Deep Dives 🤿

A few weeks ago, Stripe launched their [new site (https://stripe.com/) and reminded everyone who the

As software becomes easier to create than ever, what does it look like to truly differentiate with design?Today's episode with Julien Martin (https://x.com/julienmartin_?lang=en) is an attempt to answer that question.He was the Head of Design at Zenly, Snapchat, and Amo which is some of the most uniquely impressive consumer design I've ever seen.Some highlights:- Behind the scenes of early Amo explorations- How the composition of design orgs is changing- The unlock that led to Amo's unique visual language- Julien's advice for how to succeed in today's job market- The untold story of how Julien joined in the early days of Behance- Why side projects are now the strongest signal when hiring designers*- Andy Allen (https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/andy-allen) (referenced multiple times for his “not boring” article and Camera app)- Off Market (https://offmarketjobs.substack.com/) (Julien's talent agency for designers)- Retro app (https://retro.app/) and Duolingo (https://www.duolingo.com/) (mentioned as inspiration)

Today's episode is with Tommy Smith who recently landed a new role as a part of the Dive Talent Network.So we're doing a deep dive into what makes his portfolio so effective:Making his side project a first-class citizenPositioning himself as a new design engineerAdding personality by experimenting with RiveHighlighting what matters most in his case studiesFlexing his craft muscles and nailed the finer details

Ryan Stephen (https://x.com/Ryan__Stephen) is a product designer at Microsoft, but the reason I wanted to interview him is because he's the man behind some of my favorite design experiments on Twitter.So in this episode Ryan gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process, the tools in his stack, and how he approaches effective storytelling in design.Some highlights:- How Ryan sparks creativity- The power of putting your work on Twitter- How Ryan thinks about investing in his career- Ryan's mental model for fidelity and prototyping- The lessons Ryan's learned about effective storytelling- The tools and techniques Ryan uses to make ideas feel real- + a lot more

Today's episode is with Hannah Hearth who recently became the Head of Product Design at Vercel. We talk about all of the changes that are happening in our industry and what it all means for designers. Everything from how AI tools are changing the practice of design to how this impact the way we think about our career paths.Some highlights:Hannah's #1 trait for great designersThe most underrated storytelling tacticDoing more with less while not burning outExamples of how AI is changing the design processHow design orgs should think about adopting AI toolsHow much coding is happening on the Vercel design teamPreserving craft and design thinking with collapsed timelinesa lot more

Get 10% off Karl's Become a Design Engineer course: https://join.dive.club/karlToday's episode is with Karl Koch (https://x.com/_kejk?lang=en) and it's filled with practical tips for new design engineers looking to push past what AI gives you out of the box.We go deep into:- Adopting the design engineering mindset- What the job market looks like for design engineers- The difference between frontend and design engineers- Specific language to create better interaction design- The details Karl is sweating in his role at Duck Duck Go- + a lot moreGet 10% off Karl's Become a Design Engineer course: https://join.dive.club/karl

This episode is a deep dive into Rive—the engine powering experiences like Spotify Wrapped, next-gen car dashboards, and so much more.After hearing Luigi and Guido Rosso's vision for the future of interactive software, I'm convinced it will be a big deal for designers

One of the biggest parts of my design practice is knowing which tool to reach for when coding with AI.There are a lot of options and they're changing every week

Sometimes you open up a website and it's so good that you're left wondering... how the heck did they pull that off?In this episode the designer of the original Amie website, Xavier Jack (https://x.com/KMkota0), is going to give us a little tutorial of what it looks like to bring web experiences to life with 3D.Some highlights:- How he prototyped the viral Amie website- How he made the Amie interactive balloons from scratch- How he uses mental models to understand 3D design tools- Amie.so (http://amie.so/)- Desktop.fm (https://desktop.fm/)- Three.tools (https://three.tools/)- Shopify Winter 2026 https://shopify.com/editions/winter2026- Wiggle bones https://wiggle.three.tools/docs/manual/getting-started- Blender (3D modeling software)- Three.js (JavaScript 3D library)

