Shows
AI and DesignOpenAI's Intelligent UI, Facebook's Your Algorithm, AI Relationship Quality (ARQ)Fresh off their first live show, Nik and Dan look at three stories about who gets to shape what AI shows us. First up is OpenAI’s Intelligent UI, which lets GPT-6 build small interactive interfaces (charts, forms, buttons, maps) inline in ChatGPT instead of returning a wall of text. They compare it to Claude Artifacts, argue that speed is what makes it usable as a default, and ask what happens when companies like QuickBooks have to hand over a design system for their product to show up inside someone else’s chat window. Is ChatGPT becoming an operating syst...
2026-10-2230 minAI and DesignLive at IxDA Pittsburgh - How to be a designer in 2027This week, Dan and Nik recorded live at the IxDA Pittsburgh meetup. We discuss how we are thinking about being designers in the future, what we are teaching students, and what tools we are using. We take audience questions and hear about how these professional designers are working with AI today.
2026-10-131h 01
The Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - October 7, 2026We ask what remains of human judgment when machines handle the heavy lifting, a tension that forces us to move from passive reporting to strategic recommendation. We examine Dan Saffer’s six interaction models and Jim Lewis’s data on AI’s false alarms to argue that our durable value lies in filtering noise and guiding decisions. This is a conversation about reclaiming our role as strategic partners in a field where accountability is fragmented but the work is increasingly automated.
From The Feed
Dan Saffer – Six Futures (Chicago Camps) — Traditional apps are just one of six emergi...
2026-10-0706 minAI and DesignThe Fastest Gun in the West, Multiplayer AI, Serious AI Products & Jeremy BelcherThe Fastest Gun in the West: https://www.doc.cc/articles/fastest-gunWe're building multiplayer AI. Here's what we've learned so far: https://newsletter.posthog.com/p/were-building-multiplayer-ai-heresWhat would a serious AI product look like? https://blog.glyph.im/2026/09/serious-ai-product.htmlJeremy BelcherRobot Heart - www.robotheart.studioLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremybelcher
2026-10-0752 minAI and DesignAI Sychophancy with Steve RathjeThis week Dan and Nik sit down with Steve Rathje, a new HCII colleague who runs CMU's Psychology of Technology Lab, to talk about what sycophantic AI does to the people using it. Steve's team randomly assigned people to chat with bots that were flattering, disagreeable, or neutral. People liked the flatterers, shrugged at the neutral ones, and hated the bots that pushed back. For designers, the news is mixed. Validation drives enjoyment, but cherry-picked facts do the persuading, so pairing a little warmth with opposing evidence makes disagreement easier to take (at some cost to its...
2026-09-3058 minAI and DesignGoogle CC, Controlling Image Generators, and Planning with AgentsThis week we talk about Google's new CC agent for managing family tasks, some techniques to control image generators when you want to constrain certain elements, and a deep article on planning with AI agents.Show Noteshttps://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/googles-new-cc-is-an-ai-agent-that-helps-families-run-their-households/https://trpevski.com/blog/image-model-decide-everythinghttps://maggieappleton.com/planning-agentsMai Lee Chang, Alicia (Hyun Jin) Lee, Nara Han, Anna Huang, Hugo Simão, Samantha Reig, Abdullah Ubed Mohammad Ali, Rebekah Martinez, Neeta M Khanuja, John Zimmerman, Jodi Forlizzi, and Aaron Steinfeld. 2024. Dynamic Agent Affiliation: Who Should the AI Agent Work for in the Older Adult's Care Network? I...
2026-09-2231 minAI and DesignApple's Siri AI and Audio Intelligence, Project Solaris, Miro Sale, AI Tool BuildingIn this episode, Dan and Nik unpack Apple's big announcements from its latest event, starting with Siri AI: now a dedicated app with personal context indexing, on-screen awareness, and in-app actions, launching in beta with iOS 27 . They dig into the promise and limitations of Apple-only app integration, the EU regulatory lockout, and what daily usage caps signal about Apple's services ambitions. The conversation gets more charged around Audio Intelligence, Apple's new always-on listening features for the Apple Watch, including live audio rewind and Siri Recap summaries of real-world conversations. Dan and Nik wrestle with the surveillance implications, the absence...
2026-09-1649 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - September 9, 2026We explore why AI in UX research often fails to save time, examining how Lucas Plabst, Jeff Sauro, and Jim Lewis found that participants provide shallower insights to AI moderators, while Patrick Neeman argues that most AI failures are organizational bottlenecks rather than technical ones. We also discuss Luke Wroblewski’s critique of forcing users to ask questions and how the shift toward AI-driven discovery is turning websites from exploration spaces into high-precision validation interfaces. Finally, we touch on the rising threat of sophisticated phishing scams targeting designers and the financial pressures students face when maintaining reliable hardware.
2026-09-0906 minAI and DesignMobbin MCP, Perplexity and Nvidia Local AI Agent, Design LedgersThis week on AI and design, we highlight the release of Mobbin's MCP, Perplexity and NVIDIA's local AI agent, and the concept of design ledgers. Dan also has some new speaking engagements you can join coming up.Chapters00:00 Introduction to AI and Design01:11 Upcoming Speaking Engagements04:44 Mobbin's MCP Release11:34 Perplexity and NVIDIA's Local AI Agent23:54 The Concept of Design LedgersShow Noteshttps://mobbin.com/mcphttps://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/perplexity-partners-with-nvidia-to-launch-portable-computer-a-fully-local-ai-agent-with-zero-token-costshttps://www.proofofconcept.pub/p/the-ledger-of-designDan's Speaking EngagementsShiftUX workshop: https...
2026-09-0234 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - August 28, 2026We’re moving past the hype of AI as a conversational partner to tackle the mechanical failures of bolting chat windows onto complex workspaces. Drawing on Dan Saffer’s call for intelligent UI widgets and Patrick Neeman’s critique of our cinematic expectations, we argue that typing is inefficient for serious tasks and that we need parallel interactions like looking and pointing instead. The thread ties this together by examining how designers often prioritize visual novelty over functional clarity, leaving users with pretty but unusable interfaces.
From The Feed
Little Bits of Intelligence (info@lukew.com) — Small, f...
