The personal website...
Product thinking is a lifeline for struggling design systems
Here’s a common problem: a design team creates a design system. They craft beautiful documentation,...
12th Dec 2019
Here’s a common problem: a design team creates a design system. They craft beautiful documentation, crystal-clear guidelines, and meticulously organized files. But the design system never gains traction. Engineers don’t use it, and other designers quickly stop maintaining it. It...
Sarah Parmenter
Blushbar is 4 this year–here’s what I’ve learned.
. The Salon Business is Hard It’s been four long years, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve...
25th Jul 2017
. The Salon Business is Hard It’s been four long years, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve learned so much about business during these last four years; I can’t even begin to start writing it all down. The salon business is a complicated business to make work. It runs on...
Koos Looijesteijn
I like watercolor painting
3rd Jan 2024
The Turn Signal RSS...
A UX Review of Peugeot’s New Interior: When Design Ambition Meets Software Reality
Does Peugeot's software match the excellent hardware?
1st Jun 2025
Does Peugeot's software match the excellent hardware?
Christopher Butler
Ten Books About AI Written Before the Year 2000
This by no means a definitive list, so don’t @ me!
AI is an inescapable subject. There’s obviously...
1st Feb 2025
This by no means a definitive list, so don’t @ me!
AI is an inescapable subject. There’s obviously an incredible headwind behind the computing progress of the last handful of years — not to mention the usual avarice — but there has also been nearly a century of thought put...
Retail Design Blog
Jiangnan House Yangzhou Guangling by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio
Project Background — The project is located in the old town of Guangling Road in Yangzhou. It...
1st Oct 2025
Project Background — The project is located in the old town of Guangling Road in Yangzhou. It features architectural clusters...
Fatih Arslan
Tesla Model Y: My 6 months impressions
I have the Model Y now for 6 months. Here is what I think about it after six months of daily drive.
8th Jan 2024
I have the Model Y now for 6 months. Here is what I think about it after six months of daily drive.
The personal website...
Delight comes last
Paul Adams put it bluntly:
“Grid, font, colour, and aesthetic style are irrelevant if [outcomes]...
23rd Jun 2019
Paul Adams put it bluntly:
“Grid, font, colour, and aesthetic style are irrelevant if [outcomes] haven’t been resolved first … [but] sometimes it’s just more fun to draw nice pictures and bury oneself in pixels than deal with complicated business decisions and people with...
julian.digital
The case against conversational interfaces
01 Intro Conversational interfaces are a bit of a meme. Every couple of years a shiny new AI...
27th Mar 2025
01 Intro Conversational interfaces are a bit of a meme. Every couple of years a shiny new AI development emerges and people in tech go “This is it! The next computing paradigm is here! We’ll only use natural language going forward!”. But then nothing actually changes and we...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Citroën Ami and the Future of Urban Transportation
The Ami started life as the AMI ONE C Concept which was a study on new ways to overcome the...
1st Oct 2020
The Ami started life as the AMI ONE C Concept which was a study on new ways to overcome the challenges of designing a small, affordable…
Jakob Nielsen on UX
UX Roundup: AI is the Computer | Disrupting Filmed Entertainment | UX Trends | GOMS | Nano Banana 2...
Summary: The AI is the computer | AI is disrupting the filmed entertainment industry | UX trends for...
2nd Mar 2026
Summary: The AI is the computer | AI is disrupting the filmed entertainment industry | UX trends for 2026 | AI can use the GOMS UI analysis method | New image model: Nano Banana 2 | New music model: Lyria 3
Fonts In Use – Blog...
The Mystery of the Dune Font
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.worthpoint.com License: All Rights Reserved....
26th Jan 2023
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
Source: www.worthpoint.com License: All Rights Reserved.
In the six decades since the publication of the original Dune novel in 1965, the science fiction franchise has gone through many different typographic identities. Notable examples...
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
#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
Product Identity
The Venn of my process
A last minute event
15th Apr 2026
Jakob Nielsen on UX
Gestalt Principles for Visual UI Design
Users parse a layout before they read its labels. Whitespace, borders, alignment, color, and motion...
2 weeks ago
Users parse a layout before they read its labels. Whitespace, borders, alignment, color, and motion determine what belongs together. When these cues fight the content, users attach the label, price, warning, status, or action to the wrong object. Proximity, similarity, enclosure,...
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...
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...
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...
Identity Designed
Pilo
Designed by 5.5, Paris.
30th Jun 2023
Ryan Mulligan
Website Themes and Color Schemes
Getting into the mode
Before we begin, I'd like to preface this article with the following resources...
1st Feb 2022
Getting into the mode
Before we begin, I'd like to preface this article with the following resources that were helpful guides on my theming quest. They explain a lot of the intricacies of setting up dark mode and I recommend reading them before my own.
A Complete Guide to Dark...
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...
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...
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.
Joshua Smith
Discolandia
Based on the old Discolandia Record Shop, Mission District, San Francisco. Scratchbuilt 1:20 Scale...
17th Apr 2018
Based on the old Discolandia Record Shop, Mission District, San Francisco. Scratchbuilt 1:20 Scale Miniature created from MDF, Wood, cardboard, plastic card, chalk pastels, spraypaint, wire, plastruct. Created for Through That Which is Seen Exhibition at the Palo Alto Art Centre,...
Retail Design Blog
Casa Giardino by Claudio Larcher Design Studio
Set within the vast urban regeneration of Scalo Farini, Casa Giardino is a temporary restaurant and...