Last month the head of design at Lovable, Nad Chishtie, walked us through the portfolio of one of their recent design hires, Matt Sellers.So today's episode is a behind-the-scenes of what it actually takes to create a portfolio that gets you hired at one of today's top startups.He shares some really tactical mental models that I think everyone can benefit from.Some highlights:Why Matt removed 80%+ of his workWhat made Matt's micro copy so effectiveHow Matt built his micro animations in FramerThe finer details of Matt's portfolio and micro-interactionsHow Matt changed his portfolio strategy and why it workedWhat it takes to make your portfolio an experience rather than a cataloga lot moreNad Chishtie's episode

There's been a heck of a debate around the future of coding and design tools lately... but what's actually happening inside of today's top teams?Where is all this headed and how does the future of our tools shape the role of a designer?Today's episode is with Stephen Haney (https://x.com/sdothaney) who is the founder of the new design tool Paper.And for the last few months he's studied how design teams actually use AI in their everyday roles... everything from tooling to prototyping to process.He walks us through some of his key findings and how that's shaping his product strategy for Paper

Gab and Nim are the co-founders of a startup called Dessn which allows designers to prototype in the context of their production codebase (without any of the setup).So I asked them to hook it up to the Inflight repo and give me a little demo to see what's possible.I'm pretty sold

Someone asked me recently... if you had to join a design team, who would you want to work for?And my answer was easy... PerplexitySo today's episode with Henry Modisett (https://x.com/henrymodis) (Perplexity's VP of Design) is a deep dive into what makes their design culture so special.Some highlights:- How to create a culture of decisiveness- What signals Henry is looking for in designers- Factors that influence Henry's leadership style- How to lay the right foundation for your design org- Why Henry is doing feedback differently at Perplexity- Henry's strategies for building world class design teams- + a lot more

Kyle Zantos is leading the new UX Tools Labs where he's responsible for figuring out what matters for new design tools and workflows.As a result, he's pretty quickly become my go-to source as I transition into more of a builder with AI.So this conversation is a deep dive into very specific tactics you can use on your own design engineering journey.We'll go through recommended tools, workflows, and Kyle's process for building a design engineering "Skill" using Claude Code.Kyle's portfolio site: https://zantos.coLeva control panel: https://threejsresources.com/tool/levaCompound Engineering plugin: https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-pluginJhey Tompkins: https://x.com/jh3yyDerek Briggs: https://x.com/PixelJanitorWill King: https://x.com/willkingEmil Kowalski: https://x.com/emilkowalski

We talk a lot about using AI at startups…But what are more established companies doing to scale AI prototyping?What are the best ways to use AI to prototype with your design system?That's what today's episode is all about because we're talking with Lewis Healey (https://x.com/Lewishealey) and Kylor Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylorhall/) about how they scaled AI prototyping at Atlassian.Some highlights

Today's episode goes deep into all of the design details in a new video collaboration tool called Flask.But the reason I'm so inspired by this product goes far beyond the UI/UX…Flask is designed and built by one person—Enrico Tartarotti—who was a PM before this so his journey is the perfect example of what it looks like to thrive as a generalist builder.So this episode tells the story of what it took to build a well-crafted product and all of the lessons that he learned along the way.Enrico references the Mom Test for user research and the episode with the Supercut Founders

As one of the fastest growing companies in the world, Lovable is scaling their design team by tapping into the [Dive Talent Network](https://www.dive.club/talent-network).So I interviewed their Head of Design, [Nad Chishtie](https://x.com/nadonomy), to learn everything I can about how to get hired as a designer at Lovable.Some highlights:- A breakdown of a recent design hire's portfolio- How to avoid getting your portfolio screened out- How to crush the later stages of the hiring process- How you can win Nad over with side projects alone- What to do if you're not confident in your visual skills- The 2 things Nad cares most about when hiring designers- Spotify's cross-functional squad model (https://medium.com/found-ation/agile-team-organization-a-deep-dive-on-the-spotify-model-f5b32dfc37dd)- Matt's portfolio (designer hired through Dive Talent Network) (https://www.lfs.gd/)

