their design system to use more 3DHow they redesigned the checkout and welcome experienceWhy Airbnb has prioritized prototyping in code earlier in the processa lot more

Imagine your first traditional “product design” job is designing the Snapchat messaging UX for millions of people across the globe…Well that’s what Dan Moreno’s journey looked like as an engineer turned designer.So this week’s episode is a deep dive into his 5+ years designing Snapchat as well as his new role at a rocket ship startup called Captions.Some highlights:Dan’s formula for presenting design ideasHow Dan grew his visual skills as an engineerInside look at the AR exploration team at SnapchatHow to get the CEO of Snap excited about your ideaWhy designing at a startup brings more responsibilityHow Dan rethought what Snapchat messaging could bea lot moreSnap’s Lens StudioAndrew McPhee (Dan’s first manager at Snap)Gaurav Misra (founder of Captions)Pop a component plugin for Figma

I remember the exact moment where I first explored MercuryOS. It was clear Jason Yuan was one of the most skilled design thinkers I'd ever encountered. No wonder he landed a role designing AI products at Apple shortly after.But the main reason I wanted to interview him was to learn more about his new product called Dot. It's by far my favorite personal AI and a beautifully designed experience. So this conversation is a behind-the-scenes of his latest journey and a fun glimpse at what the future might hold for software products. We go deep into:What it looks like to design with soulWhat makes Jason’s design process uniqueWhy Jason left Apple to build New ComputerHow Dot is the spiritual successor to MercuryOSHow more designers need to become AI engineersWhy Jason thinks dynamic interfaces are over-hypedHow to design a product based on one magical interactionWhat Jason learned about storytelling from his background in theatrea lot moreDownload Dot or check out the websiteJason's original MercuryOS projectThe original Dot website featuring Mei’s story (from the Wayback machine so give it a minute to load)Jason references Shigeru Miyamoto (the creator of Super Mario Bros)

Mariana Castilho has one of the most impressive career trajectories of any designer I’ve ever met.I first saw her while mentoring through Shift Nudge and within a few years she’s landed roles at Universe, Vercel, and most recently as the first designer at Pierre.One of the keys to her growth has been investing in her skills as an engineer. So a big part of this interview is learning what it takes to transition from designer to builder.Some highlights:The future of design engineeringWhat makes designing dev tools uniqueHow Mariana has grown as a visual designerWhat it’s like working with design celebritiesWhat it means to care deeply about implementationHow she finally succeeded her 3rd time learning to codeHow teams like Vercel consistently hit a high bar for crafta lot moreSave $200 and join me in enrolling for UI Engineering 101 for designersMariana’s component library UI LabsMariana led the original design for v0 by VercelVercel’s Geist Design System

This week’s episode is with Janum Trivedi who makes some of the most stunning prototypes in all of design. So the main goal of this conversation is to answer the question “what makes a piece of software feel great?”Some of the key talking points:The 3 levels of animationShipping a major refresh of the Netflix iOS appWhy shaders are a big deal (and how they work)How Janum built the download animation for ArcWhy Janum built his own animation engine (Wave)Learning the principles of fluid design working on the iPad pointera lot moreCheck out Janum’s demos on his website2018 WWDC talk “Designing fluid interfaces”The Book of Shaders websiteDisney’s 12 principles of animation

Ben Blumenrose was one of the earliest designers at Facebook and has spent the last 12 years as a co-founder and Managing Partner of Designer Fund. That’s allowed him to invest in many of the design founders that you’ve heard from on this shown (like Jorn from Framer or Colin from Visual Electric).So the goal of this conversation is to tap into Ben’s perspective as a designer turned investor. This episode creates a blueprint for people interested in designing for startups or maybe even building a company of your own.Some highlights:The story of investing in FramerHow second-time founders think differentlyUnderstanding your gaps as a design founderWhat it looks like to truly act as an owner at a startupWhat Ben looks for when investing in design foundersWhat types of market opportunities Ben is most excited aboutHow Ben transformed customer support in his first month at FBThe things you should be learning on the job before launching a startupa lot moreApply for the Designer Fund Partnership program

