Beautiful, boring, and without soul
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
“Today we’re building boring products because we struggle to go much deeper than ‘I’m alright’. Going deeper is the difference between experiencing the Sagrada Familia and The Telephone Building. One, with organic, flowing forms and intricate details, evokes a sense of awe and wonder that connects us to something greater than ourselves. The other, with a stark, utilitarian design leaves us feeling uninspired and disconnected from our deeper humanity.
It probably goes without saying, but just like skills without emotional depth result in machine-like experiences, so do deep emotions without skill result in products that feel disjointed. You need both.”
Beautiful, boring, and without soul →
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Editor picks
How your designs contribute to waste →
Why aren’t we dealing with the problem of waste?The UX of drafting in space →
How I escaped the pull of the page UI.The human-centered AI manifesto →
We hold the power to shape AI responsibly.
The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.
Poetry Camera prints poems instead of pictures →
Make me think
Why the ‘none of the above’ checkbox pattern worries me →
”I know the team who did this work. They’re top class and the whole service was designed to a high standard. But this research-approved design pattern has me a little worried.”Who is the internet for? →
”I’ve been designing interfaces for two decades now, and when I look at the modern web, I see a landscape increasingly shaped not by human needs but by machine logic — a vast network of APIs, algorithms, and automated systems talking to each other in languages we never hear. Yes, “we” wrote those languages, but let’s be honest: “we” isn’t most of us.”The web is a creative industry and is facing the same decline and shattered economics as film, TV, or publishing →
”The web developer job market is in a sorry state. Software developers in general don’t seem to be doing well. Too many work for free on free or open source projects they believe in – some because they think it’ll pay off for their careers down the line, others because they just really believe in the project.”
Little gems this week
Why mascots (like Duo) are powerful pieces of UX →
Wrist UX: the future of control might be in our muscles →
Why your keyboard layout is stuck in the 1800s →
Tools and resources
Designing for the AI future →
Guidelines to design with AI in mind.The 4 pillars of content design →
A visual framework for practitioners.The art of storytelling and persuasion →
Gain buy-in, inspire action, and grow influence.
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