What does it look like to own web design for one of the fastest growing AI companies in the world?And how do you get that opportunity if you don't have companies like Apple or Airbnb on your resumé?That's what this episode with [Roman Tesliuk](https://x.com/RomaTesla) is all about.He walks us through the Eleven Labs Figma and talks about the tiniest of design decisions all the way to how he's building a scalable website system.We also go deep into Roman's side projects and all of the ways he's becoming a builder with AI

I've probably learned more about visual design from MDS than anyone in the design community.So I wanted to go deep into the creative process behind the all-new Shift Nudge website to see how he explores visual ideas.He takes us through his Figma file that is full of very good ideas that didn't ship.And he even shows us how he built his own Mosaic tool in v0 which became the core motif of the site.So if you're interested in seeing the windy creative process behind one of the truly great designers today then I think you're going to enjoy this one.

I get shown a lot of tool demos and one thing is clear…Canvas-based UX will play a pivotal role in how we interface with AI.It's a big reason why Figma just bought Weavy

In one of the most popular episodes yet, Vitaly Friedman talked about what's next for AI design patterns (https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/vitaly-friedman).In that episode he frequently referenced Shape of AIl (https://www.shapeof.ai/) which is an incredible database of AI design patterns.So I wanted to get to the source and go deep with the creator Emily Campbell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmiecampbell/) to learn how to design great AI experiences. Because she's studied AI products more than just about anyone I've ever seen

AI is fundamentally shifting the way we think about digital products and the core deliverables that we're bringing to the table as designers.So I asked Geoffrey Litt (https://x.com/geoffreylitt) (Design Engineer at Notion) to share his vision for the future of malleable software and AI system design.Here's some highlights:- The keys to effective system design- Geoffrey's workflow for “working like a surgeon”- Why too many products become “nightmare bicycles”- The principles of malleable software vs. disposable software- Why version control is the most important AI interaction problem- Inside Geoffrey's malleable software experiments at Ink & Switch- + a lot more-[Ink & Switch is the research lab (https://www.inkandswitch.com/)- Changing Minds by Seymour Papert (https://worrydream.com/refs/Papert_1980_-_Mindstorms,_1st_ed.pdf)- Geoffrey's nightmare bicycle article (https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2025/03/03/the-nightmare-bicycle)- Don Norman's Living with Complexity (https://www.amazon.com/Living-Complexity-Press-Donald-Norman/dp/0262014866)- Spell Burst by Tyler Angert (https://spellburstllm.github.io/)- A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199)- Patchwork - Geoffrey's collaboration environment at Ink & Switch (https://www.inkandswitch.com/patchwork/notebook/)⭐️ You can use the code DIVECLUB to get 20% off your first month of Lovable Pro 1!

Craft gets you hired.But business impact gets you promoted.So this week's episode with [Ryan Scott](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanscottcreative/) is a deep dive into how designers can think strategically about their career.He shares a ton of lessons from his [PM Masterclass for designers](https://join.dive.club/ryan-scott-pm-masterclass-affiliate):- What it looks like to grow your product muscles- The right (and wrong) ways to get buy-in for your ideas- Strategies for making data a part of your design practice- Ways to spot new strategic opportunities for your company- How to position your work to be compelling to a business leader- What Ryan learned making big ideas happen at Airbnb and Doordash- + a lot more⭐️ Get $100 off Ryan's course when you us the code DIVECLUB- Andy Budd's talk in Berlin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eYH6Z3LmhU)- Builder.io (http://builder.io/) mentioned as AI tool for engineers- booking.com (http://booking.com/) vs Airbnb competitive positioning example

Board (https://board.fun/) has taken over social social media (and for good reason).It's one of the most obvious yet innovative products I've ever seen.So as soon as Kevin Twohy (https://x.com/kevintwohy) shared a preview with me I knew we had to do an interview to get the behind-the-scenes (spoiler: I did buy it lol).So this episode is a deep dive into his design process for the first ever tabletop game console:- What he learned about prototyping hardware products- How they figured out the “brand moves” for Board- How Kevin makes the most of AI tools- + a lot moreKevin referenced Mike and Chara Smith's episode talking about “brand moves” multiple times - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhxx6yK2J08&t=392s

AI is reshaping how we design and build software, creating huge opportunities for designers who experiment, adapt, and help define what the practice looks like next. This session is your opportunity to learn directly from some of the best in the industry.

