The Turn Signal RSS...
A Guide to Prototyping Automotive Interfaces
Good design is not a function of talent, but number of iterations. Here's my guide to prototyping...
1st Sep 2023
Good design is not a function of talent, but number of iterations. Here's my guide to prototyping automotive interfaces
Christopher Butler
Doing (and Directing) Great Design Requires Detail Obsession
Every great design has one organizing detail that unlocks everything else, and the best design...
15th Aug 2025
Every great design has one organizing detail that unlocks everything else, and the best design leaders never stop looking for it.
Every good piece of design has at least one detail that is the “key” to unlocking an understanding of how it works. Good designers will notice that...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
The future of blogging
I still frequently post things on social media, even if I prefer blogging. Publishing a blog post...
10th Nov 2022
I still frequently post things on social media, even if I prefer blogging. Publishing a blog post with preview images,...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Design better by avoiding your cognitive biases
Good UI design is all about guiding attention to what’s important. When making the right thing for...
30th Sep 2020
Good UI design is all about guiding attention to what’s important. When making the right thing for the user the...
Fatih Arslan
Plotter Notebook System
Taking notes, in my opinion, is the best thing one can do for themselves. Writing is a form of...
24th Feb 2025
Taking notes, in my opinion, is the best thing one can do for themselves. Writing is a form of thinking, and writing manually, in an analog manner, elevates the process. It has a positive impact on your well-being. It’s akin to working out for hours and then returning
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Who is responsible for the impact of innovative products?
How can it be that a) all products are designed, b) designers want to create something good for the...
7th Dec 2023
How can it be that a) all products are designed, b) designers want to create something good for the world...
The DESK Magazine
A clean, peaceful place to read your articles without distractions
The people who use mymind typically have an intellectual side. They like to think, learn and...
20th Apr 2022
The people who use mymind typically have an intellectual side. They like to think, learn and challenge themselves on their own time. So we knew this brand new feature was not optional: Reader Mode.
Retail Design Blog
Acacia Coffee & Wine Bar by A-Malysheva Studio
Acacia is a small café and wine bar designed by A-Malysheva studio, situated in a quiet residential...
1st Sep 2025
Acacia is a small café and wine bar designed by A-Malysheva studio, situated in a quiet residential neighborhood of Odesa,...
The Pudding
Sizing Chaos
The inter-generational struggle to find clothes that fit more than a tiny portion of women
18th Feb 2026
The inter-generational struggle to find clothes that fit more than a tiny portion of women
Ryan Mulligan
Center Items in First Row with CSS Grid
Imagine the following section on a website:
A collection of elements, like a series of cards with...
19th Aug 2024
Imagine the following section on a website:
A collection of elements, like a series of cards with marketing information, are presented in a grid display.
The elements are arranged in rows of three.
When there are an odd number of elements left over, they will be center-aligned...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Bringing the Coolest Car of the Carrera Panamericana to Life
I recently came across the work of Ralph Morse, a photographer who worked for Life Magazine. Many of...
1st Sep 2019
I recently came across the work of Ralph Morse, a photographer who worked for Life Magazine. Many of his photos are made available by Google…
Jeffrey Zeldman...
The Human Story of the Open Web
STOP ME if you’ve heard this one: The members of an extended family spend years curating a shared...
2nd Jul 2026
STOP ME if you’ve heard this one: The members of an extended family spend years curating a shared online photo album. Then the website they posted on vanishes, flushing their collective memories away forever.
Or this: A Queer kid growing up isolated in Nebraska discovers a...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Fairway Market logos
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: nypost.com Christopher Sadowski. License: All Rights...
26th Jan 2020
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: nypost.com Christopher Sadowski. License: All Rights Reserved.
Dom Bold and Agenda.
Fairway Market is a chain of grocery stores in the New York metropolitan area. From Wikipedia:
Founded in 1933, it expanded in the New York area...
The DESK Magazine
Objects of Affection — From the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №257
As always, if you missed last weeks email, its now on my blog. Last week I shared my big bucket list...
3rd Feb 2025
As always, if you missed last weeks email, its now on my blog. Last week I shared my big bucket list "Designs of my Dreams" with you. Feel free to forward this article to friends or colleagues if you like, its now open to everyone to read.
Designs
UX Collective
When design stops asking why and starts asking: Can AI do it?
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
2nd Feb 2026
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
Jeffrey Zeldman...
A morning’s tale
Editor’s Note || Our New York apartment is home to three humans and three cats: Snow White, Mango,...
10th May 2025
Editor’s Note || Our New York apartment is home to three humans and three cats: Snow White, Mango, and young Jasper.
Woke to pee 2:00 am. Entered bathroom. Narrowly avoided slipping on a small lake of Snow White’s urine. Beheld a giant fat shit she’d left on the stone bath...
Identity Designed
CleanO2
Designed by Ordinary Things, San Francisco.
2nd Aug 2022
Designed by Ordinary Things, San Francisco.
Ryan Mulligan
Penguin!
My partner and I finally finished our epic three-part claymation saga. It's our first attempt at...
6th May 2024
My partner and I finally finished our epic three-part claymation saga. It's our first attempt at creating stop-motion videos with clay and it truly is a lot of work for such a short result. That claymation episode of Parks and Recreation is a little too real. I won't compare our...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Fonts In Use is not active on Instagram
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Fonts In Use. License: CC BY-SA.
The Fonts In Use staff was never...
15th Jul 2025
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Fonts In Use. License: CC BY-SA.
The Fonts In Use staff was never especially enthusiastic about maintaining our account on Instagram. The platform is antithetical to so much of the what we love on the web: hyperlinks, web feeds (e.g., RSS),...
The personal website...
A design API in practice
Update 6/12/22: The links to the implmentation of the API are currently broken. I'm updating some...
6th Jul 2020
Update 6/12/22: The links to the implmentation of the API are currently broken. I'm updating some dependencies to make it work again.
A few months ago I wrote an essay titled “Design APIs: the evolution of design systems”. The API model for design systems resonated with design...
Jakob Nielsen on UX
UX Roundup: Long-Running AI | Consistency | What AI to Use | AI Anxiety | AI Helps Blind Users | NPS
UX for long-running AI tasks | Consistent user interface design | What are the best AI models to use...
3rd Nov 2025
UX for long-running AI tasks | Consistent user interface design | What are the best AI models to use now | AI anxiety in the workplace | AI helps blind users, but a study found that accessibility challenges remain in current AI UI | NPS scored
Luke Mitchell |...
The fundamental shift
Like David I think
it’s going to be a long time before the interfaces I sometimes daydream...
13th Jun 2023
Like David I think
it’s going to be a long time before the interfaces I sometimes daydream about
will get close to reality, for me the Vision Pro
is the first view into the future, which surprised me.
That shift is fundamental. The interface for Vision Pro felt like it...
The DESK Magazine
Let's talk about AI
Many of you have asked me to write an essay with my thoughts on AI (Artificial Intelligence). So in...
11th Dec 2023
Many of you have asked me to write an essay with my thoughts on AI (Artificial Intelligence). So in the spirit of things, I've tasked ChatGPT to write this article for me.
Permanent Style
Our favourite restaurants in London
By Lucas Nicholson. When tailors and other artisans visit us in London, they nearly always ask about...