2026-08-2807 minAI and DesignFigma Make Time Savings, LLM Bias Affects Designers, Target's AI/UX Bid, EasyCircuitNik and Dan open the fall semester with a look at how their own courses have been rebuilt around AI this year. Nik's third run of AI Augmented Designer now leans hard into professional software development practice. Dan is teaching Designing for AI Products and Services, an Advanced Interaction Design Studio reworked around AI-ready design systems, and a new independent study with Brad Myers on "AI widgets" — what happens when scroll bars, cut-and-paste, and other decades-old microinteractions get smarter.This week’s news: Figma's randomized controlled trial on Figma Make found roughly 20% time savings, but Nik push...
2026-08-2539 minAI and DesignDeep Dive: Andy Budd on the Future of the Design IndustryAndy Budd — reformed designer, coach to design leaders, and advisor at VC fund Seedcamp — joins Nik and Dan for a wide-ranging conversation about whether the design industry is about to boom or bust. Andy argues we hit "peak designer" around 2021–22, and that we're now in an era of Schrödinger's design and nobody has opened the box. The bull case is that AI hands designers the means of production. No more petitioning product managers for backlog space or begging engineering for a prototype — designers can spot the debt, fix it, and ship it. The bear case is that everyone else got...
2026-08-1849 minAI and DesignSummer 2026 Hot TakesThis week, Dan and Nik make some hot takes on news that has come out this summer.Everyone's work is starting to look the same: https://marieclairedean.substack.com/p/everyones-work-is-starting-to-lookLLMs reward expertise: https://www.seangoedecke.com/llms-reward-expertise/A Properties Panel and Annotations, Now in Figma Make: https://www.figma.com/blog/properties-panel-and-annotations-now-in-figma-make/Unpacking ChatGPT Work: the Agent for a Billion Users: https://www.latent.space/p/unpacking-chatgpt-workAgent Behavior (agentbehavior.dev)Measuring the UX of AI: https://measuringu.com/measuring-the-ux-of-ai/Type designers have...
2026-08-1239 minAI and DesignDeep Dive: 2026 Figma AI Report with Figma's Andrew Hogan and Shane JohnstonAndrew Hogan and Shane Johnston of Figma join Dan and Nik to unpack Figma's 2026 AI report. The headline is about AI shifting from individual productivity to team dynamics: 41% now say AI meaningfully changes how their teams work together, up from 7% two years ago. Shane and Andrew deliberately interrogate the "10x everybody" narrative: output is measurably up (lines of code, App Store submissions), but outcomes aren't following, because AI is exposing the communication and alignment seams that were always there. Handoffs can still be an issue. Prototypes are trivial to generate but very hard to dissect. And perhaps unsurprisingly, decision-making...
2026-08-0446 minAI and DesignTraining Taste, AI Systems Thinking, LLM Counter Defaults, and special guest Dan MaccaroneEveryone in design is yelling the same two words right now: taste and judgment. But how do you get them? David Hoang's "Training Design Senses" does, and this episode starts there: how to train the eye, design dexterity, fluency of aesthetics, and rhetoric, with a detour into what copying from masters means when the copying happens through an AI. Then Christine Zhu on systems thinking for agentic products, which asks PMs to stop shipping features and start gardening: decompose for agent experience, define contracts between the parts, build feedback loops that capture correction signals. Our last bit of news...
2026-07-2855 minAI and DesignBye Bye Purple Gradients: OpenAI's Design Push. Plus special guests: fuguUXDan and Nik dig into a trio of OpenAI stories: the launch of GPT 5.6 Sol and its jump to the top of the Design Arena leaderboard, notably by suppressing common AI design anti-patterns (goodbye, purple gradients) and combining known templates with customized outputs — followed by Figma Make's OpenAI integration and what it might signal about the shifting model landscape. They also geek out over Codex Micro, OpenAI's slick new macro keyboard designed by Work Louder, which uses RGB-lit keys to let developers monitor and control multiple coding agents without touching a mouse.The episode's guest se...
2026-07-2148 minAI and Design2026 Thus Far: 7 Big ThemesDan and Nik pause at the halfway mark of 2026 to reflect on 25 episodes, 10 guests, and a wild six months in AI and design. Fresh off a week of building apps with Fable — Dan's ambient bird-listening app for AirPods, Nik's long-running multi-agent builds — they revisit the year's biggest themes: the collapse of fidelity and whether wireframes still matter, taste as the designer's (maybe) moat, cognitive surrender and the strange compulsion to keep feeding the machine, canvas versus code as Figma and Claude Design converge, designing for agents when your next user isn't human, the rise of markdown skills (and the ick...
2026-07-1549 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - July 9, 2026We explore why the promise of speed feels hollow when we can’t trust the output, examining how Russ Unger’s verification receipts and Dan Maccarone’s focus on unglamorous evolution challenge our reliance on blind AI faithfulness. As Scott Berkun reminds us to diagnose root causes of team friction, we see that trading speed for stability means fixing broken handoffs and respecting craft over velocity. The real question isn’t how fast we can ship, but whether we can prove what we shipped is accurate, trustworthy, and sustainable for the humans behind it.
From The Feed
The...
2026-07-0906 minAI and DesignClaude Design 2.0, Quality Bars, Layers of AI Experience, Perplexity BrainNik and Dan catch up on the news out of Figma Config 2026 — where generative plugins stole the show for Nik (build them with tokens, run them for free) — before digging into Anthropic's big Claude Design 2.0 overhaul, with canvas editing, design-system imports, a two-way round-trip with Claude Code, and a fix for its token-burning problem. From there: MC Dean asks who actually owns the quality bar when anyone can ship, Emily Campbell reimagines the layers of UX for probabilistic AI systems (goblins included), and Perplexity's new Brain points toward self-improving memory for agents. Plus a detour into AI memory, forgetting, and...
2026-07-0737 minAI and DesignHot Takes and Big Themes from Config 2026Dan reports live from Figma's Config 2026 conference in San Francisco, talking with seven design leaders — Peter Merholz, Jesse James Garrett, Greg Petroff, Ryan Freitas, Kim Lenox, Alice Quan, and Emily Campbell — about the keynote, major announcements like Code Layers and Weave, and the vibe on the floor. The conversations circle a few big tensions: Figma's push into Adobe's territory (motion, brand, marketing) versus doubling down on AI-to-code workflows where competitors like Claude Design are gaining ground, the shrinking of design teams, and how designers can stay strategic by leaning into craft, taste, and curiosity. Off-stage, the mood was one of c...
