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Retail Design Blog
Transforming the everyday with Edding Showcasing how easy it is to breathe new life into home accessories with Edding spray paints. From...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Showcasing how easy it is to breathe new life into home accessories with Edding spray paints. From refreshing decor to...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Ductility in Software I learned a new word: ductile. Do you know it? I’m particularly interested in its usage in a...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
I learned a new word: ductile. Do you know it? I’m particularly interested in its usage in a physics/engineering setting when talking about materials. Here’s an answer on Quora to: “What is ductile?” Ductility is the ability of a material to be permanently deformed without...
Retail Design Blog
Elios innovative honey by Margo Pavlova Packaging of innovative honey, where there are different flavors. name of innovative honey Elios (in...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
Packaging of innovative honey, where there are different flavors. name of innovative honey Elios (in ancient Greek mythology, the solar...
Product Identity
Building as gardening Although I've never had a garden
4 days ago
Retail Design Blog
Louis Vuitton store by Peter Marino Following a three-year renovation, the Louis Vuitton store in Milan timely reopened its doors during...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
Following a three-year renovation, the Louis Vuitton store in Milan timely reopened its doors during this year’s Salone del Mobile,...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Background Image Opacity in CSS The other day I was working on something where I needed to use CSS to apply multiple background...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
The other day I was working on something where I needed to use CSS to apply multiple background images to an element, e.g. <div> My content with background images. </div> <style> div { background-image: url(image-one.jpg), url(image-two.jpg); ...
Fatih Arslan
Managing friction I thought lately about what has changed in my life over the years. People change (even if they don't...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
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
Retail Design Blog
Krem by Camille Piot Creating a skincare brand means crafting an experience down to the finest detail. The packaging: A...
5 days ago
5
5 days ago
Creating a skincare brand means crafting an experience down to the finest detail. The packaging: A sculptural bottle topped with...
Christopher Butler
Discernment in the Digital Age How elimination, curation, and optimization can help us see through the technological...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
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...
Retail Design Blog
Xilote restaurant by Espacio 18 Arquitectura As in many a capital city across the planet, the culinary scene in Mexico City continues to evolve...
6 days ago
UX Collective
No research is often better than “some” research Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
6 days ago
Retail Design Blog
Confidential Reinsurance Company Offices by Trispace AG Trispace AG redesigned a Zurich office, focusing on flexibility and sustainability with intelligent...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Trispace AG redesigned a Zurich office, focusing on flexibility and sustainability with intelligent interior design, harmonious color schemes, and a...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Tag, You’re It I saw these going around, but didn’t think I’d ever see myself get tagged — then Eric assuaged my...
a week ago
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a week ago
I saw these going around, but didn’t think I’d ever see myself get tagged — then Eric assuaged my FOMO. As I’ve done elsewhere talking about how I blog, I’m gonna try and impose a character limit to my answers (~240). I’m not sure if that makes my job as the writer easier or...
Retail Design Blog
TEC Energy offices by A+ This boldly elegant workplace located in 3,000 ft2 of an industrial building in Montreal is a...
a week ago
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a week ago
This boldly elegant workplace located in 3,000 ft2 of an industrial building in Montreal is a noteworthy example of an...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Flow State and Surfing Jack Johnson is on Rick Rubin’s podcast Tetragrammaton talking about music, film making, creativity,...
a week ago
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a week ago
Jack Johnson is on Rick Rubin’s podcast Tetragrammaton talking about music, film making, creativity, and surfing. At one point (~24:30) Johnson talks about his love for surfing and the beautiful flow state it puts him in: Sometimes I’ll see a friend riding a wave while I’m...
Retail Design Blog
Bidfood Pizza Academy by mode:lina Bidfood Pizza Academy in Wrocław, designed by mode:lina™ studio, is a space dedicated to training...
a week ago
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a week ago
Bidfood Pizza Academy in Wrocław, designed by mode:lina™ studio, is a space dedicated to training and culinary workshops, where Italian...
UX Collective
UX or PX? Why naming matters Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
a week ago
Retail Design Blog
House of Olives by ARHINGinženjering House of Olives is a building intended for the Association of Olive Growers of Montenegro as an...
a week ago
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a week ago
House of Olives is a building intended for the Association of Olive Growers of Montenegro as an administrative and educational...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Don’t Forget the Meta Theme-Color Tag Ever used a website where you toggle from light mode to dark mode and the web site changes but the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Ever used a website where you toggle from light mode to dark mode and the web site changes but the chrome around the browser doesn’t? To illustrate, take a look at this capture of my blog on an iPhone. When you toggle the theme from light to dark, note how the website turns white...
Retail Design Blog
Tinner Bros. Whisky Co. by Buddy Creative This brand creation for Southwestern Distillery is born from the legend of two nineteenth century...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
This brand creation for Southwestern Distillery is born from the legend of two nineteenth century Cornish brothers who spent all...
Christopher Butler
Digital Echoes and Unquiet Minds There’s a psychological burden of digital life even heavier than distraction. When the iPhone...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
There’s a psychological burden of digital life even heavier than distraction. When the iPhone was first introduced in 2007, the notion of an “everything device” was universally celebrated. A single object that could serve as phone, camera, music player, web browser, and so...