2nd Feb 2026
Set within the vast urban regeneration of Scalo Farini, Casa Giardino is a temporary restaurant and social space that transforms...
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
Origami Projector: a Glitch-like app for site editing
3 weeks ago
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...
She’s the Boss.
SNOW WHITE is my jailer. She reclines near me while I work, watching closely for the moment I stand...
1st Jun 2026
SNOW WHITE is my jailer. She reclines near me while I work, watching closely for the moment I stand up. The instant I leave my desk, she directs me to her feeding area so I can open another can of cat food and arrange its contents neatly on a plate. She’ll eat a few bites, then...
The Pudding
Why some people mow a lawn better than others.
Why some people mow a lawn better than others.
4th Aug 2026
Why some people mow a lawn better than others.
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 DESK Magazine
Why we built an anti-social tool
This article was originally intended for the upcoming mymind.com blog, but it feels so personal to...
7th Jul 2022
This article was originally intended for the upcoming mymind.com blog, but it feels so personal to me, I found it fitting to share here with you.
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 2023
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...
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...
Retail Design Blog
Roche Diagnostic Center Interior by Studio Alexander Fehre
The Roche Diagnostic Innovation Center in Penzberg, Bavaria, is a 35,500 m² research and workplace...
2nd Jul 2026
The Roche Diagnostic Innovation Center in Penzberg, Bavaria, is a 35,500 m² research and workplace complex realized for Roche Diagnostics...
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
Making Origami expressions easier to learn and use
15th Sep 2025
The personal website...
Practice makes perfect
Professional baker/member of my band Jake at a band retreat recently, practicing.
Editor’s note: I...
9th Apr 2014
Professional baker/member of my band Jake at a band retreat recently, practicing.
Editor’s note: I think this falls under the heading of ‘conventional wisdom.’ In addition, I’m walking a fine line between ‘self-help’ and ‘beating a dead horse.’ Perhaps poorly. Bear with me.
I do...
The personal website...
The Role of Doubt in Design
At a recent happy hour, I struck up a conversation with a product manager. I told him I was a...
17th Jul 2019
At a recent happy hour, I struck up a conversation with a product manager. I told him I was a product designer, and he asked “one of the good ones, or one of the bad ones?” A designer on his team — a “bad one” — asked too many questions. Questions like “Why are we building this...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Is Voice Interaction a Solution to Driver Distraction?
Diving into the research behind in-car voice interaction
1st Aug 2022
Diving into the research behind in-car voice interaction
abdz.do - Have you...
3D & motion design spotlight: Abacus - Pathways
3D & motion design spotlight: Abacus - Pathways
abduzeedo0421—23
...
21st Apr 2023
3D & motion design spotlight: Abacus - Pathways
abduzeedo0421—23
Abacus, Switzerland's leading software development company, is embarking on a new chapter in its journey by collaborating with Hup.Studio to revamp its visual identity. This bold...
The personal website...
Agile & anxiety
Managing anxiety is a big part of my life.
I have generalized anxiety:1 I constantly feel that...
14th May 2018
Managing anxiety is a big part of my life.
I have generalized anxiety:1 I constantly feel that something will go wrong at any moment. Often, I can’t even identify what I’m anxious about.
Work is a significant contributor to my anxiety. When I’m at work (and often when I’m not), I...
Retail Design Blog
CNC & Active Offices by Studio Reaktor
The new office spaces of Czech News Center and Active Radio were built within the new Hagibor...
4th Aug 2026
The new office spaces of Czech News Center and Active Radio were built within the new Hagibor administrative complex on...
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.
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...
The paradox at the heart of A/B testing
A/B testing began with beer.
At the turn of the 20th century, William Sealy Gosset was exploring new...
9th Jan 2020
A/B testing began with beer.
At the turn of the 20th century, William Sealy Gosset was exploring new ways of running experiments on his production line. Gosset was trying to improve the quality of Guinness’s signature stout but couldn’t afford to run large-scale experiments on...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Why Do New Cars Have Speed Limit Warnings, and Do They Work?
New cars have one feature that's infuriating: a beep when exceeding the speed limit. Why are...
1st Oct 2024
New cars have one feature that's infuriating: a beep when exceeding the speed limit. Why are carmakers adding this and does it actually work?
Oykun Yilmaz
Communicate Value over Long Hours of Work as a Designer
The tagline for my newsletter goes as below:
Grow As Designer | Helping Designers Grow Their Value...
23rd May 2023
The tagline for my newsletter goes as below:
Grow As Designer | Helping Designers Grow Their Value and Income.
It's a bit unclear, right?
What the heck is "Value" anyway? How can you grow it?
Well, there are many meanings to it and ways to grow it for a designer, but let's focus...
Permanent Style
The silks of Como: A reminder of the value of craft
I miss this. Visiting a mill is such an enjoyable, often inspiring experience, yet I don’t do it as...
2 weeks ago
I miss this. Visiting a mill is such an enjoyable, often inspiring experience, yet I don’t do it as much as I used to. Perhaps because once you’d done one worsted weaver it’s hard to justify more. But we’ve never done silk. I did go to Vann... > Read more
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...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Source: www.worthpoint.com License: All Rights Reserved.
On...
5th Jul 2020
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Source: www.worthpoint.com License: All Rights Reserved.
On July 5th, 1852 (168 years ago today) Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to 500–600 people in the Corinthian Hall of Rochester, New York. The speech, preceded by a reading of the...