2026-07-0154 min
Wake Up Excited!Design, Teaching, and Staying Human in the Age of AI with Dan SafferDan and Brad explore AI as a creative partner for drafting and ideation while requiring strong human direction, and compare today’s shift to the desktop-to-web and mobile transitions, including recurring backlash to new tech. They address risks: metacognitive laziness, erosion of expertise, stolen training data, environmental and geopolitical harms, and weak regulation, alongside benefits like empowering small nonprofits and accelerating creative and product work. Chapters:00:00 Welcome 01:06 Claude Update Frustrations 04:50 AI as Writing Partner 07:23 Teaching During Shifts 11:29 Backlash and Nuance with AI 27:48 Design Process Upended 38:22 AI As Creative Accelerant 41:07 An...
2026-06-181h 06AI and DesignSiri AI, A New Interaction-Focused AI Lab, Four Design AI Jobs, Perplexity Computer ResearchA year ago the consensus was that AI would hurt Apple. Last week at WWDC they showed up with a real Siri AI, the privacy story nobody else can match, and the $$$ hardware to run it. The "AI for the rest of us" play might just work. Dan and Nik dig into what Apple actually shipped, why App Intents matter for designers, and the gut-punch reality that your year-old iPhone won't run it.Also this episode: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is building a design-led AI lab, and nobody can quite figure out what it's selling. Sarah...
2026-06-1630 minAI and DesignCopilot Redesign, Is AI ever Done, Amazon Proteus, Miro's Head of AI Design Mark Boyes-SmithDan and Nik dig into Microsoft's sweeping redesign of 365 Copilot , transforming the prompt box into a task-aware workspace, leaning into progressive disclosure, and positioning AI as an embedded layer across Word, Excel, and Outlook rather than a bolt-on feature. They also discuss Jeff Gothelf's argument that "done" means something fundamentally different for AI products, where probabilistic outputs require teams to write acceptance criteria as distributions and build failure triage into launch rather than after. Rounding out the news: Amazon's Proteus warehouse robots can now take natural-language direction from human workers, and a Salesforce designer shares how her team is...
2026-06-101h 03AI and DesignFigma and Stitch Updates, Design Memory, Fraude Design, Quilter CEO Sergiy NesterenkoUpdates to Figma and Google Stitchhttps://www.figma.com/blog/figma-make-now-on-your-local-codehttps://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-labs/stitch-updates/The Design System Advantage is Memoryhttps://learn.thedesignsystem.guide/p/the-design-system-advantage-is-memoryFraude Designhttps://fraude.design/Nik's Interview with CEO of Quilter, Sergiy Nesterenkohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sergiynesterenko/https://www.quilter.ai/
2026-06-031h 05AI and DesignFigma Design Agent, 2026 AI in Design Report, Synthetic Customers, Llewyn Paine on UXRThis week we talk about Figma's new design agent integrated right on the canvas, the 2026 State of AI in Design Report, and Bain's experiment with synthetic customers. Then Dan interview Llewyn Paine about the future of UXR and design and gives a preview of the Rosenfeld Designing with AI Conference 2026 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designing-with-ai/Show Notes:The Figma Design Agent is Here | Figma BlogState of AI in DesignSynthetic Customers Earn Their Stripes | Bain & Companyhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/llewyn/
2026-05-2658 minAI and DesignAI Originality, Bolt-on AI, Special Guest: Fin's VP of Product Design Thom RimmerWhen you collaborate with AI on a piece of work, whose thinking is it, really? That question runs underneath what a lot of designers and creatives are arguing about right now, and this week on AI and Design, Nik and Dan dig in.We start with Giorgio Schirò's "The thinking was never just mine," which uses Andy Clark and David Chalmers' "extended mind" theory to argue that creativity has always been distributed: our taste comes from books, films, teachers, and a thousand inputs we don't normally count. AI doesn't invent this loop; it just makes i...
2026-05-1958 min
Finding Our Way73: Charting an Adaptive Path toward AI Transformation
Show Notes
In this episode, Peter and Jesse compare notes from on how AI is reshaping design teams. The conversation moves through the operational chaos of proliferating tools, the urgent need to articulate a value proposition, why design operations got cut right before they were needed most, and the window of expertise power that won’t stay open.For more about Peter Merholz, his consulting, thought partnership, and teaching offerings: https://petermerholz.com/For more about Jesse James Garrett, and his AI transformation and leadership coaching offerings: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Je...
2026-05-1653 minAI and DesignCognitive Surrender, Speed isn't The Bottleneck, and special guest PM Thomas GroendalWharton researchers fed people AI-generated answers, half of them deliberately wrong. The participants accepted them 73% of the time — and their confidence went up. They're calling it "cognitive surrender." Nik and Dan dig into what separates it from plain old cognitive offloading, and the design moves that might pull people back.Then: Ethan Ding's "Claude Code Is Not Making Your Product Better," and why taste, not coding speed, is the bottleneck for product quality.Finally, Tom Groendal, Senior Product Manager at CACI's DarkBlue Intelligence Group, on what AI actually looks like inside a working product team: me...
2026-05-1257 minAI and DesignCognitive Surrender, Speed isn't The Bottleneck, and special guest PM Tom GroendalWharton researchers fed people AI-generated answers, half of them deliberately wrong. The participants accepted them 73% of the time — and their confidence went up. They're calling it "cognitive surrender." Nik and Dan dig into what separates it from plain old cognitive offloading, and the design moves that might pull people back.Then: Ethan Ding's "Claude Code Is Not Making Your Product Better," and why taste, not coding speed, is the bottleneck for product quality.Finally, Tom Groendal, Senior Product Manager at CACI's DarkBlue Intelligence Group, on what AI actually looks like inside a working pr...