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...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
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...
Retail Design Blog
Hoapham Mid-Autumn Packaging Design 2025 Mid-Autumn Festival is not only an occasion for people to gather and enjoy delicious mooncakes, but...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Mid-Autumn Festival is not only an occasion for people to gather and enjoy delicious mooncakes, but also a moment to...
Product Identity
Surf the browser A guest's identity
2 weeks ago
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
The Value of Experience Adam Silver has an article titled “Do you trust design advice from ChatGPT?” wherein he prompted the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Adam Silver has an article titled “Do you trust design advice from ChatGPT?” wherein he prompted the LLM: How do you add hint text to radio buttons? It gave various suggestions, each of which Adam breaks down. Here’s an an example response from ChatGPT: If you want the hint to...
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...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
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.
Retail Design Blog
TATER TRADER Diner Bar Jakarta, Indonesia – EVONIL Architecture Indonesia Design & Build by EVONIL Architecture Indonesia
2 weeks ago
Ryan Mulligan
Blog Questions Challenge Hey there. It has been a minute since my last post. I was semi-recently tagged by Zach Leatherman to...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Hey there. It has been a minute since my last post. I was semi-recently tagged by Zach Leatherman to (optionally) participate in this year's Blog Questions Challenge. I had planned on doing it then. But life really hit hard as we entered this year and it has not let up. Energy...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Book Notes: “The Order of Time” by Carlo Rovelli I recently finished Carlo Rovelli’s book “The Order of Time” and, of course, had a few web-adjacent...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
I recently finished Carlo Rovelli’s book “The Order of Time” and, of course, had a few web-adjacent thoughts come to mind. Who says lessons from physics can’t be applied to making software? (I know, nobody is actually dying on that hill.) A Weakness of Being Data-Driven Being...
Retail Design Blog
Nuestros Nombres Mezcal by TORO PINTO The land spoke to us; it spoke our language. We are, and always will be, a part of it. It...
2 weeks ago
UX Collective
Cracking the code of vibe coding Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
2 weeks ago
Retail Design Blog
JM Café by B.L.U.E Architecture Studio The project is located in the old city zone of Xicheng District, Beijing, adjacent to the west side...
2 weeks ago
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
A Few Thoughts on Customizable Form Controls Web developers have been waiting years for traction in styling HTML form controls. Is it possible...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Web developers have been waiting years for traction in styling HTML form controls. Is it possible the day has come? Here’s Jen Simmons on Mastodon: My team is working on a solution — you’ll apply appearance: base and switch to a new interoperable, consistent controls with easy to...
Retail Design Blog
WGV Customer Service Center Based on a comprehensive usage analysis and the principles of WGV, DIA Dittel Architekten are...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Based on a comprehensive usage analysis and the principles of WGV, DIA Dittel Architekten are realizing the insurer’s future-oriented customer...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Proving Binaries Heydon Pickering has an intriguing video dealing with the question: “Why is everything binary?” The...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Heydon Pickering has an intriguing video dealing with the question: “Why is everything binary?” The gist of the video, to me, distills to this insight: The idea that [everything] belongs to one of two archetypes is seductive in its simplicity, so we base everything that we do and...
Retail Design Blog
Heni Herbáriuma plant relief packaging by Corvin Art School Heni Herbáriuma specializes in delicate yet vivid flower arrangements, bouquets and ceramic reliefs...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Heni Herbáriuma specializes in delicate yet vivid flower arrangements, bouquets and ceramic reliefs made with plant prints. Their motto, “Just...
Scott Jenson
Design for a Small Planet Back in 1971, “Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappé made it clear the costs of eating...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Back in 1971, “Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappé made it clear the costs of eating meat were far greater than we had assumed. If we wanted the planet to thrive, we needed to shift to a more resource-efficient way to eat. UX Design is going through its own “you cost...
Retail Design Blog
Laconicum’s Museum of Everyday Pleasures Laconicum, the renowned online cosmetics store, recently took a new step into the physical world...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Laconicum, the renowned online cosmetics store, recently took a new step into the physical world with its first pop-up: ‘The...
UX Collective
Our human habit of anthropomorphizing everything Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
3 weeks ago
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Ecosystems vs. Artifacts: Don’t Break the Web Here’s Gordon Brander in an article titled “Don't fork the ecosystem”: Most of our software has been...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Here’s Gordon Brander in an article titled “Don't fork the ecosystem”: Most of our software has been shaped by chance decisions made in haste by people who could not have predicted how the system would end up being used today. And if we could rebuild those systems today, knowing...
Retail Design Blog
Vigdis Rosenkilde by Fibra Branding Vigdis Rosenkilde is a Norwegian fine chocolate brand using cacao from the Peruvian Amazon. Its...
a month ago
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a month ago
Vigdis Rosenkilde is a Norwegian fine chocolate brand using cacao from the Peruvian Amazon. Its rebranding aimed for greater visual...