The personal website...
UI Density
Interfaces are becoming less dense.
I’m usually one to be skeptical of nostalgia and “we liked it...
20th May 2024
Interfaces are becoming less dense.
I’m usually one to be skeptical of nostalgia and “we liked it that way” bias, but comparing websites and applications of 2024 to their 2000s-era counterparts, the spreading out of software is hard to ignore.
To explain this trend, and suggest...
The personal website...
What google search shows us about the future of product design
You can read this article on UX Booth.
10th Sep 2019
You can read this article on UX Booth.
Christopher Butler
Periodical – 1
This is a semi-daily check-in. Experimental; likely to not actually be daily. Regular and...
11th Nov 2023
This is a semi-daily check-in. Experimental; likely to not actually be daily. Regular and short.
The kids are in the bath, listening to the Yoto Daily, which aptly describes itself as a “morsel.” The host offers stray thoughts, short learnings, words of the day, fascinating...
Fatih Arslan
Braun Börse 2024
The Braun+Design Börse is an annual event and fair focusing on Braun products. Braun might not be...
5th May 2024
The Braun+Design Börse is an annual event and fair focusing on Braun products. Braun might not be the design icon it was 40 years ago, but starting in 1955, it profoundly impacted the design world, starting with its cooperation with the Ulm School of Design.
With Dieter
The personal website...
Product thinking is a lifeline for struggling design systems
Here’s a common problem: a design team creates a design system. They craft beautiful documentation,...
12th Dec 2019
Here’s a common problem: a design team creates a design system. They craft beautiful documentation, crystal-clear guidelines, and meticulously organized files. But the design system never gains traction. Engineers don’t use it, and other designers quickly stop maintaining it. It...
Sarah Parmenter
The New Macbook Pro with Touchbar
I purchased my new MacBook Pro on a flight from London to San Francisco in the Autumn. I felt all...
21st Mar 2017
I purchased my new MacBook Pro on a flight from London to San Francisco in the Autumn. I felt all futuristic as I secured one of the new machines whilst on a poor internet connection, blazing through the sky. I felt even more nerdy when the Apple Store in Union Square was one of...
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.
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,...
Retail Design Blog
HAVV by Widarto Impact
OVERVIEW Soy milk commands 37.4% of the $23.8 billion plant-based milk market, holding the largest...
5th May 2026
OVERVIEW Soy milk commands 37.4% of the $23.8 billion plant-based milk market, holding the largest share of any plant milk...
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.
abdz.do - Have you...
Bold art direction, UX and web design for GV
Bold art direction, UX and web design for GV
abduzeedo0501—23
...
1st May 2023
Bold art direction, UX and web design for GV
abduzeedo0501—23
GV, previously known as Google Ventures, recently underwent a rebranding and relaunch of their corporate website with a simpler UX. The new strategy and branding was created by the...
Christopher Butler
Signals #001: The Politics of Naming
Signals
Something new here—a weekly signal from noise, or at least I hope so. Connections drawn...
25th May 2026
Signals
Something new here—a weekly signal from noise, or at least I hope so. Connections drawn between things I have encountered…
Something strange happens when we put a name to things. The moment “cassette futurism” or “Corporate Memphis” enters circulation, it stops being...
The personal website...
Who are design systems for?
I’ve spent the past few days feeling an immense amount of FOMO. A major design conference called...
14th Dec 2018
I’ve spent the past few days feeling an immense amount of FOMO. A major design conference called Clarity happened here in New York, and my twitter feed has been full of pictures and quotes from the very talented and articulate speakers. Lesson learned: go to more conferences. To...
Nela Dunato Art &...
Why people avoid social media detox (let’s bust those excuses)
I truly believe everyone would benefit from taking a long break from social media at least once a...
30th Oct 2023
I truly believe everyone would benefit from taking a long break from social media at least once a year. In my many articles on this topic I gushed about the benefits of digital media sabbaticals, and my own experiences with increased mindfulness, focus, and productivity. So let’s...
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...
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 DESK Magazine
5 hard truths for young designers
Stop reading right now if you’re looking for feel-good advice. This is not going to be that kind of...
4th Jun 2024
Stop reading right now if you’re looking for feel-good advice. This is not going to be that kind of article.
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Harris/Walz 2024 US Presidential Campaign
Contributed by Stephen Coles
Source: www.flickr.com Kit Karzen/Harris for President. License:...
4th Sep 2024
Contributed by Stephen Coles
Source: www.flickr.com Kit Karzen/Harris for President. License: All Rights Reserved.
The Kamala Harris 2024 campaign identity, designed by Wide Eye Creative, is built around Sans Plomb, a condensed gothic not unlike the Bureau Grot used by...
Jeffrey Zeldman...
Staying relevant
Or not.
My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of...
5th Aug 2025
Or not.
My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation. It had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist. —
The Incredible...
The Turn Signal RSS...
An in-depth look at the UX Design of the Porsche Taycan
An in-depth look at the UX Design of the Porsche Taycan
1st Nov 2019
An in-depth look at the UX Design of the Porsche Taycan
Permanent Style
Steven Hitchcock tweed bespoke coat: Review
This is the first English overcoat I’ve ever had made - or a traditional one anyway. There was the...
22nd Oct 2025
This is the first English overcoat I’ve ever had made - or a traditional one anyway. There was the topcoat from Michael Browne , but that was his own particular style and structure. And there was the wrap coat from Whitcomb & Shaftesbury , b... > Read more
Fatih Arslan
Managing friction
I thought lately about what has changed in my life over the years. People change (even if they don't...
8th Apr 2025
I thought lately about what has changed in my life over the years. People change (even if they don't admit it). And there are always some sort of triggers that cause these changes. Some people start a habit of running, maybe; some start hanging out with friends who
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 &...
5 things you need before raising your prices
Many freelancers feel like they “deserve” more money, but are confused about how to make that...
11th Jul 2023
Many freelancers feel like they “deserve” more money, but are confused about how to make that happen. The hard truth is, you may not be able to raise your prices overnight. But in this article I'll tell you exactly what you need to do in order to become appealing to higher-paying...
Product Identity
I'm writing a zine
Will I become an author now?
2nd Dec 2024
Will I become an author now?
The personal website...
Decentralizing quality
Everyone agrees quality matters, but we can’t agree on what it is — or who gets to decide.
I’ve...
30th Sep 2025
Everyone agrees quality matters, but we can’t agree on what it is — or who gets to decide.
I’ve experienced the drive for quality in every design leadership role I’ve had. When it comes to software, we like to pretend that quality is a number. Dashboards stand in for judgment,...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Mixed Reality: The Future of Automotive UX Prototyping
Can mixed reality make it easier to test and iterate on automotive user interfaces?
1st Mar 2024
Can mixed reality make it easier to test and iterate on automotive user 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 -...
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...
The personal website...
How to pick the least wrong colors
I’m a self-taught designer.1 This has its upsides: I learn at my own pace (in my case, slowly over...
31st May 2022
I’m a self-taught designer.1 This has its upsides: I learn at my own pace (in my case, slowly over decades and counting), I design my own curriculum, and I don’t have to do any homework or pass any tests. But it also has a serious downside: because I don’t have to learn anything,...
julian.digital
Media Consumption (Jan 2021)
>_ Summary Read 11 books (2456 min, +111% MoM) and 26 articles (-46%) Listened to 263 songs (-59%)...
1st Feb 2021
>_ Summary Read 11 books (2456 min, +111% MoM) and 26 articles (-46%) Listened to 263 songs (-59%) and 15 podcasts (749 min, -43%) Watched 1 movie (107 min, -54%), 7 soccer games (835 min, -.6%) and 21 TV episodes (1079 min, +40%) Played 0 board games (0 min, -100%) and 1 video...
The DESK Magazine
Dear Young Designer, Part II
(this is a timely continuation of Part I of Dear Young Designer)
→ You don't need to become a...
4th Nov 2025
(this is a timely continuation of Part I of Dear Young Designer)
→ You don't need to become a grifter to be successful. I know it seems that way today (given the context of 2025), but trust me there is another way that's more meaningful and
The personal website...
How to get the best design feedback from your team
In 2015, I wrote out my thoughts on creative feedback. Here’s that article in list format:
Feedback...
13th Apr 2017
In 2015, I wrote out my thoughts on creative feedback. Here’s that article in list format:
Feedback should be concise
Feedback should be action-oriented
Feedback should have a consistent format
At the time, the Planetary design team was growing. We were grappling with one of the...
Christopher Butler
Are We Ready?
Inventions that were ahead of their time can help us to understand whether we are truly ready to...
3rd Dec 2021
Inventions that were ahead of their time can help us to understand whether we are truly ready to live in the world we are making.
every detail — but hinting at them by highlighting mere facets that represent a coherent reality beneath them. If that reality is convincing, then...
Identity Designed
Ashton
Designed by LG2, Quebec.
11th Jul 2024
Luke Mitchell |...
RSS is calm
I’ve been thinking a bit about how I consume from the web, to improve my digital health. Here’s some...
5th Oct 2020
I’ve been thinking a bit about how I consume from the web, to improve my digital health. Here’s some things I’ve done recently:
Delete all work stuff from my phone (Slack, Email etc).
Clean up my social follows, and use Twitterrific ‘muffles’ more.
Use Drafts to record ideas and...
Christopher Butler
The Last Time
Life has as many ends as it has beginnings. What can an end teach us about making our...
15th Oct 2021
Life has as many ends as it has beginnings. What can an end teach us about making our world?
Bye, Chris” were the last words a friend said to me. We had been talking on the phone for about an hour, catching up as we did back then, a few times each year. He said his goodbye as...
Product Identity
Surf the browser
A guest's identity
27th Mar 2025
Product Identity
Designing for a single purpose
What do a Dutch chocolate chip cookie and a thousand-year-old teahouse in Kyoto have in common?
7th May 2024
What do a Dutch chocolate chip cookie and a thousand-year-old teahouse in Kyoto have in common?
Jakob Nielsen on UX
UX Roundup: Email UX | Sora 2 | AI New Business Capabilities | AI Consumer Surplus | Latent...
Email user experience | New video model Sora 2 compared with older models | AI offering new business...
6th Oct 2025
Email user experience | New video model Sora 2 compared with older models | AI offering new business capabilities instead of just replacing old jobs | Most of AI’s economic value is consumer surplus | Latent affordances for AI feature discovery | Simple ambient AI scribes help...
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.
Ryan Mulligan
The Fifty-Fifty Split and Overflow
The fifty-fifty split—or 50/50 for a dash of brevity—is a classic layout pattern where two elements...
19th Feb 2024
The fifty-fifty split—or 50/50 for a dash of brevity—is a classic layout pattern where two elements occupy the same amount of inline space inside a row. These two elements will stack once it becomes too narrow to properly display them side by side. Both flexbox and CSS grid can...
Retail Design Blog
FENDI store
FENDI has upgraded its presence in Osaka‘s downtown Shinsaibashi area by relocating to new and...
1st Jul 2024
FENDI has upgraded its presence in Osaka‘s downtown Shinsaibashi area by relocating to new and bigger premises a few blocks...
Koos Looijesteijn
Brutalism is not great for looking relatable
2nd Aug 2018
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...
Koos Looijesteijn
Hey Koos, do you still recommend WordPress?
29th Jun 2018
Luke Mitchell |...
Good Case Studies
I’m currently thinking about writing case studies for my work, I didn’t know
where to start, so I...
25th Jul 2021
I’m currently thinking about writing case studies for my work, I didn’t know
where to start, so I did what I do when starting any project, some research; I
needed to define what I think makes a good case study.
Here are my thoughts so far.
Structure
I am a fan of detailed...
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…
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?
The Pudding
The Middle Ages
Follow hundreds of kids as they navigate their trecherous middle school years.
3rd Mar 2025
Follow hundreds of kids as they navigate their trecherous middle school years.
Koos Looijesteijn
Your lifestyle won’t save the world
1st Sep 2024
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...
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...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Role of Cognitive Load in Automotive UX Design
What is cognitive load and how does it impact driving safety and automotive UX design?
1st May 2023
What is cognitive load and how does it impact driving safety and automotive UX design?
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...
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?
Christopher Butler
The Fundamentals Problem
Anyone can make something that looks designed, but that doesn’t mean that design has happened.
A...
3rd Nov 2025
Anyone can make something that looks designed, but that doesn’t mean that design has happened.
A few months ago, a client was reviewing a landing page design with my team. They had created it themselves using a page builder tool — one of those platforms that integrate content...
The DESK Magazine
mymind keeps getting better
We've been hard at work making every aspect of the mymind.com experience better, smoother, faster...
10th Sep 2024
We've been hard at work making every aspect of the mymind.com experience better, smoother, faster and lovelier.
Scott Jenson
Assertive Instincts
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light...
6th Jan 2020
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. Isaac Asimov It all started while on vacation with my wife. We were driving a rental car to a remote location in Washington state. The car had a safety feature that...
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 Turn Signal RSS...
Is Gesture Interaction a Valid Alternative To Touch Interaction in Cars?
Interacting with in-car controls requires drivers to divert visual attention from the road to the...
1st Dec 2021
Interacting with in-car controls requires drivers to divert visual attention from the road to the dashboard. For example, adjusting the…
Christopher Butler
Replication Is Not Innovation
AI’s efficiency gains don’t justify trillion-dollar valuations.
The economy is both thriving and...
2nd Feb 2026
AI’s efficiency gains don’t justify trillion-dollar valuations.
The economy is both thriving and failing, depending on where you’re standing. The stock market remains strong, driven almost entirely by the valuations of seven companies. Meanwhile, most people experience a daily...
The personal website...
The paradox at the heart of A/B testing
A/B testing began with beer.
At the turn of the 20th century, William Sealy Gosset was exploring new...
9th Jan 2020
A/B testing began with beer.
At the turn of the 20th century, William Sealy Gosset was exploring new ways of running experiments on his production line. Gosset was trying to improve the quality of Guinness’s signature stout but couldn’t afford to run large-scale experiments on...
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.
Jeffrey Zeldman...
Advice for job seekers
I recently heard from an accomplished former colleague who had failed to impress the recruiter...
2nd Mar 2026
I recently heard from an accomplished former colleague who had failed to impress the recruiter evaluating their initial application for an open position. It was a position for which they were more than qualified. So why hadn’t they scored so much as an initial interview?
Turned...
Joshua Smith
General Laundry Building
Scratchbuilt miniature based on the Abandoned General Laundry building in New Orleans, United...
7th Jun 2019
Scratchbuilt miniature based on the Abandoned General Laundry building in New Orleans, United States. Created for the Urban Art Fair in Paris showing with Galerie 42b in Paris, April, 2019. Scratchbuilt 1:24 Scale Miniature created from MDF, Wood, cardboard, plastic card, chalk...
julian.digital
Media Consumption (Feb 2021)
>_ Summary Read 3 books (2202 min, -10% MoM) and 22 articles (-15%) Listened to 364 songs (+38%) and...
4th Mar 2021
>_ Summary Read 3 books (2202 min, -10% MoM) and 22 articles (-15%) Listened to 364 songs (+38%) and 15 podcasts (749 min, same) Watched 8 movies (885 min, +727%), 7 soccer games (965 min, +16%) and 7 TV episodes (405 min, -62%) Played 0 board games (0 min, same) and 1 video game...
Christopher Butler
Less Doesn't Have to Be More. It Can Just Be Less.
How much is enough? So much of what we design assumes that either the question has not been answered...
3rd Sep 2021
How much is enough? So much of what we design assumes that either the question has not been answered or has no answer at all. This must change.
we can do more with less, but not so when our audience does less with our more.
Yes, it’s impressive when we can create something...
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...
The micromanager's dilemma
Here’s a riddle: Nobody I’ve ever worked with likes micromanagement. Yet, on every team I’ve been...
13th Dec 2022
Here’s a riddle: Nobody I’ve ever worked with likes micromanagement. Yet, on every team I’ve been on, there is at least one micromanager. How is this possible?
Harvard Business Review says, “Micromanage at Your Peril.” Forbes says “Micromanaging is one of the most damaging habits...
Ryan Mulligan
Someone Great
Where to start? The grief is heavy and far too real. I barely slept last night. The brain fog is...
13th Mar 2024
Where to start? The grief is heavy and far too real. I barely slept last night. The brain fog is thick but finding the words and placing them here may provide some catharsis.
I lost someone great. Oscar was so much bigger than most folks will ever understand. His love, not just...
Ryan Mulligan
The Pixel Canvas Shimmer Effect
I recently stumbled on a super cool, well-executed hover effect from the clerk.com website where a...
3rd Dec 2024
I recently stumbled on a super cool, well-executed hover effect from the clerk.com website where a bloom of tiny pixels light up, their glow staggering from the center to the edges of its container. With some available free time over this Thanksgiving break, I hacked together my...
Ryan Mulligan
Site Rebuild, Here We Go!
There are still a few bits to work out, but why wait any longer? The latest version of my site is...
22nd Nov 2023
There are still a few bits to work out, but why wait any longer? The latest version of my site is here and it has been rebuilt from the ground up. I'm feeling pretty good about it and invite you all to celebrate the magic with me! ✨
Inspiration
While playing Super Mario Wonder, I...
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 personal website...
Functions and the future of design systems
New kinds of computers and interfaces are becoming ubiquitous: in our cars, on our wrists, in our...
12th Feb 2022
New kinds of computers and interfaces are becoming ubiquitous: in our cars, on our wrists, in our ears, at our desks at work, on our TVs at home. In response, we’ve seen innovations in the content, organization, and delivery of design systems: design tokens, interoperability,...
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...
The Role of Doubt in Design
At a recent happy hour, I struck up a conversation with a product manager. I told him I was a...
17th Jul 2019
At a recent happy hour, I struck up a conversation with a product manager. I told him I was a product designer, and he asked “one of the good ones, or one of the bad ones?” A designer on his team — a “bad one” — asked too many questions. Questions like “Why are we building this...
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...
Kat Snyder
No, I don’t want to sign up for your newsletter — horrible uses of exit overlays
When a user moves their mouse from the middle of the page toward the navigation bar — presumably...
23rd Oct 2018
When a user moves their mouse from the middle of the page toward the navigation bar — presumably to abandon the page — there are...
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...
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?
Fonts In Use – Blog...
John & Paul & Ringo & George / &&& T-shirt
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Source: walkerart.org License: All Rights Reserved.
Experimental...
14th Dec 2019
Contributed by Nick Sherman
Source: walkerart.org License: All Rights Reserved.
Experimental Jetset designed the original John & Paul & Ringo & George T-shirt (referencing the names of the Beatles) in 2001 for Yoshi Kawasaki at the Japanese apparel company 2K/Gingham. The...
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...
The personal website...
Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics was one of the earliest attempts at defining a language and a logic around ethics. The...
13th Apr 2020
Virtue ethics was one of the earliest attempts at defining a language and a logic around ethics. The effort to identify and understand virtues began in Ancient Greece and continues to this day.
What is a virtue?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines a virtue as “an...
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...
The Pudding
In pursuit of democracy
Every time someone said 'democracy' in Congress.
3rd Nov 2025
Every time someone said 'democracy' in Congress.
Retail Design Blog
Avizva Solutions Offices by Designforth Interiors
Designforth Interiors created a functional and flexible office space in Indore for Avizva, focusing...
3rd Mar 2025
Designforth Interiors created a functional and flexible office space in Indore for Avizva, focusing on spatial optimization, collaboration, and cultural...
Koos Looijesteijn -...
Organizations are ant colonies
After I had played Universal Paperclips for a couple of hours, I thought I understood the game’s...
7th Oct 2023
After I had played Universal Paperclips for a couple of hours, I thought I understood the game’s message. I put...
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
The personal website...
The history of album art
Album art didn’t always exist.
In the early 1900s, recorded music was still a novelty, overshadowed...
2nd May 2025
Album art didn’t always exist.
In the early 1900s, recorded music was still a novelty, overshadowed by sales of sheet music. Early vinyl records were vastly different from what we think of today: discs were sold individually and could only hold up to four minutes of music per...
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...
Koos Looijesteijn
Will I regret buying a new Mac?
19th Jan 2026
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...
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...
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...
Ryan Mulligan
Animating with the Flip Plugin for GSAP
What the flip is it?
Every time a new GSAP plugin is introduced, I'm close to bursting from...
7th Jan 2022
What the flip is it?
Every time a new GSAP plugin is introduced, I'm close to bursting from excitement. The simplicity of the GreenSock API makes learning and applying these tools in projects such a dream. I had the pleasure of beta testing the ScrollTrigger plugin and was blown...
Christopher Butler
The Empty Heading
For many years, I have maintained a text file called “A Rubric for Website Design Critique.” It is...
3 days ago
For many years, I have maintained a text file called “A Rubric for Website Design Critique.” It is relatively short, but used nonetheless; I’ve returned to it, off and on, for most of my career, referring back, adding things, removing things, adjusting. Its purpose is to...
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...
Retail Design Blog
Mercedes-Benz Offices by Boytorun Architects
Boytorun Architects designed the Mercedes-Benz Istanbul Headquarters in a way that fosters...