Imagine leading the design of an AI product that skyrockets to a billion+ dollar valuation in under two years…That’s the story of Perplexity and today we get to hear from their founding designer and current Head of Design, Henry Modisett. Some of the highlights from this conversation:What it takes to thrive as a founding designerWhy Henry likes hiring designers who can codeThe challenges of designing dynamic interfacesWhy Henry didn’t want to anthropomorphize the AIThe initial creative direction for the Perplexity brandThe keys to making a consumer product cognitively fastWhy Henry built a mini design system as his very first stepa lot moreSHOW NOTESIvan (CEO of Notion)’s tweet about not having a design systemPerplexity’s incredible brand designer named PhiWe talked about how booking.com is a masterclass in optimizing UIKEY TAKEAWAYSStarting with a design systemBefore Henry had any idea what the Perplexity product would become, he built a component system in React as the first step. The goal was to give himself a toolbox to make it easy to assemble new features. Many components are obvious (ex: you know you’ll need a grid, type system, color system, buttons, etc.). We don’t have to overcomplicate design systems. They’re the thing you invest in to move fast… not the thing you invest in once you have most of the interface figured out.Empowerment through codeWhen you write code, you develop a stronger emotional attachment to the product. You’re also empowered to continually make improvements without having to go through engineers. The more removed you are from what ships, the easier it is to dish blame on someone else for an experience being janky.“Having designers that can code is a hack…quality just happens”Velocity is everythingHenry makes a point to prioritize velocity over exploration, debate, visual design, etc. And a big part of what makes that possible is empowering designers to make decisions. If it’s a UX question, the designer needs to make a call (”go with your gut and if you want to change it later you can”). This is also why having designers who can code is key. Nothing is cemented. You don’t need permission to iterate after something ships.Dynamic UI systemsAt the root of Perplexity are UI systems that display dynamic content based on what the user searches. That means as a designer you can’t possibly mock up all use cases. You have to think about interfaces as slightly abstracted (ex: “entity comparison” which can work for comparing dog breeds, restaurants, etc.). Part of designing a dynamic system is you have to be ok with percentage outcomes. Sometimes the formatting isn’t going to be perfect.You’re designing the system, giving AI the tools to use, and hoping that it works most of the time.

This week's episode is with Ryan Scott who was an early designer at Doordash and then spent years as a design lead at Airbnb. Nowadays Ryan teaches hundreds of designers ranging from seniors to VPs how to make a bigger impact at your company.This episode is jam-packed with insights about:What it’s like presenting at Airbnb CRITWays to unlock your credibility as a designerHow to mitigate risk when presenting your ideasWhat it takes to speak the language of the businessTypes of “PM-y” questions that designers should be askingHow Ryan led a massive redesign of the Airbnb booking flowThe right (and wrong) way to make a case for investing in UX debtHow to talk about your work in a way that resonates with non-designersa lot moreGet $100 off of Ryan’s course “Describing the ROI of design”Ryan’s case study on redesigning the Airbnb checkout flowPast interview with Alex Schleifer (Chief Design Officer at Airbnb)

Investing in my personal brand has been the best investment I’ve ever made in my career. So I wanted to find the perfect designer to give a personal branding masterclass and I think it’s Oliur.He’s built a massive audience across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. and he shares his hard-earned knowledge in this episode:Oliur’s keys to growing on social mediaDifferent ways to create leverage in your careerHow he (accidentally) landed a billion-dollar clientHow you can get more confident putting yourself out thereSpecific ways to build meaningful connections with other designersWhat designers need to know to get better at marketing themselvesa lot moreOliur cites James McDonald as an example of someone sharing their workOliur’s iPhone presets and high income streams videosWe talk about his friend Ali Abdaal (YouTuber, Podcaster, NYT bestseller)Jason Levin’s iMessage screenshot of Travis Scott performingI referenced Jack Butcher’s “this is pointless” graphDan Petty’s “That Marker Pack”The old Audience Building course on Maven (RIP)Turkish designer Oguz (Oliur talked about the power of his aesthetic)Gabe Valdivia’s new app Almanac that he built with Cursor