Christopher Butler
No Orphans to Ambition Back in 2012 when my first (and only) book was published, a friend reacted by exclaiming, “You wrote...
a month ago
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a month ago
Back in 2012 when my first (and only) book was published, a friend reacted by exclaiming, “You wrote a book?!?” and then added, “oh yeah…you don’t have kids.” I was put off by that statement. I played it cool, but my unspoken reaction was, “Since when is having kids or not the...
Retail Design Blog
Prologis Silicon Valley Offices by RMW The Silicon Valley office design integrates the landscape, culture, and user group’s needs, blending...
a month ago
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a month ago
The Silicon Valley office design integrates the landscape, culture, and user group’s needs, blending colors and architectural elements to mimic...
UX Collective
Office politics: the skill they never taught us Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
a month ago
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...
a month ago
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a month ago
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...
Retail Design Blog
CMC Korea by Instory Creative CMC is one of the largest technology corporations in Vietnam. In the process of going global, CMC...
a month ago
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a month ago
CMC is one of the largest technology corporations in Vietnam. In the process of going global, CMC opened a branch...
UX Collective
UX, how can I trust you? Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
a month ago
Retail Design Blog
Avizva Solutions Offices by Designforth Interiors Designforth Interiors created a functional and flexible office space in Indore for Avizva, focusing...
a month ago
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a month ago
Designforth Interiors created a functional and flexible office space in Indore for Avizva, focusing on spatial optimization, collaboration, and cultural...
Melissa Penfold
HAVE YOU PREORDERED YOUR COPY OF MELISSA’S NEW BOOK YET? In her best-selling book, Living Well By Design, Melissa Penfold addressed the basics of interior...
a month ago
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a month ago
In her best-selling book, Living Well By Design, Melissa Penfold addressed the basics of interior decorating.  Now she turns her attention to demonstrating what a powerful force design can be in boosting our physical and emotional well-being in her newest book, ‘Natural Living By...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
AX, DX, UX Matt Biilman, CEO of Netlify, published an interesting piece called “Introducing AX: Why Agent...
a month ago
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a month ago
Matt Biilman, CEO of Netlify, published an interesting piece called “Introducing AX: Why Agent Experience Matters” where he argues the coming importance of a new “X” (experience) in software: the agent experience, meaning the experience your users’ AI agents will have as...
Christopher Butler
What We Owe to Artificial Minds Rethinking AI through mind-body dualism, parenthood, and unanswerable existential questions. I...
a month ago
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a month ago
Rethinking AI through mind-body dualism, parenthood, and unanswerable existential questions. I remember hearing my daughter’s heartbeat for the first time during a prenatal sonogram. Until that moment, I had intellectually understood that we were creating a new life, but...
Product Identity
A home for niche design Now accepting pre-orders from a brand new website
a month ago
Retail Design Blog
Blind Preacher by Watermark Design Watermark’s latest whiskey packaging project is deeply rooted in the history and beauty of the...
a month ago
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a month ago
Watermark’s latest whiskey packaging project is deeply rooted in the history and beauty of the Virginia Foothills. This design is...
Christopher Butler
Simplification Takes Courage How to Achieve UX Clarity By Making Tough Decisions No interface operates in...
a month ago
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a month ago
How to Achieve UX Clarity By Making Tough Decisions No interface operates in isolation. Everything we make, however contained we may think it is, actually has porous, paper-thin walls between it and the vast digital ecosystem around it. Those walls may be enough to keep...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Limitations vs. Capabilities Andy Jiang over on the Deno blog writes “If you're not using npm specifiers, you're doing it...
a month ago
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a month ago
Andy Jiang over on the Deno blog writes “If you're not using npm specifiers, you're doing it wrong”: During the early days of Deno, we recommended importing npm packages via HTTP with transpile services such as esm.sh and unpkg.com. However, there are limitations to importing npm...
Retail Design Blog
PLEKA Professional Cosmetics Showroom The multi-brand professional cosmetics showroom is located in the basement of an early 20th-century...
a month ago
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a month ago
The multi-brand professional cosmetics showroom is located in the basement of an early 20th-century building in the Kyiv historical center....
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Sanding UI, pt. II Let’s say you make a UI to gather some user feedback. Nothing complicated. Just a thumbs up/down...
a month ago
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a month ago
Let’s say you make a UI to gather some user feedback. Nothing complicated. Just a thumbs up/down widget. It starts out neutral, but when the user clicks up or down, you highlight what they clicked an de-emphasize/disable the other (so it requires an explicit toggle to change your...
Fatih Arslan
Plotter Notebook System Taking notes, in my opinion, is the best thing one can do for themselves. Writing is a form of...
a month ago
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a month ago
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
UX Collective
It’s time for design to think less and feel more Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
a month ago
Christopher Butler
In Defense of Text Labels Why Icons Alone Aren’t Enough I’m a firm believer in text labels. Interfaces are over-stuffed...
a month ago
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a month ago
Why Icons Alone Aren’t Enough I’m a firm believer in text labels. Interfaces are over-stuffed with icons. The more icons we have to scan over, the more brain power we put toward making sense of them rather than using the tools they represent. This slows us down, not just...