2026-05-1257 minAI and DesignAgent Users, New Design Team Structures, Team Dynamics, AI Chat Problems, Constraints Not PromptsDan and Nik talk about how to design for your next user being an agent, the impact of AI on team structure and dynamics, the challenge of memory and recall in conversation-based AI systems, and the shift towards AI experience design focused on constraints, not prompts. Chapters00:00 Your Next User is an Agent12:23 Rethinking the Shape of Design Teams in AI World17:03 The Impact of AI Efficiency on Team Interactions24:39 The Forgotten Conversation Problem in AI31:14 The End of Prompting: AI Experience Design with ConstraintsLINKSYour product has a...
2026-05-0542 minAI and DesignDeep Dive: AI Skills (with Google's MC Dean)Google's MC Dean, the author of over 100 AI skills for designers on everything from accessibility to moods, joins Nik and Dan to talk about Skills: how to make them, how to use them, and what the future of them could be.LINKSMC Dean on Substackhttps://marieclairedean.substack.com/MC Dean on Githubhttps://github.com/owl-listenerSurely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman bookhttps://amzn.to/4sYGQek
2026-04-2847 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - April 22, 2026As AI tools collapse the walls between design and engineering, we ask whether we are truly ready to lead as primary business protagonists rather than secondary executors. While Kike Peña predicts a fantastic voyage into 2026, we weigh this against Jeff Sauro's caution that AI remains a research assistant, not a replacement for human judgment, and Dan Saffer's argument that machines still fail to define the right problems. We explore this tension through real community debates on abandoning Figma for code and the ethical dangers of manipulative design to determine if our shift toward stakeholder alignment is a sustainable e...
2026-04-2206 minAI and DesignClaude Design, Innovative AI and Design Research from CHI 2026Surprise surprise, Dan and Nik talk about Anthropic's launch of Claude Design. The Nik does a set of rapid-fire interviews from the 2026 CHI conference, featuring the latest HCI research in AI and Design.
2026-04-2155 minAI and DesignInsights from Anthropic's Head of Design, Why AI UX Sucks, AI Aesthetics, Human-Centered Design 2.0Dan checks out a Fast Company interview with Anthropic's Head of Design Joel Lewenstein and finds reasons for hope. Dmitry Kargaev points out the flaws of AI UX and has some reasons for why is happens. A catalog of AI brand archetypes, and Dan applauds Patrizia Bertini's call to rethink Human-Centered Design to be less about "users" and more about "citizens."Links:Fast Company Interview with Joel Lewensteinhttps://www.fastcompany.com/91519289/inside-anthropics-biggest-design-choicesAI Products Have Terrible UX: Here's Whyhttps://hackernoon.com...
2026-04-1430 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - April 10, 2026We are navigating a field where the traditional boundaries of our roles are dissolving, forcing us to choose between the efficiency AI promises and the ethics we must uphold. As Dan Saffer argues that we are all doing the same job now, we also confront Marty Cagan's warning that internal tools suffer from a lack of empathy and Neel Dozome's critique of design principles weaponized against vulnerable users. From the fear that project management is safer than UX to the reality that AI tools often miss human nuance, we explore whether our careers depend on being faster or on...
2026-04-1005 minAI and DesignDeep Dive: The Future of Design Practice and Process (with author Mike Kuniavsky)Dan, Nik, and special guest Mike Kuniavsky ("Observing the User Experience") do a deep dive into the impact of AI on the traditional design practice and process. They get into the disappearing/evolving role of design artifacts, the influence of AI on design literacy, and the reevaluation of the design process in the age of AI. AI has triggered the democratization of design tools, a shift in organizational power dynamics, and ofttimes the complete disregard for of unknown unknowns. They also explore the changing product risk surface, the redefinition of scale in design practice, and the role of synthetic...
2026-04-0754 min
AI, Product and Design Podcast#13 AI Is Making UX Harder, Not Better: Dan Saffer on Prompt Boxes, AI Fatigue and the Future of Product TeamsSend us Fan MailIn this episode of the UX Institute Podcast, Mark Swain speaks with Dan Saffer, designer, educator and a sharp voice on where AI product design is heading and where it is still falling short.This conversation looks at the reality of using AI day to day, beyond the hype. Dan explains why so many AI products still feel like hard work, why the prompt box has become a lazy default interface, and how too much cognitive load is still being pushed back onto users. Rather than making products easier, many tools...
2026-03-3147 minAI and DesignClaude Computer Use, Product Intuition, Author Chris Noessel ("Designing Assistant Technology")Dan and Nik talk about Anthropic's latest announcement about computer use and its impact on how designers design screens. Then they discuss the article "AI didn't kill product intuition. It exposed who never had it." Author Chris Noessel stops by to talk about his new book Designing Assistant Technology and the challenges and considerations in designing AI to assist users. The conversation touches on the risks of descaling and over-reliance, and cthe importance of keeping cognitive engagement in AI design.https://amzn.to/414zOtahttps://www.productparty.us/p/ai-didnt-kill-product-intuition-it
2026-03-3142 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - March 28, 2026We tackle the sharp question of who owns design judgment when AI decides the interface, weighing Fabricio Teixeira's call for "livable" products against Kate Moran's warning about shifting accountability in GenUI. We also navigate the messy reality of whether data science credentials truly improve research or just pad resumes, while designers debate if AI is becoming a strategic necessity or a race to the bottom where product managers take over creative decisions. Join us as we dissect these tensions to figure out what it actually means to orchestrate AI agents without losing the human context that defines good design.
2026-03-2805 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - March 27, 2026We confront the uncomfortable reality that design debt is now as crippling as technical debt, a point Arin Bhowmick makes by showing how legacy decisions silently shape user belief in AI products. While Eoghan McCabe argues that vertical models offer durable differentiation, we also wrestle with the community's growing tension over unpaid design challenges and the high financial cost of AI token usage. This episode isn't just about new tools; it's a necessary reckoning on why bad design still ships and how we must stop being output factories to survive the shift.
From The Feed
Announcing...
2026-03-2705 minAI and DesignGoogle Stitch, 2026 Design in Tech Report, Downloadable Design SkillsDan and Nik offer opinions on Google Stitch, a new design tool that just dropped from Google Labs. They also dig deep into John Maeda's 2026 Design in Tech report, debating his key insights for designers in the evolving landscape of AI and design. Lastly, a discussion on the codification, sharing and future of downloadable design skills.Google Stitch: https://stitch.withgoogle.com/Design in Tech 2026: https://designintech.report/MC Dean's Skills: https://substack.com/@marieclairedean/p-190232071 and https://substack.com/@marieclairedean/p-190956350
2026-03-2552 minThe Feed & The ThreadThe Feed & The Thread - March 24, 2026We question whether the AI revolution will be a sudden broadcast or a slow, century-long shift that forces us to rewrite the employer-employee contract, as Patrick Neeman argues true transformation requires deep process control rather than just mechanical efficiency. Before we rush to build autonomous agents, we explore Dan Saffer's warning that skipping the unsexy work of task analysis leads to brittle automation, while also examining how new CSS techniques are making web interfaces more fluid. In the Thread, we navigate the current volatility of the hiring landscape, from the frustration of closed roles to the paralysis of waiting...
2026-03-2405 minAI and DesignAI Image Editors, Institutional v Individual AI, Author Louise MacFadyen ("Designing AI Interfaces")Nik and Dan talk about new AI image editing tools from Canva and Adobe and the value of baking AI right into existing tools. The conversation switches to a provocative new essay by George Sivulka on the importance of Institutional AI and not just Individual AI, which can be chaotic if it's not coordinated.https://x.com/gsivulka/status/2031797989908627849Lastly, Dan interviews Louise Macfadyn, author of the upcoming book Designing AI Interfaces.https://amzn.to/4lAf9qi
2026-03-1753 min
Finding Our Way68: AI and Design: Fundamentals and The Future (ft. Dan Saffer)
Show Notes
About the episode:
Dan Saffer—designer, author, and CMU professor—joins Peter and Jesse to take stock of design education at a moment when everything is in flux. What’s worth teaching when the tools change weekly? How do you define quality when AI can spin up a passable prototype in minutes? And what are today’s students teaching their professors about where design is headed?
Special Announcement: Jesse and Peter are excited to announce the launch of the Intentional Design Leadership Circle, a six week cohort for director and above de...
2026-03-141h 07AI and DesignVery Special Hot Takes Episode: Product Sense, AI Brain Fry, Real Time UI and much much moreThere was just too many interesting stories this week, so Nik and Dan do a Very Special Hot Takes episode with a wide-ranging conversation that covers 14 topics, including the importance of product sense, open source tools, the cultivation of design judgment, the urgency of AI regulation, the future of AI images, the impact of AI on design jobs, real-time UI, writing specs for AI agents, and breaking the echo chamber in interfaces. Chapters01:05 AI Brain Fry 02:47 The Importance of Product Sense 05:40 Collaborative Editing in AI-Generated Images 07:52 The Model is The Machine 12:06 User Experience and...
2026-03-1050 minAI and DesignJenny Wen's Three Types of AI Designers, Designers Should Be Crushing It, Managing AI PressureDan and Nik delve into the evolving role of designers in the age of AI, emphasizing the need for adaptability, control of your own process, and how vision and judgement are design's superpowers. This episode explores the impact of AI on the design process, the importance of maintaining focus on the work, and the challenges of keeping up with the rapid pace of change in the industry.
2026-03-0340 minAI and DesignCode and Canvas, Computer Use Agents, The Mythical Agent-Month, Will "Taste" Save Designers?Nik and Dan talk about another announcement from Figma and Anthropic and the impact on the future of design tools. They examine a new research paper from Apple and the HCII on how to best design computer use agents, and talk about Wes McKinney's article The Mythical Agent-Month. They end with discussing the role of taste in an AI world and if it is the skill designers should be focusing on.
2026-02-2542 minAI and DesignState of The Designer 2026, User Control of AI, Waiting is the New Interruption, AI Intensifies WorkDan and Nik delve into the Figma's 2026 State of the Designer Report, people feeling like AI is being shoved at them, the challenges related to AI's impact on flow and attention, and the Harvard Business Report's implications of AI on job satisfaction and work intensification.
2026-02-1833 minAI and DesignOpenAI's Frontier, The Return of The Intuitive Designer, Special Guest: Figma's Shane JohnsonDan and Nik chat about OpenAI's new Frontier platform and what it might mean for designers and even their career paths. We then discuss James Harrison's essay "The Return of The Intuitive Designer." Then Dan interviews Shane Johnson, Principal User Researcher at Figma, on the role that user research has in this AI world.
2026-02-1047 minAI and DesignFigma MCP, UX vs MX, OpenClaw, Creativity Research, and User Research in 2026Nik and Dan dive deep into Figma MCP and the need for a dual strategy for experience design, that considers both human and AI website visitors. Of course Clawdbot/Moltbot/OpenClaw came up. Some research on creativity, and finally the role of user researchers in the AI world.
2026-02-0343 minAI and DesignGoogle AI Studio Design Mode, AI at Davos, Claude's Constitution, and Software Too Cheap to MeterDan and Nik discuss the rumor of Google's AI Studio getting a design mode, Anthropic and DeepMind CEOs at Davos talking about the future of AI, Anthropic's Constitution for Claude, and the concept of software too cheap to meter.
2026-01-2741 min
AI and DesignGoogle AI Studio Design Mode, AI at Davos, Claude's Constitution, and Software Too Cheap to MeterDan and Nik discuss the rumor of Google's AI Studio getting a design mode, Anthropic and DeepMind CEOs at Davos talking about the future of AI, Anthropic's Constitution for Claude, and the concept of software too cheap to meter.
2026-01-2741 minAI and DesignImpeccable, AI as Entertainment, The Four Horsemen of the AIpocalypseNik and Dan discuss Impeccable: a set of skills for AI agents to improve the "AI House Style" designs that AIs are churning out. Then, talking about a new research paper that suggests AI's greatest potential is as entertainment and cultural production. Lastly, we review Dan's article that categorizes four possible futures for AI, including AI disappearing into existing apps, specialized AI features, AI as an operating system, and AI as a universal intermediary.
2026-01-2040 minAI and DesignMicrosoft Copilot Checkout, Google A2UI, Razer Ava, 2026 PredictionsOn this week's episode, Nik and Dan discussed:Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout, a new feature that lets US shoppers complete purchases directly inside Copilot without ever leaving the chat window.Google's A2UI, an open-source specification that allows AI agents to generate user interfaces on the fly.And straight from CES, a holographic AI desk companion from Razer.Plus: our AI and Design Predictions for 2026.
2026-01-1338 min
Service Design ShowFighting the "Enshittification" of Experience / Dan Saffer / Ep. #243Sure, design might be going through a tough period...But as the saying goes, "never waste a good crisis."So this moment of uncertainty, where everyone is wondering if (or rather when) AI will take over their job, might actually be our biggest opportunity to rise up.It is a unique chance to reclaim our core focus of designing services that genuinely improve people's lives, rather than just extracting value to maximize shareholder returns.Of course to discuss an existential topic like this we had to find someone who's been around...
2025-12-181h 13
Impact Ready153. Occasionally RemarkableIn this episode, Steph reflects on the importance of celebrating relationships and creating peak moments in life. She discusses how life often consists of mundane experiences, but it is the intentional planning of remarkable PEAK moments that brings joy and fulfillment. She quotes Dan and Chip Heath who talk about “mostly forgettable and occasionally remarkable” moments in life. Through personal anecdotes and examples, she emphasizes the need for individuals to take ownership of their experiences and actively create memorable moments with loved ones.Chapters00:00 Celebrating Relationships and Life's Moments01:39 Understanding Peak...
2025-11-0320 min
Commit & PushWhy 80% of AI Projects Fail - and How to Make Yours WorkMost AI projects fail. Some never ship. Others ship and implode. So what’s going wrong?In this episode of Commit & Push, Damien sits down with Dan Saffer - Associate Director of Outreach at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute and author of Microinteractions - to dig into the real reasons so many AI projects fall apart.Drawing on years of academic research and hands-on industry experience, Dan unpacks the five most common failure points: bad data, fragile models, vague value props, ethical landmines, and poor user adoption. They also dive into the myth of explainability, the...
2025-06-0549 min
UNIQUEWAYS WITH THOMAS GIRARD251 Dan Saffer, Product design leaderI’m a product design leader and the author of four books: Designing Devices (2011), Designing Gestural Interfaces (2008), Designing for Interaction (2006, 2009) and Microinteractions (2013). I’m currently an Assistant Professor of The Practice at CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
2025-04-1152 minImpact Ready91. The Power of Moments (and MRIs)In this episode, Steph discusses the power of moments. She reflects on the concept of 'pit moments' and how they can be transformed into more positive experiences. Through the story from a book by Dan Heath about a GE designer Doug Dietz and his innovative approach to redesigning MRI experiences for children, she emphasizes how we as humans have the ability to reimagine difficult situations and change someone's entire experience. Steph talks candidly about how it can be challenging to accept help from other during low times, but encourages listeners to embrace both giving and receiving support, highlighting the...
2025-03-3112 min
UXLx TalksAI by Design by Dan SafferMost AI projects fail. Some fail quietly before launch; some fail spectacularly publicly, becoming another media horror story about AI. Why does this happen? Because the current process for designing AI products and services is broken, especially when it comes to product strategy—what projects to pursue. But a new approach to designing AI is possible, one that instills more cooperation between designers, PMs, data scientists, and engineers.This talk walks through a new method that has been developed over many years at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. This method uses elements of user-centered design and technology capabilities to...
2025-02-1938 min
UXLx TalksMicrointeractions: Design with Details with Dan Saffer“The details are not the details. They make the design.” — Charles Eames
The difference between a good product and a great one are its details: the microinteractions that make up the small moments inside and around features. How do you turn on mute on your phone? How do you know you have a new email message? How can you change a setting? All these little moments–which are typically not on any feature list and often ignored–can change a product from one that is tolerated to one that’s beloved. This talk provides a new way of thinking...
2024-12-1134 min
UXLx TalksDesigning for (and with) New Technologies with Dan SafferNew technologies, whether they are fancy, high-concept gestural interfaces or something as behind-the-scenes as a new algorithm, require some extra care when they're first being utilized in a new product. This care extends not only in the design process, but also to its introduction and explanation to users. This talk will cover, via case studies from Kicker Studio, what pitfalls to look out for, as well as what opportunities exist in introducing a new technology. We'll discuss how to design so that Raymond Loewy's MAYA (Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable) principle is put to its best use.
2024-12-1134 min
Experience DesignedEp12. Design for AI with Dan SafferDan Saffer is a UX design leader, author and assistant professor at CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
Dan's work has directly influenced my career development as such this conversation will also be extremely valuable to buddying and leading user researchers, designers and product managers.
We discuss everything AI: the industry, the good and not-so-great examples, principles that UXers and product folk should keep in mind and much more.
2024-01-3057 min
UX Like UsNavigating the Post-Pandemic UX Job Market - UX Like Us - S2E29As the pandemic recedes, unprecedented numbers of employees seek new jobs that better suit the new reality of work-from-anywhere. And as the economy recovers, companies need to fill roles put on hold or eliminated during the COVID-19 crisis.
The result is frenetic UX jobs market as pent-up demand for talent meets workers ready to find their next gig. But despite lots of opportunities, locking in the perfect role remains a challenge even for UX-famous designers. In our season 2 finale, Larry and Roman discuss the Great Resignation and expand on thoughts Dan Saffer recently shared about...
2021-07-0744 min
Innovators - The Digital Innovation Podcast#36 | Dan Saffer | Driving product strategy and interaction design“How do we take things that are very inhuman by nature and make them more human. Tweak algorithms to make them seem more human, more interesting, more weird.” - Dan on designing with AI and robotics.In episode #36 we talk with Dan Saffer, Product Design Leader and Author of 4 influential design books.He gained work experience as a Senior Staff Designer at Twitter, Creative Director at Jawbone, Smart Design and AdaptivePath.He also gained experience leading larger product initiatives as VP of Product at Mayfield Robotics.As an accomplished author; his insi...
2020-10-0900 min
Craft Comics!Craft Comics #25: i pooped myselfDan is in France, so things are about to get strange. Jerott attempts to juggle two podcast guests (Zeke Witter and Daniel Saffer) while also revealing to the world, at long last, that he's actually a weeaboo. Things get a little off the rails here, but the important thing is that Daniel never actually gets a chance to defend himself after last week's roast.
We drink a blueberry Saison and a double... HaZy... IPA, baby. Pull up a chair, pour out some beer and join us for some (sort of) comic book nonsense.
2019-11-192h 14
The UX HustleEpisode 2 - Do the UX Chillhop with your Customer Service TeamHavana Nguyen, a UX designer at Commissions Inc, first experienced the magical power of the Internet at age 12 when her Sonic the Hedgehog website became one of the top fan sites for this speedy creature. From there, her path to UX took many twists and turns, all of which have influenced how she works today. For example, after working as a customer service representative, she has a unique view on how to involve these roles in the design process.
We also have a ton to learn from Havana when it comes to managing our creative impulses and boundless curiosity (the...
2018-10-2242 min
Kthehu te Zoti yt BujarEpisode 2 - Do the UX Chillhop with your Customer Service TeamHavana Nguyen, a UX designer at Commissions Inc, first experienced the magical power of the Internet at age 12 when her Sonic the Hedgehog website became one of the top fan sites for this speedy creature. From there, her path to UX took many twists and turns, all of which have influenced how she works today. For example, after working as a customer service representative, she has a unique view on how to involve these roles in the design process.
We also have a ton to learn from Havana when it comes to managing our creative impulses and boundless curiosity (the...
2018-10-2242 min
Official UEFA Champions League PodcastPodcast: Quarter-final review featuring Ancelotti and PjanićThe Matchday Live team of Dan Roebuck, Paul Saffer, Adam Summerton and Rob Daly look back at the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first legs and we hear from Miralem Pjanić, Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Craig Shakespeare.
2017-04-1330 min
Official UEFA Champions League PodcastPodcast: Monaco knock-out Manchester City and Atlético complete the quarter-final lineupMatchday Live host Rob Daly is joined by Paul Saffer, Adam Summerton and Dan Roebuck to review the drama from Monaco as the Ligue 1 leaders defeat Manchester City, while Atlético ease past Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League. Hear from Jan Oblak, Aleksandr Kolarov, Pep Guardiola, Max Allegri and Craig Shakespeare as we discuss the complete quarter-final lineup.
2017-03-1531 min
Official UEFA Champions League PodcastTeam of the Year podcast special: 40 nominees in 40 minutesChris Parrott is joined by a trio of UEFA.com journalists to discuss the 40-man shortlist for the 2016 Team of the Year. Tom Kell argues that Lionel Messi should be in it ahead of Antoine Griezmann, Paul Saffer thinks N’Golo Kante is must pick and Dan Ross gives you the lowdown on the four goalkeepers. Hear from Patrice Evra, Mats Hummels and Mario Götze in this special podcast. Vote for your team here: http://en.toty.uefa.com/
2016-11-2139 min
Movimento UXUX e empreendedorismo com Karine Drumond - Episódio 09No 9º episódio do Movimento UX eu conversei com o Karine Drumond, Designer de Interação e fundadora da Negócio de Mulher.
As dicas da Karine são:
Design for Interactions Dan Saffer
http://amzn.to/28OwnuV
Business Model You. O Modelo De Negócios Pessoal http://amzn.to/28OsjP7
Livro: A Startup de $100
http://amzn.to/28Q27Vy
Se você gostou desse episódio, conte pro Karine e pra mim pelo Twitter:
https://twitter.com/karinedrumond
https://twitter.com/izabeladefatima
:D
Se você quiser receber os próximos podcasts assim que forem lançados, junte-se à lista de e-mail do Movimento...
2016-06-2300 min
The eLearning Coach PodcastELC 027: Microinteractions: Designing The Small DetailsWhen designing interactions, attending to the small details can make a big difference. Listen to Dan Saffer talk about microinteractions.
2015-09-0925 min
Adventures in Angular052 AiA Web-Based Animations with Jack Doyle of GreenSockCheck out RailsClips and RemoteConfs! 02:53 - Jack Doyle IntroductionGreenSock@greensockGreenSock Blog 03:53 - GSAP (GreenSock’s Animation Platform) 04:05 - GreenSock: The Name05:01 - GreenSock: The Inception09:13 - Transitions & CSS Animations10:32 - Who is GreenSock aimed at? / What kind of applications use it?15:01 - Lukas and GreenSock Lukas Reubbelke: Build a Sweet AngularJS Photo Slider Pt 2 with ngTouch 16:50 - Angular + GreenSock + CSS Animations (GreenSock Under The Hood)jQuery“tweens”ngAnimate 27:44 - Using GreenSock Outside of Angular29:20 - Getting Started With Animations, Learning CurveGetting Started with GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform)Sarah Drasner39:13 - When To Use Animations (User Experience)MicroactionsUsing Animations to Help WorkflowngFx ...
2015-07-2359 minAdventures in Angular052 AiA Web-Based Animations with Jack Doyle of GreenSockCheck out RailsClips and RemoteConfs! 02:53 - Jack Doyle IntroductionGreenSock@greensockGreenSock Blog 03:53 - GSAP (GreenSock’s Animation Platform) 04:05 - GreenSock: The Name05:01 - GreenSock: The Inception09:13 - Transitions & CSS Animations10:32 - Who is GreenSock aimed at? / What kind of applications use it?15:01 - Lukas and GreenSock Lukas Reubbelke: Build a Sweet AngularJS Photo Slider Pt 2 with ngTouch 16:50 - Angular + GreenSock + CSS Animations (GreenSock Under The Hood)jQuery“tweens”ngAnimate 27:44 - Using GreenSock Outside of Angular29:20 - Getting Started With Animations, Learning CurveGetting Started with GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform)Sarah Drasner39:13 - When To Use Animations (User Experience)MicroactionsUsing Animations to Help WorkflowngFx ...
2015-07-2359 min
UX Discovery Session PodcastDS033 :: Dan Saffer of Smart DesignSubscribe to the podcast using: iTunes | Stitcher | SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/uxdiscoverysession/ds033-dan-saffer-of-smart-design
This episode features an interview with Dan Saffer of Smart Design.
Brought to you by our sponsor: MarksAndLogos.com
00:00 Intro Theme
00:11 Introductions/Interview with Dan Saffer of Smart Design.