This week’s episode is with Maheen Sohail who is a senior staff designer working on generative at Meta. She joined as one of the earliest designers on both the VR and AI teams, so a big part of this discussion is about navigating ambiguity when there’s no clear playbook to follow.We go deep into:New types of interface patterns for AIThe unique ways she thinks about prototypingEthical considerations when designing AI produdctsHow Maheen explores AI models through side projectsWhy the goal posts for what it means to be a designer are shiftinga lot more⭐ KEY TAKEAWAYSNobody knows what they’re doingThis is especially true when you’re designing products for emerging technologies like AI. It’s easy to look at people working on these AI-native products and assume they have it all figured out… but we’re all still learning and exploring what’s possible. This came up in George Kedenburg’s episode too.Curiosity > everythingI asked Maheen what traits are more important than curiosity for people interested in designing AI products. Her answer? Nothing.The importance of passion projectsThere’s a trend I’m noticing in these interviews… the designers who are creating cutting edge use cases for AI are the ones actively exploring the technology with side projects. Reading essays isn’t the way to learn. You have to want something to exist in the world and use that as a reason to figure out what’s possible. For Maheen it was using AI models to colorize images of Pakistan. For Nate Parrott it was using AI to hallucinate in HTML.Maheen references Alex Cornell’s storytelling abilitiesMaheen’s demo for animating drawings (it’s very fun)We referenced Colin Dunn’s episode about the importance of naming in AI productsMaheen’s colorized photos of PakistanMaheen’s FakeID podcastMeta’s AI releaseMaheen raved about the Rosebud journalling app

After 8 years designing at Meta, George Kedenburg III pulled a 180 and joined Humane as a design lead. So this conversation is a deep dive into designing AI products and how the role of product designer evolves in an AI-native company:How to become a creative problem solverHow George navigates ambiguity at HumaneWhy there’s no such thing as an edge case with AIWhat George learned while using AI to learn PythonHow AI is reshaping the landscape for software designWhy George created a Slackbot to prototype his ideasWhy designing AI products is a bit like designing a kitchena lot morePushing past the pixelsThe real value of design is being able to look at an ambiguous situation and understand what you should explore.Rectangles so happen to be the most common way to express that value. But the real skill is creative problem solving.Working at a company like Humane forces designers to contribute design thinking beyond the pixels.Prompt design > prompt engineeringIf the AI model is a chef, then you’re responsible for designing the kitchen.You don’t know what the user will order, so it’s a lot of trial and error to ensure you have the right data on hand at the right moments.It’s no different than thinking through drop-off in an onboarding flow. Which is why George views working with these models as “prompt design” rather than “prompt engineering”There are no AI edge casesWhen you’re prototyping AI products, your prototypes don’t “break” or “fall over” like they do in Figma. That’s because the boundaries of what exists in the prototype become much blurrier.Instead of designing contained flows, you’re laying a foundation and allowing the model to extrapolate out from there. There are no more hard edges.George mentions Claude Artifacts as an example of someone putting the pieces together in the right order

Visual Electric has quickly become my go-to product for image generation and in this week’s episode we get to learn from the founder and designer, Colin Dunn. The whole discussion is an excellent look at the design founder journey as well as a deep dive into AI-native creative tools. We get into the weeds about:Visual Electric’s big bet to take on CanvaThe hidden challenges with designing AI productsColin's approach to early user and market researchThe art and science of raising funds for your startupWhere the value will accrue in the landscape for creative toolsWhere Colin draws the line between abstraction and power in UXThe wild backstory of how the company was named “Visual Electric”Lessons learned learned from early startup ideas that were shot downKey takeaways:AI is like electricity. Once we gained access to this new form of power, we immediately replaced candles with outlets. But it took 50+ years before the microwave and other staple household appliances were invented. When electricity came on the scene in the late 19th century it would’ve been impossible to imagine these types of products. Colin believes the electricity layer will quickly become commoditized, and instead is solely focused on building “appliances” for AI. Because someone is going to build the oven, the sewing machine, the coffee percolator, the electric can opener, etc. It might even be you 😉Choosing the level of abstraction is one of the core challenges with designing AI products. Most users don’t want to be burdened by all of the knobs and levers of the AI model. That’s why it’s essential that we define new patterns and mental models that make AI easy to understand. But you have to be careful, because “the more you abstract something, the less control users have over it”. One example Colin shares is why they’re considering combining the “reference slider” and “creativity slider”. It simplifies the UX but at the cost of control. And striking that balance is one of the challenging parts about designing Visual Electric.Language is an awkward medium for visual ideas. We need more effective ways to provide visual inputs if we want to generate high quality visual outputs.Want to get early access to Visual Electric’s new product? 👉 Click hereColin talks about his great his experience with User InterviewsGreg Rosen was the investor who helped Colin in the early daysJess Lee is the Sequoia partner they met withTom from Manual led the branding and chose the name “Visual Electric”Here’s Manual’s case study on designing the Visual Electric brandVisual Electric’s brand story page (which Ellis Hamburger helped with)

