Designers after the badge comes off
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
“This photographic series slips into the hours after the badge comes off—the unbranded life where designers become someone the job never meets.”
Design with real imagery, without leaving Figma →
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Editor picks
Lonely at a lower latency →
Everything got faster, closer, more certain.The brainstorm that couldn’t storm →
On the small delay that makes a brainstorm actually storm.Questions every tool should answer (even Figma) →
Understanding AI training model usage.
The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.
What do America’s earliest restaurant menus teach us about America? →
Make me think
Against design system federation →
“Design systems operate under one of the following governance models: centralised, federated, or hybrid. All approaches have different benefits and drawbacks, swaying the decision-making scales depending on organisational priorities, maturity, size, and resourcing. (…) What if federating is a panacea to the most pressing tech landscape challenges?”AI mania is eviscerating global decision-making →
“The people in charge either have no plan, or see no path forwards other than keeping their heads down. Not at banks, not at hospitals, not in our government institutions. The world’s organisations have been captured by people in the throes of frothing excitement, and saner people who now live in a state of constant commingled fear and frustration.”Earning taste and judgment →
“Over time, I learned to handle increasingly complex abstractions and tradeoffs. That’s how a junior developer matures into a senior one. But agents will automate all of these reps. This will fundamentally change the path from junior to senior.”
Little gems this week
The aggressively mediocre fight →
Steal this UX framework from Dubai’s most over-the-top hotel →
The screens are getting demoted →
Tools and resources
AI can fake your portfolio →
But it can’t fake the second question.Nir Eyal’s Hook Model for AI products →
How to apply them safely.The case for monochrome data visualization →
Less color, more reading.
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