1st Aug 2024
Boytorun Architects designed the Mercedes-Benz Istanbul Headquarters in a way that fosters collaboration and innovation, emphasizing a sense of belonging...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Citroën Ami and the Future of Urban Transportation
Is the Citroën Ami a clever new transportation method or standing in the way of progress?
1st Oct 2020
Is the Citroën Ami a clever new transportation method or standing in the way of progress?
Koos Looijesteijn
Who is responsible for the impact of innovative products?
7th Dec 2023
Product Identity
head on the cloud, feet on the ground
A conversation with Sari Azout of Sublime
17th Jul 2025
A conversation with Sari Azout of Sublime
UX Collective
The secret of good metaphors
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
7th Jul 2025
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
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:
Retail Design Blog
RIDET office by RooMoo Design Studio
Shanghai RIDET Technology is a pioneering company specializing in developing life sciences...
23rd Apr 2024
Shanghai RIDET Technology is a pioneering company specializing in developing life sciences instruments. RIDET’s office space on the first floor...
Oykun Yilmaz
Designers, charge more $$$ to help yourself and your clients.
Many designers shy away from increasing their rates, fearing it will scare clients away and put them...
27th Apr 2024
Many designers shy away from increasing their rates, fearing it will scare clients away and put them under pressure to deliver higher-quality work.
Understandable concerns with the common fixed mindset.
However, if you want to grow as a Designer, you must be comfortable with...
Nela Dunato Art &...
My policy on the use of generative AI in creative work
I have never used generative AI software to produce original written content, images, code, audio,...
10th Jun 2024
I have never used generative AI software to produce original written content, images, code, audio, or video, and do not intend to in the future. All of the art, design, photography, writing, video, and audio material published on NelaDunato.com and other websites I own have been...
Koos Looijesteijn
Things I learned from doing a side project
20th Mar 2018
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 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...
Oykun Yilmaz
2023 Letter with 10 Lessons
Write
I've been writing for years, however, I gave the focus it deserved in 2023 as I felt the urge...
30th Dec 2023
Write
I've been writing for years, however, I gave the focus it deserved in 2023 as I felt the urge to express my ideas more in words than colours and shapes. I didn’t resist the urge and I have seen amazing benefits.
Articulating my ideas, feelings,
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...
Retail Design Blog
Monarch by OPEN Strategy & Design
MONARCH – A ROYAL WELCOME CRAFTING A LEGACY For forty years, Mansion House has stood for ‘A Warm...
1st Apr 2025
MONARCH – A ROYAL WELCOME CRAFTING A LEGACY For forty years, Mansion House has stood for ‘A Warm Welcome’, a...
Koos Looijesteijn
How I repaired our oven with a piece of Lego
1st Aug 2026
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
UI Pace Layers
Jeremy Keith, Chris Coyier, and others (see Jeremy’s post) have written about the idea of “pace...
2nd Feb 2025
Jeremy Keith, Chris Coyier, and others (see Jeremy’s post) have written about the idea of “pace layers” and now I’m going to take a stab at applying it to user interface primitives.
First, let’s start with a line of reasoning:
Common user interface controls — such as checkboxes...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Designing A New UX Concept to Reduce Driver Distraction
Since the arrival of the first iPhone, designers at car companies have tried to copy its minimalist...
1st Jun 2019
Since the arrival of the first iPhone, designers at car companies have tried to copy its minimalist look and interface in the interiors of…
Alex Baldwin
One line of CSS to add hanging quotes
The hanging-punctuation property aims at giving web web designers a finer grained control over...
10th Nov 2016
The hanging-punctuation property aims at giving web web designers a finer grained control over typography on the web.
The idea behind hanging punctuation is to put some punctuation characters from start (or to a lesser extend at the end) of text elements “outside” of the box in...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Is Gesture Interaction a Valid Alternative To Touch Interaction in Cars?
Are air gestures a valid alternative to existing interaction modes or is it just a gimmick?
1st Dec 2021
Are air gestures a valid alternative to existing interaction modes or is it just a gimmick?
The Turn Signal RSS...
The 8 Guidelines for Good Automotive UX Design
The essence of automotive UX design turned into 8 fundamental guidelines aimed at designers in the...
1st Dec 2023
The essence of automotive UX design turned into 8 fundamental guidelines aimed at designers in the car industry
Jan Miksovsky’s blog
Promoting a design and development tool through comics
8th Jan 2026
UX Collective
Figma just made your design system debt everyone’s problem
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
6th Jul 2026
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
The DESK Magazine
Make it invisible
Our approach to building products may seem counterintuitive. Our goal is to make a product so good,...
5th Oct 2022
Our approach to building products may seem counterintuitive. Our goal is to make a product so good, you don't think about the product at all.
Luke Mitchell |...
Markdown is really good
I was reading Manu’s post about ‘old tech’ and suddenly thought, markdown is really, really...
4th Feb 2025
I was reading Manu’s post about ‘old tech’ and suddenly thought, markdown is really, really good.
What is it?
Markdown is a markup (get it?) language which aims to make formatting text as easy as possible, while still being easy to read. Markdown can be processed into HTML, which...
The DESK Magazine
The case for being ignorant
I am sure you know this feeling. You find a new book that you absolutely love. A new movie, a new TV...
14th May 2024
I am sure you know this feeling. You find a new book that you absolutely love. A new movie, a new TV series or even a new hobby such as cycling or designing. It can be anything and everything.
Melissa Penfold
ISABELLA’S INCREDIBLE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION
It’s a bargain hunter’s paradise at Isabella Walker-Smith’s bumper Christmas Collection which has...
29th Nov 2024
It’s a bargain hunter’s paradise at Isabella Walker-Smith’s bumper Christmas Collection which has stacks of table lamps in the style of Christian Liaigre, Kelly Wearstler, Ralph Lauren, and Aerin, from $80. There are quality travertine lamps, $280 a pair, and adorable rattan...
UX Collective
Liquid Glass isn’t a design failure; it is Apple’s most tactile digital future yet
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
23rd Jun 2025
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
The personal website...
Agile & anxiety
Managing anxiety is a big part of my life.
I have generalized anxiety:1 I constantly feel that...
14th May 2018
Managing anxiety is a big part of my life.
I have generalized anxiety:1 I constantly feel that something will go wrong at any moment. Often, I can’t even identify what I’m anxious about.
Work is a significant contributor to my anxiety. When I’m at work (and often when I’m not), I...
The Turn Signal RSS...
The Problem With Digital Instrument Clusters and How to Design a Better One
Since the invention of the car, instrument clusters have largely consisted of a speedometer,...
1st Jan 2024
Since the invention of the car, instrument clusters have largely consisted of a speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, and engine…
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...
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...
The DESK Magazine
When did our tools become our religion?
Designers love to argue about design tools. Some treat it as their religion, as if their design tool...
6th Sep 2022
Designers love to argue about design tools. Some treat it as their religion, as if their design tool is the only thing that gives them meaning or an identity.
Christopher Butler
Periodical 20 – Localized Computing
At a time of ubiquitous computing, there is still something to be gained from its...
16th Oct 2024
At a time of ubiquitous computing, there is still something to be gained from its opposite.
There was a time when computers were furniture. It’s easy to note all the reasons why it’s good that this is no longer so. After all, I remember how exciting it was to slide the first...
The personal website...
What is a brand?
A few weeks ago, I jumped into a new job as the head of a design team at a startup called...
4th Mar 2020
A few weeks ago, I jumped into a new job as the head of a design team at a startup called SimpleHealth. One of my first tasks is to kick off a big brand update. Full creative control, clear product/market fit, a long timeline — this is going to be a breeze. Right?
Only, I asked...
The Turn Signal RSS...
Mercedes vs Lucid: Different Views on Luxury UI Design
With each launch of a Mercedes S-Class, the whole automotive world watches. It is a prelude to the...
1st Nov 2020
With each launch of a Mercedes S-Class, the whole automotive world watches. It is a prelude to the technologies that will be the industry…
Koos Looijesteijn -...
There are no individual contributors in design
This term, that I believe comes from software development, is taking hold in other fields too:...
3rd Jun 2021
This term, that I believe comes from software development, is taking hold in other fields too: individual contributor. I don’t...
Koos Looijesteijn
How to get good at anything creative
29th Dec 2024
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...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Law & Order
Contributed by Nick Sherman
License: All Rights Reserved.
Law & Order is a US television series...
13th Sep 2020
Contributed by Nick Sherman
License: All Rights Reserved.
Law & Order is a US television series set in New York City that first aired 30 years ago today, on September 13, 1990, and ran for 20 seasons until its final episode in 2010. Each episode is split into two segments:...
Jakob Nielsen on UX
2026 AI and UX Predictions: A Mid-Year Reality Check
Summary: Halfway through 2026, AI is evolving faster than expected, but usability is struggling to...
2nd Jul 2026
Summary: Halfway through 2026, AI is evolving faster than expected, but usability is struggling to keep pace.
Fatih Arslan
Four years at PlanetScale
It’s been four years since I joined PlanetScale. In this post, I'm reflecting on my journey and...
20th Jan 2025
It’s been four years since I joined PlanetScale. In this post, I'm reflecting on my journey and accomplishments during this period.
Christopher Butler
The Road Through Your Screen
2nd Jun 2023
Ryan Mulligan
We can :has it all
The functional :has() CSS pseudo class is now shipping in all evergreen browsers! 🎉
With the...
19th Dec 2023
The functional :has() CSS pseudo class is now shipping in all evergreen browsers! 🎉
With the release of Firefox 121.0, I'm excited to see that my semi-dusty :has() demos are finally realizing their full potential in Firefox. The amount of opportunity unlocked with this selector...
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...
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...
Fonts In Use – Blog...
Martyr! book jacket
Contributed by Stephen Coles
Source: lithub.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Martyr! is a...
11th Mar 2024
Contributed by Stephen Coles
Source: lithub.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Martyr! is a novel by Iranian-American writer Kaveh Akbar that combines modern situations with traditional imagery. For the jacket, prolific cover designer Linda Huang did what she does so...
Product Identity
Annoucning Niche design: The Creative Practice
Inside the next issue + patronage
4th Aug 2026
Inside the next issue + patronage
UX Collective
The algorithmic atelier
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
3rd Aug 2026
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
Luke Mitchell |...
My favourite albums of 2023
I don’t have a Spotify wrapped to share this year. So, in no particular order, my favourite albums...
8th Dec 2023
I don’t have a Spotify wrapped to share this year. So, in no particular order, my favourite albums of the year:
boygenius – the record
I have followed the work of this supergroups members for a little while. When they come together they create something incredible. This album is...
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