The Arc browser is one of the best products I’ve downloaded in the last few years which is why I’m so excited about this interview with their founding designer, Nate Parrott.This conversation, we get an inside look at what makes design at the Browser Company so unique. We discuss:How Nate went from engineer at Snap to the Browser Co.Why design at Arc prioritizes fingerprints > consistencyHow Nate collaborates with engineers on ArcThe story behind Arc Search’s hook featureThe Browser Co’s culture of prototypingHow Nate balances intuition and dataa lot more…Nate’s gamified personal websiteA24 film studioNate references the Co-Star astrology app and the old Zenly appPatrick Moberg (the designer on Boosts)Karla Cole (the designer who pulls inspiration outside of tech)Nate’s feeeed RSS app

This week’s episode is with Dan LaCivita who is a co-founder of Play—a new way to design mobile apps using native iOS materials. As soon as I saw this app clip I knew it was a big deal and that I had to interview him to learn more.So in this conversation we go deep into:How to unlock the skill of interaction designWhat Apple’s sandbox unlocks for designersWhy they decided to launch Play as a mobile appThe importance of keeping your hands in the clayHow AI might impact the future of interaction designa lot moreDan mentions his cofounder JoonYong ParkThe App Clip that first blew my mind

Gavin Nelson is currently designing the Linear mobile app in addition to the best app icons on the internet. So this episode is a deep dive into prototyping and interaction design:Gavin’s journey learning SwiftUIHow Gavin got into designing app iconsHow to design physics-based interactionsWhat it’s like designing for power users at LinearWhy interaction design is so important for mobile appsWhy Gavin uses code almost exclusively for prototyping nowWhen it makes sense to prototype at the beginning of your processThe interplay between custom and stock components in mobile designThings by Cultured CodeJanum shows interactions in the Netflix mobile appEpisode with Brian Lovin (who Gavin worked with at Github)Episode with Alex Cornell (who started the design of the Linear mobile app)Parallax effect from the Linear onboarding screen

If you watched last week’s episode, then you heard Jordan Singer say how visual search was actually the “killer feature” (not generative AI). What’s interesting is that this feature was actually a mid-project pivot.So in this episode we get the full behind-the-scenes of visual search from design engineer Vincent van der Meulen:Why they decided to pivotHow Vincent went cowboy modeA look at the future of design engineeringWhat good design looks like in an AI worldWhy visual search is a big deal for future AI toolsHow Vincent used video to get Figmates excited about his ideaa lot moreMarco and Jordan from the old Diagram teamMatt Dailey was the engineer that proved designs can be represented as images2024 Config Keynote showing Vincent’s Uber example for visual search

Live from Config, this episode with Jordan Singer follows his journey from the Diagram acquisition all the way to Figma’s 2024 AI release. We go deep into:What didn’t ship at Config and whyHow they navigated the early idea mazeHow the role of designer will be impacted by AIWhat it will be like designing dynamic interfacesWhat makes Jordan’s new role at Figma so uniqueWhy renaming layers was such a big internal debateWhy the sparkle icon will become the new floppy diskThe surprising pivot that led to Jordan’s favorite AI featureHow Jordan prototypes by hacking on top of the Figma code baseThe old Diagram websiteFigma’s new AI landing pageFigma’s blog post introducing AIFigma’s 2024 Config Keynote

This week’s episode is with Kathy Zheng who is currently the Head of design at a Web3 protocol called Optimism. But before that she was the first designer at Patreon and went on to spend over 6 years at Github.So the goal of this conversation is to look at how Kathy grew as a designer while at Github and identify the specific milestones on her journey to reaching senior and eventually staff designer.We get into the weeds about:How the role of staff and senior designers differThe traits shared by the best designers at GithubHow to give your ideas a chance to become memesHow to avoid conversational spinout on your projectHow to identify opportunities using systems thinkingHow Kathy is growing as a design leader at OptimismSpecific techniques for storytelling and presenting ideasSome of the people mentioned in this episode:Max Schoening (former Head of design at Github)Brian Lovin (bookmarking repo project)Kat Fikui (coworker at Github whose .readme we mentioned)Connor Sears (old manager at Github)Jack Conte (Cofounder of Patreon)