1st Dec 2025
By Lucas Nicholson. When tailors and other artisans visit us in London, they nearly always ask about the best places to eat. Their hotel is already booked after all, and they know what they’re doing all day. But local restaurant recommendati... > Read more
The Turn Signal RSS...
How We Designed a White-Label In-Car Infotainment System
Over the past two years, we created an infotainment system as a product, here is a look inside our...
1st Aug 2024
Over the past two years, we created an infotainment system as a product, here is a look inside our design process.
Melissa Penfold
THE 23 MOST DEFINING PIECES OF FURNITURE FROM THE LAST 100 YEARS
How do we define furniture? It might seem like a silly question, but it’s one that kept coming up in...
20th Jan 2025
How do we define furniture? It might seem like a silly question, but it’s one that kept coming up in October of last year, when, in a conference room on the 15th floor of The New York Times building, six experts — the architects and interior designers Rafael de...
The Pudding
Comparisons as Predictable as the Sunrise
An analysis of 200,000 similes from popular fiction.
4th May 2026
An analysis of 200,000 similes from popular fiction.
The personal website...
Using Netlify to build an email sign-up widget
You can read this article on CSS Tricks.
2nd Aug 2019
You can read this article on CSS Tricks.
The Pudding
Bears Will Be Boys
How and why do we gender animals in stories?
7th Jul 2025
How and why do we gender animals in stories?
The personal website...
The product design talent crisis
Airbnb, the paragon of a “design-led” company, is only hiring a single designer. The job requires...
31st Jul 2025
Airbnb, the paragon of a “design-led” company, is only hiring a single designer. The job requires more than a decade of experience. There are probably hundreds (possibly thousands) of applicants. The fact that a company known for its design culture is investing only at the top of...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
The most important question in design: who’s gonna pay me?
Have you ever worried about the real impact of your work? Done a project in an exploitive industry?...
9th Nov 2023
Have you ever worried about the real impact of your work? Done a project in an exploitive industry? Or worked...
The personal website...
Well-designed interfaces look boring
3 billion people used the internet for the first time in the past decade. Can you imagine what that...
15th Jul 2015
3 billion people used the internet for the first time in the past decade. Can you imagine what that was like? When I began using the internet, the web was pretty much just text. Interface design required finagling websites from knots of spreadsheet-like tables, and even the most...
Retail Design Blog
Good Job Games Offices by Jeyan Ülkü Architects
Good Job Games is a mobile gaming technology company characterized by a predominantly youthful...
2nd Dec 2024
Good Job Games is a mobile gaming technology company characterized by a predominantly youthful workforce. Right from the beginning we...
The personal website...
Inclusive design on the Tokyo subway
For the past two weeks, I’ve been exploring Tokyo. Until the last few days of 2018, I had never been...
13th Jan 2019
For the past two weeks, I’ve been exploring Tokyo. Until the last few days of 2018, I had never been to Tokyo — or, for that matter, any city as large as Tokyo. And while I have many many great memories of the city, I’m particularly eager to share my impressions of the Tokyo...
Retail Design Blog
Ophie Lip Oil by Apoorva Ghule
Ophie is a clean beauty lip oil designed to feel as good as it looks. Vegan, cruelty-free, and...
2nd Jan 2026
Ophie is a clean beauty lip oil designed to feel as good as it looks. Vegan, cruelty-free, and infused with...
The personal website...
The service-based design org
Last year, I joined SimpleHealth with the mission of building a design org from scratch. On my first...
23rd Jan 2021
Last year, I joined SimpleHealth with the mission of building a design org from scratch. On my first day, there were no in-house designers — just a rotating cast of freelance designers hired by various departments as they were needed.
A blank slate is a design leader’s dream....
Product Identity
Surf the browser
A guest's identity
27th Mar 2025
Ryan Mulligan
Inverted Media Queries and Breakpoints
The occasional breakpoint
Nowadays I lean on modern CSS solutions, fluid layout patterns, and...
5th Jul 2022
The occasional breakpoint
Nowadays I lean on modern CSS solutions, fluid layout patterns, and intrinsic sizing over viewport dimension-based media queries – typically referred to as breakpoints – that adapt a design at particular screen sizes. Let's not forget that container...
The personal website...
Know thyself
Throughout the series, we’ve covered four of the major ethical movements in philosophy. Here’s a...
8th Jun 2020
Throughout the series, we’ve covered four of the major ethical movements in philosophy. Here’s a brief recap:
Virtue ethics is the belief that well-being comes from having the right personality traits or dispositions. The key to virtue ethics is finding those special skills that,...
Nela Dunato Art &...
Art Day: How to make time for creative projects while busy with client work
Self-employed creative professionals have significantly more control over our schedules than those...
12th Nov 2024
Self-employed creative professionals have significantly more control over our schedules than those employed in other organizations, but finding time for our own art can still be a challenge. While I was writing and editing my first book, I started using a technique that helped me...
The DESK Magazine
How to make a minimalist portfolio with Carbonmade
You don't need anything too fancy. You don't want to work for hours on your site.
9th Mar 2023
You don't need anything too fancy. You don't want to work for hours on your site.
Product Identity
#2 Whereby – In the name of simplicity
The Zoom alternative you probably haven't heard of
14th Sep 2023
The Zoom alternative you probably haven't heard of
The Turn Signal RSS...
The eHMI: How Autonomous Cars Will Communicate With the Outside World
A lot of communication happens between drivers and other road users. How will self-driving cars...
1st May 2021
A lot of communication happens between drivers and other road users. How will self-driving cars handle this?
Fonts In Use – Blog...
10 Years of Fonts In Use
Contributed by Nick Sherman
License: All Rights Reserved.
Fonts In Use officially launched 10...
21st Dec 2020
Contributed by Nick Sherman
License: All Rights Reserved.
Fonts In Use officially launched 10 years ago today, on December 21, 2010. The site, which started as just the Blog before opening up to public contributions in 2012, has grown far beyond our expectations when we...
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
Writing a VS Code extension in ES modules in early 2025
17th Mar 2025
Melissa Penfold
5 DISCREET SIGNS YOU’RE IN A WEALTHY PERSON’S HOME
Flashy indicators of affluence are easy to spot. But these often-less-expensive decor items signal...
24th Sep 2025
Flashy indicators of affluence are easy to spot. But these often-less-expensive decor items signal true wealth in more subtle ways. The quietly ultra–rich live with subtle indicators of affluence—and most aren’t actually that expensive.
Wealthy people don’t have “stuff”
The more...
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
Who else would use a shared Electron library to create and deploy Netlify sites?
5th Mar 2026
julian.digital
Thoughts on Clubhouse
Today marks the 77th day since I got onboarded to Clubhouse. Clubhouse, for those not familiar with...
21st Dec 2020
Today marks the 77th day since I got onboarded to Clubhouse. Clubhouse, for those not familiar with it, is essentially an audio-first social network. It’s kind of a mix between Reddit and a podcast. An interactive radio show. The app lets you jump into different chat rooms and...
julian.digital
Multi-layered calendars
Traveling through time in three dimensions 01 Intro Time is a curious thing. It’s a constantly...
6th Jul 2023
Traveling through time in three dimensions 01 Intro Time is a curious thing. It’s a constantly flowing stream that can’t be paused, stopped, or repeated. We experience it, but we can’t control it. We can’t even touch or feel it. To get a better grasp of this weird, intangible...