Retail Design Blog
KaDeWe: Private Label by Studio Chapeaux Challenge: Create a private label for the legendary sixth-floor Food Hall at KaDeWe — also known as...
a month ago
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a month ago
Challenge: Create a private label for the legendary sixth-floor Food Hall at KaDeWe — also known as the culinary heaven...
Melissa Penfold
20 Interior Design Trends That Will Define 2025 Among the predictions in the annual decor trend report: Sprawling sectional sofas will yield to...
a month ago
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a month ago
Among the predictions in the annual decor trend report: Sprawling sectional sofas will yield to tidier seating, pastel hues to rich earthy shades. Oh, and…make way for murals. There will be a greater sense of playfulness and a push towards individualism. Limited budgets and a...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
CSS Space Toggles I’ve been working on a transition to using light-dark() function in CSS. What this boils down to is,...
a month ago
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a month ago
I’ve been working on a transition to using light-dark() function in CSS. What this boils down to is, rather than CSS that looks like this: :root { color-scheme: light; --text: #000; } @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) { :root { color-scheme: dark; --text: #fff; ...
Retail Design Blog
Doğuş Çay Packaging Redesign by katkagraphics Last semester at university we were given a really cool task. We had to choose an existing company...
a month ago
Christopher Butler
A New Kind of Wholeness Check out the light in my office right now 🤩 . AI effectively, but to understand how it fits into...
a month ago
22
a month ago
Check out the light in my office right now 🤩 . AI effectively, but to understand how it fits into the larger patterns of human creativity and purpose. That’s a good thing — designers are good observers. No matter what the tech, we notice patterns we notice the lack of...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Aspect Ratio Changes With CSS View Transitions So here I am playing with CSS view transitions (again). I’ve got Dave Rupert’s post open in one tab,...
a month ago
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a month ago
So here I am playing with CSS view transitions (again). I’ve got Dave Rupert’s post open in one tab, which serves as my recurring reference for the question, “How do you get these things to work again?” I’ve followed Dave’s instructions for transitioning the page generally and am...
Retail Design Blog
Bloom Bright by Xue Yee Bloom Bright is a packaging design for Tualang Honey, celebrating its unique medicinal and beauty...
a month ago
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a month ago
Bloom Bright is a packaging design for Tualang Honey, celebrating its unique medicinal and beauty benefits. The name “Bloom Bright”...
UX Collective
Why AI (desperately) needs designers Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
a month ago
Retail Design Blog
Knoll flagship showroom American design brand Knoll has opened a new flagship showroom on New York’s Park Avenue, where...
a month ago
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a month ago
American design brand Knoll has opened a new flagship showroom on New York’s Park Avenue, where metal mesh curtains serve...
Christopher Butler
The AI Debate We're Not Having We will never agree about AI until we agree about what it means to live a good life. Current...
a month ago
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a month ago
We will never agree about AI until we agree about what it means to live a good life. Current debates* about artificial intelligence circle endlessly around questions of capability, economic impact, and resource allocation – not to mention language. Is AI truly useful? What...
Retail Design Blog
International pharmaceutical company offices by Stoked Associates Stoked Associates redefines workplace design with a human-centric approach, blending local graphics,...
a month ago
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a month ago
Stoked Associates redefines workplace design with a human-centric approach, blending local graphics, biophilic elements, and smart solutions to create a...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Search Results Without JavaScript I’m currently looking to add a search feature to my blog. It’s a client-side approach, which means I...
a month ago
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a month ago
I’m currently looking to add a search feature to my blog. It’s a client-side approach, which means I was planning on using my favorite progressive-enhancement technique for client-side only search: you point a search form at Google, scope the results to your site, then use...
Retail Design Blog
Vita-Care vitamin tablets by Mpack Studio The packaging design for Vita-Care vitamin tablets was developed with the aim of attracting more...
a month ago
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a month ago
The packaging design for Vita-Care vitamin tablets was developed with the aim of attracting more attention from the target audience....
Product Identity
Inside the dark forests of the internet This is the second part of a series on the identity of social networks:
2 months ago
Christopher Butler
The Productive Void What enabled us to create AI is the very thing it has the power to erase. I still have dozens...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
What enabled us to create AI is the very thing it has the power to erase. I still have dozens of sketchbooks, many filled with ideas for logos, layouts, and other designs. These pages don’t just capture fully realized images, albeit sketches. They capture an entire process...
Scott Jenson
Reactive Haptics When people think of haptics, they usually think of typing on mobile keyboards or tapping on...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
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...
Retail Design Blog
EMKA store EMKA Store in Salaris is a unique project by Sinitsa Bureau, spanning 250 m². The concept emerged...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
EMKA Store in Salaris is a unique project by Sinitsa Bureau, spanning 250 m². The concept emerged from a deep...
Christopher Butler
Shut up, Siri There will be no monoculture of human-computer interaction. Every day I see a new thinkpiece on...
2 months ago
20
2 months ago
There will be no monoculture of human-computer interaction. Every day I see a new thinkpiece on “the post-screen future” or “UI-less design” or “the end of the click.” I even used to write things like that. But that’s because I had less experience with human-computer...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
The Art of Making Websites Hidde de Vries gave a great talked titled “Creativity cannot be computed” (you can checkout the...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Hidde de Vries gave a great talked titled “Creativity cannot be computed” (you can checkout the slides or watch the video). In his slides he has lots of bullet points that attempt to define what art is, and then in the talk he spends time covering each one. Here’s a sampling of...
Retail Design Blog
The Better Chip by Studio Zak The Better Chip packaging design pays homage to the ancient tale of the Rabbit on the Moon,...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
The Better Chip packaging design pays homage to the ancient tale of the Rabbit on the Moon, reimagining the round...
UX Collective
A UX perspective on the geopolitical AI race Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
2 months ago
Retail Design Blog
Lubna restaurant by Q-BIC When Fondazione Prada was inaugurated almost a decade ago, it was evident that its glorious presence...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
When Fondazione Prada was inaugurated almost a decade ago, it was evident that its glorious presence – indeed, we’re referencing...
Christopher Butler
Dedigitization When quantum computing breaks everything. You probably know someone who still keeps essential...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
When quantum computing breaks everything. You probably know someone who still keeps essential passwords scrawled on a post-it note stuck someplace. And you’ve probably urged them to set up a password manager and shred the note for God’s sake! But what if they’re on to...
The DESK Magazine
Style is the answer to everything — From the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №258 Welcome back and if you're new here, welcome to DESK! In case you missed my last essay "Objects of...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Welcome back and if you're new here, welcome to DESK! In case you missed my last essay "Objects of Affection", you can now read it here as online version. Please share it with friends or colleagues if it resonated with you. For this week, I got
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Software Pliability Quoting myself from former days on Twitter: Businesses have a mental model of what they...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Quoting myself from former days on Twitter: Businesses have a mental model of what they do. Businesses build software to help them do it—a concrete manifestation of their mental model. A gap always exists between these two. What makes a great software business is their ability to...
Retail Design Blog
Mother’s Magic by Mihir Sheth Mother’s Magic is a premium spice brand offering a range of carefully crafted spice blends. Each...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Mother’s Magic is a premium spice brand offering a range of carefully crafted spice blends. Each blend is made from...
Christopher Butler
The Internet Can't Discover: A Case for New Technologies The internet reflects us. But new technologies must explore the world beyond. We’ve spent more...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
The internet reflects us. But new technologies must explore the world beyond. We’ve spent more than two generations and trillions of dollars building the internet. It is, arguably, humanity’s most ambitious technological project. And yet, for all its power to process and...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Blown Away By the Unexpected A friend gave me a copy of the book “Perfect Wave” by Dave Hickey. I’ve been slowly reading through...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
A friend gave me a copy of the book “Perfect Wave” by Dave Hickey. I’ve been slowly reading through each essay and highlighting parts with my red pencil. When I got to the chapter “Cool on Cool”, this passage stood out. I want to write it down and share it: there was this...
Retail Design Blog
A Workplace in Perpetual Beta: A Design that Adapts, Inspires, and Evolves In the heart of Bengaluru, a global asset management leader envisioned more than just a workspace—it...
2 months ago
Christopher Butler
AI is here. I'm doing Office Hours. Here’s why: I think we need a safe, private place to talk about what AI means for design, and...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Here’s why: I think we need a safe, private place to talk about what AI means for design, and more broadly, the future of work. AI looms as a double-layered threat. We are right to wonder, will AI take my job? But also, we worry that talking openly about our concerns and...
Retail Design Blog
Prime Foods by W Design Bureau Prime Foods is a premium brand of high-quality marbled beef, utilizing a unique approach to...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Prime Foods is a premium brand of high-quality marbled beef, utilizing a unique approach to fattening and raising animals in...
UX Collective
A transparency framework for AI Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
2 months ago
Retail Design Blog
Fyrtornet High-Rise Building by Wingårdhs Fyrtornet is Malmö’s new timber high-rise – a striking addition to the skyline and the final piece...
2 months ago
19
2 months ago
Fyrtornet is Malmö’s new timber high-rise – a striking addition to the skyline and the final piece completing Hyllie Square....
Christopher Butler
The Interface Is Always There There’s no such thing as UI-less anything. If it’s not one of your five senses, it’s an...
2 months ago
28
2 months ago
There’s no such thing as UI-less anything. If it’s not one of your five senses, it’s an interface. This might seem like a bold claim in an era obsessed with “invisible” and “UI-less” design, but consider what an interface actually is: any mediating layer between you and...
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...
2 months ago
9
2 months ago
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
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
UI Pace Layers Jeremy Keith, Chris Coyier, and others (see Jeremy’s post) have written about the idea of “pace...
2 months ago
30
2 months ago
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...
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...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
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...
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...
2 months ago
14
2 months ago
Two years ago, I explored how to rethink climate controls in cars. I was frustrated by carmakers relying too heavily on touch screens and…
Christopher Butler
From Pages to Scenes The Evolution of Digital Space The metaphors we use to describe digital spaces shape how we...
2 months ago
25
2 months ago
The Evolution of Digital Space The metaphors we use to describe digital spaces shape how we design them. When we moved from “pages” to “screens,” we were acknowledging a shift from static information to dynamic display. But even “screen” feels increasingly inadequate for...
Fatih Arslan
The Zettelkasten note taking methodology. My thoughts about the Zettelkasten (Slip box) note taking methodology invented by the German...
2 months ago
42
2 months ago
My thoughts about the Zettelkasten (Slip box) note taking methodology invented by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann.
Retail Design Blog
DJI flagship store by Various Associates Chinese interior studio Various Associates has completed an irregular pyramid-shaped flagship store...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Chinese interior studio Various Associates has completed an irregular pyramid-shaped flagship store for drone brand DJI in Shenzhen, China. Located...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Notes on Google Search Now Requiring JavaScript John Gruber has a post about how Google’s search results now require JavaScript[1]. Why? Here’s...
2 months ago
39
2 months ago
John Gruber has a post about how Google’s search results now require JavaScript[1]. Why? Here’s Google: the change is intended to “better protect” Google Search against malicious activity, such as bots and spam Lol, the irony. Let’s turn to JavaScript for protection, as if the...
Retail Design Blog
Kedrovka cedar milk by Maria Korneva Kedrovka is a brand of plant-based milk crafted for those who care about their health, value natural...
2 months ago
23
2 months ago
Kedrovka is a brand of plant-based milk crafted for those who care about their health, value natural ingredients, and seek...
Christopher Butler
The Empty Hours AI promises to automate both work and leisure. What will we do then? In 2005, I lived high up...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
AI promises to automate both work and leisure. What will we do then? In 2005, I lived high up on a hill in Penang, from where I could literally watch the tech industry reshape the island and the nearby mainland. The common wisdom then was that automation would soon empty the...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Missed Connections Let me tell you about one of the best feelings. You have a problem. You bang your head on it for a...
2 months ago
72
2 months ago
Let me tell you about one of the best feelings. You have a problem. You bang your head on it for a while. Through the banging, you formulate a string of keywords describing the problem. You put those words into a search engine. You land on a forum or a blog post and read someone...
UX Collective
Beautiful, boring, and without soul Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
2 months ago
Retail Design Blog
AMOUAGE opens a new flagship in the historic heart of the Zhang Yuan landmark in Shanghai, China Amouage, the Omani House of High Perfumery, expands its global presence with its first Asian...
2 months ago
Christopher Butler
The Testing Trap Meaningful design decisions flow from clear intent, not from data. “We don’t know what people...
2 months ago
29
2 months ago
Meaningful design decisions flow from clear intent, not from data. “We don’t know what people want. We don’t even know what they do.” This confession — which so many clients never truly say but should — drives an almost compulsive need for testing and validation. Heat...
The DESK Magazine
Designs of my dreams — From the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №256 Many new subscribers joined over the last week, welcome everyone to DESK (: In case you missed it:...
2 months ago
9
2 months ago
Many new subscribers joined over the last week, welcome everyone to DESK (: In case you missed it: In my last essay I wrote about why we are taking steps backward in a world that keeps moving forward. From vintage Instagram filters to the resurgence of vinyl records, there's
Christopher Butler
Digital Reality Digital Shock Growing Up at the Dawn of Cyberspace For those of us born around 1980, William Gibson’s...
2 months ago
30
2 months ago
Growing Up at the Dawn of Cyberspace For those of us born around 1980, William Gibson’s Neuromancer might be the most prophetic novel we never read as teenagers. Published in 1984, it predicted the digital world we would inherit: a reality where human consciousness extends...
Fatih Arslan
My first lighting design: Block Lamp After designing a few gadget-related projects, I decided to take on a new challenge: designing a...
2 months ago
39
2 months ago
After designing a few gadget-related projects, I decided to take on a new challenge: designing a lightning from scratch. Lightning is an area of fascination for me. I have an ongoing draft post about the various designer lamps in my home that I plan to publish soon. In the...
Retail Design Blog
Nanobébé Offices by Switchup Switchup designed Nanobébé’s office with a focus on simplicity, natural light, and glass dividers,...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
Switchup designed Nanobébé’s office with a focus on simplicity, natural light, and glass dividers, creating a modern, collaborative space that...
Christopher Butler
The Exodus A product marketing consultant with over a decade of experience is leaving to pursue art,...
2 months ago
49
2 months ago
A product marketing consultant with over a decade of experience is leaving to pursue art, illustration, and poetry. Another designer, burned out on growing her business, is pivoting to focus on fitness instead. These aren’t just isolated anecdotes — they’re part of an emerging...
Retail Design Blog
Māsa Māsa is a restaurant in Riga with natural wine and local products from Latvian farmers. The clients...
2 months ago
34
2 months ago
Māsa is a restaurant in Riga with natural wine and local products from Latvian farmers. The clients are a couple...
Christopher Butler
Dreams in the Machine When AI meets the unconscious… I have had dreams I will never forget. Long, vivid experiences...
2 months ago
34
2 months ago
When AI meets the unconscious… I have had dreams I will never forget. Long, vivid experiences with plot twists and turns that confound the notion that dreaming is simply the reorganization of day residue. I have discovered and created new things, written essays, stories, and...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Consistency For Who? Thoughts on Overriding Basic Computing Controls A note before we start: I don’t know how much of this I believe. I’m sketching out some feelings in...
2 months ago
117
2 months ago
A note before we start: I don’t know how much of this I believe. I’m sketching out some feelings in this post and thinking through whether it actually makes any sense. I’d be curious where other folks land on this. I’m not sure I totally understand this impulse we have on the...
Retail Design Blog
Hempure by Jose Manuel Vega Hempure is one of those projects that, unfortunately, didn’t come to fruition, but that deserves to...
2 months ago
26
2 months ago
Hempure is one of those projects that, unfortunately, didn’t come to fruition, but that deserves to be seen and appreciated....
Christopher Butler
Who is the internet for? SEO, Clickless Search, and the AInternet Imagine designing and building a home while its...
2 months ago
37
2 months ago
SEO, Clickless Search, and the AInternet Imagine designing and building a home while its residents continued living in it. What you create is highly customized to them because you observe them living in real time and make what they need. One day, while you’re still working,...
Retail Design Blog
Alap Sardines by Rajib Bhuiyan Raja Alap Sardines by Rajib Bhuiyan Raja
2 months ago
Christopher Butler
The Value of Friction What technology’s drive for seamlessness gets wrong. I’ve been thinking lately about...
2 months ago
40
2 months ago
What technology’s drive for seamlessness gets wrong. I’ve been thinking lately about friction — not the physical force, but the small resistances we encounter in daily life. The tech industry has made eliminating friction its north star, pursuing ever more seamless...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Relationship Advice for AI You know what’s really helpful in solving my own problems? Writing them down, sending them to...
2 months ago
51
2 months ago
You know what’s really helpful in solving my own problems? Writing them down, sending them to someone, and not hearing back. You ever do that? For me, it’s a bulletproof method to solving problems. It’s akin to those moments when you go to someone with a problem, you talk it...
The DESK Magazine
One step forward, two steps backwards — From the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №255 ⏱️ Average reading time: 4 minutes 🎵 Soundtrack of this essay: Listen here while reading It's a...
2 months ago
8
2 months ago
⏱️ Average reading time: 4 minutes 🎵 Soundtrack of this essay: Listen here while reading It's a curious paradox: Scroll through your Instagram feed or peek at your own profile and you'll likely find pixel perfect, high-resolution photos deliberately aged and weathered with...
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...
2 months ago
54
2 months ago
It’s been four years since I joined PlanetScale. In this post, I'm reflecting on my journey and accomplishments during this period.
Retail Design Blog
Verse Wine by OA Design Wine can be thought of as a complex tapestry of flavors and sensations, ranging from sweet to dry,...
2 months ago
27
2 months ago
Wine can be thought of as a complex tapestry of flavors and sensations, ranging from sweet to dry, crisp to...
UX Collective
Sidebar is back from its break Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
2 months ago
Retail Design Blog
Yohji Yamamoto store by OSO Following last year’s store openings in Shanghai and Beijing, fashion brand Yohji Yamamoto has...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
Following last year’s store openings in Shanghai and Beijing, fashion brand Yohji Yamamoto has inaugurated a new boutique in another...
Christopher Butler
The Unpublishable On self-censorship in a connected world. On my computer is a file named “unpublishable.txt”....
2 months ago
34
2 months ago
On self-censorship in a connected world. On my computer is a file named “unpublishable.txt”. Its content is right there on the label: Fragments of unworthy ideas have accumulated there for years, along with bits of things I’ve held back for other reasons — fear not least...
Melissa Penfold
THE 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...
2 months ago
42
2 months ago
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...
Christopher Butler
Windows, Frames, and Other Realities Through the lens of a child’s camera, decades of interface design, and thousands of years of...
2 months ago
30
2 months ago
Through the lens of a child’s camera, decades of interface design, and thousands of years of wondering. My daughter has discovered the joy of photography through a clever little child’s digital camera. She’s particularly fascinated by its ability to overlay different frames...
Retail Design Blog
LAPACA Baturrocks by i g l o o studio LAPACA, a café and chocolate shop in Huesca, Spain, founded by Silvia Buil and Raúl Bernal, Spain’s...
2 months ago
33
2 months ago
LAPACA, a café and chocolate shop in Huesca, Spain, founded by Silvia Buil and Raúl Bernal, Spain’s Best Chocolatier of...
Christopher Butler
The Pigeonhole Principle Why perfect organization is not possible. I stare at the blank index pages of my new...
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
Why perfect organization is not possible. I stare at the blank index pages of my new commonplace book, my pen hovering uncertainly. More than two decades of digital design work, and I’m stumped by the simple task of organizing an analog notebook. Come on, I thought to...