When you think about storytelling in design... Alex Cornell is often the person that comes to mind. And that's a big reason why he's one of the most requested guests on the show. So this episode is a deep dive into the finer details of communication. We talk about:The story behind his startup CocoonHow Alex leverages his background in videoAlex’s precision and obsession with languageWhy Alex left linear to work on generative AI at MetaWhy getting buy-in for your ideas is kind of like a math proofBehind-the-scenes of the wild videos Alex made at FacebookLessons learned designing the Substack and Linear mobile appsThe mental models Alex uses to construct compelling narrativesa lot moreAlex’s startup CocoonAlex’s famous Chevron vs. 3 Dot video from FacebookAlex’s favorite monospace font is Jet Brains and his favorite serif font is TiemposKlim is Alex’s favorite type foundryWe discussed the dual-panel approach in the Amie mobile app

This week’s episode with Maggie Appleton is a deep dive into designing for AI products and LLMs. Maggie shares about her experience as the first designer at Elicit (an AI assistant for research papers) and all of the unique challenges surrounding helping users interface with LLMs.We also go deep into:How Maggie’s grown as a frontend developerWhy Maggie feels like she’s in a short-run limboStrategies for improving your technical literacyHow writing online has impacted Maggie’s careerThe AI-native tools that Maggie is drawing inspiration fromHow advancements in AI will redefine her role as a designerHow Maggie’s new understanding of LLMs is shaping the way she designsWhy Maggie is more interested in the cognitive applications of AI rather than generative AIMaggie is currently leading design at Elicit (they’re hiring)“How Trello is different” is where Joel Spolsky explains the differences between horizontal and vertical softwareOpenAI’s introduction of ChatGPT-4oWe talked about the product tldrawThe expanding dark forest and generative AI: Maggie’s talk about the possible futures of flooding the web with AI-generated contentEpisode with Soleio where he talks about looking for “time to proficiency” in design candidates

Remember how Michael Wandelmeier told us Metalab hired a storytelling coach? Well that coach is Ian Wharton. He’s an Apple Design Award winner, CEO of Aide Health, and he teaches storytelling techniques to teams like Dyson, BBC, Huge, etc.So this episode breaks down the key storytelling concepts that he shares in his course Sell the Idea. We talk about the importance of the inciting incident, how to empower others to share your ideas, and a lot more…But he also presents some compelling ideas about why designers are the most suited people to start companies that solve societal level challenges. All you need is a bias toward action. So if you’ve been considering starting your own thing, there’s a lot we can learn from Ian’s journey as a design founder.Ian’s course Sell the Idea (use the code RIDD at checkout for 30% off)Ian’s personal websiteIan’s business Aide HealthMackinnon and Saunders (the stop motion company Ian worked with)

~6 months ago Amy Lima was laid off and has been preparing for this episode ever since. So in this interview she gives us an inside look at her process for landing a dream role at Duolingo. If you’re looking for your next role then this conversation is quite the playbook. She has the job hunt process down to a science.Some topics covered:Avoiding burnout amidst the chaosHow Amy negotiated her Duolingo offerAmy’s advice to proactively prepare for a layoffThe ways Amy iterated on her portfolio presentationHow Amy’s career coach shaped her interview strategySome hard lessons learned during her job hunt processHow Amy measured everything in her application processa lot moreShow notes:Amy’s layoff announcement postCareer CompassCharlotte Burns (Amy’s job hunt coach)Levels (transparency database + salary negotiation tools)Amy’s job announcement postSponsors:Framer: How I build websitesJitter: How I animate my designsRaycast: How I do everything on my computer