Imagine a world where handoff no longer exists and designers are moving fluidly in code…[Drew Wilson](https://x.com/drewwilson) is one of the people pulling that future into the present so this week's episode is a deep dive into his vision for the new design tool [Opacity](https://opacity.app/).Some highlights:- How team structures are changing- How to stand out when everyone is a builder- What design's “Github moment” will look like- The fracturing of the market for design talent- How Drew is approaching this startup differently- Where the new technical threshold is for designers- + a lot moreDrew is also building his new IDE called Loop - https://loupe.build/

Over the last few months one product has risen to the top of my inspiration list… ツSupercut (https://supercut.ai/)The point of this episode is to figure out what it takes to consistently reach that level of excellence.How do you maintain that level of attention to detail while preserving the speed that you need to hit when going 0 -> 1 on a new product?This week's episode is with David (https://x.com/okuiux?lang=en) and [Neil](https://x.com/neiltak) the cofounders of Supercut which has quickly become one of my favorite pieces of software in my stack.So we're going deep into how they work, how they think about product, and all of the little decisions they make that together create a truly excellent user experience.

We're talking about craft in B2B SaaS... but what is it like designing for frontier interfaces like the Apple watch or even neural interfaces?We find out in this week's episode with Rooz Mahdavian. (https://x.com/roozm)He's the design engineer at Neuralink so we're about to get pretty nerdy and talk about what it's like designing an experience that allows someone to use a computer with just their mind.The level of detail and first-principles design thinking is truly impressive.Some highlights:- What it looks like to design for delight in neural interfaces- What Neuralink is looking for in their 2nd design engineer role- What it takes to design frontier interfaces at Apple and Neuralink- The evolution from Apple Watch Siri face to brain-computer interfaces- Rooz's vision for “daydreaming with computers” and direct visual imagery transfer- Reimagining a cursor for a neural interface - from color-based feedback to circular reticles- + a lot more- Apple Watch Faces team (https://www.youtube.com/embed/oaqHdULqet0?start=585&end=705&autoplay=1&controls=0)- Siri Watch Face (intern project that shipped) (https://www.youtube.com/embed/oaqHdULqet0?start=585&end=705&autoplay=1&controls=0)- Neuralink (https://neuralink.com/) - brain computer interface company- Blindside - Neuralink's vision restoration project (https://neuralink.com/trials/visual-prosthesis/)

Imagine it's your first day as a designer at Perplexity... and the VP of Design hands you the keys for their all-new AI browser, [Comet](https://www.perplexity.ai/comet).That's the story for [Escha Vera](https://x.com/eschadiol).So this week's episode is a deep dive into her design process and what it looks like to use AI like an artist.- How she designed Comet onboarding experience- Creating generative invite codes using multiple AI tools- How she created the Perplexity design system from scratch- How she productized AI without leading with chat interfaces or prompts- What are her principles for designing AI experiences that prioritize usability- + a lot more- [Soleio](https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/soleio-2) sent the intro to [Henry Modisett](https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/henry-modisett)- She worked at [Descript](https://x.com/descriptapp) before joining [Perplexity](https://x.com/perplexity_ai)- Previously worked on [Daylight Computer](https://x.com/daylightco) and Motif- Collaborating with [Phi Hong](https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/phi-hoang) on branding at Perplexity- Uses [Suno](https://suno.com/home?wpsrc=Google%20AdWords&wpcid=22042553892&wpscid=173890219393&wpcrid=726251362516&wpkwid=kwd-2827037661&wpkwn=suno&wpkmatch=e&wpsnetn=g&gad_campaignid=22042553892&gbraid=0AAAAA9pWpduFan7icL90FczgyQploCsYi) for music generation and remixing