Koos Looijesteijn
How I design ‘mobile first’
10th Feb 2014
Ryan Mulligan
Sticky Page Header Shadow on Scroll
We've seen it plenty of times around the web where a website's page header follows us as we scroll...
2nd Apr 2023
We've seen it plenty of times around the web where a website's page header follows us as we scroll down the page. CSS makes doing this a breeze with sticky positioning:
.page-header {
position: sticky;
top: 0;
}
What if we desired something a little bit extra, like applying a...
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
Creating a simple blog in Python with Origami concepts
7th Oct 2025
Luke Mitchell |...
A future of design work with AI
Like a almost everyone I work with I’m thinking a lot about how all this new fangled AI stuff will...
4th Mar 2023
Like a almost everyone I work with I’m thinking a lot about how all this new fangled AI stuff will change my work. Matthew offers the most level-headed metaphor I’ve found so far:
Just as fly-by-wire systems have made pilots more efficient (not redundant), AI and automation will...
The Turn Signal RSS...
A New Concept for Usable Touch Interaction in Cars
A design concept exploring how to improve touch interfaces in cars
1st Apr 2020
A design concept exploring how to improve touch interfaces in cars
The personal website...
Breaking looms
Let’s talk about Luddites. The actual, real, historical Luddites.
“Luddite” was the label given to a...
4th Feb 2020
Let’s talk about Luddites. The actual, real, historical Luddites.
“Luddite” was the label given to a group of English workers’ rights activists in the early 19th century. They owe their name to a man who may never have existed — Ned Ludd. The Luddites were working-class people...
Christopher Butler
Human-First Interaction (in a Machine-Driven World)
As artificial intelligence (AI) agents increasingly mediate our digital experiences, the role of...
10th Jan 2025
As artificial intelligence (AI) agents increasingly mediate our digital experiences, the role of human interaction with information is evolving. Machines are becoming our primary intermediaries for searching, synthesizing, and summarizing information, often performing these tasks...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Overcoming Automotive Overconsumption Through Design
The average car consists of around 30,000 parts. They are built up from many different resources...
1st May 2019
The average car consists of around 30,000 parts. They are built up from many different resources that come from all over the world. These…
Fonts In Use – Blog...
“Incalculable Loss” front page of The New York Times for May 24th, 2020
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Source: store.nytimes.com The New York Times. License: All Rights...
25th May 2020
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Source: store.nytimes.com The New York Times. License: All Rights Reserved.
The front page of The New York Times for Sunday, May 24th, 2020, was a stark wall of type, and only type: a long and somber list of Americans who have lost their lives...
The personal website...
A website to call my own
Most of this site was built at my favorite coffee shop of late, Sump.
I make a living designing and...
2nd Dec 2013
Most of this site was built at my favorite coffee shop of late, Sump.
I make a living designing and developing, among many many other things, websites. So, for the past few years, I’ve had the embarrassing task of explaining something to all my clients and — worse, if you can...
Jeffrey Zeldman...
Cold Storage
I furnished my last design studio with bespoke Danish shelving, three Eames desk units, nine glass...
2nd Jan 2026
I furnished my last design studio with bespoke Danish shelving, three Eames desk units, nine glass tables, 12 chairs, etc. When I closed the studio I moved the furnishings plus a few hundred design books—including books I’d written, foreign translations of my work, books by other...
Identity Designed
The Grand Press
Designed by Dixon Baxi, London.
12th May 2023
Designed by Dixon Baxi, London.
Retail Design Blog
Pavilion TEUM by one-aftr
Today, people are constantly exposed to strong stimuli in their daily lives, which has led our...
2nd Mar 2026
Today, people are constantly exposed to strong stimuli in their daily lives, which has led our brains to become ‘popcorn...
The personal website...
What happens when things go wrong
The rise of the startup economy – and the abundance of millennial entrepreneurial wisdom it has...
6th May 2014
The rise of the startup economy – and the abundance of millennial entrepreneurial wisdom it has produced – means you can hardly go a day without seeing Samuel Becket’s words writ large:
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
In celebrating...
Christopher Butler
An Old, Restless Wish
We do not know what is going to happen. This is a hard truth; we desperately want to believe the...
2nd Jun 2026
We do not know what is going to happen. This is a hard truth; we desperately want to believe the opposite. And so the most successful corners of the modern internet have been organized, very deliberately, around that desire to convince you that someone, somewhere, knows what is...
Christopher Butler
We Live in the Uncanny Valley Now
Making virtual worlds can help us understand the real one, but they’re not places we can live...
28th Jan 2022
Making virtual worlds can help us understand the real one, but they’re not places we can live permanently.
Terebithia, the imaginary world he and his friend Leslie create in the woods would have no meaning, no power, and no purpose. Theirs is a story about real children, in...
Ryan Mulligan
CSS Custom Property Fallbacks in Shorthand Values
CSS Custom Properties are incredibly versatile and have become especially useful as customizable...
14th Jul 2023
CSS Custom Properties are incredibly versatile and have become especially useful as customizable props in common layout and component style patterns. Here's an example derived from the SmolCSS site:
.grid {
--min: 15ch;
--gap: 1rem;
display: grid;
gap: var(--gap);
...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Contrast Is Clarifying
Which is best?
Generalist or specialist?
Native or web?
Web site or web app?
JavaScript or...
2nd Dec 2024
Which is best?
Generalist or specialist?
Native or web?
Web site or web app?
JavaScript or Typescript?
Framework or library?
Server side or client side?
Photoshop or Sketch or Figma?
Designing in a tool or design in the browser?
Skueomorphic or flat?
Mac or PC or Linux?
This list...
Jeffrey Zeldman...
My Glamorous Life: Bots, Books, and Betrayal
My father was an engineer who designed robots. When I first learned what he did, I imagined the...
18th Oct 2025
My father was an engineer who designed robots. When I first learned what he did, I imagined the Robot from “Lost in Space,” and asked him to make me one. When I turned 13, I realized that the pick-and-place robots he designed replaced assembly-line workers, and asked how he,...
UX Collective
Designing for AI means designing like it’s 1999
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
1st Jun 2026
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
Oykun Yilmaz
Hustle Culture for Designers
We all have our aspirations and goals in life and career.
For me, it goes from having an impact on...
23rd Sep 2023
We all have our aspirations and goals in life and career.
For me, it goes from having an impact on my full-time work to helping designers via my blog, email newsletter, and other educational content.
I need to work damn hard to achieve these goals! Making the most of every...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Guidelines for Designing an In-Car Voice Assistant
A collection of guidelines for designing in-car voice assistants
1st Sep 2022
A collection of guidelines for designing in-car voice assistants
Nela Dunato Art &...
Nela Dunato Art & Design got a brand refresh!
My previous brand identity design lasted from 2015 until 2023, and it has served me quite well. But...
3rd Dec 2023
My previous brand identity design lasted from 2015 until 2023, and it has served me quite well. But my new professional photos sparked the need to overhaul the website, which led to a more substantial brand redesign including new typography and updated logo design. Come see what...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Reclaiming the City, Reclaiming Words: Póli Gynaikón – City of Women
Contributed by Maria Paganopoulou
Photo: Maria Paganopoulou. Delfys Feminist Archive,...
6th Oct 2022
Contributed by Maria Paganopoulou
Photo: Maria Paganopoulou. Delfys Feminist Archive, Athens. License: All Rights Reserved.
Covers of the magazine Póli Ginaikón
Marsha Rowe, editor of the groundbreaking feminist magazine Spare Rib, famously recalled: “Suddenly, words...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Process Behind the Touch Interaction Concept
A behind the scenes look at the design of the new touch concept
1st May 2020
A behind the scenes look at the design of the new touch concept
The Turn Signal RSS...
An in-depth look at the UX Design of the Porsche Taycan
Last month, Porsche unveiled the Taycan. It is the first electric car from an established car...
1st Nov 2019
Last month, Porsche unveiled the Taycan. It is the first electric car from an established car company with specs that challenge Tesla's…
Oykun Yilmaz
Stop charging hourly! Start charging for the Value!
Money has always been an uncomfortable topic to talk about, especially for us creatives. We value...
10th Aug 2022
Money has always been an uncomfortable topic to talk about, especially for us creatives. We value our creation, get satisfaction from the process and the result so much that we often do not really give the importance it deserves to this money topic.
I have been designing for many...
julian.digital
Media Consumption (Apr 2021)
>_ Summary Read 4 books (671 min, -60% MoM) and 33 articles (-23%) Listened to 613 songs (+3%) and...
3rd May 2021
>_ Summary Read 4 books (671 min, -60% MoM) and 33 articles (-23%) Listened to 613 songs (+3%) and 11 podcasts (704 min, -6%) Watched 6 movies (752 min, +199%), 12 soccer games (1395 min, +105%) and 0 TV episodes (0 min, -100%) Played 1 board game (50 min, + ∞) and 0 video games...
Melissa Penfold
IF YOU WANT TO SELL YOUR HOUSE, FIGURE OUT WHAT TO RENOVATE FIRST
You want to sell your home, but the kids have scuffed up the floors and chipped the paint. The...
30th Jan 2024
You want to sell your home, but the kids have scuffed up the floors and chipped the paint. The kitchen could use a face-lift and the lawn has seen better days.
Every seller has to decide whether to sink money into their home before listing it, and how much. Lately, the stakes...
Retail Design Blog
Amouage Zhang Yuan
In the heart of Shanghai’s historic Zhang Yuan district, Paris-based agency Héroïne has redefined...
1st Aug 2025
In the heart of Shanghai’s historic Zhang Yuan district, Paris-based agency Héroïne has redefined luxury retail with The Sillage, a...
UX Collective
When the canvas starts acting, who’s really in control?
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
a week ago
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
The DESK Magazine
Our favorite portfolios launched with Semplice in July 2022
Every week, we handpick two portfolios created with Semplice to feature on our Showcase. These are...
1st Aug 2022
Every week, we handpick two portfolios created with Semplice to feature on our Showcase. These are the best of the best, chosen by yours truly from hundreds of beautiful submissions
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Gestaltungsprobleme des Grafikers by Josef Müller-Brockmann
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.theideaofthebook.com The Idea of the Book. License:...
28th Apr 2023
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.theideaofthebook.com The Idea of the Book. License: All Rights Reserved.
Book jacket (second edition by Niggli, Teufen, 1964)
Dan Reynolds, esteemed friend of the site, writes on Mastodon:
125 years ago today – at exactly...
Identity Designed
Pilo
Designed by 5.5, Paris.
30th Jun 2023
Christopher Butler
Know What You Need
Knowing what you need makes knowing what you want much easier.
It is often said about successful...
16th Nov 2024
Knowing what you need makes knowing what you want much easier.
It is often said about successful people that they “know exactly what they want.” I’m sure this is true, because in our modern culture, where we are constantly made aware of new choices and possibilities, knowing...
Oykun Yilmaz
Easy steps to start investing in the stock market
Invest in long term, Diversify, Don't stress to time the market, Stay calm ... It is not that...
16th Jun 2024
Invest in long term, Diversify, Don't stress to time the market, Stay calm ... It is not that complicated.
Koos Looijesteijn
Beautiful shadows have beautiful colors
15th Jul 2024
Ryan Mulligan
Style Review
Donut dessert lollipop dragée pudding marzipan jelly
Danish icing cake sugar plum chocolate bar...
5th Nov 2021
Donut dessert lollipop dragée pudding marzipan jelly
Danish icing cake sugar plum chocolate bar candy canes macaroon pie.
Bear claw bear claw biscuit fruitcake icing brownie. Jelly-o pudding tart cake ice cream jelly-o. Danish sugar plum chocolate cake wafer cake pudding sweet...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Quarantine
Until this week, we have been lucky with our daycare. Apart from the occasional positive tests, I’m...
12th Jan 2022
Until this week, we have been lucky with our daycare. Apart from the occasional positive tests, I’m not aware of...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Why Car Companies Need More Interaction Designers
Why Car Companies Need More Interaction Designers
1st Apr 2019
Why Car Companies Need More Interaction Designers
Product Identity
#4 Roam Research — What comes after a renaissance?
On mixing ideas, evolving design patterns and finding a soul
15th Jan 2024
On mixing ideas, evolving design patterns and finding a soul
The DESK Magazine
What is quality anymore?
One might say the quality of everything has improved – our TV screens have never been more crisp &...
21st Nov 2023
One might say the quality of everything has improved – our TV screens have never been more crisp & vivid, our systems and software never more refined, our roads and highways never more paved.
Permanent Style
How to dress like Luciano Barbera
Luciano Barbera is a menswear icon for many reasons. For me, however, the most important is that he...
1st May 2026
Luciano Barbera is a menswear icon for many reasons. For me, however, the most important is that he always emphasised dressing comfortably, appropriately and in an understated manner. Dressing comfortably means eschewing the uber-tight suit... > Read more
Identity Designed
Donut Shop
Designed by TwoPoints.Net, Hamburg, Barcelona.
11th Mar 2024
Designed by TwoPoints.Net, Hamburg, Barcelona.
Retail Design Blog
Coor Seongsu Flagship Store by ATELIER KHJ
When planning a commercial space, it is not easy to sacrifice usable space. This is especially true...
2nd Dec 2025
When planning a commercial space, it is not easy to sacrifice usable space. This is especially true in areas with...
The personal website...
Ballet dancers and shot putters
Starting a career in design is like crash-landing on Mars. You may have studied it through a...
6th Nov 2022
Starting a career in design is like crash-landing on Mars. You may have studied it through a telescope, but nothing can prepare you for actually being there.
One of the biggest surprises many new designers experience is that design isn’t always about coming up with the most...
The personal website...
Why the web will win
197 billion apps were downloaded in 20171: that’s almost 26 per human being on the planet Earth. 6...
6th Jan 2018
197 billion apps were downloaded in 20171: that’s almost 26 per human being on the planet Earth. 6 apps per second. In the 10 years since Apple opened the App Store, app downloads have doubled, on average, every two years.2
Given the numbers, it’s not surprising that many...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Bringing markers back to UI design
Many designers know: the best design tool is a marker. Not Figma, not Sketch and no, not a pencil....
8th Jul 2021
Many designers know: the best design tool is a marker. Not Figma, not Sketch and no, not a pencil. With...
Scott Jenson
Reactive Haptics
When people think of haptics, they usually think of typing on mobile keyboards or tapping on...
11th Feb 2025
When people think of haptics, they usually think of typing on mobile keyboards or tapping on trackpads. While impressive, these are fairly limited uses of haptics, both attempting to recreate a simple “click.” These are one-shot user events that don’t respond dynamically to the...
The personal website...
Copying is the way design works
CC-BY SA 4.0
(more on that in a bit). You can download, copy, remix, excerpt,
...
28th Oct 2020
CC-BY SA 4.0
(more on that in a bit). You can download, copy, remix, excerpt,
change, and repost it however you see fit.
I
Charles Eames said
it best: “We don’t do ‘art’ — we solve problems.”1
2
They...
Christopher Butler
Out-Random the AI
If you are a creative person, AI is frightening. It should be. It is yet another technology that we...
1st Apr 2024
If you are a creative person, AI is frightening. It should be. It is yet another technology that we know more than enough to not pursue, but will anyway because our culture is an untethered, nihilistic avarice addiction cloud in which we are all entrapped.
The truth is that...
The DESK Magazine
Addicted to ideas
Having an idea is like taking a hit of a fine drug.
10th Oct 2023
Having an idea is like taking a hit of a fine drug.
The personal website...
Know thyself
Throughout the series, we’ve covered four of the major ethical movements in philosophy. Here’s a...
8th Jun 2020
Throughout the series, we’ve covered four of the major ethical movements in philosophy. Here’s a brief recap:
Virtue ethics is the belief that well-being comes from having the right personality traits or dispositions. The key to virtue ethics is finding those special skills that,...
Retail Design Blog
STRAUSS CI FACTORY
Engelbert Strauss is one of the world’s leading work brands. The CI Factory is a progressive...
1st Jul 2025
Engelbert Strauss is one of the world’s leading work brands. The CI Factory is a progressive production site and high-tech...
Product Identity
The Venn of my process
A last minute event
15th Apr 2026
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Cherry by Nico Walker (Alfred A. Knopf)
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.janet-hansen.com Janet Hansen. License: All Rights...
6th Jun 2019
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.janet-hansen.com Janet Hansen. License: All Rights Reserved.
The cover for Nico Walker’s debut novel Cherry was designed by Janet Hansen, senior designer at Alfred A. Knopf, with creative direction from Carol Devine Carson. It was...
ramsés cabello
icons @ sketch
hi everyone 〜 ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪
i’ve been debating how to use this blog – for now i’ve renamed it from...
14th Mar 2025
hi everyone 〜 ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪
i’ve been debating how to use this blog – for now i’ve renamed it from “blog” to “journal” as i want to keep posts written from a more personal point of view and include a closer look at some of the design work.
for the past week i spent sometime drawing...
The personal website...
Beyond 10×
In the January 1968 issue of computer science trade magazine Communications of the ACM, a paper...
1st Nov 2021
In the January 1968 issue of computer science trade magazine Communications of the ACM, a paper appeared under the unassuming title “Exploratory experimental studies comparing online and offline programming performance.” “Programming is a multibillion dollar industry,” the paper...
Scott Jenson
Tactile Controls In A Digital World
This article was written by Scott Jenson and Michael DiTullo and published at Core77 in April 2024 A...
31st May 2024
This article was written by Scott Jenson and Michael DiTullo and published at Core77 in April 2024 A few recent tech writers have leaked that the new AirPods case will likely have a touch screen. Other earbud makers have tried this as well but it’s Apple, so people will naturally...
Jakob Nielsen on UX
UX Roundup: Ecommerce Usability Fails | Social Media Less Social | Overseeing Agents | Your Team as...
Summary: The two most conversion-killing ecommerce usability fails | Social media use remains strong...
1st Jun 2026
Summary: The two most conversion-killing ecommerce usability fails | Social media use remains strong but the platforms are becoming less about connecting with other people | The usability of overseeing AI agents | Team-building image idea: design video game characters | Professor...
Sarah Parmenter
British Summertime
Aha, the great British Summer. You really never know what you’re going to get and it makes planning...
3rd Aug 2017
Aha, the great British Summer. You really never know what you’re going to get and it makes planning weekends so darn difficult. Us Brits really do love to talk about the weather; as I write this post I started the day in shorts and a t-shirt and I’m about to go and fetch a...
Ryan Mulligan
Creating Time
For my birthday, my partner put together the sweetest, most thoughtful surprise I could ever...
20th Jan 2023
For my birthday, my partner put together the sweetest, most thoughtful surprise I could ever imagine. She recognized that I had been in a complete creative rut the previous year. I'd complain that I work too much, play too little. I'm too tired. Way too busy. This, that, and the...
Koos Looijesteijn
I like watercolor painting
3rd Jan 2024
UX Collective
How Estonia, AI gardens, and plywood make designers prolific
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
3rd Nov 2025
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
The Turn Signal RSS...
A UX Review of Peugeot’s New Interior: When Design Ambition Meets Software Reality
The Panorama i-Cockpit is the latest iteration of the i-Cockpit that debuted in the 2012 Peugeot...
1st Jun 2025
The Panorama i-Cockpit is the latest iteration of the i-Cockpit that debuted in the 2012 Peugeot 208. The i-Cockpit's main innovation is…
Scott Jenson
The invisible problem
Whenever I explain my research at Google into mobile text editing, I’m usually met with blank stares...
22nd Sep 2023
Whenever I explain my research at Google into mobile text editing, I’m usually met with blank stares or a slightly hostile “Everyone can edit text on their phones, right? What’s the problem?” Text editing on mobile isn’t ok. It’s actually much worse than you think, an invisible...
The Pudding
In pursuit of democracy
Every time someone said 'democracy' in Congress.
3rd Nov 2025
Every time someone said 'democracy' in Congress.
Koos Looijesteijn -...
A not so gentle intro to web3
Almost everything web3-related is a grift based on getting people to buy crypto. Although the...
30th Dec 2021
Almost everything web3-related is a grift based on getting people to buy crypto. Although the distributed part of blockchain technology...
Jakob Nielsen on UX
UX Roundup: Corkboard Mockup | Loss-Making Promos | AI Movie | Video-to-Music | Mainstream AI |...
Corkboard mockup of project history | Are promotions profitable or not?
1st Sep 2025
Corkboard mockup of project history | Are promotions profitable or not?
Identity Designed
Champ
Designed by Jesús López, Hermosillo, Mexico.
29th Apr 2024
Designed by Jesús López, Hermosillo, Mexico.
Scott Jenson
The Present Needs Files
My last post “The Future Needs Files” clearly touched a nerve. The comments covered concerns well...
14th Sep 2021
My last post “The Future Needs Files” clearly touched a nerve. The comments covered concerns well beyond what I intended. This amazing energy shows how fundamental and impassioned we are when it comes to “storing my data”. However, I made a mistake by titling my post “The Future...
The Pudding
The Greatest Game You’ve Never Heard of
Welcome to Crokinole, the greatest game you’ve never heard of.
16th Oct 2024
Welcome to Crokinole, the greatest game you’ve never heard of.
The personal website...
Changing all the fonts on WSJ.com
“Change the fonts.” It’s a simple mission statement.
In reality, changing the fonts on wsj.com has...
11th Dec 2017
“Change the fonts.” It’s a simple mission statement.
In reality, changing the fonts on wsj.com has involved years of coordination and planning between nearly every team at the Wall Street Journal. In the past month, the last few coordinated steps were executed with an incredible...
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
I wrote a screenplay for a programming language introduction, then wrote a program to turn that into...
22nd Jan 2025
Product Identity
#1: Are.na – The social network antithesis
In this world of distraction, Are.na presence is a bliss
21st Aug 2023
In this world of distraction, Are.na presence is a bliss
Identity Designed
Pets at Home
Designed by Nomad, London.
24th Apr 2023
Designed by Nomad, London.
Product Identity
Mountains of work
This is part of a new experiment I started in an effort to document the process of making Niche...
a week ago
This is part of a new experiment I started in an effort to document the process of making Niche design.
Koos Looijesteijn -...
I sold Big Timer
Five months ago I sold my countdown timer web app, Big Timer! I never really announced that, so...
18th Apr 2022
Five months ago I sold my countdown timer web app, Big Timer! I never really announced that, so here’s what...
Koos Looijesteijn
Responsive video is (almost) easy now
20th Jul 2025
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Making semantic sidenotes without JavaScript
One of the first things I learned about professional writing is that it’s best to remove all...
12th Oct 2020
One of the first things I learned about professional writing is that it’s best to remove all unnecessary words. Problem...
Jeffrey Zeldman...
Required reading: “The Interracial Cuck Porn Theory of Everything”
Cameron Cummins-Smith’s grand unifying theory connects the far right’s seemingly disparate...
24th May 2026
Cameron Cummins-Smith’s grand unifying theory connects the far right’s seemingly disparate obsessions—from trans panic and great replacement theory to anti-feminism and white birth-rate anxiety—into a single ideological system fueled by pornographic narratives:
In physics there...
Christopher Butler
visual journal – 2024 May 20 - June 1
Faces
The last two weeks have been unusually busy and routine-disrupting. Half the input to the...
1st Jun 2024
Faces
The last two weeks have been unusually busy and routine-disrupting. Half the input to the book as usual, but still, something is better than nothing!
I intended to make the collage on the right only black and white. Couldn’t resist a bit of color.
Very...
Luke Mitchell |...
Using a notebook as a task manager
I’m sometimes asked which app I use to manage my time, to-dos or plans. My
answer is none, for the...
2nd May 2021
I’m sometimes asked which app I use to manage my time, to-dos or plans. My
answer is none, for the most part. I use a notebook, a
real paper notebook.
Every morning I sit down at my desk, and turn my notebook to a fresh page. I’ll
then spend 10 minutes copying out calendar events...
The Turn Signal RSS...
In-Car Climate Control Design: How It Has Gone Backwards and How to Fix It
Why has the design of in-car climate controls gone backward, and is there a better way to design...
1st Feb 2023
Why has the design of in-car climate controls gone backward, and is there a better way to design them?
The DESK Magazine
My anti-New Year’s resolutions
I suck at New Year's Resolutions. Most of them are boring which is one reason we don't really stick...
30th Jan 2024
I suck at New Year's Resolutions. Most of them are boring which is one reason we don't really stick with them.
Scott Jenson
Boring is good
The initial, feverish enthusiasm for large language models (LLMs) is beginning to cool, and for good...
15th Sep 2025
The initial, feverish enthusiasm for large language models (LLMs) is beginning to cool, and for good reason. It’s time to trade the out-of-control hype for a more pragmatic, even “boring,” approach. A recent MIT report shows that 95% of companies implementing this technology have...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Metra tickets, 1990–1991
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.c82.net C82 / Nicholas...
17th Sep 2023
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.c82.net C82 / Nicholas Rougeux. License: All Rights Reserved.
January 1990, ft. an unidentified rounded sans
Source: www.c82.net C82 / Nicholas Rougeux. License: All Rights Reserved.
February...
The personal website...
Pictures of websites
A scene from the 2001 movie Zoolander1:
INT. THE PALATIAL OFFICE OF FASHION MOGUL JACOBIM MUGATU...
13th Mar 2021
A scene from the 2001 movie Zoolander1:
INT. THE PALATIAL OFFICE OF FASHION MOGUL JACOBIM MUGATU (PLAYED BY WILL FERRELL)
MUGATU
Without much further ado, I give you...
MUGATU
The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good!
ZOOLANDER
(suddenly enraged)
What is...
Christopher Butler
Friction Can Be Good
Something I have noticed as content, software, and product design have attempted to eradicate...
8th Mar 2023
Something I have noticed as content, software, and product design have attempted to eradicate friction is that friction is not necessarily a bad thing.
Friction is a part of everyday life. It comes from the difference between one thing and another — the encounter of two things....
Alex Baldwin
Product Design Sprints - QCon 2014
When I started at thoughtbot a year and a half ago, my first project was given to me within an hour...
11th Jun 2014
When I started at thoughtbot a year and a half ago, my first project was given to me within an hour of getting my laptop’s dev environment set up. We kicked off a green field project for a non-profit in the education space. They wanted to raise funds digitally for public schools....
The Turn Signal RSS...
Bringing the Coolest Car of the Carrera Panamericana to Life
Restoring an amazing picture from the 1953 Carrera Panamericana
1st Sep 2019
Restoring an amazing picture from the 1953 Carrera Panamericana
Christopher Butler
From Pascal's Empty Room to Our Full Screens
On the Ambient Entertainment Industrial Complex
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s...
10th Mar 2025
On the Ambient Entertainment Industrial Complex
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pascal’s observation from the 17th century feels less like historical philosophy and more like a diagnosis of our current condition. The...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The State of UX Design of Chinese Car Brands
The Market Potential Today, the sales numbers from Chinese car manufacturers don't seem threatening...
1st Jul 2020
The Market Potential Today, the sales numbers from Chinese car manufacturers don't seem threatening to established car companies but they…
Koos Looijesteijn -...
I designed a Christmas gift
I love the idea of charity donations as gifts, but I find they lack something. I don’t know about...
10th Dec 2021
I love the idea of charity donations as gifts, but I find they lack something. I don’t know about you,...
The personal website...
Beyond 10×
In the January 1968 issue of computer science trade magazine Communications of the ACM, a paper...
1st Nov 2021
In the January 1968 issue of computer science trade magazine Communications of the ACM, a paper appeared under the unassuming title “Exploratory experimental studies comparing online and offline programming performance.” “Programming is a multibillion dollar industry,” the paper...
Christopher Butler
Organization – Office – 2024
After the kitchen, the office is still the most used room in our home. This is how we have optimized...
21st Dec 2024
After the kitchen, the office is still the most used room in our home. This is how we have optimized it this year.
About a year and a half ago, I wrote a long entry to this blog about how we keep this office space organized. While much of it is still as it was then, it is...
The personal website...
My management philosophy
After reading Lara Hogan’s post and getting some inspiration from my own manager, I thought it’d be...
10th Jun 2018
After reading Lara Hogan’s post and getting some inspiration from my own manager, I thought it’d be good to write up my management philosophy. This reflects my approach at this moment in time — I’m still pretty new to management, and will be revisiting this over time.
My...
The personal website...
Design from the inside
Imagine you’re an architect hired to redesign the floorplan of an office. The company hiring you has...
5th May 2026
Imagine you’re an architect hired to redesign the floorplan of an office. The company hiring you has grown from 10-100 employees and wants to make sure the space is easy to navigate and the common areas are in the optimal location.
You ask the client for the existing floorplan,...
ramsés cabello
web app inspector @ sketch
hi everyone 〜 ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )
we just launched a new version of sketch including awaited features...
28th May 2025
hi everyone 〜 ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )
we just launched a new version of sketch including awaited features such as stacks, frames, and graphics, along with a lot of other new features.
while we prepared the inspector on the web app to display the new properties that come with these...
The personal website...
Beauty in the machine: Post-industrial design
Has design become boring?
A twitter thread by Sheehan Quirke (aka the Cultural Tutor) has been...
21st Sep 2022
Has design become boring?
A twitter thread by Sheehan Quirke (aka the Cultural Tutor) has been making the rounds lately, arguing just that. Quirke describes the many shortcomings of modern design: architecture, urban planning, industrial design, and interior design have all been...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Problem With Digital Instrument Clusters and How to Design a Better One
Is it possible to design a digital instrument cluster that is better than its analog counterpart?
1st Jan 2024
Is it possible to design a digital instrument cluster that is better than its analog counterpart?
Product Identity
Detach from your work to make it work
This is my first essay from a series about the creative process, which will be published in the...
31st Jul 2026
This is my first essay from a series about the creative process, which will be published in the upcoming Niche design issue.
Melissa Penfold
WHERE TO FIND EXCEPTIONAL FLOWERS IN FIVE DIFFERENT CITIES
Not only do fresh flowers bring joy and delight into a home, they’re also a symbol of important...
3rd Oct 2025
Not only do fresh flowers bring joy and delight into a home, they’re also a symbol of important moments in life: they are the decoration of choice at weddings and funerals, and also the ultimate gift of love on Valentine’s Day. Their delicate nature, however, can make it tricky...
The personal website...
Stop brainstorming
“Brainstorming” — the problem-solving technique of coming up with as many ideas as possible in a...
18th Jan 2022
“Brainstorming” — the problem-solving technique of coming up with as many ideas as possible in a short period of time — has been showing up on a lot of my leadership meeting agendas lately. Many of my peers are employing brainstorming in the belief that, as thought-leading...
Christopher Butler
Discernment in the Digital Age
How elimination, curation, and optimization can help us see through the technological...
8th Apr 2025
How elimination, curation, and optimization can help us see through the technological mirror.
Technology functions as both mirror and lens — reflecting our self-image while simultaneously shaping how we see everything else. This metaphor of recursion, while perhaps obvious...
Permanent Style
Introducing: The PS Guayabera
We love a guayabera shirt at Permanent Style. On my 2022 trip to Mexico I picked up two lovely...
3rd Aug 2026
We love a guayabera shirt at Permanent Style. On my 2022 trip to Mexico I picked up two lovely shirts which sadly, like the Cadbury’s Freddo , appear to have suffered from some form of sartorial shrinkflation. It can’t possibly be me that’s ... > Read more
Fatih Arslan
I was wrong about AI Coding
I'm mostly anti-AI person since the AI hype started years ago. However with time I realized that I...
26th Mar 2025
I'm mostly anti-AI person since the AI hype started years ago. However with time I realized that I misjudged AI Coding — Here’s Why.
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Subtle Art of Designing Physical Controls for Cars
Two years ago, I explored how to rethink climate controls in cars. I was frustrated by carmakers...
1st Feb 2025
Two years ago, I explored how to rethink climate controls in cars. I was frustrated by carmakers relying too heavily on touch screens and…
The personal website...
How to take your team's creative pulse
“Could we explore other options?”
If you’ve been to a design review, you’ve probably heard this...
10th Feb 2019
“Could we explore other options?”
If you’ve been to a design review, you’ve probably heard this question. When I hear it, my heart breaks. It says that our team is out of alignment: the work I’m sharing isn’t meeting everyone’s expectations.
I’d like to share a workshop that I...
The personal website...
The hand and the brain
Prescriptive feedback limits creative collaboration. I’ve seen it time and time again, but I’ve...
18th Nov 2020
Prescriptive feedback limits creative collaboration. I’ve seen it time and time again, but I’ve struggled to articulate the exact reasons and their remedies. Recently, though, I got some insight from an unusual source: a game of chess.
Even though it wasn’t the last move, pawn...
The DESK Magazine
Beautiful mistakes
I recently saw a short video about how the red wax seals on the famous Maker's Mark whiskey bottles...
27th May 2026
I recently saw a short video about how the red wax seals on the famous Maker's Mark whiskey bottles get applied. They're still dipped and sealed by hand which makes it special because no two bottles are exactly alike.
But what I didn't know
The Turn Signal RSS...
Driving a Porsche Taycan for a Week, a UX review
My thoughts on the UX design after spending a week with the Taycan
1st May 2022
My thoughts on the UX design after spending a week with the Taycan
The Turn Signal RSS...
A Guide to Prototyping Automotive Interfaces
First, it's important to clarify that this article is about the first stages of the design process....
1st Sep 2023
First, it's important to clarify that this article is about the first stages of the design process. There are many processes for…
Koos Looijesteijn
Vue is a great JavaScript framework for designers
25th Sep 2017
Product Identity
What’s the future of AI hardware?
I don't have answers
17th Jun 2024
Christopher Butler
Persuasion
Good design requires persuasion.
might be persuasive on its own; the notion that a thing “just...
15th Apr 2023
Good design requires persuasion.
might be persuasive on its own; the notion that a thing “just works” implies that its function, however novel, is an intuitive leap from its form. This is what Apple is known for. Apple products are renowned for their simplicity, which is what...
Christopher Butler
The Road Through Your Screen
2nd Jun 2023
The Turn Signal RSS...
Swiping vs Tapping, What is Less Distracting to Drivers?
I typically split in-car interactions into two groups. There are quick and frequent actions like...
1st Feb 2022
I typically split in-car interactions into two groups. There are quick and frequent actions like changing the volume or skipping a song…
The personal website...
Well-designed interfaces look boring
3 billion people used the internet for the first time in the past decade. Can you imagine what that...
15th Jul 2015
3 billion people used the internet for the first time in the past decade. Can you imagine what that was like? When I began using the internet, the web was pretty much just text. Interface design required finagling websites from knots of spreadsheet-like tables, and even the most...
Jeffrey Zeldman...
Who turned off the juice?
Beloved reader, I spent 90 minutes on hold with Con Edison yesterday, getting my power turned back...
1st Apr 2025
Beloved reader, I spent 90 minutes on hold with Con Edison yesterday, getting my power turned back on after a billing contretemps.
The whole 90 minutes, my brain’s shrieking, “You’re having a panic attack!”
And maybe I was.
I could rattle off my diagnoses, but the simplest way...
Christopher Butler
We Cannot Talk About AI Without Talking About Capitalism, Fascism, and Liberty
Let me begin with a disambiguation: I’m not talking about AI as some theoretical intelligence...
2nd May 2025
Let me begin with a disambiguation: I’m not talking about AI as some theoretical intelligence emerging from non-biological form — the sentient computer of science fiction. That, I suppose, can be thought about in an intellectual vacuum, to a point. I’m talking about AI, the...
Nela Dunato Art &...
Free Mixed Media Art Supplies Compatibility Chart
Behold: the most detailed free art mediums compatibility reference! The chart shows how different...
6th Mar 2024
Behold: the most detailed free art mediums compatibility reference! The chart shows how different art mediums interact together and whether they can be safely layered on top of each other.
Luke Mitchell |...
The Window
The day my daughter stood up by herself for the first time.
The day I said my wedding vows.
Laughs...
10th Jan 2021
The day my daughter stood up by herself for the first time.