Julius Tarng is the ultimate generalist designer.He started the design tools team at Facebook where he made a massive impact on products like Origami.He then freelanced as a design engineer for companies like Felt, Anthropic, and even prototyped some of the early AI features for the Arc browser.Now he’s in his first-ever engineering role at Linear.So this conversation is a deep dive into what it looks like for designers to approach their work with an engineering mindset. We talk about Julius’s deep background in prototyping, how he collaborates with designers at Linear. And we also get into why the current state of design engineering is a missed opportunity.If you’re looking to grow as a software designer then you’ll love this episode.Show notes:Julius’s twitterFelt — a better way to work with mapsDaniel Smith (Linear designer that Julius pairs with)Origami (Facebook’s prototyping tool)Brandon Walkin (ex: Facebook, Apple, now at OpenAI) who made the adaptive pointer for iPad.What are GPUs and Shaders? (Julius’s tutorial video)

When it comes to design founder stories, Raphael Schaad’s is one of the best. So this episode is the first-ever telling of how Raphael designed and built Cron (which became Notion Calendar). We talk about:Sketching on paper vs. sketching in codeWhy shipping quality software is like campingHow Raphael identified the MVP of the problemWhat it was like building Cron in YC during COVIDWhy you should design dialogues as first-class citizensWhy Raphael didn’t invest much in the Cron landing pageThe differences between a design toolkit and a design systema lot more lessons from a successful first-time design founderRaphael’s TwitterThe OG Cron websiteScreenshot of the Cron dialogues in Figma

Alex Schleifer was the long-time Chief Design Officer at Airbnb where he grew the team from ~35 to over 600 people. So this conversation is an inside look at what makes design at Airbnb so special. We discuss:How to create a culture of decisivenessWhy great design leaders are like chefsHow to succeed in executive CRITs at AirbnbHow designers should prepare for an AI futureWhat it means to operate with a “first team” mindsetWhat it takes to achieve Airbnb’s level of craft at scaleWhich elements of the Airbnb culture you can instill for your teama lot moreAlex’s Twitter and LinkedinAlex’s “People vs. Algorithms” podcastMentioned Airbnb alumni:Katie Dill (Head of Design at Stripe)Ethan Eismann (SVP Design at Slack)Karri Saarinen (CEO at Linear)

Noam Segal has led research at companies like Meta, Airbnb, Wealthfront, Twitter, and most recently Upwork. He also teaches the #1 user research course on Maven. So this episode is a masterclass in user research. We discuss:How to conduct better interviewsThe keys to an effective research planHow to become a masterful research storytellerHow AI is creating a new wave of research toolsWhen to rely on qualitative vs. quantitative tacticsThe modern user research tools you need to know aboutHow to ensure research is integrated in the product processNoam’s modern research tech stack:SprigGenwayDscoutSteve Portigal’s book: Interviewing users (how to uncover compelling insights)Mr. Beast’s YouTubeLenny’s Podcast with Judd Antin: The UX research reckoning is here

Helen Tran was an early designer at Shopify and is now leading product design at AngelList. But in between those two roles she also ran her own startup for three years. So the goal of this conversation is to figure out how that period of time impacted her design practice so we can all learn how to design with a founder’s mindset. In this episode we discuss: - How Helen is approaching design leadership differently this time around - How Helen constructors hypotheses to influence product strategy - Why Helen made sacrifices to her production skills - The keys to designing in a pre-PMF company - The #1 way to help founders - + a lot more Helen’s website - https://helentran.com/ Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.club 🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub Now you can join advanced courses taught by the top designers to help you take a huge leap forward in your career 💪

Today we're talking with designer and entrepreneur, Hunter Hammonds, who has grown 5 different agencies to millions in revenue in less than a year. So in this episode we walk through the different stages of building an independent design business—starting from positioning yourself as a solopreneur all the way to scaling operations to 7 figures. We get into the weeds about: - Hunter’s framework for selling yourself on a landing page - The tactics OffMenu uses to convert more leads to customers - Why Hunter thinks MRR is a misguided metric - What operational fat you can trim to increase margins - How you can improve your sales calls - + a lot more - Petr Knoll - https://twitter.com/iampetrknoll (design partner OffMenu) - Christian O’Brian - https://www.linkedin.com/in/obrienchristian/ (CEO OffMenu) - Sahil Bloom - https://twitter.com/SahilBloom (partner OffMenu) - Agencies - Instrument - https://www.instrument.com/ - Basic - https://www.basicagency.com/ - Ueno - https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/06/twitter-acquihires-creative-agency-ueno-to-help-design-new-products/ Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐 dive.club 🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub