Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
“You are Jean-Claude Van Damme. You’re straddling two 18-wheelers careening through space while doing the splits. It’s very difficult, your groin hurts, and you could really use a strawberry Pop-tart…
Here’s the question that has brought on all the pain and Pop-tart cravings: “Do I continue the path of individual contributor or turn towards management?”
As designers, this is a decision that we all need to face eventually. As soon as we become competent in our craft, we start to realize that we can’t straddle the gap forever.”
The split decision: IC or manager? →
By Trip Carroll
Streamline feedback and slash revisions for faster, flawless website delivery →
[Sponsored] Say hello to the deadline-friendly web builder that keeps you focused on creativity, not legwork. The no-nonsense copilot handles the heavy lifting, making it smooth to go from idea to publish. Ideal for small teams and agencies building sites on tight timelines.
Editor picks
Laid off twice in a year →
Riding the tech rollercoaster as a product manager.
By Jean HuangCustomer as competitive advantage →
Are we doing the same as our competitors expecting different results?
By Helge TennøGreat products transcend the Usability vs. Utility debate →
Your users want results, not compromises.
By Avi Siegel
The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.
New book celebrates UK’s influential modernist graphic designers →
Make me think
We did all this discovery… now how do we decide? →
“The more discovery they do, the more ideas they get. The ideas, the interviews, the stories, the pain points — they all start to pile up. That’s where the problem comes in. Now the PM has a giant portfolio of ideas. But the team can only build one thing at a time. How do they decide on the one thing to do next?”Are AI assistants making us worse programmers? →
“In programming, high-level languages many times abstract the complexity away from you — something developers working with JavaScript, Python, Java, etc, know well. It seems clear that AI assistants introduce a new human-machine interface — natural language. Is that bad?”Don’t forget to localize your icons →
“Localizing your app, web app, or website is more than just running all your text through Google Translate and hoping for the best. Creating effective, trustworthy communication with language communities means doing the work to make sure your content meets them where they are.”
Little gems this week
Why is the Mac mini power button on the bottom? →
By Elvis Hsiao
How Insight Timer monetizes 25M users →
By Mary Borysova
How I used AI to design brand-aligned illustrations →
By Moty Weiss
Tools and resources
Text formatting experiences can be a trap →
Improve a keyboard user’s experience with indentation.
By Nik JeleniauskasReimagining prototyping with AI →
Bringing creativity, speed, and efficiency to design validation.
By Vamsi BatchuTest smart →
Which automation strategy to choose for peace of mind?
By Julia Kocbek
Support the newsletter
If you find our content helpful, here’s how you can support us:
Check out this week’s sponsor to support their work tooForward this email to a friend and invite them to subscribeSponsor an edition
IC or Manager, laid off twice, prototyping with AI was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