Links / topics mentioned:
Carnegie Mellon University
Adaptive Path
Physical computing
Internet of Things
Web 2.0
Facebook
Web 3.0
Strava
Little Big Details
Microinteractions Designing with Details
dweet
Pixate
Steal Like an Artist
The Accidental Creative
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It fo...
2014-07-0629 min
UXpod - User Experience PodcastMicrointeractions: An interview with Dan SafferDan Saffer talks about microinteractions, signature moments, and the importance of detail. For a transcript of this and other episodes, visit www.uxpod.com.
2014-04-1931 min
UXLx: User Experience LisbonMicrointeractions: Design with DetailsSpeaker: Dan SafferThe difference between a good product and a great one are its details: the microinteractions that make up the small moments inside and around features. How do you turn on mute on your phone? How do you know you have a new email message? How can you change a setting? All these little moments–which are typically not on any feature list and often ignored–can change a product from one that is tolerated to one that’s beloved. This talk provides a new way of thinking about designing digital products: as a series of mic...
2014-01-2200 min
UX Discovery Session PodcastDS003 :: Interview with Steve BatyDiscoverySession.ca UX Podcast:
This episode features an interview with Steve Baty of Meld Studios
Brought to you by our sponsor: MarksAndLogos.com
00:00 Intro Theme
00:11 Introductions/Interview with Steve Baty.
Links to books mentioned:
Microinteractions: Designing with Details by Dan Saffer
Service Design: From Insight to Implementation by Andy Polaine, Lavrans Løvlie, & Ben Reason
Fluxible.ca
Discount Offer Code: Discovery Session Listeners can receive a $200 discount on the Fluxible 2013 Registration by using the discount code: DS002. This offer is valid until September 14, 2013.
21:35 End
Contact Infor...
2013-09-0821 min
Complete Service-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco3rd Grade Rites of PassageThe 3rd Grade Rites of Passage service where four young theologians pose their BIG QUESTIONS to Revs. Furrer and Jacks. The 3rd grade Rites of Passage class and the culminating service has been part of our church community since 1993 and is a highlight of the church year. The ROP program was created to strengthen our children's relationship to their church and honor their ongoing religious development. Join us for this special Sunday service. There's a good chance that the questions we'll consider this Sunday are your questions too. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Mark Sumner and Bell Choir Dire...
2013-06-031h 03Sermons-First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco3rd Grade Rites of PassageThe 3rd Grade Rites of Passage service where four young theologians pose their BIG QUESTIONS to Revs. Furrer and Jacks. The 3rd grade Rites of Passage class and the culminating service has been part of our church community since 1993 and is a highlight of the church year. The ROP program was created to strengthen our children's relationship to their church and honor their ongoing religious development. Join us for this special Sunday service. There's a good chance that the questions we'll consider this Sunday are your questions too. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Mark Sumner and Bell Choir Dire...
2013-06-031h 03
Web Directions PodcastDan Saffer - Top Ten Things To Tackle TouchscreensThe average size of an adult human’s finger pad is 10-14mm. The average size of a cursor or stylus tip is 1-2mm. That fact alone means that designing native touchscreen apps is an entirely different thing than designing web, desktop, or even traditional mobile apps. This talk outlines the most important concepts, guidelines, and practices to keep in mind when designing with fingers and hands in mind. We’ll cover interaction zones (where it’s easiest for fingers to reach), touch targets (size and distance apart), kinesiology (how fingers can bend, move, and stretch), and signaling (how users can beco...
2011-05-2900 min
UXLx: User Experience LisbonDesigning for (and with) New TechnologiesSpeaker: Dan Saffer
New technologies, whether they are fancy, high-concept gestural interfaces or something as behind-the-scenes as a new algorithm, require some extra care when they're first being utilized in a new product. This care extends not only in the design process, but also to its introduction and explanation to users. This talk will cover, via case studies from Kicker Studio, what pitfalls to look out for, as well as what opportunities exist in introducing a new technology. We'll discuss how to design so that Raymond Loewy's MAYA (Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable) principle is put to its...
2011-04-1500 min
Usabilidoido: PodcastSurrealidade e Realidade Aumentada
Minha terceira aula de Fundamentos em Design de Interação foi profunda. Começamos com o problema básico da Filosofia: a relação entre o homem e o mundo. Existem basicamente três explicações possíveis: a realidade são as idéias (idealismo), a realidade é a matéria (materialismo) ou a realidade é um produto da interação entre o homem e o mundo (fenomenologia). Seguindo essa terceira via, distinguimos diferentes tipos de mediações
que os artefatos podem desempenhar, transformando a percepção do mundo
(realidade subjetiva). A base é o livro What Things Do, indicado pelo Dan Saffer como uma in...
2008-08-0100 min
UX Week 2007New Sources of Inspiration for Interaction DesignToo often in the field of interaction design, designers only look at other digital products for inspiration. But this narrow stance soon leaves designers devoid of any fresh ideas. If we were to look at the physical world around us, there are sources of inspiration that interaction designers have barely tapped. We should examine mechanical objects and observe their workings. We should look to nature, with its variety of forms and its intricate ecologies. And we should incorporate lessons from other applied arts such as architecture and film into our designs, drawing from their rich histories and products. Let’s tu...
2008-03-2555 min
Adaptive Path PodcastUX Week 2007 | New Sources of Inspiration for Interaction DesignToo often in the field of interaction design, designers only look at other digital products for inspiration. But this narrow stance soon leaves designers devoid of any fresh ideas. If we were to look at the physical world around us, there are sources of inspiration that interaction designers have barely tapped. We should examine mechanical objects and observe their workings. We should look to nature, with its variety of forms and its intricate ecologies. And we should incorporate lessons from other applied arts such as architecture and film into our designs, drawing from their rich histories and products. Let’s tu...
2008-03-2500 minAdaptive Path PodcastUX Week 2006 | What is Interaction Design?If you ask Dan's parents what they think their son does for a living, they might say he's in advertising or that he's a computer programmer. Pressed further, they develop somewhat of a blank staring response when asked what their son does as an Interaction Designer. With that type of response in mind, both from his parents and from many people outside of the Interaction Design community, Dan Saffer presents a definition of his trade.<br />
<br />
From the highest level, Interaction Design is all about communication. Dan's presentation starts from there and further breaks the...
2008-02-2300 min