The Feed & The Thread - January 13, 2026
This episode covers how AI enables on-demand software features and the synergy between Figma and ChatGPT. It also discusses design dilemmas and community insights from r/web_design and r/Design, including UI/UX skill improvement and handling repetitive design requests. The episode concludes with information about the Chicago Camps UX Camp Winter 2026 event.
Tent Talks by Chicago Camps · The Thread, The Feed
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (cdn.simplecast.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
In This Episode
- Exploration of how AI is revolutionizing software development by enabling on-demand feature generation based on user needs through tools like Reve's Effects.
- How digitalization has transformed reading habits and led to shorter attention spans and a preference for skimming over deep reading.
- The introduction of slideVars, a new CodePen tool that automatically detects CSS variables and builds an interactive UI panel to adjust these values on the fly.
Articles Mentioned
- "AI Enables As-Needed Software Features" by [email protected] (LukeW) - https://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?2139
- "How reading patterns have changed" by Marcus Fleckner (UXDesign.cc) - https://uxdesign.cc/how-reading-patterns-have-changed-a88d0761f8e4?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4
- "Playing With CodePen slideVars" by Geoff Graham (CSS-Tricks) - https://css-tricks.com/playing-with-codepen-slidevars/
Community Discussions
- r/web_design - The gap between "High Fidelity Prototypes" and "Live Sites" is finally closing (Why I ditched placeholders) - https://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/1qd4dl1/the_gap_between_high_fidelity_prototypes_and_live/
- r/UXResearch - Stuck between pursuing UXR or Data Science - https://www.reddit.com/r/UXResearch/comments/1qd1lrn/stuck_between_pursuing_uxr_or_data_science/
- r/web_design - Best freelance sites for designers to find high-end clients? - https://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/1ptb2l0/best_freelance_sites_for_designers_to_find/
- r/UXDesign - How would you handle floating buttons that need to be visible but keep blocking content? - https://www.reddit.com/r/UXDesign/comments/1qd3j3y/how_would_you_handle_floating_buttons_that_need/
Announcement
Chicago Camps UX Camp Winter 2026, January 1, 2026 - https://chicagocamps.org
About Tent Talks
Chicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway--If it's a cool idea, we'd love to hear about it and share it!
What is a Tent Talk? That's a great question, we'd love to tell you.
Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format--we like to think of them as "S'mores-sized content" because that's pretty on-brand. Tent Talks can be a presentation on a topic, a live Q&A session about the work we do, or the work around the work we do, or really just about anything--we don't want to limit ourselves, or you.
You should send along an idea or topic of your own so we can learn from you, as well! You don't have to be a published author or a professional speaker on a circuit to be good at your job, so please, put yourself forward, and let's have some fun, talk, and share your experience with others!
About The Feed & The Thread
The Feed & The Thread is a daily summary of UX articles found in the industry and some light-touch updates from the UX Community found in online forums. It's brief, and meant as a light-touch overview of what's happening across UX.