What does the perfect e-commerce platform look like in an AI era?That's the question Shopify's Chief Design Officer Carl Rivera has set out to answer so this week's episode is all about Shopify's big bet on design and craft as the ultimate differentiator.We go deep into:- What happens when AI makes everyone a 7/10 designer- What most design teams get wrong when casting vision- How design can lead the creation of truly native AI experiences- Why every designer at Shopify is learning to ship to production- Carl's thesis for why designers are severely undervalued in the market- Why Shopify acquired Molly Studio and what it means for how the org works- + a lot morehttps://www.molly.studio/ - design studio acquired by Shopify

Only a select few have multiple episodes on Dive Club and today Catt Small joins the ranks.She has a gift for turning messy ideas into practical next steps so it's no wonder her Staff Designer course is one of the top-rated on Maven.In this episode we go deep into all of the ways you can make an impact by building influence on your team and effectively casting vision for your product.Some highlights:The 2 ways to measure your influenceStrategies for getting distribution for your ideasHow to select the ideal format for casting a visionStorytelling tactics used by the best staff designersHow to strategically invest in workplace relationshipsWhat Catt learned while interviewing staff designers for her new book⭐ Get $100 off Catt's course: Staff Designer: Influence & Lead as an Individual Contributor⭐ Get 15% off pre-orders for her new book: The Staff Designer

What does it take to make people feel something with design...?This week's guest is kind of an expert on the question. Sara Vienna (https://x.com/sravienna?lang=en) , the Chief Design Officer at Metalab, talks about the responsibility that designers have to shape this AI world that we're entering without losing the heartbeat of a brand.We don't hold back on the current state of the industry and what it feels like to be a designer today.Some highlights:- How to not get swept up in current design trends- How Metalab has adopted AI workflows internally- Strategies for leveraging AI to understand research data- What it takes to put meaning at the heart of a brand/product- How Metalab invests in the collective taste of the design org- Where Sara derives signals and how she filters out the noise- Being late on a trend is bad taste even more so than ugly design- + a lot more- Windsurf https://windsurf.com/) and [Suno](https://suno.com/home?wpsrc=Google%20AdWords&wpcid=22042553892&wpscid=173890219393&wpcrid=726251362516&wpkwid=kwd-2827037661&wpkwn=suno&wpkmatch=e&wpsnetn=g&gad_campaignid=22042553892&gbraid=0AAAAA9pWpduFan7icL90FczgyQploCsYi) rebrands- Jony Ive's Stripe Sessions talk (https://stripe.com/sessions/2025/a-conversation-with-sir-jony-ive)- Erica Hall's book “Just Enough Research” (https://www.mulebooks.com/just-enough-research)- Anthropic's Machines of Loving Grace paper (https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/machines-of-loving-grace)- Blok for focus (https://blok.so/)

I think we're entering a world where the market for fractional design is about to explode…So this week's episode is with one of my favorite people in the industry, Gabe Valdivia.We're going to explore his independent journey → how he made the jump, how he's evolved the practice in year two, and all of the lessons he's learned along the way.Some highlights:Gabe's three-phase client modelHow to sell a client on fractional designGabe's rules of thumb for pricing himselfHow Gabe's new apprenticeship program worksHow Gabe vibe-coded his personal Freelance OSHow he has redefined success from year 1 to year 2Gabe's journey to figure out how to position himself as an independenta lot moreCharlie Sutton who he worked with on VR team at FacebookTeam Human book by Douglas Rushkoff

Too much of designing a startup happens behind closed doorsSo I want to work with the garage door open while building Inflight (https://www.inflight.co/) as much as possible.You already saw a bunch of the nitty gritty UI details (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D39Dv9MSlhs)…But when you're going 0 to 1 on something, the storytelling piece is often the hardest part.So this episode is a sneak peek of a recent presentation we gave in SF (and some behind-the-scenes commentary to go along with it).