Retail Design Blog
NUNU Hamburger NUNU Hamburger is a new restaurant by chef Yuriy Nikityuk, the founder of the NUNU street food...
2 months ago
32
2 months ago
NUNU Hamburger is a new restaurant by chef Yuriy Nikityuk, the founder of the NUNU street food chain. Following our...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Tools As Ways of Being I took notes from Sean Voisen’s call for more hybrid tools. He speaks for a moment on generative AI...
2 months ago
47
2 months ago
I took notes from Sean Voisen’s call for more hybrid tools. He speaks for a moment on generative AI and its inclusion into existing tools, but reading between the lines the insight I found was how our tools can trigger empathy for people and disciplines: One of the greatest goals...
Product Identity
Looking for humanness in the world wide social This is the first part of a series on the identity of social networks.
2 months ago
Retail Design Blog
Nudo Salvaje Mezcal by Hi estudio From the union of essential elements like earth, agave, and fire emerges the concept of NUDO, a...
2 months ago
31
2 months ago
From the union of essential elements like earth, agave, and fire emerges the concept of NUDO, a representation that evokes...
Christopher Butler
Persuasion is Plural Earn attention before you use it. Persuasion is never one thing. It’s at least two: first,...
2 months ago
36
2 months ago
Earn attention before you use it. Persuasion is never one thing. It’s at least two: first, persuading someone to pay attention, and second, persuading them that your thing is worth their time, money, or effort. Most marketers and designers focus their energy on the second...
Retail Design Blog
Paulista Store by Contract Workplaces Paulista is an exclusive Brazilian-origin multi-brand women’s clothing store. The brand has...
2 months ago
36
2 months ago
Paulista is an exclusive Brazilian-origin multi-brand women’s clothing store. The brand has established itself in Montevideo to bring a limited...
The DESK Magazine
Embracing Friction — From the Desk of van Schneider — Edition №254
3 months ago
Retail Design Blog
Lingyun Tang hot spring water by Lion Peng Lingyun Tang brand, dedicated to hot spring healing aesthetics. The design focuses on a number of...
3 months ago
40
3 months ago
Lingyun Tang brand, dedicated to hot spring healing aesthetics. The design focuses on a number of key dimensions, aiming to...
UX Collective
Meta: you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
3 months ago
Retail Design Blog
Donut of Curiosity store As the capital city of a booming economy, Jakarta has been on a roll for quite some time, featuring...
3 months ago
39
3 months ago
As the capital city of a booming economy, Jakarta has been on a roll for quite some time, featuring a...
Christopher Butler
The Geography of Interface Is there a pattern language for digital spaces? We navigate digital spaces as if they were...
3 months ago
39
3 months ago
Is there a pattern language for digital spaces? We navigate digital spaces as if they were physical ones. We “visit” websites, “go to” pages, get “lost” in apps, and find our way “back” to where we started. These spatial metaphors are so deeply embedded in how we think about...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Gotchas in Naming CSS View Transitions I’m playing with making cross-document view transitions work on this blog. Nothing fancy. Mostly...
3 months ago
51
3 months ago
I’m playing with making cross-document view transitions work on this blog. Nothing fancy. Mostly copying how Dave Rupert does it on his site where you get a cross-fade animation on the whole page generally, and a little position animation on the page title specifically. To...
Retail Design Blog
Isle Of Mull Soap by My Creative Isle Of Mull Soap has been handmade in Tobermory by local couple Stu & Sophie since 2008. The shop...
3 months ago
Christopher Butler
Human-First Interaction (in a Machine-Driven World) As artificial intelligence (AI) agents increasingly mediate our digital experiences, the role of...
3 months ago
54
3 months ago
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...
Retail Design Blog
Immersive VR gaming arena and bar that has opened its first U.S. location in Seattle, Washington... Mirra is an immersive VR gaming arena and bar that has opened its first U.S. location in Bellevue,...
3 months ago
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Social Inflation Imagine you’re on a social network and you start getting tons of followers. You love it! Your...
3 months ago
60
3 months ago
Imagine you’re on a social network and you start getting tons of followers. You love it! Your follower count is going up! Instead of a nobody with a couple hundred followers, you’ve bypassed the 1k+ mark and it keeps going! You’re ecstatic! This is the “next step” you were...
Retail Design Blog
Moment Boutique Store by Modum Atelier Moment boutique store is located in Cinnalane, Nanjing, where surrounded by a historic architectural...
3 months ago
38
3 months ago
Moment boutique store is located in Cinnalane, Nanjing, where surrounded by a historic architectural complex, with the famous Ganxi Mansion...
Jim Nielsen’s Blog
Push Notifications Are Organizational Marshmallows It’s a notifications’ world, we’re just living in it. Companies can’t help but try and get your...
3 months ago
65
3 months ago
It’s a notifications’ world, we’re just living in it. Companies can’t help but try and get your attention via email, text, or push notifications and drive you to their app. Push notifications in particular are a powerful tool — and where there’s power, there’s abuse. I’m sure...
UX Collective
Reclaiming your humanity in an algorithmic world Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
3 months ago