The day I said my wedding vows.
Laughs over a round of drinks.
Days in the sun.
Days making the best of it.
My Dad near the end looking frail.
The latest iOS update brought widgets to our home screens, a trophy that...
Christopher Butler
visual journal – 2024 July 05 - September 30
Relative Dormancy
Star Trek: TNG will always be my measure of a tablet. We’re still not...
30th Sep 2024
Relative Dormancy
Star Trek: TNG will always be my measure of a tablet. We’re still not there yet.
Paid a visit to the Field Museum in Chicago.
Vibe.
The personal website...
How to generate color palettes for design systems
It used to be easy to pick colors for design systems. Years ago, you could pick a handful of colors...
20th Apr 2024
It used to be easy to pick colors for design systems. Years ago, you could pick a handful of colors to match your brand’s ethos, or start with an off-the-shelf palette (remember flatuicolors.com?). Each hue and shade served a purpose, and usually had a quirky name like “idea...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
10 Reasons why bicycles can't replace cars
I live in Germany. The land of automakers. The land of auto lobbyists and auto marketeers. They’re...
28th Dec 2020
I live in Germany. The land of automakers. The land of auto lobbyists and auto marketeers. They’re doing well convincing...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Holograms, light-leaks and how to build CSS-only shaders.
"With mix-blend-mode finally gaining wide browser-support, we now have access to many of most common...
9th Jul 2022
"With mix-blend-mode finally gaining wide browser-support, we now have access to many of most common shading techniques in CSS. With some choice images and a bit of careful layering it’s possible to build some surprisingly high-quality effects without the need for introducing any...
The personal website...
Mind the gap: designing graphs with missing data
Data-driven interfaces are on the rise. Financial District CEOs want to see a birds-eye view of...
12th Dec 2015
Data-driven interfaces are on the rise. Financial District CEOs want to see a birds-eye view of their bottom line as much as Silicon Valley Co-founders want to watch their growth hackers hack. Each user has their own hopes and fears about data, but there’s one thing nobody wants...
Product Identity
We should seek communities anew
Notes for the aspiring designer
29th Dec 2025
Notes for the aspiring designer
The personal website...
Tiny data visualizations
This is a direct translation of a talk I gave at the NYC D3.js meetup in January of 2016. If you’d...
8th Feb 2016
This is a direct translation of a talk I gave at the NYC D3.js meetup in January of 2016. If you’d like to see a video of the talk, you can check it out on YouTube.
Have you seen this comprehensive list of Donald Trump’s insults? Or maybe this detailed rundown of the 2016...
Identity Designed
Ashton
Designed by LG2, Quebec.
11th Jul 2024
The personal website...
The 1-hour design principles workshop
Design principles are a valuable tool for any team that works together towards a shared outcome....
19th Aug 2018
Design principles are a valuable tool for any team that works together towards a shared outcome. Written well, design principles can create alignment, speed up decision-making, and increase the quality of the team’s output.
Lately, I’ve worked with two of my teams to write design...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The State of UX Design of Chinese Car Brands
An in-depth look at the booming Chinese car industry and its UX design trends
1st Jul 2020
An in-depth look at the booming Chinese car industry and its UX design trends
Scott Jenson
Design can be free (part 3)
This is the third in a series. The first two showed how confusing products could be fixed with...
7th Feb 2023
This is the third in a series. The first two showed how confusing products could be fixed with fairly simple changes. It’s often possible to significantly improve a product even using the same hardware. This one tackles a much trickier problem: improving the quality of hardware....
Nela Dunato Art &...
Journaling technique: Polarity integration journal spread
Journaling is the most potent way to resolve inner challenges, find solutions to problems, and...
18th Jul 2024
Journaling is the most potent way to resolve inner challenges, find solutions to problems, and develop your own creative voice. Today I’m sharing one of my favorite journaling techniques that I use quite often when I want to explore two sides of a problem.
Oykun Yilmaz
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
My recommendation: 9/10
More details and reviews on Amazon
The advice in this book is timeless! No...
21st Mar 2022
My recommendation: 9/10
More details and reviews on Amazon
The advice in this book is timeless! No wonder why this book has taken its well-deserved place in the best-ever investment books.
The main premise is investing in the companies we know of and believe its value at. Not...
Christopher Butler
How to Know When to Use AI
Maybe this will help.
In my circles, AI is either everything or it is nothing.
It is the...
2nd May 2024
Maybe this will help.
In my circles, AI is either everything or it is nothing.
It is the thing to use in every case because if we don’t someone else will or it is the thing to never use because it is a sin against humanity.
Capitalists and artists have almost always...
The Pudding
A Love Story
Tracking 1,000+ people through the ups and downs of their relationships
9th Jun 2026
Tracking 1,000+ people through the ups and downs of their relationships
The personal website...
Switching to variable fonts
Ever since I first learned about variable fonts, I’ve wanted to use them in my own work. After...
3rd Mar 2019
Ever since I first learned about variable fonts, I’ve wanted to use them in my own work. After learning that Source Serif and Inter both had variable versions, I started switching this site over to use them. Here’s how I implemented the change, and what I learned along the...
julian.digital
Media Consumption (Mar 2021)
>_ Summary Read 6 books (1664 min, -24% MoM) and 43 articles (+95%) Listened to 596 songs (+64%) and...
2nd Apr 2021
>_ Summary Read 6 books (1664 min, -24% MoM) and 43 articles (+95%) Listened to 596 songs (+64%) and 17 podcasts (747 min, -.3%) Watched 2 movies (251 min, -72%), 5 soccer games (680 min, -30%) and 15 TV episodes (944 min, +133%) Played 0 board games (0 min, same) and 0 video...
Koos Looijesteijn
Hey Koos, do you still recommend WordPress?
29th Jun 2018
Product Identity
#5 Kubera: What's my net worth?
Respect master spreadsheet
8th Feb 2024
Respect master spreadsheet
Product Identity
Inside the dark forests of the internet
This is the second part of a series on the identity of social networks:
12th Feb 2025
This is the second part of a series on the identity of social networks:
Product Identity
A small ask, and an open invitation
Two things going on right now
13th Jan 2026
Two things going on right now
Identity Designed
Big C Charters
Designed by Mucho, San Francisco.
7th Jul 2022
Designed by Mucho, San Francisco.
Nela Dunato Art &...
How to tactfully answer awkward client questions
The first time you get a challenging question will always feel uncomfortable, and you’ll probably...
24th Nov 2022
The first time you get a challenging question will always feel uncomfortable, and you’ll probably say something you’ll regret later. But that interaction is a valuable lesson, and the trick is to get prepared for the next time someone asks you the same question—because there will...
The personal website...
The legacy of NFTs
A new trend is sending shock waves through the world of art, collecting, finance, and...
29th Dec 2021
A new trend is sending shock waves through the world of art, collecting, finance, and investing.
It’s the result of a perfect storm: one part scientific breakthrough, one part new financial paradigm, one part reflection of world events. Some people attribute it entirely to the...
The personal website...
Towards better creative feedback
Creative work — be it designing, writing, coding, or managing — is a collaborative practice. At...
7th Jan 2015
Creative work — be it designing, writing, coding, or managing — is a collaborative practice. At least two parties are always involved: The maker (a designer, developer, or manager) on one end, and the audience on the other.1 Feedback between the maker and the audience is...
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