What does it look like to advance your career in the age of AI? That's what this week's episode with Dan Winer (Director of Product Design at Kit) is all about. He shares insights from his top-rated Maven course "Strategy and Influence for Product Designers" (https://join.dive.club/dan-winer-course) So if you want to learn how to go from pixel pusher to strategic partner then this is the episode for you

This week's episode is with Andy Zhang who was the lead design engineer at Windsurf. So we're going to shine a light on all of the ways you can make an impact as a design engineer including:Owning more of the frontend polishThinking through design patterns and packaging featuresBridging the gap between technical features and intuitive UXSaying “no” to features to preserve the simplicity of the systemHe also shares some great stories and advice including:What it was like working as an intern at Figma with

I'd bet real money that you have been on Smashing Magazine at some point in the last 18 years…Good news is, this week I got to interview the founder, Vitaly Friedman, who is also one of the leading thinkers in UX right now.In this episode we go deep into how AI is changing the way we interact with digital products and how our patterns and processes are evolving as a result.Some highlights:The use case for dynamic interfaces with AIHow to design a less painful refinement journeyThe best AI design patterns to use for inspirationWhen to use quiet AI vs. visible AI in your interfacesWhy more products should be “AI-second” not “AI-first”Why we need to slow users down when designing AI productsHow designers can establish trust when users interact with AIa lot moreConsensusElicitaiuxpatterns.comEpisode with the Gamma Head of Designexa.aiPerplexityChatGPTGeminiNorman Nielsen Group

If I told you someone had a background as a senior designer at companies like Uber, Dropbox, Apple, and Patreon then you'd be pretty impressed, right?Same.But Adam Noffsinger walked away from all of that to start Alma (which you might remember from the Smith+Diction episode).So this episode is a deep dive into what it really looks like to go 0→1 as a design founder.Adam even walks us through his Figma file for Alma so if you're interesting in startups or designing something from nothing, then I think you'll really enjoy this conversation

This week's episode is with Pietro Schirano who is the founder of the new design tool MagicPath and one of the true forward thinkers on AI. We go deep into the future of prototyping, design workflows, and what it takes to catalyze your career with AI.Some highlights:How design workflows will evolveUsing AI as a collaborator not just a toolHow Pietro was able to build influence at AnthropicWhy interactive prototypes are becoming table stakesWhat designers need to understand to master the modelsWhy design architects will be the highest paid role in the futurea lot moreDesignerGPT (5 million users)TweakCNOrigami (Facebook's prototyping tool)Figma.ai domain purchase

This week I got an inside look at Figma Make while talking to Holly and Nikolas all about the future of prototyping…We get into real world use cases for different kinds of prototypes and how our workflow is evolving as designers.One thing is abundantly clear, things aren't so linear anymore.Some highlights:How Figma Make fits into your workflowRethinking what “high fidelity” means for a prototypeHow code is the glue and what it means for collaborationWhat are the less obvious use cases for prototyping with AIMeta prototyping with interactive playgrounds and inspect panelsa lot moreFigma Make - AI-powered prototyping tool within FigmaVariables in FigmaAdvanced Prototyping in Figma

Last month we did the ultimate Raycast Deep Dive, but there's a lot in there… so this week I want to highlight just the segment from the product design team.We go deep into how they collaborate, why they've started shipping more code, and what it takes to build a culture obsessed with craft.Don't forget to use code DIVE20YT to get 20% off your first purchase of any Lovable plan ❤️ Valid until August 21, 2025. Go to dive.club/lovable to start creatingFull Raycast episode - The Raycast Deep Dive

This week, Gunnar Gray (Product Design Lead at Perplexity) dives into the art of designing AI-native experiences.He shares lessons from shaping Voice Mode and how prototyping with AI is changing the design process at Perplexity.Some highlights:Why Perplexity is racing to get ideas into codeWhat it's like designing at a hyper growth startupWhat it's like designing dynamic voice experiencesGunnar's journey learning metal shaders with CursorHow Gunnar strategically invests in his design skillseta lot morePerplexity - AI-powered search and discovery platformCursor - AI-powered code editorParticle News app

Cursor is easily one of the most impactful companies in all of tech…And this week's episode is with their Head of Design, Ryo Lu.You might've heard of Ryo in this episode back when we talked about early Notion and systems design.So this week we're going to get an inside look at how design operates at Cursor and all of Ryo's experiments with AI

This week's episode is with Julian Lehr who is the storytelling lead at LinearSo we're going to step out of the pixels for this conversation and focus more on how you can get people excited about what you're designing.Because in the age of AI, stories are what makes your product defensible.So we're going to go deep into Julian's creative process and how he kinda thinks of his role more as packaging.Some highlights:Julian's sources of inspirationUnderstanding Julian's creative processThe new analogy that Julian is working on for LinearLinear's strategy for storytelling for their “Agents” releaseThe importance of visual design in copywriting and marketingHow Linear's in-house creative studio collaborates on storytellingHow Linear evolved from using “opinionated” to “purpose-built” over 3 yearsa lot moreAntimetal websiteArena for inspirationJulian's websiteLinear's hands of god visual for Agents release

You probably know Intercom… but did you know they recently incubated a new startup called Fin that has already surpassed the core business?They've pulled off a massive transition to an AI-native product and design org so today we're going behind-the-scenes with their VP of Design Emmet Connolly.Some highlights:Why Emmett believes designers will own the frontendThe opportunity for design systems in an AI-first worldWhat Emmett looks for when hiring designers in the AI eraWhy liquid glass represents the wrong direction for designHow Intercom's AI product Fin overtook their core businessWhy the start of an S-curve is the best time to be a designerHow AI is flipping the traditional product development processa lot morePlato's cave analogyOpenAI's forward deployed engineer roleApple's liquid glass designFons Mans helped on the design of Fin

In last week's episode, the Head of Design at The Browser Company shared a totally new way to think about your portfolio.He says one of the most valuable things you can demonstrate today is the ability to solve real problems with code (no matter how small).I'm literally doing this with a side project right now and I've learned a lot so I decided to share my new playbook for vibe coding

Dia from The Browser Company has completely taken over the internet. We're finally seeing what an AI-native browser can be and it's pretty exciting :)So this episode is a behind-the-scenes with their Head of Design, Dustin Senos.Some highlights:How to build a product strategy around AIHow The Browser Co approaches prototypingDustin's perspective on MCP and agentic designHow their definition of “good” evolved from Arc to DiaTheir process for exploring patterns for interacting with AIThe #1 piece of advice Dustin would give younger designersa lot moreWe mentioned Nate Parrott's episode who was the first design hire at The Browser Company

This week's episode is a first of its kind because we're doing the ultimate deep dive into one of my favorite products: RaycastWe'll here from the founders, design team, and even the hype team and go deep into all kinds of topics:The hilarious story of Raycast's YC application3 weekly rituals that are perfect for remote teamsWhat they've learned about designing AI experiencesWhat we can learn from how their hype team operatesHow the design team has changed the way they collab with engineersa lot moreThis is easily the most in-depth episode I've ever made so I hope you enjoy it :)Thomas and Petr (Raycast founders)Roy can Rooijen (Designing AI)Jordan Amblin (Designing mobile)Alexander Antonov (Designing windows + DS)Pedro Duarte (Hype lead)Inga Hampton (Designer + Illustrator)

The last two weeks with Inflight have been the most exhilarating of my entire career…So I want to use Dive Club  to provide unprecedented levels of access to life as a design founder.I'm talking about the messy behind-the-scenes, hideous Figma concepts, and all of the winding turns that we've taken to get where we're at today.This is gonna be as raw as it gets.And hopefully by shining a light on some of the things I'm learning, it turns into a video series that you want to keep watching ✈️

This week's episode is with Darrin Henein who is the VP of Design at Shopify. We talk about how they create a culture of excellence and how AI is influencing the way they practice the design.Some highlights:What makes for a great design critique cultureDarrin's expectation for how designers prototypeHow Shopify's new AI mandate impacts designersTraits Darrin notices in promising younger designersWhat designers can learn from the best communicators at ShopifyWhy Darrin believes designers need to think beyond static prototypesa lot moreGKIII's Cost of Craft articleFrenzy drop sales productAstronaut video game that Darrin releasedRed Dot Design Award won by Shopify's POS hardware

There's a new design tool called Subframe that's officially caught my eye